Among some obvious selections-Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Beyonce-the “TIME 100″ list produced annually by TIME Magazine included a handful of individuals from the LGBT community-with one unfortunate oversight.
Orange is the New Black star and trans activist Laverne Cox was a glaring omission from the annual list, even though she was ranked near the top of the reader poll, with a highly disproportionate yes-to-no ratio (greater than many of those who made the List, including Miley Cyrus) that signaled her popularity:
Apparently, even though 92% of TIME readers felt Cox earned a place on the list, and even though TIME editors noted that they seek “the input of readers in an online poll,” it somehow seemed more logical to include a transgender character (portrayed by Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers’ Club) rather than a real, transgender hero and activist on the List.
Twitter raged in response, with the hashtag #WhereIsLaverneCox trending over the weekend; smart critiques of this oversight were discussed over at PolicyMic and The Daily Dot.
While the trans* community was not represented on this list, the lesbian/bi community found representation Megan Ellison and Kathryn Sullivan.
Ellison, whose Annapurna Pictures has produced a number of critically acclaimed films-Zero Dark Thirty,True Grit, The Master, American Hustle and Her-is also working on the forthcoming super-sapphic Garbo/Dietrich television series. She is the first female producer to earn two Oscar noms in one year (American Hustle and Her)…. And she’s only 28 years old.
Less well known is astronaut Kathryn Sullivan-one of the first female astronauts in the late 1970s, and the first American woman to walk in space-who was just confirmed to serve as the Obama Administration’s head honcho of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
While the list has only two openly lesbian/bi women, it is a starting point not to be disregarded. We may even want to acknowledge that bi-curious twerking feminist, Miley Cyrus, as a member of the queer women’s community who made the List-not to mention that we can deliciously speculate about the queer factor of honorees like the mysterious, andro-dressing Pulitzer winning Donna Tartt and fashion designer Phoebe Philo, whose piece was written by 2013 list maker Jenna Lyons.
Here are some photos of our faves from this week’s celebration of the Time 100.
