Celebrating LGBTQ Women on International Women’s Day

It’s International Women’s Day, and we in the LGBTQ community have a lot to celebrate. Here are some of the amazing, wonderful women making serious, powerful waves in our world.

Danica Roem

She’s the first openly transgender person to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly AND serve in any U.S. state legislature. As a Democrat, she beat out Republican Bob Marshall, who held the office for 25 years and referred to himself as Virginia’s “chief homophobe.” Her victory was monumental for the LGBTQ community, especially in the face of a discriminatory opponent who misgendered her, prompting her to release a video about her transition. Besides directly speaking out against transphobic Republicans, Roem is a vocalist for metal band Cab Ride Home.

Lucia Aniello

Best known for directing Broad City, Time Traveling Bond, and the 2017 film, Rough Night – Aniello proudly presents queer protagonists in the face of Hollywood’s anti-LGBTQ representation.

“It was important to us to have queer-lead characters who were making jokes, and whose queerness was never the butt of the joke,” she said in regard to Rough Night, the first R-rated studio comedy in twenty years to be directed by a woman. Aniello’s radical work refuses to bow to gender roles and positively portrays queer sexuality–groundbreaking, considering only 1/5 of films released by a major studio in 2016 included LGBTQ characters. Claiming a space for herself in Hollywood, she creates work that leaves queer audiences feeling emboldened, not attacked.

Emma González

She survived the shooting on February 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida–and not even a month later has become the voice of a movement seeking to ban automatic assault weapons at 18 years old. González’s speech criticizing the current presidential administration and politicians supporting the NRA quickly went viral.

“That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works–we call BS,” she said. Her resilience in the face of tragedy is inspirational, and she’s an active influence for LGBTQ rights within her community as an openly bisexual woman and the president of her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. At eighteen-years old, González’s intersection of identities makes her a force to be reckoned with in politics and anti-LGBTQ circles.

Rachel Morrison & Dee Rees

Morrison was first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography alongside Rees, the first black woman to be nominated for an Oscar for an Adapted Screenplay–both for their 2017 film Mudbound. These women–both out lesbians–made headlines for their revolutionary nominations. After ninety years the Oscars finally recognized LGBTQ women in film.

“Women are so qualified they should just go for it. It’s not just about cinematography; it’s about believing in yourself and that anything’s possible,” Morrison said. This year’s Oscars provided a platform for women and queer empowerment, and films such as Mudbound broke the barrier that prevents intersectional identities from gaining visibility and recognition.

Photos Courtesy Facebook or OUT FRONT archives