Sheila Kuehl
Kuehl was elected to the California State Assembly in 1994, becoming the first openly gay person elected to the California legislature. While running for office Kuehl found she was able to offset some negative stereotypes people had about lesbians thanks to their familiarity with her role as Zelda. She told an interviewer "When people know gay people personally, they tend to feel differently about the whole community. And all of a sudden, here's a person that they knew very well that they found out was lesbian."
Sheila Copps
The Liberals came to power in the 1993 election, defeating Kim Campbell's Tories. Chrétien became prime minister following the election, and named Copps as deputy prime minister and minister of the environment. This marked the first time in Canadian history that a woman had been named to the post of deputy prime minister. Following a 1996 cabinet shuffle, she relinquished the Environment portfolio and became Minister of Canadian Heritage.