At the stroke of midnight (GMT), same-sex couples will start getting married in England and Wales. Who'd have thought the country we declared our independence from would beat us to the altar?

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're tipping our hats to some of our favorite Welsh and English gays. A few of them are single, so take notes!

Freddie Mercury (September 5, 1946 – November 24, 1991)

Before his death from AIDS in 1991, Mercury redefined masculinity for a generation of hard rockers. He was a champion, my friend.

Ian McKellen

In addition to being one of the greatest actors of our times, Sir Ian was one of the first mainstream actors to come out as gay, which he did in 1988 to protest homophobic legislation being considered in Parliament. Gandalf don't play!

Tom Daley

Daley did  his country proud when, in 2012, he took home the bronze in diving at the London Summer Olympics. He did the gays proud in December, though, when he posted a YouTube video disclosing he was currently dating a man. "I'd never felt the feeling of love, it happened so quickly, I was completely overwhelmed by it to the point I can't get him out of my head all the time."

Derek Jarman (January 31, 1942 – February 19, 1994)

A vanguard filmmaker Jarman fostered a queer wave of cinema in 1980s Britain with experimental works that explored homosexuality, AIDS, and Thatcherite conservatism. Jarman also introduced the world to Tilda Swinton, who was his muse in several projects. For that alone we tip our hats.

Boy George

He didn't officially come out until the 1990s, but as lead singer of Culture Club, George Alan O'Dowd showed the world you could play with gender and drag and still be a pop superstar.  He's had his rough patches and brushes with the law, but you can always count on Boy George to give it to you straight. Er, you know what we mean.

Gareth Thomas

Rugby is a little like American football, only about five times tougher. So for Welsh fullback Gareth Thomas to come out in 2009 was no small thing—especially since he was still playing professionally.

Since his retirement, Thomas has worked with the youth charity Childline,was a commentator for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, and has popped up on reality shows like Celebrity Big Brother and Dancing on Ice

Quentin Crisp

A true English eccentric, Crisp scandalized 1930s and '40s England by parading around in makeup and dyed hair and espousing contrarian views on style and manners. With the publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, in 1968, Crisp struck a blow for sissies everywhere—and became something of a celebrity.

Before his death in 1999, he had befriended everyone from Andy Warhol to Sting and was still drawing throngs of admirers to his one-man-shows.

Russell Tovey

Tovey first came to our attention in the UK version of Being Human, where he played adorably geeky werewolf, George. He's since come to Hollywood and is now a major temptation for Patrick on HBO's  Looking.

Out from the beginning of his career, 32-year old Tovey says he wanted to show young gay men there were lots of different colors in the rainbow: "When I was growing up there were no role models that were blokey, that were men," he said in 2009. "Everybody was flamboyant and camp, and I remember going, 'That’s not me, so even though I think I am gay, I don’t think I fit into this world.'"

Lily Savage

One of England's greatest drag queens, Lily was the brainchild of Paul O'Grady, who got his start in London's Camden clubs in the late 1970s. By the early 1990s, she was making regular appearances on British television and touring nationwide.

O'Grady retired Lily in 2004, claiming she'd "seen the light, taken the veil and packed herself off to a convent in France." He's since had success on television out of drag with The Paul O'Grady Show.

Alexander McQueen (March 17, 1969 – February 11, 2010)

Fashion's enfant terrible swept the industry off its feet, both as chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and with his eponymous label. Before his suicide in 2010, McQueen earned four British Designer of Year Awards and the CFDA's International Designer of the Year award in 2003. His fashions were beloved by A-listers like Lady Gaga, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, and inspired designs seen in The Hunger Games film franchise.