--- description: Find out why Sarah Kate Ellis is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Sarah Kate Ellis: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt703cc3d08d7c5ccf/698a3be316d8840a17c3bb8d/Sarah-Kate-Ellis-time100-2023-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Sarah Kate Ellis by Patricia Arquette  Emma McIntyre—WireImage/Getty Images As president and CEO of [GLAAD](https://www.glaad.org/ "undefined"), Sarah Kate Ellis is one of the most important voices in modern politics, full stop. She has long fought to ensure that people have equal rights under the law. In a position like hers, it’s not enough to just be smart, well-meaning, or a hard worker. She has that star quality, that X factor that makes people listen when she speaks. Amid the introduction of more than 450 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023 alone, Sarah Kate has made clear how this type of legislation negatively impacts the LGBTQ community and causes violence. After the [mass shooting at Club Q](https://time.com/6237513/colorado-springs-shooting-lgbtq-hate-speech/ "undefined") in Colorado Springs last year, I saw her educate people through the press about how hateful rhetoric has led to a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ crimes. LGBTQ people have always been treated by some as different and fearsome—and Sarah Kate, through her work and her beautiful example, has long stood up for what’s right. _Arquette is an Oscar-winning actor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/"},"headline":"Sarah Kate Ellis","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:05.166Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","t100booking2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt703cc3d08d7c5ccf/698a3be316d8840a17c3bb8d/Sarah-Kate-Ellis-time100-2023-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt703cc3d08d7c5ccf/698a3be316d8840a17c3bb8d/Sarah-Kate-Ellis-time100-2023-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/","name":"Sarah Kate Ellis"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269980/sarah-kate-ellis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```