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

100 Women We Love 2012

June 15, 2012 Destiny Dejesus

“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.

Biddy Martin
As the 19th president of Amherst College, Carolyn A. “Biddy” Martin is a “passionate advocate of access, affordability and great education.” Martin, one of the country’s very few openly gay college presidents, came to Amherst last August after serving as chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the previous three years. There, she directed successful initiatives to increase financial aid for students, improve undergraduate education and enhance research endeavors. With a long and distinguished career in academia, Martin says she finds it rewarding “playing a role in the success of faculty, staff and students, while enjoying the opportunity to use my strengths.” Not just an academic administrator, Martin is also an eminent scholar with a Ph.D. in German literature who began her career in 1983 as an instructor and then assistant professor of German studies and women’s studies at Cornell University. She was later appointed the school’s provost, overseeing multimillion dollar improvements to Cornell’s facilities and endowment. What drew Martin to a lifetime career in education? “Education was my salvation,“ she says. “I love intellectual exchange and the challenge of thinking with other people. It is [also] a way to promote opportunity for others.”