LGBTQ inclusion in arts and entertainment is vital in changing attitudes and erasing prejudices.
Earlier this year, Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD, the LGBTQ advocacy non-profit organization, stated, “In the midst of a destructive pandemic, a long overdue cultural reckoning with racial injustice, and a transition into a new political era for this country, representation matters more than ever as people turn to entertainment storytelling for connection and escape.”
In honor of Pride Month, Know Your Value is spotlighting just a few LGBTQ women artist-activists who have created big waves in film, TV, theater, music and publishing — all while using their gifts and platforms to expand opportunities for underserved communities.
Lena Waithe: Actor, screenwriter, producer
Waithe started her Hollywood career as an assistant to “Girlfriends” creator Mara Brock Akil and as a production assistant to Ava Duvernay. She continued as a producer on the comedy “Dear White People.”
In Netflix’s “Master of None,” Waithe made history in 2017 when she became the first Black woman to win the Emmy for best writing for a comedy series for the episode “Thanksgiving,” which was based on her coming out experience. In her acceptance speech she addressed the LGBTQIA community saying, “I see each and every one of you. The things that make us different, those are our superpowers.”
Waithe’s list of accomplishments is impressive. She also created the BET series “Twenties”, Showtime’s “The Chi,” wrote her first feature “Queen and Slim,” voiced Pixar’s first openly gay character in the animated movie “Onward,” and started her own production company Hillman Grad, whose mission is to support a range of diverse voices and art across all. Waithe also founded the Hillman Grad Mentorship Lab, a 10-month, tuition-free program for marginalized storytellers, and Rising Voices, a collaboration with Indeed that grants a $100,000 production budget to 10 filmmakers of color.
Addressing her huge slate of initiatives Waithe simply said, “I have to help usher in this new generation and tell them to tell their truth and to do it unabashedly.”
Poppy Liu: Actor, writer, producer, doula
Currently in the HBO Max break-out hit “Hacks,” alongside Jean Smart, Liu was also a series regular on NBC’s “Sunnyside,” starred in the Margaret Cho-produced web series “Mercy Mistress,” and will appear in the upcoming Paramount+ reboot of “iCarly.”
Named one of The Advocate’s “champions of pride,” Liu is also a doula and serves on the board of SisterSong, an organization built by women of color activists dedicated to reproductive justice through a human rights framework.
Born in Xi’an, China and raised between Shanghai and Minnesota, Liu said, “I create art to understand myself, process the world, collaborate with my communities, and connect to a higher purpose … I want the queer future that we dream of to be something that is on everyone’s collective consciousness.”
Brandi Carlile: Singer-songwriter, producer, author
A self-taught singer and multi-instrumentalist, beloved by the likes of Dolly Parton and Barack Obama, Carlile is a six-time Grammy winner and a member of the supergroup Highwomen. The band’s 2019 song “If She Ever Leaves Me” was written from a queer point of view, with Carlile saying, “Queer people love country music…We just don’t think that it’s going to open its doors to us. And when it does, it’s wildly satisfying.”









