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.

Tiona.M
Make the invisible visible: that’s the mantra of multimedia artist Tiona.M, whose independent films and visual works illustrate the experiences of minorities within the larger society and culture. In 2008, her feature-length documentary, black./womyn.: conversations with lesbians of African descent, provided a platform for black lesbians to speak for themselves. The collection of nearly 50 searingly honest interviews earned honors from the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film festival and NewFest: New York LGBT Film Festival. She continues to develop and create films on progressive topics with the hope of directing a narrative feature-length project in the future. For now, she’s producing her next doc, The Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project; a short narrative film Bumming Cigarettes, and an experimental short series called Be Alarmed: The Black Americana Epic, a magical realism interpretation of the black American experience. “I feel a great power in being a filmmaker, and the medium can make real change in the way we relate to one another within society,” Tiona.M says. “I think filmmaking has provided a way for me to put my activism in motion, as well as an outlet for me, as an out black lesbian, to provide a voice for my community.”