Adam Rippon, Emma Gonzalez and Ruth Davidson have made the TIME 100
(Getty)
Adam Rippon, Bisexual Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez and Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson
prestigious TIME 100 list.
They were joined by other LGBT pop culture icons like singer Kesha, writer and activist Janet Mock and Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who shocked the world with revelations about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
Ireland’s out Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar was also included, along with transgender actress Daniela Vega, whose incredible performance helped A Fantastic Woman to win the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Leo Varadkar (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty)
Vega was lauded for her achievements by Michelle Bachelet, a former President of Chile.
She recalled: When Daniela made history as the first openly transgender person to present at the Academy Awards, she said this onstage: ‘I want to invite you to open your heart and your feelings, to feel the reality, to feel love.’
“I also want to invite people to empathize with others and respect them, because diversity allows us to understand humanity even more.”
(A Fantastic Woman)
Cher praised Rippon, with the acting and singing legend writing that the Olympic bronze medal-winning ice skater “represents something wonderful to young people.
“When I was young,” she explained, “I had no role models — everyone looked like Sandra Dee and Doris Day. There was nobody who made me think, ‘Oh, I could be like them. They represent me.’
“Adam shows people that if you put blood, sweat and tears into what you’re doing, you can achieve something that’s special. You can be special. And I think that’s very brave.”
(Getty)
President Barack Obama wrote about Gonzalez, the bisexual president of Stoneman Douglas High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance who has called “B.S.” on NRA-funded politicians and other gun advocates, along with four of her fellow activists.
He said that “they have the power so often inherent in youth: to see the world anew; to reject the old constraints, outdated conventions and cowardice too often dressed up as wisdom.
(Getty)
“The power to insist that America can be better.”
Kesha, who came out as bisexual in 2013, was praised by Cyndi Lauper.
“Kesha spoke out against sexual harassment and assault long before the #MeToo movement was making headlines, and nearly lost her career as a result. But instead of going away quietly, she fought back,” wrote Lauper.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the list, the day after the royal couple told young LGBT representatives from The Commonwealth Equality Network that “five to 10 years ago, we wouldn’t be having these conversations… and now, here you are – the tide is changing.”
(Yui Mok/WPA Pool/Getty)
Anti-LGBT figures also feature on the list, with President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions – as well as the administration’s current nemesis, Robert Mueller.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty)
Zimbabwe’s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who in January shot down questions about whether he will roll back the state’s harsh anti-LGBT policies, was also included.
