Elliot Page among LGBTQ+ figures on Time’s most-influential people list
Sign up for more LGBTQ+ news and updates at TrueQueer.
Hollywood star Elliot Page has been named as one of Time’s most-influential people of the year for 2024. Time magazine released its list of the most-influential people of 2024 on Wednesday (17 April), with Page among a host of other LGBTQ+ names.
The list aims to recognize the impact, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential people. Page, who last month told PinkNews he wanted to fight against the “endless, full-blown lies” told about the trans community with information and education, has been celebrated by Time under its icons section. In an accompanying tribute, trans activist Raquel Willis wrote: “Elliot Page’s brilliance first struck my high school besties and me with his performance in Juno in 2007. His brand of anxious teen nihilism felt raw and oh-so-millennial in a way few actors had pulled off for our generation by then.”
Willis noted that the Umbrella Academy star, who came out publicly as trans in 2020, has gone on to become a “queer Hollywood icon,” who she had the fortune of meeting last year. She praised his memoir Pageboy, which was published as right-wingers continued to threaten trans people’s rights. “Elliot remains undeterred, letting down the shield that his platform and privileges afford, and championing grassroots activist efforts like the Gen-Z–guided trans prom at the US Capitol,” Willis said. “In whatever he does, Elliot is aware that his truth and power serve as a light in which others can see their own.”
Other LGBTQ+ leaders and allies have been recognized by Time magazine. The president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Kelley Robinson, who in February demanded that the Department of Justice “promptly begin an investigation” into the treatment of trans pupil Nex Benedict at Owasso High School, in Oklahoma, has been named under Time’s titans section. Robinson is the first Black queer to lead the HRC. The tribute, written by GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis, recognized Robinson as having “a voice that demands to be heard,” adding that “her dream of freedom for all truly means all.”
Chef Dominique Crenn is a trailblazer in her industry and, in 2018, became the first woman chef in the US to earn three Michelin stars. In 2019, she refused to serve meat in her restaurant in a bid to highlight industrial factory farming. Crenn, who has plans to marry long-time partner actress Maria Bello, has been celebrated by Time under in its innovators segment. In a tribute written by fellow chef Alice Waters, Crenn is acknowledged for her Paris restaurant, Golden Poppy, and the “poetry” she brings to food.
Gay fashion designer Jonathan Anderson is also on Time’s list and has been praised for producing work that “is always ahead of the curve,” by Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino. In his Time tribute, Guadagnino wrote: “Jonathan is one of the most intelligent, empathetic, and curious people I know, but he also has a wonderful sense of humour and a capacity not to take himself too seriously.” Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, Anderson has created outfits for the likes of Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Zendaya. He is the creative director for Spanish fashion house Loewe, as well as having his own line, JW Anderson.
Professor Katsuhiko Hayashi has also been named as an innovator, with a tribute written by fellow researcher Shinya Yamanaka. In March 2023, Hayashi presented findings relating to scientists being able to create lab-grown egg cells by using the skin cells of male mice. The professor at Osaka University, in Japan, whose work aims to help same-sex couples or people with infertility problems have children, has been hailed as “well aware of the scientific and ethical challenges” in the intricate work he carries out.
Lesbian human rights and social justice advocate Ophelia Dahl has been recognized as a pioneer. The co-founder of international public health not-for-profit organization Partners in Health has been celebrated as deeply inspiring. Written by John Green, an author and a trustee for Partners in Health, the Time tribute noted: “Even when everything feels hopeless and the world’s problems feel intractable, Ophelia has shown that together we can heal the sick and the world.”
Another LGBTQ+ hero celebrated in Time’s icon section is Frank Mugisha, who is the executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda and one of the few out gay people in the East African country. His tribute was written by former First Lady and US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “Only through the undaunted work of leaders like Frank, whose courage has earned him the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, will true equality be achieved,” she said.
Another icon celebrated is LGBTQ+
Follow us on: Facebook for more LGBTQ+ news and updates at TrueQueer.
Elliot Page, LGBTQ+
