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.

Sassafras Lowrey
Sassafras Lowrey believes everyone has a story to tell. “For LGBTQ people, telling our stories creates social change. We have been taught that our stories are unimportant; that our lives are shameful and that we should keep our world secret,” she explains. “For me, there is nothing more rewarding than watching someone put pen to page and come away realizing that she has, perhaps for the first time in her life, been seen and heard by others–and celebrated not in spite of who she is, but because of it.” The award-winning author, artist, educator and storyteller practices what she preaches. She oversaw the acclaimed anthology Kicked Out, a collection of stories by currently and formerly homeless LGBTQ youth; she regularly leads LGBTQ storytelling workshops at colleges and conferences in addition to creating her own intensely personal prose. Her debut novel Roving Pack will be released this fall, and she is currently editing Leather Ever After, an anthology of BDSM fairy tale retellings. She recently received an Honorable Mention from the 2011 Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund to continue her editing and writing projects. “It’s the stories themselves that keep me deeply grounded in the work that I do,” she says.

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