100+ Queer and Trans Women to Follow on Instagram

Fashion

Amber Rose

https://instagram.com/p/6iPO7okqwh/?taken-by=amberrose

Stella Maxwel

View this post on Instagram

Ur turning Violet, Violet!!!!

A post shared by Stella! (@stellamaxwell) on

Andreja Pejic

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Keep that, keep that body strong

A post shared by Andreja Pejic (@andrejapejic) on

Arabelle Sicardi

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Dripping in gooooooold oh dripping in gold

A post shared by Arabelle Sicardi (@arabellesicardi) on

AzMarie Livingston

https://instagram.com/p/7T5_f7gBTl/?taken-by=azmarieofficial


Food

Cat Cora

https://instagram.com/p/5NZ4jQNB6A/?taken-by=catcora

Melissa King

Jamie Lauren

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Excuse me, I'm making a phone call. #billandteds #80snight

A post shared by jamie lauren (@chefjamielauren) on

Kristen Kish

Anne Burrell

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Just hanging out with "Uncle Cy"… #saratoga @nyra

A post shared by Anne Burrell (@chefanneburrell) on

Susan Feniger

Kylie Kwong

Elizabeth Falkner

Ashley Merriman

Josie Smith-Malave


Comics

Cameron Esposito

Elicia Sanchez

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Backstage at Hari Kondabolu's Scratch Nights!

A post shared by El Sanchez (@elsanchovilla) on

Deanne Smith

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too. sweaty.

A post shared by DeAnne Smith (@deanne_smith) on

Tig Notaro

https://instagram.com/p/bY_Y8XElUi/?taken-by=tignotaro

Fortune Feimster

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1719 articles for us.

48 Comments

  1. Heather, this list is great! You’re on fire this week. :)

    Danielle Brooks is queer?!? That’s exciting.

    Also, a quick correction: I think you meant to write “Andreja” Pejic, not “Andrej.” Thanks!

    • Danielle Brooks is not an “out” queer. She’s yet another OITNB cast member outed by Autostaddle. Hypocrites.

      • Though they have now broken up and have since scrubbed their accounts of photos of each other, Danielle Brooks and her girlfriend Nneka had one of the most public instagram relationships I remember seeing in a long time (which seems particularly relevant here, since its an article about who to follow on instagram). Lots of pictures, lots of hearts, ewey gooey declarations, lots of “I love yous”. They went on vacation together to Europe and insta-documented the whole thing, complete with heart and kisses emojis, etc. So, while Danielle never did the public interview “I’m gay!” thing- I don’t think she was hiding it either.

        I guess what I’m trying to say, is I’m not sure what constitutes “outing” someone in situation like this, you know? Danielle never gave an magazine cover style interview, but in many ways she was more open about who she was loving in her life than I think we understand to be typical for celebrities who were maintaining their “closet” say, Kristen Stewart or Ellen Page before either of them “came out”.

        I just think it’s complicated in this social media heavy world. If Danielle didn’t want to be out, I don’t think that she or her ex would have been so public on social media. But, what do I know?

        I’m not standing up necessarily for AS here, who I remember calling out for including Robin Roberts on a list of LGBT news anchors YEARS before she actually came out. In fact, I would be interested to know more about their policy here, especially as we get more of these fun “vapid fluff” pieces. I don’t think it’s ok to out a celebrity against their will. Obviously. I’m just saying that I think Danielle in particular is a complicated question that can’t be easily summarized as “AS are being hypocrites”.

        • Related, here are some “Definite-100%-No Grey Area-For Sure” queer black women that could be added to this list in Danielle’s place (since there aren’t a whole lot of black women on the list to begin with)

          Nneka Okurah (who I just mentioned above, she also has a documentary doing the festival circuit about masculine of center queer black women called “The Same Difference” that is getting great reviews and has been becoming more of a known “celebrity” in queer women of color circles. Also also, she’s besties with Raven Symone):

          https://instagram.com/nikes_nae/?hl=en

          Az Marie Livingston (black androgynous model, famous for ANTM, also can now be seen on “Empire”):

          https://instagram.com/iamaziam/?hl=en

          Danielle Moodie-Mills (black queer activist, writer, tv media commentator. She’s a lot like Janet Mock, in terms of her mix of media work and activism, she works in beltway politics. She does a lot of MSNBC work. She and her wife were famous for being the first black lesbian couple to be featured in Essence magazine’s wedding section. Her instagram is full of positive/inspirational quotes, if that is your thing):

          https://instagram.com/deetwocents/

          • Thanks so much, C.P.! I’ll add these to the post right now!

            As for Danielle Brooks, she was in an openly queer relationship on social media. We’ve reached a place in our culture where when celebrities are out of their own volition on their own social media, and at public events and stuff, we’re going to assume they’re cool with being talked about as queer.

            People don’t have to do “Yep, I’m gay!” stories in People magazine anymore because it’s not such a huge deal to be queer in Hollywood anymore. Like in KStew’s interview where she talked about her girlfriend, she was actually mostly annoyed that people wanted her to make some huge announcement. She was like, “Um, I’m not hiding anything? You know who I’m with.”

            The idea of “outing” someone is becoming a little antiquated in the celebrity world because when we talk about it with that language, we’re saying there’s something wrong with it or that it’s something that should be hidden away. More and more women (even famous ones!) are just getting girlfriends and posting photos of them on Twitter and that’s that. No big deal.

        • I just remember Danielle clearly saying that she was straight in several interviews and refusing to admit she was queer. Rumor has it that her ex-gf leaked pics to MediaTakeout of them together because Danielle broke op over her not wanting to be open about her sexuality.

          If true, it’s apparent that Danielle is hiding her sexuality.

  2. “Do you ever wonder how much merch Autostraddle staffers wear, really?”

    Too real, Heather. Too real.

  3. Too many beautiful people.

    Queer women I follow that I didn’t see on the list: Sarah Paulson and Natasha Negovanlis (yes, I’m obsessed with Carmilla, I know.). Heart eyes for both of them.

  4. Ok, so I may have to get an Instagram account finally. I was super anti-instagram, but this post has convinced me that i cannot live without it.

  5. OMG COWBOY AT THE END BEING A JERK IN THE RAIN
    Cowboy popping up twice in this, actually
    I love this

    yes of course she’s queer

  6. Is it bad I thought Hannah Hart was the actress who played Luna Lovegood :S

    Agreed Erin McLeod should be on this list!

  7. This was a missed opportunity to list Hannah Gadsby directly after Ruby Rose given Hannah’s #rubyroseunderstudy photos :)

  8. I don’t know, I feel like following any of these would be like mega spoilers for No Filter. I mean, what if I glimpsed a Cara Delevigngngne limb tornado picture before getting Stef’s official Vapid Fluff-sanctioned take on it? Unfiltered sadness.

  9. Other countries have queer “soccer” players too- Lianne Sanderson of England Women’s Football team and Portland Thorns has strong Instagram game.

  10. Cool roundup! Though I feel like the title of this piece could be more inclusive? E.g. ‘queer women and trans people’, not ‘queer and trans women’ … Because a bunch of these people are non-binary.

  11. Neat! I especially liked the food folks (but I may just be a bit hungry right now).

    I think the image used in Jenny Shimizu’s entry is actually of her spouse, Michelle Violy Harper.

  12. I can’t even believe how many of these beautiful people I was not following! Also now I am following SO MANY. <3

Comments are closed.