Three more inductees announced for LGBTQ+ Political Hall of Fame

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute has chosen three more 2024 inductees to its LGBTQ+ Political Hall of Fame.

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They are North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge John Arrowood, Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem, and Claudia López, the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia.

They join Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in this year’s class, as voted by the LGBTQ+ Victory Action Board of Directors. Buttigieg, who has also been mayor of South Bend, Ind., and sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, was inducted in August during the Democratic National Convention.

The new honorees will be inducted December 7 during the 2024 International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C.

“The 2024 nominees are not only historic firsts and trailblazers for our community, but they are highly impactful leaders, accomplished public servants, and respected for their work,” Victory Institute President and CEO Annise Parker said in a press release. “Their impact has paved the way for those who have followed them and has greatly furthered our mission of making governments worldwide more equitable for LGBTQ+ people. We are honored to induct them among our global list of LGBTQ+ political changemakers and commemorate their impact on history.”

Arrowood, a gay man, is the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community elected to a statewide office in the South. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, appointed him to the Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy in 2017, and the following year North Carolina voters elected Arrowood to a full eight-year term. He had served on the Court of Appeals in 2007-2008 as well under appointment by another Democratic governor, Mike Easley.

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Arrowood has also been a Superior Court judge and an attorney in private practice, specializing in commercial litigation with the Charlotte-area firm of James, McElroy & Diehl.

Roem is the first out transgender person to serve in a state legislature. A Democrat, she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 from a northern Virginia district and served three terms there, then was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2023. She is the nation’s second out trans state senator — Sarah McBride in Delaware was the first — as well as the first in Virginia or in any southern state.

In the legislature, she has focused on infrastructure improvement and economic development, and in elections, she has consistently bested anti-LGBTQ+ opponents.

López, a lesbian, was the first out LGBTQ+ person elected mayor of any Latin American capital city. She was elected mayor of Bogotá in 2019, the first woman to achieve that distinction, and served from January 2020 until December 2023. She also has been a senator and a vice-presidential candidate. She has been a prominent advocate for social equity, justice, women’s rights, and environmental sustainability.

The LGBTQ+ Victory Institute is a sister organization of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund. Victory Fund works to elect out candidates, while Victory Institute provides training and leadership development.