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To celebrate Pride 2021, the Spice Girls have all reunited with Posh on her latest campaign. All five Spice Girls set Instagram alight and sent their gay fans into a frenzy when they revealed new photos in matching Victoria Beckham “proud and wannabe your lover” T-shirts – an ode to their hit debut single, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in July.

All proceeds go to the Albert Kennedy Trust, which supports LGBTQ+ youth who are homeless or living in hostile environments.

2 Become 1’s lyric change

Did you know the Spice Girls once changed the lyrics to one of their songs to include their gay fans? On the original album version of No 1 single 2 Become 1, the lyric goes, “any deal that we endeavour, boys and girls feel good together”, but the single version was later changed to, “once again if we endeavour, love will bring us back together”. Emma Bunton later explained that the lyric change was necessary after the members realised they had become LGBTQ+ icons.

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Mel B’s own sexuality

The Spice Girls aren’t just allies – one of their members is proudly LGBTQ+ herself. Scary Spice Mel B’s personal life has been front page news for as long as we can remember, from her baby daddy dramas with Eddie Murphy to her messy divorce from Stephen Belafonte, and she’s made no secret of her love for women either. Her liaisons with ex-nanny Lorraine Gilles has been well documented in the tabloids, but it’s a lesser known fact that Scary once dated film director Christine Crokos.

She told Gay Star News: “It wasn’t experimentation. I fell in love with a woman for five years. An experiment doesn’t last five years.”

 Mel B and Geri’s revelations

In 2019, right before the Spice Girls were set to take to the stage in their highly anticipated reunion tour, Scary dropped a massive bombshell during an interview with Piers Morgan: she had a sexual fling with bandmate Geri Horner (then Halliwell) during the height of the band’s fame.

After being quizzed on the matter, Mel B eventually told Morgan: “It just happened and we just giggled at it and that was it.”

During an American promo tour in the 90s, Horner once told a radio host: “I had lesbian sex once. I realised quickly I was not a lesbian.”

She added: “I could never ever say who it was. I don’t think she was a lesbian either. I’m going to leave the rest to your imagination.”

Secret’s out the bag now, Ginger.

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Geri and Kylie’s TV kiss

Back in 1999, two of the biggest female singers in pop music at the time made headlines when they playfully locked lips on live TV (it was the 90s, when it was still a BIG deal).

Ginger Spice and Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue were meant to arm wrestle on UK TV morning show TFI Friday, but instead leaned in and started kissing each other. We were very confused at the time, and we still are, to be honest. 

Mel C’s Pride tour

During the summer of 2019, straight after the Spice Girls reunion tour, Sporty Spice kept the momentum going by embarking on a world tour of Prides.

Mel C did shows in the USA, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Chile, performing her biggest hits, some Spice Girl favourites, and her very own Pride anthem High Heels alongside Spice Girls drag queens. It doesn’t get more camp than that.

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Bunton appeared on All Stars 3, Mel B guest judged on season seven and Horner showed up on the UK version. Mel C and Victoria Beckham are yet to make an appearance, but we can’t imagine it hasn’t been discussed. Here’s hoping for a full house soon!

The gay extravaganza that was Spice World 2019

If you were one of the lucky ones to attend the Spice Girls’ sell-out 2019 reunion tour, you’ll know that Spice World has become a very inclusive space in recent years. With transgender designer Kate Moross at the helm as art director, the show’s poster announced at the start: “We welcome all ages, all races, all gender identities, all countries of origin, all sexual orientations, all religions and beliefs, all abilities.”

It’s like when they sang “colours of the world” in 1997’s Spice Up Your Life, but even more inclusive. (The two male dancers passionately doing the tango before Viva Forever might have been another hint the show was very gay.)

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Baby Spice’s Baby Spice

During the Spice Girls’ 2019 reunion tour, the band invited their children on stage for a performance of Mama, where young Tate showed off a pink Spice World hoodie and pigtails to the crowd of 90,000 fans.

Bunton also seemed to ooze with pride during her 2019 Christmas concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall when Tate performed a Spice Girls medley to the sold-out audience dressed as a mini Baby Spice. Complete with pigtails and an adorable pink tutu, Tate’s onstage debut managed to almost outshine the Spice Girl herself.

The big gay proposal

If the Spice World 2019 show wasn’t camp enough, the Spice Girls upped the glitter stakes when they assisted a gay marriage proposal during their show in Manchester.

Super-fan Lee Christie was invited onstage by the band so he could propose to his partner Duane Watters; the couple went viral on social media.

“OH MY GOD proposal onstage at #SpiceWorld2019 and Mel B says ‘make sure you sign a prenup’ I’m obsessed,” one fan wrote on Twitter.

It’s no wonder the Spice Girls have remained so loyal to their LGBTQ+ fans over the past 25 years. Happy Pride and happy Spice Anniversary is the perfect combo, after all.

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