Angela Davis and Cherríe Moraga have been named among the Top 25 Significant Queer Women of 2011 by Velvetpark - Dyke Culture in Bloom, the online lesbian arts and culture website.

Crafted by their editorial team, the primary determinants for consideration has been female-identified or non-gender-binary persons who have made a significant contribution to lesbian/dyke/trans/queer visibility in the areas of arts, culture and activism, or who made a critical impact on our social equality this year.

In selecting Angela Davis, Velvetpark wrote:

"Known for her work in the Communist Party USA, the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party and women's and prisoner's rights, Angela Davis reclaimed her “rabble-rouser” mantle in 2011.

The 99% may not have a specific face, but it’s hard not to think of Davis as a kind of figurehead of this leader-less movement. She traveled the country this fall, making various speeches at a handful of OWS encampments, including Occupy Oakland, Occupy Washington Square Park, Occupy Philly, and Occupy Wall Street. Echoing "Down with capitalism!" cheers  through the newly popular form of the “human microphone,” Davis said the public "should imagine a time when money becomes obsolete,” and that, “[i]n the meantime, there is a whole range of issues that can define our radical struggle.”"

Regarding Cherríe Moraga's inclusion on the list, Velvetpark had this to say:

Since the publication of This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color in 1981, Cherríe Moraga has dedicated herself through her scholarship, art (as a playwright and poet) and activism not just to the feminist cause or Chicana feminist cause, but, more acutely, to advancing, exploring and advocating Xicana feminism—with an “x” to signify her personal and political investment in civil rights as a queer, Chicana lesbian.

This year, Moraga published the capstone of her lifelong achievements—which range from book awards (PEN West, Critics’ Circle, an American Book Award) to being named a USA Rockfeller Fellow in 2007: A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness: Writings, 2000-2010. In 2012, Moraga will debut her first play in fifteen years, New Fire: To Put Things Right Again, a dramatization of Indigenous American mythologies “to tell a 21st century story of rupture, migration and homecoming.”

SpeakOut is proud to work with both these incredible women - if you are interested in bringing them to your campus or community to speak, contact us at 510-601-0182 or via email: info@speakoutnow.org

To see the full list of the Top 25 Significant Queer Women of 2011 at Velvetpark: click here.