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."
Zaleha Ismail
In 1968 she became a regular member of UMNO and eventually the UMNO Supreme Council of Malaysia. She was involved in politics for 30 years. she started contesting in the 1978 Malaysian General Election for the Permatang State Assembly seat, Selangor. She continued to be Deputy Transport Minister from 1987 to 1995 when she became a Member of Parliament of Malaysia (Gombak). The peak of her career came as she took on the National Unity & Ministry of Social Development as Minister, from 1995 to 1999. In Malaysia's 1999 general election, she defeated PAS, Dr. Hatta Ramli with a majority of 1,176 votes.