Recently in Lesbian Category

The Advocate' s Anne Stockwell caught up with Heather Matarazzo and Caroline Murphy at a same-sex wedding expo and they talked about how their romance got started, why tuxes on women are sexy, and why both partners should get to propose.

On their meeting:
Caroline: "I went outside to smoke a cigarette, and she came out, and it was like this very across-the-room, time stopped -- "

"It was soul-to-soul recognition," Heather added. "I don't think I'll ever be able to explain it, but it's fun to try. It was like my soul knew before my thinking self realized what was going on."

Caroline resumed, "And I was looking at [Heather's recurring character] Stacy Merkin from The L Word. And I was like really upset at some of the choices that that character had made, in terms of upsetting the veterinarian woman. So I was thinking, Damn you, Stacy Merkin! And Heather came up to me and said, 'Do I know you from somewhere?' And I said [gruffly], 'Possible. Not likely.' And I walked off! And I took a few steps away and went, 'What did I just do?'"

To read the entire piece, go to Advocate.com

Lindsay Lohan is holding Samantha Ronson's hand as the two are snapped at Samantha's birthday party this week. This seems to me to be about as public as they have been to date about their affection.

Looks like they are having fun together!

The actress who we first came to know in the indie face "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (She was Dawn Weiner), played Ryan Phillippe's little sister in "54," and lit up the "Princess Diaries" flicks, will marry Carolyn Murphy, her girlfriend of more than a year.

Congratulations to Heather on the upcoming wedding and for being an out and proud young actress!

I hadn't seen "South of Nowhere" but that didn't stop me from interviewing two of the show's stars: Gabrielle Christian who plays a high schooler involved in a lesbian relationship; and Maeve Quinlan who plays her mother.

The show, which follows the lives of the members of the Carlin family as they adjust to moving from Ohio to Los Angeles, was cancelled after three seasons but will return this fall with its last original eight episodes.

I spoke with Gabrielle and Maeve at the GLAAD Awards in late April as I continue to post these "lost interviews" during my summer vacation:

One of the main focuses of the show is the relationship between Spencer Carlin (Christian) and her out and proud friend, Ashley Davies (Mandy Musgrave). The close friendship between the girls eventually led Spencer to question her own sexuality.

"It's really been an incredible journey just kind of coming out of your shell for me - I'm straight in real life - and coming into a character who is exploring the journey of her sexual identity," Gabrielle said. "It's interesting because you find out so much about people that you wouldn't generally experience. People have these stereotypes of what lesbian women are like. Our show kind of stayed clear of all those stereotypes. My character is just a girl from the Midwest who falls in love with another girl and that's what it's all about. It's not about sexual exploitation or sensationalizing the whole idea of being a lesbian - like, it's hot. It's more about the emotional involvement which is really exciting to play."

I wondered of Gabrielle hears from many young gays and lesbians who watch the show and gotten feedback from them.

"Yeah, very good feedback." she said. "Our show is one of the first that deals with lesbian girls in high school as opposed to just the boys. So for girls, it;s kind of like a new outlet for them to see another girl being through it."

For Maeve, the role of the mom of the family came after she had been a cast member of the CBS soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" for more than a decade. Here, in her own words, is what her experience playing the mother of a gay teen:

"I feel such a tremendous responsibility because because I have such close girlfriends, who, when they were coming out, they could never come out at that age in high school. As a matter of fact, one of my friends just came out at 40 to her mother though she's been living a gay lifestyle for 15 years. So I feel a tremendous responsibility because I feel that kids nowadays, with television, we have the means to give them a real message.whereas when we were growing up, they didn't have programs like this. Girls my age always say to me, 'I wish we had a show like 'South of Nowhere' back when we had 'The Brady Bunch.' Those were great shows that we fun but they didn't have anything like this.
"I hope I'm doing a good job. i play a homophobic character so it's very difficult for me personally to play her. She came around this season, which is great. I hope the show, in the end, has given a lot of hope and I hope that girls, guys, whoever is watching this with their parents, that they don't feel so alone and maybe their parents hopefully will learn something. Thank God for MySpace because we get the instant gratification of knowing we're making a difference."

Maeve has moved on to the irreverent lesbian-themed Internet romp, "3WAY" about a straight soap actress who moves her best gay girlfriend into her home only to be followed by an array of whacky lesbian characters.

I'm not insulting your intelligence. I know that you know damned well who the fabulous Jane Lynch is. She's the subject of my Daily News column today which is written for more of a mainstream audience than Out In Hollywood. I don't want to write an entirely different version for the blog so I'm writing this note. OK, here it is:

Chances are, you've seen plenty of Jane Lynch movies.

The name doesn't ring a bell?

Okay, think of the personal dog handler in the mockumentary "Best In Show," or Steve Carell's horny boss in "The 40 Year Old Virgin," or Will Ferrell's mom in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

Believe it or not, it's all the same actress who appears in so many movies and television shows that she's got to be in the running for the title of hardest working woman in showbiz.

"I do it all, I very rarely say no and I just love to work. If they keep asking me, I'll keep showing up," Jane said when we spoke recently. "I'm just riding a wave that I'm really thrilled with and that I'm extremely grateful for. I'm really happy. I'm on top of the world."
If you ask Jane, who turned 48 earlier this month, what projects she has coming out next, expect a long answer!

"I have a movie called "The Rocker" with Rainn Wilson coming out in August and a movie called "Another Cinderella Story" with Selena Gomez where I play the wicked stepmother," she began. "And a movie called "Post-Graduate Survival Guide" and a movie called "Little Big Men" with Paul Rudd. And also, I did a film with Meryl Streep just recently called "Julie/Julia" about Julia Child. It was a magic time for me. To lock eyes with the great Meryl Streep and be her sister, it was amazing."
I wondered how Jane can possibly tackle such a wide variety of roles. She made it sound like a snap: "They're all different people and you just hook into something a little different inside of you and you make some physical choices and you've got a completely different person."

Jane had an extensive theater background and had done scores of smaller parts in movies and television before her career took off in "Best In Show."

That career momentum was not at all deterred when Jane appeared on the cover of The Advocate a few years ago and discussed her life as a lesbian.

"I'm happy to report that for me, it doesn't seem to effect anything," she said of her sexuality. "If I've lost something or have not been considered for something, it's been behind my back and I don't know about it. But you know what else? I'm a character actor. If I were an ingenue, or a love interest type of character, it might make a difference."

Online extra:
Jane appeared at the end of this week's Outfest Closing Night feature "Tru Loved" as a pal of Alec Mapa's character.

"I'm in it for a nanosecond but I'm very proud to be in it or that nanosecond because it tells a story that hasn't been told before believe it or not. It's about a girl being brought up by two moms who's trying to fit to a pretty conservative school and society and through the openness of her heart and her charm, she brings people over to her. It's really a lovely story. It's good for kids to see."

Happy birthday to the incredible actress, Jane Lynch.

There may still be plenty of stars who are choosing to remain in the closet, but Jane is not one of them. Since co-starring in "Best of Show," her star has been on a steady rise with so many memorable roles including Steve Carell's boss in "The 40 Year Old Virgin," Will Ferrell's 's mom in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and a hilarious send-up of a Mary Hart-type anchor in "For Your Consideration." She next appears with Meryl Streep in the film "Julia & Julie/"

I did an interview with Jane last week at Outfest opening night and will share it with you later this week.

Poor Amelie Mauresmo.

Just two years ago, the tennis tour's most prominant out player, was ranked number one in the world with the Australian Open title in her pocket. She would go on to add Wimbledon to her trophy collection in the summer.

But since then, she's been in a free-fall and that continued Thursday when she was beaten by a low-ranked qualifier in the second round of the French Open. It is her home tournament and she has longed stuggled there (French players often feel immense pressure in Paris) but I was hoping she would be able to reverse her sagging fortunes.

Hang in there Amelie!

...The Oscar winning singer-songwriter turns 47 today! The mother of four has been such an inspiration through her music, her activism and her battle over breast cancer. Who can forget when she took the stage during the Grammys one year with a completely bald head? She's articulate and thoughtful and asked tough questions during the LGBT Democratci presidential debate.

Melissa is just one of those class acts who you are so proud to have as a member of the LGBT community.

I've been reading the reports in recent days on all kinds of sites that Jodie Foster's 14-year relationship with Cydney Bernard is on the rocks. Is it true? I have no idea. The first report came from the National Enquirer which is why I ignored it. And now it has gradually spread to such a point that the Enquirer isn't even being attributed anymore...to anyone!

One thing is for sure: Jodie is not going to set the record straight for us. She's not going to release a statement or do an interview with "The Insider." The only thing she has ever said about the relationship was something I heard wirth my own ears back in December when she received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Towards the end of a wonderful speech, Jodie thanked "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss."

I was surprised to hear her thank Cydney publicly and figured it would be all over the news by the time I got to the office. It wasn't. I was the only journalist there who wrote about it and from there, it became worldwide news. That story fell in my lap. If there's a different story going on now, I cannot say.

Earlier posts:
- Jodie Foster thanks "my beautiful Cydney" at women's power breakfast...

-- Thoughts on my Jodie Foster story

I'm so excited to see this story on my friend Karen Ocamb in LA Weekly (one of the LA People of 2008) that I am going to post the entire thing. What Karen does becomes all the more important as the battle to preserve gay marriage in California heats up. I'd say that Karen would be working harder than ever but I don't think that's possible!

Here's the story, "Hard news as a civil right," by Patrick Range McDonald

On a recent Monday morning, Karen Ocamb sits back on a couch and gears up for another heavy week of hard-news journalism. Her one-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood is the command center, where she calls up sources, writes copy on a MacBook Pro and always keeps the television turned on to MSNBC or CNN as her three dogs lie around and nap. For 20 years, Ocamb has been reporting about a world few Los Angeles journalists, if any, have covered so consistently and with such passion.

"These are civil rights issues," she says. "Whenever someone is denied the right to the pursuit of happiness, we should all be concerned. That's what I continue to write about."

It was so much fun to see Dr. Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith) lean over and plant a long and sexy kiss on Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) in the elevator as Dr. McSteamy (Eric Dane) looked on in shock (and delight!).

I think this is only the beginning for Callie and Erica!

Sara Ramirez was on "The View" this morning and looked absolutely gorgeous. She wrapped up the fourth season of "Grey's Anatomy" last weekened then flew to New York to announce the Tony Award nominations yesterday. She, of course, is a Tony winner herself for "Spamalot" and the threater-loving women of "The View" started heaping compliments her way the minute she sat down:

Whoopi Goldberg: "Your voice. You are brilliantly funny and fabulously talented."
Joy Behar :You basically stopped that show ("Spamalot").
Sara recalled what it was like the moment she won her Tony: It felt amazing. I had my mother and my best friend next to me and I was not prepared to walk up there in that dress! (pictured, right) James Earl Jones is saying my name and he's saying it right! (It's pronounced Sada)

OK, didn't mean to bury the lede: Sara also talked about the possibility that her character of Callie Flores on "Grey's Anatomy" might enter into a lesbian relationship with
Brooke Smith's surgeon character. Callie has taken up with Dr. McSteamy (Eric Dane) and a clip shown on "The View" shows Callie teasingly saying to him: "We're lovers didn't uou know?... Look me in the eye and tell me you're not thinking about a threesome.You're not thinking of her and me and you and a video camera."

Ha! I love it!

Sara said Wednesday of the lesbian possibility: "It's so interesting because nothing has really happened yet there is a lot of buzz and speculation and perhaps some assumptions ... It's a revolutionary show with universal truths about relationships. If (creator and head writer) Chandra Rhimes decdes she wants to expand that further and expand our homophobic horizons, I think it's great."

So do we!

When I saw Cynthia Nixon talk about her girlfriend Christine Marinoni on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" a few weeks ago, I was touched by her obvious love for this woman. But in the blogosphere, all I ever read is disparaging remarks about Christine's appearance. It is ridiculous. She's not a Hollywood star, so don't expect her to look like Halle Berry or Charleze Theron or even Cynthia.

I wish people would stop that kind of garbage and celebrate the same-sex love, a couple who is high-profile and showing the world that doesn't want to give us equal rights that gay people aren't all shallow and want to be in relationships.

Had to get that off my chest. Now on to the news. Cynthia, in London for the premiere of "Sex and the City," told The Mirror that she would love to marry Christine: "It's something my girlfriend is interested in and it was not something my boyfriend ever was. I think that to get married to her would be a little act of rebellion. It's like if you've never had the vote and then you get it you're going to run out there and vote."

She also said that she's never been in love with a woman before, , "I had been with men all my life and I had never met a woman I had fallen in love with before. But when I did, it didn't seem so strange. I don't define myself. I'm just a woman in love with another woman."

I think they make a beautiful couple...

Caught the cast of "Sex and the City" on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" yesterday. Less than a month to go before the movie opens! The Big O asked Cynthia Nixon about her relationship with girlfriend Christine Marinoni.

"I was pretty shocked I have to tell ya," Cynthia said of falling in love with a woman. "It kinda made my day."

Then Oprah asked the other women, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis: "Were you all as shocked as we were?"

Kristin was the only one who knew about the relationship before it became public news and Cynthia said: "They were all really great in the things they said to the press."

Though she dated men most of her life, Cynthia says when she met her girlfriend, it didn't matter to her if she was male or female. She was in love.

"Love is love," Kristin said. "I think that's the important thing. There's something real and intangible and solid about it that you can't really dissect or analyze. That's how I feel when I'm around them. It's just undeniable."

SJP said Cynthia's happiness is all that matters. "[Cynthia] is such a capable, smart-thinking person, and our greatest concern was that Cynthia be happy," she said. "No one is better equipped to answer questions, and no one knows how to be more circumspect and how to draw the line. We were merely to follow suit, and we were happy, very happy to do so."

Oprah, wanting more, remarked: "Love is love but she'd been in a 15-year relationship with another kind of love," she said, referring to the father of Cynthia's two children.

Cynthia basically left Oprah with nothing left to say when she said: "Well, have you met my girlfriend?"

She must be amazing.

The audience was shown the flick - except for the last 20 minutes - and Sarah Jessica made them wow not to tell their friends about the plot: "You can brag, but don't blog!"

Cattral, Nixon and Davis and the women talked about what it was like to have such huge crowds show up along the streets of NYC to watch them film,

Kim: "I felt like a Beatle."
SJP: "It was madness...you can't be anything less than thrilled that people still care."

Oprah loves the flick: "Every one of tem just acted their little asses off... I don't think anyone has a tush left."

I don't watch "The L Word" but I know plenty of lesbians and straight men who absolutely love it. So, they will be happy to know that one of the stars of the Showtime series, Elizabeth Keener, who played aggressive businesswoman "Dawn Denbo" on the show, is set to have a new hour-long drama series all her own.

Here! TV announced today that it has signed a development deal with Elizabeth (pictured above with Cameron Manheim) who will also have a hand in developing the series that is being described as "a cross between 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Twin Peaks,'"

She will play a lesbian FBI agent sent on an extended undercover assignment in a mysterious small town who juggles personal demons with the demands of her investigation. She soon finds herself increasingly enmeshed in the lives of the town's inhabitants.

In this Sunday's PARADE, Jodie Foster opens up about her childhood influences, how she almost quit acting and what she wants most for her children.

On Her Early Sense of Responsibility "I ask myself, 'What did I miss?'" I had my little rebellions, but they were minimal. So I ask, 'Why didn't I rebel more?' Then I remember -- because I was responsible for someone else. That's why I couldn't rebel. That's why I couldn't get lost for days on end. I always had to work."

On How Taxi Driver Changed Her Career "Before that, somebody would say, 'OK, here are your lines. You go here and do this and that. Just try to make it as natural as possible. With Taxi Driver, I had this eureka moment. I realized that acting could be much more than what I had been doing. I had to build a character that wasn't me."

On Her Childhood Attitude Toward Acting "To me, acting didn't seem like much of a profession. My mom always said, 'By the time you're 16, your career will be over. So what do you want to do then?' She was correct. Most child actors' careers end early. They're lost."

On Life After College "I saw leaving college as an opportunity to do something different with my life. I always thought that becoming an academic was going to be my path. I could've gone to New York, but I went back to Los Angeles because it was where I was from."

On What She Looks for in a Movie "I make dark dramas, movies about people living in desperate fear who then overcome that fear and find a heroic side to themselves."

One Raising Her Children "Boys are easy. I mean, there are just a lot of bruises when they're young. With boys, you get a lot of accidental jabs in the eye and stepping on your feet, and those tantrums they cause when they don't want to leave the toy store. ... But my boys are getting older now. They go to school all day, and then one wants to do T-ball and the other wants to do karate, so they're actually gone until four-thirty. I want them to have curiosity about things they don't know, and a desire to see places bigger than where they grew up."

I'm sure if Jodie Foster didn't have movies to promote, she'd shy away from doing interviews like the one that appears on the cover of Sunday's Parade. The cool site JustJared.com featured some curious excerpts today:

On protecting her kids, Charles Bernard Foster, 9, and Kit Bernard Foster, 6, from the spotlight: "I do what I can. We try not to go out at night or go places where there'll be 20 photographers. I try to minimize their exposure to assaults."

On being tight-lipped about her personal life: "I don't think there is any good thing about fame. In this business, in order to care for yourself and the people you love, you have to separate your professional life from your personal life."

And here's the real surprise:
On having not yet fallen in love: "Oh, my life is basically from the head up. I'm definitely not proud of that. I'm very analytical."

I assuming that last answer was taken out on context since Jodie is in a longtime relationship with Cydney Bernard who she. for the first time anyone can recall, at a breakfast for Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment in December.

I was there, broke the story and believed it was Jodie's way of acknowledging in a public what she never discusses in interviews.

Earlier posts: Jodie Foster thanks "my beautiful Cydney" at women's power breakfast...

Thoughts on my Jodie Foster story...

My friend Betty is just over the moon over this: Showtime's "The L Word" is returning for a sixth season! That's the good news. The bad news: It will be the swan song for the popular lesbian drama with an all-star cast headed from day one by Jennifer Beals and features such later additions as Marlee Matlin and Cybil Shepherd.

"The L Word" follows a group of Los Angeles-based friends as they navigate careers, families, friendships, personal struggles and romantic relationships. The series became the first lesbian primetime drama on television when it debuted in January 2004.

Eight episodes have been ordered for the last season, down from the usual 12-13 episodes during the first five seasons. Production is set to begin in early summer for an early 2009 premiere. The Season 5 finale is set to air March 23.

Says series creator Ilene Chaiken: "This is by no means the end of 'The L Word. The brand and the social network community, OurChart.com, will continue to live and be a destination for lesbians everywhere and a lasting tribute to what 'The L Word' has accomplished."

She's the only child of Sonny and Cher and has used the spotlight to become an LGBT activist and author. Her book "Family Outing" came along at a time when I really needed to read it more than a decade ago and I wish Chastity Bono nothing but health and happiness.

Mostly, I wish her a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I missed "Saturday Night Live" but have just read on JustJared.com that "Juno" star Ellen Page made fun of the recent speculation that she's a lesbian during her closing skit. The Oscar nominee played a character that "so went gay" at a Melissa Etheridge/Indigo Girls concert.

"I just felt like i was an oil lamp that's never been lit," she said excitedly. "And now I'm finally burning bright with sister fire! There were so many cute short haircuts and I didn't care that I didn't have any make up on. I felt so free."

Andy Samberg played her psuedo-boyfriend, who told Page, "You are like a primo lesbian now."

Rolling on the floor and holding her legs up, Page's character shot back, screaming, "Gay, no way! ...Why does everything have to have a freaking label?? Why can't I just hug a woman with my LEGS in friendship???"

...the beautiful Portia de Rossi!

Why we love her? So many reasons. She's funny and smart and quite talented. She's delighted us with her roles on "Ally McBeal," "Arrested Development" and now on "Nip/Tuck." And, of course, she's the love of Ellen DeGeneres' life. Anyone who makes Ellen that happy, makes us happy...