TV

AfterEllen.com’s 30 Under 30: Queer Women to Watch

Since AfterEllen was founded in 2002, the amount of openly LGBT-identified women who are also public figures has grown exponentially. As the world becomes a more accepting place to live out and proud, more high-profile women feel safe enought to share their sexual identities with family, friends and fans alike. While many of these women tend to be in their 30s and above, we’ve had the privilege in the past year of young gay/bi actors, writers, directors, producers, singers and activists representing our community in the mainstream. In no particular order, here are 30 women under 30 who we are thrilled to have as part of our queer community and are doing big things here and now, poised to continue in the future.

An actress since the age of three, Raven has been a part of this generation’s television tapestry from scene-stealing appearances in The Cosby Show, Hanging with Mr. Cooper to her own Disney series, That’s So Raven. Currently taking a break from acting to go to college in San Francisco, Raven doesn’t comment on her personal life other than to say she is happy that she’s now able to get married under California law and, most recently, commenting, “I’ll just say I love my LGBT community and I’m a part of them always.”

After finding fame on The Glee Project and then Glee, Ali Stroker came out about her relationship with Dani Shay in a sweet music video. But it’s her work as an activist that has us thrilled to call her part of our team. Ali, paralyzed from the waist down from a car accident, is a spokeswoman for Colours Wheelchairs and The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation as well as the Be More Heroic anti-bullying campaign. “To be able to be a role model and an example for somebody young who is exploring their sexuality,” Ali told us in 2012, “that feels so good.”

A successful Hollywood actress before she came out this year, Ellen Page is just beginning to wow us. She’s working with Evan Rachel Wood on out director Patricia Rozema‘s upcoming Into the Forest, and Julianne Moore on the Freeheld feature film adaptation after years of championing the true story about a lesbian couple’s tragic fight for equality. She’s also directing her first film: Miss Stevens, starring Anna Faris. “I expected so much more hate,” Ellen said in an interview of her coming out. “It was just remarkably positive, which is beautiful, because it’s indicative of the change that’s happening.”

An actress, singer and new mom, Evan Rachel Wood has been in no less than 40 TV shows and movies throughout her 26 years on this Earth. An avid tweeter, Evan is an outspoken voice for feminism, bi visibility and equality for women in and out of Hollywood. In addition to Into the Forest, she’s got two other films coming out in 2015: Facing the Wind and the Untitled Gerardo Naranjo Project. “I think if there was ever a time to come out, now would be the time,” Evan told us in 2013. “And if I can use my status to draw awareness and get people talking about it, then that means the world to me.”

The Seattle Reign player posed for this year’s ESPN “Body Issue” where she spoke candidly about her choice to come out. “Everyone in my life already knew,” she told the magazine. “If you want to stand up and fight for equal rights but then won’t even stand up for yourself and say ‘I’m gay’ – that just started to feel weird.” Megan will be part of the U.S. team battling for World Cup 2015 in Canada, and we can’t wait.

It girl of 2014 Cara Delevigne just so happens to prefer women. The model/actress has worked for all the heavy hitters in fashion, including the latest Chanel campaign. But in the future, we’ll be seeing more of her acting, as she’s starring in five films within the next few years, including Pan with Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara. “I’m young, I’m having fun, I don’t want to pretend to be something I’m not,” Cara told The Telgraph. “So I don’t really care on that matter. People can say what they want, but I’m having a good time.”

Angel Haze creates covers of songs that are almost always better than the originals. No topics are off limits when it comes to the pansexual rapper’s lyrical fodder, including the sexual abuse she encountered in her youth. Her video for “Battle Cry” was just nominated for an MTV VMA for Best Video with a Social Message, and she’s open about the media’s portrayal of her relationship with Ireland Baldwin. “There are still certain limitations for women,” she told a reporter. “If we were two guys, it’d be insane, negatively insane with the attention. With us, it’s all being very positive. The media are like, ‘Oh they’re so cute, they’re best friends.’ An interracial gay couple, I mean that’s just weird for America right now.”

She might be more of a household name now because of her relationship with Johnny Depp, but we’ve loved Amber since she was playing smaller parts in films like The Stepfather and Pineapple Express. We lament the loss of her NBC series The Playboy Club but her career has taken to the big screen with roles opposite Harrison Ford and Nicolas Cage. Amber is proud to be part of the LGBT community, lending her face to the Self-Evident Truths campaign and telling Elle she’ll never hide her sexuality: “I didn’t want to look like I was hiding anything. I’m not, and wasn’t ever, ashamed.”

The daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger has appeared in several fashion magazines after signing with IMG Models and her profile has been raised by her relationship with Angel Haze. She recently posed for the cover of Galore, telling the mag she hopes acting is in the cards. “The entire movie making process in itself is my greatest passion of all,” Ireland says. “I have been madly in love with movies my entire life.”

After being discovered on YouTube, the Filipino vocalist was only 14 when she was brought to the United States to perform on everything from The View to The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Charice became a bonafide pop star, but felt like she was lying to her fans. Which is why, at age 20, she came out as a lesbian and in a relationship with another singer, Alyssa Quijano. Charice’s tomboy chic looks inspired a Thai reality competition (That’s My Tomboy) and she is currently touring around the world to fans new and old. “Finally, I just woke up and told myself that’s it,” Charice told us of her coming out. “I really want to be myself because I owe it to myself and I didn’t want to be depressed anymore.”

Chicago Fire star Monica Raymund was already one of our favorites on the NBC drama, but when she came out as bisexual on Twitter earlier this year, we couldn’t help but crush a little harder. Some of us enjoyed her stint on The Good Wife, hoping for a Dana and Kalinda romance, but now shipping Gabriela Dawson and Leslie Shay. Outside of her EMT duties, Monica is in the upcoming film Happy Baby based on the novel of the same name. “So proud to be Bi and excited about this movement during Olympics,” Monica wrote in her tweet. We’re proud, too!

Mary Lambert‘s hook on the Macklemore song “Same Love” turned into appearances on the VMAs and the Grammys, and then a record deal with Columbia Records. Her new single “Secrets” was just released, with the full-length Heart on My Sleeve to follow in October. “Coming out was this ‘aha’ moment for me,” Mary told us in 2013. “Everything made sense. For the first time, I felt so good in my own skin, like now I fit.”

It’s no coincidence that this was the first year the WNBA celebrated pride. It’d be impossible not to with their star player being as out and loud and proud as possible. Brittney Griner is the face of the league, and her dunking keeps fans tuned in to see her guide the Phoenix Mercury to win after win this season. With a recent memoir, In My Skin, and anti-bullying app in the works, Brittney is using her public persona to speak out against the kind of bullying she endured as a young girl growing up in Texas. “Too many kids go through what I went through and they don’t make it out,” Brittney said in an interview. “Some nights, I just wanted to end it all. No kid should want to end their life or not feel like they want to be here you know on this earth.”

 

Amy is the writer and star of The Better Half, a hilarious and smart web series with real life girlfriend Lindsay Hicks that was picked up for cable to air on Pivot this summer. If she looks familiar beyond that, you might recognize her as Jamie in Anyone But Me. The New Yorker is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and appeared on Anyone But Me from 2009-2011. Also a rapper, Amy is part of the hip-hop duo Dorito and Flex. We hope for hot new episodes and tracks from her in the future.

A model turned DJ, actress and now director, Ruby recently released her first short, Break Free. The Australian TV personality has moved Stateside and stars in the new film Around the Block where she romances Christina Ricci to be released in the U.S. this summer. She’s also recently engaged to Phoebe Dahl, and continues to speak out for LGBT visibility, as she has throughout her career.

Olivia Thirlby is an underrated talent that wrapped four films this year with three more already planned in 2015. One of particular note, The White Orchid, has Olivia alongside Jennifer Beals and Janina Gavanakar. Olivia is out as bisexual and is part of the Self-Evident Truths campaign, of which she said, “For me personally, it’s important to be a part of this because I feel it’s a way of me showing gratitude that I live surrounded by a community in which I don’t have to hide my sexual orientation. And no one should have to hide their sexual orientation. Loving people is a necessary part of being human, and it is very difficult to love people in secret.”

Megan Ellison has her name on some of the biggest films of the last five years, including Her, Zero Dark Thirty, The Master and Spring Breakers. The producer is also at work on the Terminator franchise as well as developing a series about Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo with Angela Robinson and Alex Kondracke. She doesn’t like to do interviews, but Megan does enjoy wearing suits and bringing her girlfriend with her on the red carpet.

The Orange is the New Black star had a bigger role in Season 2, which thrilled us to no end as Flaca is a sassy prisoner that fills the kitchen with funny quips and warm friendship. In real life, Jackie was outed as bi when she appeared on Kim & Kourtney Take Miami in 2011, in which she kissed the oldest Kardashian. Outside of Orange, Jackie is also a singer and songwriter and starred in the 2014 film 13 Steps.

The Voice‘s country singing lesbian contestant challenged the genre and won America over, making it into the final four on the show’s sixth season. Now she’s on tour with the other finalists. “I don’t know of many gay country singers, or at least outwardly gay,” Kristen told us. “But it’s something that I’m hoping that maybe my being on The Voice, it’ll help get to a point where people don’t even think about it, breaking that mold.”

After becoming a fan favorite and coming in second on The Voice in 2013 under mentor Usher, Michelle released an EP and is now readying a full-length album for the end of this year. In between recording and songwriting, she does shows in the States and also spends time with girlfriend Mary Lambert.

A queer fashion writer who contributes to Rookie, Teen Vogue and Refinery29, Arabelle is giving voice to a new generation of young women who are interested in creating their own trends and using their queer identities to inform them. Her Twitter feed is a must-follow, if not just to keep up on all the stories she’s generating on a daily basis.

In 2013, Che’s portrayal of Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later received rave reviews. The actress starred in Good Morning, Lucille, which just had an opening at Outfest, but also has a short called Genderfreak in the works. In the meantime, she’s also the co-owner of The Creative Artists Lab in Los Angeles, a place where writers, actors and artists of all kinds can come together and build community. We look forward to more great things from Che this year and beyond.

The creator of a lesbian dating app Dattch was featured in The New York Times this week and that’s just the beginning. The British tech star is working hard to create a reliable algorithm to match women together, and it’s now launched in select U.S. cities. “Going to a lesbian bar is terrifying,” Robyn told BetaBeat. “You walk in the door and you expect that everyone’s going to turn around and be like, ‘Hi! Welcome!’ and instead it’s just like, groups of women. It’s really intimidating.” Robyn is trying to make our connections safer, easier and a little less awkward.

The first openly lesbian singer on American Idol, MK Nobilette stood out among her competition for her androgynous style and voice to match. She made it through to the Top 10, which secured her a spot on the current Idol tour, where she continues to be a fan favorite, and says her post-road plans include recording an album. “You know, I guess it just didn’t make any sense for me not to say it,” MK told us of coming out on the show. “People were saying that I was different from the other contestants but I didn’t think there were any reasons to hide it.”

The French singer has been showing up in so many viral videos, ad campaigns and films, it’s a wonder she has time to actually be a musician. Soko’s second album, My Dreams Dictate My Reality, is due out this year and we can’t wait to hear it because her 2012 effort, I Thought I Was An Alien, still slays us.

The former Miss Kentucky beauty queen came out as queer on her blog, which spawned a slight media craze and discussions on why she chose to identify as queer rather than lesbian or bisexual. Djuan proved she was a class act in addressing critics and fans alike, thanking them for their support and conversations surrounding a subject that deserves much more heat down in the South, where she still lives, works and now lives an out life. Djuan is a co-chair of Southerners For the Freedom to Marry and makes appearances as a motivational speaker.

We might know her best from her work in the lesbian-themed Water Lilies, but the French actress has been working since she was 12 years old. Adèle came out about her relationship with Water Lilies director Céline Sciamma while accepting the Best Supporting Actress Award at the Cesars, thanking her love publicly for the first time. Catherine Deneuve played her mother in this year’s In the Name of My Daughter and Adèle is currently filming Spiritismes, a mystery with Charlotte Rampling.

The professional Dutch snowboarder was the first athlete to make an on-camera statement against Russia’s homophobic laws after qualifying for the Winter Olympics in the Ladies’ Slopestyle. (She came in 12th overall.) Having been a star boarder for 10 years, Cheryl is sponsored by the likes of Volcom, Vans and Rockstar Energy, and has a daughter with wife Stine Brun Kjeldaas.

Rachel “Rae” Tutera was featured in The New York Times for her work at queer-friendly tailor Bindle & Keep, and now she’s the focus of a documentary from Lena Dunham. Also called The Handsome Butch (after her blog of the same name), Rachel is a curator of all things hip and gender-non-conforming. “I wanted to create a resource or reference guide (non-practicing librarian over here) for my handsome brothers and sisters,” Rachel told Marie Claire. “At the top of the blog’s page, it reads, ‘In case you ever forget I’m here to remind you that you have the right to be handsome.’ My goal is to help visitors feel empowered and understood.”

Desiree’s feature film Appropriate Behavior premiered at Sundance and reviews called her the Iranian bisexual Lena Dunham. Now we’ll be seeing her next to Lena on the upcoming season of Girls and is working on three new projects, including one with the producers of Appropriate Behavior, a television show and a web series. If her first series The Slope is any indication, we’ll love every thing she puts her touch on. “I never thought I’d be such a happy, grateful person and feel so at home in the world and comfortable and OK with who I am,” she told the L.A. Times. “Whatever I am, I like it. And that was the difference.”

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button