100 Women We Love, Queer Women We Love, Wonder Women

100 Women We Love 2012

June 15, 2012
“Knowing that my election showed Charlotteans and the world that we are not bound by discrimination wakes me every morning with pride,” proclaims LaWana Mayfield, the City Council representative for District 3 in Charlotte, NC, and the city’s first openly gay elected official. Last November, she trounced her Republican opponent in the council election with 78 percent of the vote, replacing an eight-year incumbent. Now, continuously building on her 15 years of activism, her other leadership posts include the Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee, Mecklenburg County Development Corp. Board, Smart Start Board and the Charlotte Lesbian and Gay Fund Board of Advisors. Prior to the election, Mayfield took an active role in LGBT activism as the Human Rights Campaign’s Diversity Co-Chair. “I believe that my role, along with growing the City of Charlotte, is to open the door for LGBTQ dialogue and to create pathways to service. I have this amazing opportunity to help direct the growth of the City of Charlotte through my vote,” Mayfield says. “I am right where I am supposed to be, and I love my job!”

Drum roll, please! We’re excited to present this year’s 100 Women We Love—our most diverse group of out entertainers, artists, athletes, activists, business principals and elected officials yet. Each of these women is a superstar in her own right. Their achievements and contributions shape our lives —and elevate us in the eyes of the world . They’re working to raise LGBT awareness, increase our visibility and quicken our progress toward a just society.

We are extremely proud to present the class of 2012. There are no rankings or numbers. They are all leaders.

Kimberley McLeod
If you’ve read a news item about a gay person going out on a limb for civil rights, an article on black HIV/AIDS awareness, or the inspiring story of an LGBT family, Kimberley McLeod likely had a hand in it. Harnessing the limitless power of the media to increase visibility for LGBT people of color is McLeod’s professional M.O. The Washington, D.C.-based media strategist and journalist is the Director of Communications/Press Secretary at the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), an LGBT civil rights organization, where her job entails placing stories and communicating with journalists to create an accurate portrayal of the black LGBT experience in the media. She joined NBJC after overseeing GLAAD’s Communities of African Descent Media Program. McLeod further influences the cultural conversation through Elixher.com, her online resource for multidimensional representations of black LGBT women. “Visibility is so important, and the media acts as a powerful conduit to change people’s hearts and minds,” McLeod asserts. “If I can make one homophobe irate, one ally come out of the closet or bring one person closer to living openly and unapologetically about who they are and who they love, I’ve done my job. And I’m going to continue doing it with everything in me.”

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