female leaders

Out lesbian Jane Castor was elected as the new chief of the Tampa Police Department by Mayor Pam Iorio on Wednesday. She is the first women to be chief of the police in Tampa. Castor's promotion is also significant since she is openly gay, she has served for more than six years as a liaison to Tampa's gay and lesbian community.

The intersection between former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the lesbian director of Mamma Mia! makes for some award-worthy cinema. Director of this year's most powerful biopic, The Iron Lady, Phyllida Lloyd, talks about the film, casting Meryl Streep, and how being a woman and a lesbian affects the way she makes films.

Tammy Bruce, the chair of gay conservative group GOProud’s advisory council, says Willow Palin made a mistake when she took to Facebook and called a classmate a “faggot,” but she says the uproar over her use of the word is all about “destroying Sarah Palin by any means necessary.”

GLAAD has issued a call to action following degrading and defamatory anti-gay remarks from The War Room with Quinn & Rose host Jim Quinn on Clear Channel. The incident occurred on the Wednesday, July 28, 2010 show and the verbal bashing lasted roughly three minutes. Equating homosexuals to pedophiles and encouraging the discussion further, Quinn insisted, “I would give you that pedophilia is far more rampant among the gay community than it is among the straight community."

This is truly the Barbie that dreams are made of. 

Argentineans are celebrating the 50-year anniversary of Eva Perón’s disposition as the official spiritual leader of the South American country, this year, with a notable gesture. They’re putting the former first lady’s image on the 100-peso bill.

President Obama has nominated Brenda "Sue" Fulton to be first openly gay member of the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Fulton, the executive director of the LGBT West Point alumni group, Knights Out, was a graduate of West Point’s first class to include female cadets.

Phylicia Rashad will play the role of Georgia Howe, a lesbian who's head of the FBI's Civil Rights Division for new legal drama pilot.

'We must acknowledge that gender identity is not reducible to the body,' say Mt. Holyoke College officials of their historic decision to welcome applications from all trans students.

An 18th century botanist and explorer who lived as a man just for the opportunity to make discoveries has finally been honored centuries after her death. Jeanne Baret, a woman who disguised herself as a man to ship off with the first French naval expedition, may be the first woman to have circumnavigated the globe in 1766. During the three year voyage, accompanying longtime male companion and renowned botanist Philibert Commerson, Baret likely discovered several new plants, like the bougainvillea plant.

History being made...

'The country is ready for a woman president,' declares a new campaign from Emily's List called Madam President.

The Pennsylvania school's president describes the decision as based on inclusivity and the awareness that gender is fluid.

After Catholic leaders at The Vatican have condemned American nuns for caring too much about poverty and social justice, and not fighting against abortion or marriage equality rights, a group representing thousands of religious women are considering how to strike back.

Three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep paid homage to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a witty, thoughtful and moving speech delivered at Newsweek and The Daily Beast’s third annual Women in the World Summit this weekend at Lincoln Center. Among the other luminaries on hand at the event were Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, Molly Melching, who’s been living and working in Senegal to end female genital mutilation, Gloria Steinem, Angelina Jolie, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Diane von Furstenberg and Oprah Winfrey.

We don't know about you, but for us here at SheWired, it's been a long week. Recovering from a raucous time at Dinah Shore last weekend, we're in the mood for some good old-fashioned snark and female empowerment.