Lez Keep It Real

This week’s Notable Lesbian is:
Fannie Flagg
September 21, 1944

Fannie Flagg began her writing career in the 1960s, but she is probably best known for her novel, Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe. She went on to write the screen play for the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes which garnered her a great deal of attention, not to mention an Oscar nomination. Flagg also dabbled in some acting and appeared in minor roles in television shows and movies such as Grease.

Interesting tid bit:
Fannie Flag’s real name is Patricia Neal but she could not use it as her professional name because there was already an Oscar-winning actress with the same name. Flagg is openly lesbian and was the partner of author Rita Mae Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle) at one point in time. Despite her openness regarding her sexuality, she removed a substantial portion of the lesbian content in the movie version of Fried Green Tomatoes in order to make it more commercial.

Don’t forget about the Lez Keep it Real Contest! It’s still going on people because I haven’t had enough submissions. Submit and you can win!

More Notable Lesbians

If you have a suggestion for a Notable Lesbian, e-maill me at lyndsey.darcangelo@451press.net or use the contact form above and I’ll highlight her in an upcoming post.

*Some information provided by Wikipedia.com

Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes, Rita Mae Brown, Grease, notable lesbians, famous lesbians

The word is out. Hillary wants to be our President. And by “our” I mean “us,” the gays.

Yep, that’s right. Hillary wants to be a President for gay people. She wants to speak out on our behalf. She wants equality where it has otherwise been denied. And yet, she doesn’t believe in gay marriage.

How can Hillary profess one thing and then take a completely different stance on another? As sweet sounding and articulate as her words are, they are just that — words. And those words were written down the day before Super Tuesday.

Coincidence? I think not.

As far as I am concerned, Hillary can talk and talk all she wants. But until she walks the walk, I’m not buying it. Her hubby made the same kind of declaration a few years back, going on and on about how he wanted to make some real changes and how he was the President for gay people.

Remember what came of that? Absolutely nothing.

(cough) not too mention don’t ask don’t tell (cough)

Here’s Hillary’s little declaration in full, brought to you by our friends over at OurChart.
(more…)

Are you psyched? It’s Super Tuesday! Hooray …

(silence)

What? You mean you aren’t excited?

(crickets chirping)

Hmmm … could it be because there isn’t one candidate running for the Presidency who supports same-sex marriage? I feel you. The truth is that I’m far less than excited myself. I sort of know who I am going to vote for at this point, but my enthusiasm is that of a deflated balloon.

If you haven’t made up your mind, or you are still wondering where each of the candidates stand on gay marriage — here’s a quick run down courtesy of CNN:

Republicans

Mike Huckabee
Opposes same-sex marriage. (Big surprise!)

John McCain
Supports definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Says individual states should decide the issue. Says a federal marriage ban might be appropriate if courts overturned state marriage laws. Supports legal benefits for same-sex partners.
(Says one thing and then another — which is it?)

Mitt Romney
Opposes same-sex marriage. Opposes civil unions, though had supported a Vermont-style civil unions law for Massachusetts. (For God’s sake, evolve …)

Democrats

Hillary Clinton
Opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions. Says states should ultimately decide the issue. Opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Not bad … not good enough either.)

Barack Obama
Opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban. Supports civil unions. (On this issue, the only difference between you and Hillary is the color of your skin and the bathroom door you enter.)

Well, there it is. If you’re headed out to the poles, have a super time voting. I know I will. (Um … right.)

In other Super news … Sunday was the Superbowl.

Wow.

That’s basically all I have to say about that game. Give one up for the underdogs.

As for the commercials, my favorite was the Pepsi commercial with Justin Timberlake. (Sigh.)

Big surprise, right?

I thought that most of the commercials were pretty funny this year, except for a select few. Not everyone agreed with me though. The editor of After Elton.com felt that the Bridgestone commercial (the one where the guy in the car almost runs over Richard Simmons) was offense and a blatant attack on homosexuality.

Um … what?

I think he’s being just a tid bit oversensitive here. First off, Richard has never come out and said that he is gay (which the editor acknowledges but proceeds to defend his hypersensitivity regardless).

Second, I feel that the only reason why the guy in the ad wants to run Richard over is because he is extremely annoying. Not once did I link that to homosexuality. Richard Simmons grates on everyone’s nerves to a point, and his annoyance has nothing to do with sexuality. It has everything to do with his outrageous, loud and boisterous personality. Don’t make it out to be about something it isn’t.

Of course, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Read the editorial yourself and let me know what you think. While you’re at it, weigh in on your favorite Superbowl commerical or perhaps your favorite Presidential candidate.

It’s Super Tuesday, remember? Anything goes!

super tuesday, mitt romney, hillary clinton, barrack obama, john mccain, mike huckabee, superbowl, justin timberlake, after elton

If you ever desire to defame a woman’s character, just call her a “lesbian.” Upon making such slanderous allegations, you will see hands shoot directly to numerous mouths in disgust, abhorrent looks plastered all over everyone’s faces and the sudden disappearance of the person in question from the public eye.

How do I know this? Simple. It happened, quite recently, in my home town.

(more…)

Today’s Come Out & Play post spotlights Brothers and Sisters.

Brothers and sisters are known to have an indissoluble bond. They rely on each other in the most difficult of times and yet, torment each other to no end during the awkward years of adolescence.

I have two brothers: a twin and an older brother. My twin and I have always been close. There were the “growing pain” years, as I like to call them, during middle school and high school where we needed to carve out our own identity for a bit because everything we had gone through up to then had been encountered hip by hip. Other than those years, however, we’ve been insanely close. And I love him for that. He’s been there for me in ways I can’t even begin to describe, though I have tried.

That is why I was scared to death to tell him I was gay. I fabricated his reaction in mind over and over again until it became this three-headed monster I couldn’t ignore. I don’t know why I expected him to react so poorly, but I guess when we are coming out we all have these preconceived ideas about our friends and family that influence the way in which we think they are going to react.

I’m happy to say that I was wrong. When I told him, he simply shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

During the conversation, I had built up to such a climax that he said, “I thought you were going to say you pregnant!”

Needless to say, our bond is stronger than ever. He is one of my biggest supporters. My older brother is too. I couldn’t have asked for two better siblings. In fact, I plan on asking both of them to stand up with me at my wedding.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

For the sisters out there, I didn’t overlook you. I found this coming out story on HRC.org from Dawn of Santa Barbara, CA.

When I told my sister I was a lesbian, I was 14 years old and she was 10. She was outwardly supportive. That is, at least she did not hate me. Over time, I came to know that she was seriously confused. She did not really believe in homosexuality. She had decided that it was really just me being weird as usual. My sister and I talked often about it. Eventually, she began to realize that perhaps it was not so strange, especially with the way my mom was totally supporting me. She met many of my friends, who are also gay, and was totally scared by them all. But as time went by, she began to accept them. I soon found out that she had become a sort of peer counselor to friends that were struggling with their sexuality. She was able to tell them that her sister was gay, so she understood by association what they were going through. Now she is writing a persuasive essay for a class on why gay marriage should be legal. I am so proud of her. I have often told her that I look up to her, my little sister.

“Brother and sister,
together as friends,
ready to face
whatever life sends.
Joy and laughter
or tears and strife,
holding hands tightly
as we dance through life.”
~ Suzie Huitt

Tune in every Friday for the Come Out & Play series, featuring coming out stories of celebrities, every day people, personal reflections, advice, tid bits and everything else concerning the complicated world of coming out!

Got an interesting coming out story to tell? Contact me and I will feature it in an upcoming post of Come Out & Play.

coming out, come out and play, coming out stories, brothers and sisters, coming out to your bother or sister