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.

Kim Yutani
When Hollywood decamps to the Sundance Film Festival each year and strikes deals to bring groundbreaking independent movies to the masses, Kim Yutani is at the center of the action. Yutani, a film programmer for Sundance, is part of the team that chooses the films that make it onto the prestigious festival’s shortlist. “I was really excited and influenced by the films of the New Queer Cinema of the early ’90s. I saw what film festivals were able to do for those filmmakers and those films by providing a showcase and connecting this amazing work with audiences and critics,” she says. “I could see how festivals could have a powerful impact on our culture and I really wanted to be a part of creating that.” She splits her time between Sundance and Outfest: the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, where she is the director of programming; and has assumed programming duties for NewFest: The NYC LGBT Film Festival, as part of a collaboration between Outfest and NewFest. She was recently part of the programming team for RAW CUT Filmfest, a hardcore/punk-inspired festival in Warsaw, working behind the scenes to give marginalized filmmakers a chance to be heard.