#LGBTQWomenMakeHistory

Fallon Fox is the first openly transgender athlete in Mixed Martial Arts history. She came out as trans in 2013 after winning her first victories in the MMA women’s division, drawing pushback and transphobic remarks from people like comedian Joe Rogan and fellow fighter Ronda Rousey. Despite the sometimes-vicious controversy surrounding her, Fox has remained focused on her martial arts training and a determination to live as her authentic self, deserving of equal treatment and respect. Thanks to women like her, public awareness and education about transgender women in sports continues to make slow but steady progress.

WNBA player Seimone Augustus is an eight-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion with the Minnesota Lynx, not to mention a three-time Olympic Gold Medalist with the U.S. women’s basketball team. But we most admire her for being one of the first high-profile athletes to publicly come out, in response to a 2012 ballot initiative in Minnesota that would have banned marriage equality in the state. “Everyone thinks that the WNBA is one big lesbo party anyway,” she joked at the time, but she was well aware that coming out was a risky move for her career at a time when the WNBA was wary of the stigma surrounding queer women athletes. Her decision to speak up made that choice easier for today’s generation and all the generations to come.

Sen. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin is the first openly LGBT woman elected to Congress. The openly gay Democrat served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999. She achieved the same milestone for the Senate in 2012, and was reelected in the 2018 midterms. She challenged the Trump administration on its rollbacks of LGBTQ rights, and voted to convict President Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress during his impeachment trial.