Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American writer, stand-up comedian and actress. She earned the 1999 Emmy Award for her writing on The Chris Rock Show. In 2004 Entertainment Weekly named her as one of the 25 funniest people in America.

Sykes was married to record producer Dave Hall from 1991 to 1998. In October 2008, she married her female partner, Alex, whom she met in 2006. In November 2008, she publicly came out as lesbian while at a same-sex marriage rally in Las Vegas regarding Proposition 8, which forbids new marriages of same-sex couples in California. Alex gave birth to twins Olivia Lou and Lucas Claude on April 27,
2009.

Sykes expressed her excitement over the presidential election of Barack Obama, and feeling "crushed" after California voters passed state Proposition 8. She has continued to be active in same-sex marriage issues hosting events and emceeing fundraisers.

She said: "I got married October 25th. My wife is here. I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation, I didn’t think I had to. I was just living my life. I wasn’t necessarily in the closet, I was just living my life. Everyone that knows me personally, they know I’m gay. They know. That’s the way people should be able to live their lives.

If we had equal rights. We shouldn’t have to be standing out here demanding something that we automatically should have as citizens of this country. But I got pissed off. I said now I got to get in your face. And that’s what we all have to do now. They pissed off the wrong group of people. They have galvanized the community. We are so together now and we all want the same thing and we are not going to settle for less. Instead of having gay marriage in California, no, we’re going to get it across the country. Because when my wife and I leave California, I want to have my marriage also recognized in Nevada and Arizona and all the way to New York.

How can you stop people from loving each other? I’m sick of this shit, Oh, you made that choice. Gay is not a choice. That’s like telling me I chose to be a woman, I chose to be Black. Are we saying that if being gay is a choice, people are straight because they chose not to be gay? I am very proud to be a woman, I am proud to be a black woman, I am proud to be gay."

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