Stacey Abrams, Janet Mock, Angelica Ross, and other LGBTQ advocates and allies have been honored on the Root 100 List.
The Root 100 is an annual list of the most influential African Americans aged 25 to 45 to honor innovators, leaders, public figures, and game changers in the black community.
Abrams topped the list for her candidacy for Governor of Georgia and her current work to fight voter suppression.
“[S]he’s laser-focused on combating voter suppression in battleground states through her Fair Fight 2020 initiative to protect people of color, the poor, LGBTQ folks, and seniors from the tricks of the imbalance status quo,” Abrams’ biography reads. “No matter what title she holds or if she has no title at all, she’s doing the work we always want politicians to be doing.”
Other LGBTQ allies and advocates who made the list include Blair Imani, a black, queer, and Muslim writer, activist, and historian; Ritchie Torres, the first openly LGBTQ person elected in the Bronx; Arlan Hamilton, the founder of Backstage Capital, a company that has invested in over 125 startups led by women, people of color, and LGBTQ founders; Lena Waithe, a writer, producer, director, actor, and lesbian woman; Zach Stafford, an award-winning journalist and the first African American to be named editor-in-chief of LGBTQ publication The Advocate; Law Roach, queer celebrity stylist; Janelle Monáe, a Grammy-nominated queer performer from Atlanta; Janet Mock, writer, director, and producer of Pose and the first transgender woman to make a content deal with a major studio; Steven Canals, the creator and executive producer of Pose; and Angelica Ross, the first trans person to land two series regular roles on TV with her performances in Pose and AHS: 1984.
A handful of Atlanta-based activists and artists also made the list along with Abrams and Monáe: Oronike Odeleye, who co-led the #MuteRKelly movement; Donald Glover, the mind behind show Atlanta; Cardi B, the first female rapper to have two No. 1 hits; and Manu Platt, an associate professor at Georgia Tech.
“This year’s list of honorees is a reminder of the beauty and brilliance of blackness, at a time when the political and cultural landscape has grown even more hostile to the idea of black achievement,” The Root said of this year’s winners.