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 Kuehl
Kuehl previously had a ten-year romantic relationship with Torie Osborn, who served as a deputy mayor in L.A. Osborn went on to support Kuehl's run for Supervisor and joined her staff as principal deputy for strategy and policy.