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.

Marga Gomez
Harlem-born comedian Marga Gomez is proudly Latina, openly gay, slightly dorky, tragically sexy and drop-dead funny. With material based on her singular parents, strict Catholic schooling and checkered encounters with a parade of Ms. Wrongs, Gomez’s acts capitalize on her frisky physicality and endearing gap-tooth smile. The playwright and performer’s nine high-energy solo shows have earned her a GLAAD Award (for 2005’s Proud and Bothered) and a New York Drama Desk Award nomination (for Los Big Names in 2006), and legions of fans from San Francisco to Provincetown and to the latest Olivia cruise. “I love playing Pride events at colleges or any LGBT youth groups because the kids teach me what’s up,” Gomez adds. She’s appeared on HBO’s Comic Relief, Showtime’s Latino Laugh Festival, Comedy Central’s Out There and LOGO’s Wisecracks and One Night Stand Up; and at top NYC venues like The Public Theater, PS 122 and Gotham Comedy Club. This summer, catch Gomez in her new show Gomez & Tropicana Do Jan Brewer at Dixon Place’s HOT Festival, with co-conspirator Carmelita Tropicana.

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