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Behind the serious stories of struggle and hardship are
heartwarming behind-the-scenes moments. In the midst of
great adversity, there are always courageous people with
resilience and fortitude. There are heroes with a
history and fabulous folks with a story to tell. There
are happy stories beneath the sad and ugly events of the
day. With a focus on the personal, we sometimes call
them "human interest" stories.
In
journalism, a human-interest story is a feature story
that discusses people in an emotional way. It presents
people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in
a way that inspires sympathy or admiration in the reader
or viewer. Human-interest stories are a type of soft
news, usually positive in nature. Human-interest stories
may be "the story behind the story" about an event,
incident, situation, or otherwise faceless historical
happening.
Story Corps: LGBTQ
Coming Out Is a Journey: LGBTQ People
Share Their Stories
Most Uplifting Moments for
LGBTQ People in 2023
LGBTQ Nation: Good News
LGBTQ News, Culture, Entertainment,
Style, Community
Politico: LGBTQ
Community Stories
BuzzFeed: LGBTQ Stories
Reedsy: LGBTQ Short Stories to Read
Story Telling for Social Change
Dianne Feinstein: LGBTQ Ally
Cleve Jones relates this story about
Senator Dianne Feinstein on the occasion
of her passing in Sept 2023:
This image of Dianne Feinstein is from
November 27, 1979 on the first
anniversary of the murders of Harvey
Milk and George Moscone. Just six months
earlier, on May 21, a violent riot
pitched SFPD against LGBTQ people
angered by the lenient manslaughter
verdict received by the murderer Dan
White. Over a dozen police cars were
torched that night, City Hall was
damaged, hundreds were injured and the
Elephant Walk bar on Castro Street was
trashed by vengeful police officers. Six
months later Mayor Feinstein joined our
march and walked with us from Castro
Street to City Hall. She declined,
however, to participate in the Pride
Parade that year and, as far as I know,
never rode or walked in any Pride
Parade. The banner behind her -- "GAY
LOVE IS GAY POWER / HARVEY MILK LIVES"
-- was painted by me on the floor of the
apartment I shared with Eric Garber at
593A Castro Street.
Advocate: Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
Trailblazing LGBTQ Rights Advocate, Dies
at 90
NBC News: Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
Trailblazer in US Politics, Longest-Serving Woman in Senate, Dies at
90
CNN: Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90
AP News: Sen. Dianne Feinstein of
California, Trailblazer, Champion of
Liberal Priorities, Dies at Age 90
ABC News: Dianne Feinstein, Trailblazing
California Senator, Dies at 90
Jenny Shimizu and Madonna
Model Jenny Shimizu is spilling piping hot tea about her
'90s fling with pop icon Madonna, and now we wish we had
a time machine to take us back a few decades. The 1990s
was a time when being out could ruin your career, but
even then, Shimizu lived her life loud and proud,
walking the runway and posing for fashion brands like CK
One, Banana Republic, Versace, Prada, and Jean Paul
Gaultier, and dated some of the most famous women in the
world. Shimizu has been linked to Angelina Jolie,
Rebecca Loos, lone Skye, Susi Kenna, and now she’s
married to Michelle Harper — her dating roster was
unparalleled!
In the new six-part docuseries In Vogue: The 90s, the
57-year-old model opens up about how much she loved
"feeling like a high-class hooker" while she was
jet-setting around Europe whenever Madonna was in the
mood for a booty call. "I mean, you're not gonna
say no to Madonna in the '90s," Shimizu recalls in the
final installment of the series, according to People.
"Not only was it great feeling like a high-class hooker
— because really it was. You'd get a phone call like,
'Hey can you meet me at my Paris show. You're in Europe
right?'" She continued, "So I'd be like, 'Yeah,
I'm just finishing Prada. Right after Prada I'll catch a
plane over.' And I would. I'd go over to her hotel, to
the Ritz, at like 4 in the morning, have sex, and then
fly back to Milan." Shimizu then joked that her
wife, Michell Harper, is "going to kill me."
This isn't the first time the Japanese American model
has opened up about her hot and heavy sexcapades with
Madonna. "It wasn't about an emotional bond, it was
about taking each other to the heights of sexual
ecstasy," she wrote in her memoir. "I loved the fact
that I was at this woman's beck and call. It turned me
on, being ordered to her room whenever she felt like
sex."
Reportedly, this steamy period with the Queen of Pop
overlapped with her relationship with one of the most
famous actresses of all time, Angelina Jolie, who she
dated from 1996 to 2000. Sleeping with Madonna and
Angelina Jolie at the same time is wild! "I
probably would have married Jenny Shimizu if I hadn't
married my husband," Jolie told Girlfriends magazine
back in 1997, referencing her ex Jonny Lee Miller. "I
fell in love with her the first second I saw her."
[Source: Ariel Messman-Rucker, Pride Magazine, Sept
2024]
Grandpa and Grandma Walton Were Gay
The actors who played Grandma and
Grandpa on The Waltons TV series
(1972-1981) were both actually gay in
real life.
Ellen Corby and Will Geer brought
veteran acting skills as Grandma and
Grandpa Walton. Indeed, The Waltons
never even considered recasting the
elderly couple when each fell on hard
times with their health. They became an
inseparable unit on screen. However, in
their private lives, each was actually
gay and in same-sex relationships.
As a married couple on TV, Grandma and
Grandpa Walton represented the base of
the Walton family tree, armed with
wisdom and traditions. Ellen Corby as
herself, however, swore like a sailor.
Additionally, the actress behind
god-fearing Esther Walton smoked like a
chimney, even after Grandma insisted,
“If the good Lord had intended us to
smoke He would have put a chimney in our
heads.” And fell in love with women.
Specifically, she became close to Stella
Luchetta.
While Grandma Walton’s extramarital
relationships slid under the radar as a
quiet, well-known secret, Grandpa Walton
was keeping no secrets. Geer’s path to
notoriety began around 1934 when he met
Harry Hay. As lovers, the two inspired
and influenced one another into gay
rights activism. His fate, to end up on
the blacklist, was practically sealed by
his additional involvement in union
strikes, including the San Francisco
General Strike. Today, Harry Hay is
celebrated as a sort of founding father
in gay rights activism. But Hay himself
credits Will Geer for getting him
started.
Grandpa and Grandma Walton Actually Gay
Secret Lives of Grandpa and Grandma
Walton
The Waltons: Tribute to
Ellen Corby and Will Geer
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
When Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon
co-authored Lesbian/Woman in
1972, the effect was seismic. Dedicated
to “daughters throughout the world who
are struggling with their identity,” the
book began with a clear, unequivocal
explanation: A Lesbian is a woman whose
primary erotic, psychological, emotional
and social interest is in a member of
her own sex.
That a book about lesbian culture would
even require such a definition feels
bizarre today. But the lifelong work of
San Francisco couple Martin and Lyon is
one of the reasons that so few people
require such annotations now.
Lesbian/Woman didn’t just demystify
same-sex female relationships — it
calmly and clearly sought to normalize
them. At the time, few representations
of lesbians existed outside of lurid
pulp fiction or psychology textbooks.
Lesbian/Woman changed the
conversation and reassured queer women
everywhere that there was nothing wrong
with them.
When Martin and Lyon began their
relationship in 1952, after two years of
friendship, America was a terrifying
place to be LGBTQ. Looking back in 1995,
the couple wrote an essay recalling the
“climate of fear, rejection and
oppression” that marked the earliest
days of their 56-year romance. “Lesbians
and gay men, if found out,” the pair
wrote, “were subject to reprisals from
all quarters of society: employers,
police, military, government, family and
friends.”
With that in mind — after moving into a
Castro District apartment together on
Valentine’s Day in 1953 — Martin and
Lyon sought friendships with fellow
lesbians outside of the oft-raided gay
bars. That led to the establishment in
1955 of the Daughters of Bilitis, the
first lesbian-rights organization in the
US.
San Francisco Couple
Whose Lifelong Love Changed America
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
In June 2023, and the weeks leading up
to LGBTQ Pride Month, the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence were the subject of
high-profile media attention after
intense backlash from anti-LGBTQ
extremists and others who object to the
Los Angeles chapter of the non-profit
organization receiving a Community Hero
Award from the Los Angeles Dodgers
during its annual Pride Night.
A month earlier, the Los Angeles Dodgers
rescinded an invitation to honor them.
The LA LGBTQ Center, Equality
California, the American Civil Liberties
Union, and other civil rights
organizations and nonprofits quickly
publicly denounced the move.
Shortly after, the Dodgers reversed
their decision, stating “After much
thoughtful feedback from our diverse
communities, honest conversations within
the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and
generous discussions with the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles
Dodgers would like to offer our
sincerest apologies to the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence, members of the
LGBTQ community and their friends and
families.” The Los Angeles chapter of
the Sisters re-accepted the honor and
joined the Dodgers’ Pride Night
celebration.
The Dodgers should be applauded for
their reconsideration and their
thoughtfulness in doing the right thing.
But it’s clear that there is much-needed
education still to be done to showcase
the contributions of the Sisters .
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence came
into formation in 1979 in San Francisco
and have been active for 44 years, while
the LA chapter began in 1995 and has
been active for 27 years. Their advocacy
and service-oriented mission was
originally driven by the early days of
the AIDS epidemic when there was a high
level of religious condemnation of gay
men and a lack of compassion and support
from other institutions. The sisters
believe laughter is therapeutic; and
they use irreverent humor as a strategy
to alleviate feelings of shame and guilt
perpetuated by homophobia, transphobia
and xenophobia.
Since then, the sisters have expanded
their chapters (known as houses) to
nearly every state in the US, across
Canada, Australia, throughout Europe and
South America where, as part of their
mission, the sisters raise funds for
local direct service organizations. The
sisters continue to celebrate LGBTQ joy,
in all its forms, as an antidote to the
daily discrimination, historic
condemnation and continued civil rights
violations faced by LGBTQ people.
In their own words, the mission of the
Los Angeles House of the Sisters of
Perpetual Indulgence reads: “We believe
in freedom of expression, teamwork,
effort, and diversity. We are a family,
committed to social activism, social
service and spiritual development. The
Order strives to strengthen its
community through drag activism, by
raising much-needed funds for community
charities, and by bringing about a
better understanding of gay
spirituality.”
“We feed the hungry, we work with people
who are unhoused, we support LGBTQ and
trans youth, we support queer art,” a
member who goes by the drag name Sister
Roma stated. “The reason that we really
manifest is to shed light on the
hypocrisy of all organized religion, and
the way that people interpret the
teachings, the word, and use it as a
weapon to justify their own homophobia,
their own transphobia, their own hate.”
The LA House has raised funds for many
organizations including Alliance for
Housing and Healing, Friends of Long
Beach Animals, Los Angeles Youth
Network, American Veterans for Equal
Rights, and the St. Mary Medical Center
Foundation.
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: Website
Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence: Decades of Dedication to
Community Service
Jamie and
Khalil's Love Story
Jamie and Khalil met in kindergarten. Jamie was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy,
while Khalil was an African-American boy with a radiant smile. Despite their
differences, they became inseparable friends.
As they grew older, their friendship transformed into something more. They
remember the day they realized they had special feelings for each other. It was
during a picnic in the park, when Jamie accidentally pushed Khalil into the lake
and, while helping him out, their eyes met and they felt an instant connection.
Over the years, they faced challenges and prejudices, but their love grew
stronger. They learned to value their differences and find beauty in them. Jamie
fell in love with the way Khalil made everyone laugh with his sense of humor,
while Khalil admired Jamie's passion and determination.
When they finished high school, they decided to go to the same university and
study together. It was there that they shared their first kiss under the stars.
After years of love and adventure together, Jamie proposed to Khalil on a
romantic trip to Paris. Khalil said yes, and they got married surrounded by
supportive friends and family.
Today, Jamie and Khalil are a happy and successful couple, fighting for equality
and social justice. Their story is a testament that true love can overcome any
obstacle.
Erica Vogel: Advice From Your
Trans Aunty
In "Advice from Your Trans Aunty," Erica Vogel shares hard-earned wisdom and
heartfelt advice for those navigating the transgender and nonbinary experience.
Written in a question-and-answer format, the book explores the life challenges
of people at all stages in the process. From evaluating one's gender to
addressing medical issues and managing relationships with friends, family, and
co-workers, the book provides insights into problem-solving and decision-making
before, during, and after transition. Throughout the book, the author's voice is
both empowering and compassionate, offering a blend of personal anecdotes,
useful strategies, and trustworthy sources of information.
The author emphasizes that the transgender community spans all categories of
people, regardless of nationality, sex assigned at birth, age, race, education,
socioeconomic status, or any other dimension. She urges readers not to let the
past hinder their present, to recognize that the decision to transition comes at
different times for everyone, and that there is no singular path required to
follow. Her goal is to help trans and nonbinary individuals thrive and lead
meaningful lives.
"Advice from Your Trans Aunty" is not only for trans and nonbinary individuals
of all ages but also serves as a comprehensive guide for allies, friends,
family, and coworkers. It offers insights into the diverse experiences and
perspectives within the trans community and provides guidance on how to show
support, learn, spread awareness, and ultimately advocate for a world where
everyone can live authentically.
Book: Advice from Your Trans Aunty
Erica Vogel Website
Sara: TV Series Included Openly Gay
Character
In 1985, "Sara," the television series,
premiered. It was a one-season wonder.
It was an American sitcom that aired on
NBC from January to May. Starring Geena
Davis in the title role, the series
features early performances from several
actors who went on to greater acclaim,
including Alfre Woodard, Bronson Pinchot,
and Bill Maher (plus a one-time
appearance from Phil Hartman).
"Sara" was set in a San Francisco Legal
Aid office. Sara McKenna (Geena
Davis) is fresh out of law school and
decides to share a practice with three
other lawyers, including best friend
Rozalyn (played by Alfre Woodard).
Also in the cast: Mark Hudson (Goldie
Hawn's ex-husband and father of Kate
Hudson) was previously a member of the
Hudson Brothers music trio back in the
70s. And Ronnie Claire Edwards, who went
on to be a part of The Waltons cast.
Most notable, the TV show featured one
of the earliest regular gay characters
on an American television series. The
character was Dennis Kemper and he was
played by Bronson Pinchot. He is
presented as an openly gay man who is a
fully integrated and accepted member of
the law firm and who speaks candidly to
his co-workers about his personal life.
Because the show was scheduled opposite
"Dynasty," which was then the most
popular series on the air, "Sara" failed
to attract an audience and was cancelled
after 13 episodes.
Sara: About the 1985 TV Series
Sara: Watch Episode One
Stormé DeLarverie: Stonewall Champ
"It was a rebellion, it was an uprising,
it was a civil rights disobedience. It wasn't no damn
riot."
-Stormé
DeLarverie
Stormé DeLarverie
(1920–2014) is an American woman known
as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with
police was, according to DeLarverie and
many eyewitnesses, the spark that
ignited the Stonewall uprising, spurring
the crowd to action. She was born in New
Orleans, to an African-American mother
and a white father. She is remembered as
a drag king and as a gay civil rights
icon and entertainer, who performed and
hosted at the Apollo Theater and Radio
City Music Hall. She worked
for much of her life as an MC, singer,
bouncer, bodyguard, and volunteer street
patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians
in the Village." She is known as "the
Rosa Parks of the gay community."
At the Stonewall rebellion, a scuffle
broke out when a woman in handcuffs, who
may have been DeLarverie, was roughly
escorted from the door of the bar to the
waiting police wagon. She was brought
through the crowd by police several
times, as she escaped repeatedly. She
fought with at least four of the police,
swearing and shouting, for about ten
minutes. Described by a witness as "a
typical New York City butch" and "a
dyke-stone butch," she had been hit on
the head by an officer with a baton for,
as one witness stated, announcing that
her handcuffs were too tight. She was
bleeding from a head wound as she fought
back.
Brief History of Stormé DeLarverie:
Stonewall Icon
Stormé DeLarverie: Butch Lesbian and
Male Impersonator
Stormé DeLarverie: Biographical Notes
Lord Ivar Mountbatten: Royal Gay
"I'm out of that generation where you
just buried your sexuality and you
didn't act on it and got on with life."
-Lord Ivar Mountbatten
Lord Ivar Mountbatten is gay. He
is King Charles III's second cousin. And
he is the great-great-great grandson of
Queen Victoria
Before coming to terms with his sexual
identity, Lord Mountbatten, was married
to Penny from 1994 to 2011. During the
course of their 17-year marriage, Ivar
and Penny had three daughters – Ella,
Alexandra and Louise. Ivar and
Penny decided to separate in 2010.
He came out publicly and became the
first member of the British monarch’s
extended family to be openly in a
same-sex relationship. His subsequent
marriage to James Coyle in 2018 made
also made him first to wed a same-sex
partner. Coyle, an airline
services director, met Ivar while at a
ski resort in Verbier.
King’s Gay Cousin Lord Ivar Mountbatten
Nicole Conen:
Lesbian Lumberjack and Videographer
Nicole Coenen is from London,
Ontario, Canada. She is a freelance videographer,
video journalist, content creator, writer, actor,
producer, and marketer. Her work is featured on YouTube,
Instagram, and TikTok. She studied advanced film
making at Fanshawe College. After years of a variety of
media projects, her latest adventure is her video
journal of moving from the city to a farm in the
country. Her video blogs include stories of rouging it,
reflections on nature and the seasons, and lighthearted
insights into her relationship with her partner Jen.
Nicole
Coenen: YouTube
Lesbian Lumberjack: Nicole Coenan
Adjusting to
Winter: Nicole Coenan
Nicole Coenan: Instagram
Surrending to Summer: Nicole Coenan
Little Getaway: Nicole Coenan
Jennifer Lopez and Emme
Jennifer Lopez and her child Emme
Maribel Muñiz, 14, are being praised for
a recent duet, but not because of the
music.
The pair - who last made headlines for
performing together when Lopez
co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV Pepsi
halftime show in 2020 - took to the
stage recently at the LA Dodgers Blue
Diamond Gala. Lopez introduced Emme
using the gender neutral pronouns
they and them.
"The last time we performed together was
in a big stadium like this," Lopez said.
"And I ask them to sing with me all the
time and they won't."
"So this is a very special occasion.
They are very, very busy. Booked. And
pricey," Lopez went on to say. "They
cost me when they come out. But they're
worth every single penny because they're
my favorite duet partner of all time."
Emme then appeared on stage, carrying a
rainbow microphone to sing Christina
Perri's hit, "A Thousand Years."
Lopez shares Emme and twin brother Max
with her ex husband, singer and actor
Marc Anthony.
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child
Onstage Using They/Them Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces One of Her
Twins with Gender Neutral Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child
Using Gender-Neutral Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child with
Neutral Pronouns on Stage For Duet
Bert and Ernie are Gay
Iconic puppets
Bert and Ernie are indeed a gay couple, a 'Sesame Street' writer claims. Former
“Sesame Street” writer Mark Saltzman said Bert and Ernie’s relationship was
modeled after his own relationship with his life partner, Arnold Glassman.
Mark Saltzman said in an interview that he felt that when he was writing Bert
and Ernie, he was writing them as a couple and basing their interactions on his
own experiences. Saltzman said that when he was composing stories, actions, and
dialogue for Bert and Ernie, he always pictured he and his partner Arnie. And
people who personally know Mark and Arnie often commented that the couple
reminded them of Bert and Ernie.
However, Sesame Workshop, which produces the show, denies the pair of puppets
are together as a romantic couple, saying they have no sexual orientation but
are best friends. “As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends. They
were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those
who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male
characters and possess many human traits and characteristics, they remain
puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation,” the workshop said in an official
statement.
So, as
characters in a children's TV show, what Bert and Ernie feel for each other is
nothing but innocent puppet love. It turns out, Muppets aren’t gay. They aren’t
straight. They don’t do sex. Period.
[Source: By Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC News, Sept 2018]
Bert and Ernie are Indeed a Gay Couple,
'Sesame Street' Writer Claims
Aaron Fricke Goes to Prom
Aaron
Fricke, born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
in 1962, is a gay rights activist and
author. He came to prominence in 1980 as
the first student to sue his school for
the right to bring his boyfriend to the
high school prom. the court ruled in his
favor and the case set a precedent that
has been used ever since to establish a
legal right throughout the US for
students to bring same-sex partners to
school proms and other school social
events.
Missouri High School Crowns its First
Male Homecoming Queen
Pennsylvania High School Elects Female Couple as Prom
Royalty
Lesbian Couple Crowned
Prom Queens
Trans Teen Voted Homecoming Queen
Rural HS Athlete Going to Prom with Former Teammate
Prom Night: Closeted Prom
Queen
Gay Teen in Memphis Crowned Homecoming Royalty
Meet a Transgender Homecoming Queen
Larry
Grayson: Camp British Comedian
In Britain "Shut That Door" was the catchphrase of the
great camp gay comedian Larry Grayson. One of the top
line up of stars on the BBC through the 1970s and 1980s.
Another of his catchphrases was "What a gay day".
It seems strange that at a time when the country was
still very homophobic flamboyant gay entertainers were
the top most loved TV and stage stars in Britain. Larry
Grayson was one at the very top. His shows on TV drew a
regular audience of a massive 18 million viewers.
His early stage acts he did in drag as female character
in the first half and in a suit and tie as a male
character in the second half both parts were said to be
hilarious and drew in massive crowds.
Today we hear about people wanting more gay
representation on TV and in film especially in the US.
In Britain they never had oppressive homophobic rules
like the US Hays Code so they had representation with
openly and obvious gay characters and men in drag all
the way through from the start of TV and radio and most
of them were the most loved British entertainers.
Larry Grayson (1923-1995): Comedian and Entertainer
Larry Grayson Tribute
Biographical Notes: Larry Grayson
Life of Larry Grayson
Larry Grayson: This Is Your Life (1972)
Trans Handy Ma'am
Meet the Trans Handy Ma'am who has
amazing videos on social media that show
you how to handle handy tasks on your
own, with sparkle! Now she's partnering
with Lowe's Home Improvement.
Wisconsin resident Mercury Stardust
began posting videos on TikTok to
promote her weekly burlesque show, but
it wasn’t until she began sharing home
improvement and maintenance tips that
her account really took off. “That took
me from like 100 followers to 25,000
followers in less than 24 hours," she
said.
Stardust, a transgender woman, has since
been dubbed the “Trans Handy Ma’am” and
has seen her TikTok account skyrocket to
1.5 million followers.
While Stardust, 34, has more than a
decade of experience as a maintenance
technician, she never thought those
skills would have been what shot her to
TikTok stardom. “I’ve performed all
around the country. I’ve been to 126
different cities. I’ve performed in 22
different states — and what I’m known
for is telling people the difference
between what a cup plunger is and what a
regular beehive plunger is,” she said.
Stardust’s TikTok account includes
hundreds of maintenance and home
improvement videos, from how to unclog a
drain to how to patch a hole in the wall
and how to install a new shower head.
The Ambassador of Cheese and Tease,
Mercury is a burlesque performer, emcee,
instructor, producer, property manager,
and now famous home improvement advisor.
"I am thrilled and so overwhelmed that I
have now entered a long term contract
and partnership with Lowe's Home
Improvement. Its been a very long
road to get to where I am today but I am
finally ready to take my content and
career to the next level," she said.
Mercury Stardust Website
Mercury Stardust on Facebook
Mercury Stardust is Trans Handy Ma’am:
Home Repair TikToker
Mercury Stardust on TikTok
Mercury Stardust on NBC News
Mercury Stardust: How to Check Tire
Pressure
Lesbian Farmer Taylor Blake and Emmanuel
the Emu
The
out and proud lesbian farmer in South
Florida started creating content for
Knuckle Bump in January 2022, but it
wasn’t until Emmanuel took the screen
that the TikTok page blew up. Now,
Knuckle Bump Farms is seemingly an
Emmanuel fan page.
The dynamic duo stars in a variety of
videos that show off their best-friend
bond. They hold hands, tell each other
jokes, and even cuddle in the afternoon
sun, making one thing clear: An emu
really is a gal’s best friend.
Blake shared her love for the nearly
six-foot-tall bird in an Emmanuel
appreciation post on Instagram. She
wrote: "All I’ve ever wanted was to
spread joy like wildfire, I feel like
all my dreams are coming true. I can’t
wait to tell my future children all
about how an emu changed my life.”
Knuckle Bump Farms primarily focuses on
miniature cattle. But it also features
two obnoxious emus: Emmanuel and Ellen.
Don’t get any wild ideas, folks. Blake
says that the two are not an item.
“Ellen and Emmanuel hate each other,”
Blake shared in a TikTok comment
section. She also shared the Emmanuel
"hasn’t fully come out yet" but she's
“pretty sure he’s gay.”
Born
in Texas, Blake is 29 years old. She
currently lives in South Florida with
her girlfriend Kristian Haggerty.
Taylor Blake and Emmanuel the Emu
Internet Fans Have Fallen in Love with
Emmanuel the Emu
Taylor and Her Emu Find Fame
Don't Do It Emmanuel
Emmanuel the Emu and Lesbian Farmer
Taylor Blake Drop by The Tonight Show
The Tea on
Marie Antoinette
Although royal families are supposed to
represent strict decorum and traditional
mores, some rumors of Marie Antoinette's
life while she was Queen of France
suggest she may have been a lesbian.
While Antoinette was able to keep parts
of her sexuality hidden, she unwittingly
became associated with coded female
homoeroticism and and proto-lesbianism.
Antoinette was born in Austria, but
began to represent France after she was
wed to Louis XVI, the Prince of France,
at age fourteen in order to forge a
political alliance between the two
empires. The new marriage and political
agreements forced Antoinette to
disregard all Austrian titles and
accomplishments, which left her isolated
in her new home with a husband that she
didn’t love.
Antoinette's reputation soon began to
build due to her lavish lifestyle. Her
dresses and coiffure were grandiose. Her
home and gardens were opulent. And she
partied and gambled excessively during
the period in which France was in a
major financial crisis.
Antoinette’s relationship with King
Louis XVI was entirely non-romantic.
Both Marie and Louis were young,
immature, and inexperienced.
Louis, in particular, displayed little
interest in sex. In fact, the couple
didn’t consummate their marriage until
seven years after their official
wedding, which was a big deal at the
time and lead to public humiliation.
The public wasn’t thrilled about
Antoinette in general, and pornographic
pamphlets were circulated accusing the
queen of adultery, pedophilia, and
lesbianism. Thousands of images showed
Antoinette having relations with other
woman and performing indecent acts with
them. The accusations of lesbianism,
especially, continued to linger.
As public dissatisfaction with the queen
increased and Antoinette became more
isolated, it was rumored that she sought
out comfort and intimacy from her ladies
in waiting. Among these female court
members, Antoinette engaged in mild
flirtations, which turned into romantic
embraces and kissing, which evolved into
sexual encounters. Antoinette became
increasingly close to Princess de
Lamballe, a young widow. The queen
became so infatuated with Lamballe that
she began showing favoritism toward her,
granting her easy tasks and special
treatment. In the letters between the
two, they addressed one another as “my
dearest” and “my dear heart” and signed
the letters “with a heart entirely
yours.”
Antoinette and Lamballe became so close
that when the two were separated for the
first time, the queen became so
depressed by her absence that she gazed
longingly for hours at paintings and
figurines of the princess. She also
mailed Lamballe a ring engraved with the
phrase “bleached by sorrow” and a lock
of her own hair, to which Lamballe
replied with by sending a watch with a
message that said, “to remind you of the
hours we passed together.” In that same
letter, she told Antoinette that she
wished to “live or die” near her.
Although her affections were focused on
Lamballe, Antoinette also had a fairly
lengthy affair with Yolande Polignac,
paying off her debts, moving her into a
lavish apartment, and crowning her as a
duchess. The queen also had an affair
with Mary Robinson, an English actress
and author, who wrote about the
flirtations that occurred between them
and the intimate acts in which the two
partook.
The monarch’s famous death by guillotine
in 1793 took place when she was
thirty-seven years old. She was charged
with treason, theft, incest and (wait
for it) sapphic cultism. Most of her
trial's focus was on her disengagement
during the Revolution. She was found
guilty and beheaded. And her head was
publicly displayed on a stake.
Antoinette eventually emerged as a
symbol of feminist action and lesbianism
in the years after her death. Women
referenced her memory and reputation as
a way of secretly disclosing that they
loved other women. Women would ask,
“Have you heard the rumors of Marie
Antoinette?” as a covert way to discover
whether or not other women had same-sex
attractions.
In 2006, Sofia Coppola produced a film
about Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten
Dunst. And in 2023, the BBC launched a
television series about Marie
Antoinette, starring Emilia Schule.
BBC Presents Marie Antoinette as Sapphic
Queen in New Period Drama
Marie Antoinette Shares Lesbian Kiss in
New BBC Period Drama
Trailer for BBC Series: Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette Movie Trailer (2006)
Marie Antoinette Explained
Dana Zzyym:
Intersex Activist
Dana Zzyym was born in 1958 with sex
characteristics that are not typically
male or female, but was raised a boy by
their parents. As a result, Dana was
forced to undergo several irreversible,
painful, and medically unnecessary
surgeries to conform to binary sex
stereotypes. The surgeries failed
immediately and traumatized Dana with
permanent scarring and damage.
Later into their adult life, Dana
learned they were born with intersex
traits and had been forced into an
incorrect binary sex/gender category. As
an Intersex and nonbinary person who
advocated for human rights, Dana was
invited to attend an International
Intersex Forum in Mexico City, at which
time they applied for a US passport.
Dana’s application was denied by the US
State Department because they could not
truthfully select “M” or “F” in the sex
field and their request to select
another option such as “X” was rejected.
Denying Dana a passport would be
depriving them access to any and all
means of lawfully exiting the United
States, so Dana fought back. They sued
the US State Department for denying them
a passport that accurately reflected
their identity and made history by
becoming the first US citizen to receive
an official US passport with an “X”
gender marker.
Dana Zzyym: Biographical Notes
Lambda Legal: Dana Zzyym Receives First
'X' on US Passport
Dana Zzyym Receives First US Passport
With 'X' Gender Marker
Cleve Jones: Reluctant Activist
This boy.
A few months before this photograph was taken, this boy
had planned to take his own life. He, like so many
children then and now, saw no hope for a future worth
living. He was frightened and lonely and believed he was
the only one in the world. He thought his life was a lie
and that there was no place for him on this earth. He
thought his life was over before it had even begun.
Then this boy read in a magazine about a place called
San Francisco and a new movement that shouted through
the silence and celebrated his existence and told him
and millions more that they were loved and that they
belonged, and that the movement they were building was
part of a larger, global movement for peace and justice
and freedom.
This boy learned that his place was in a long line that
stretched back over generations, over centuries, over
millennia. He learned that people like him had always
existed, in every era, in every culture, in every color
of skin, in every human circumstance.
Gradually, this boy even came to believe that he could
love and be loved. So he flushed away the pills he had
hoarded to end his life, left the desert city where he
had lived, and made his way to San Francisco on a foggy
afternoon in August.
And then his life
began. That was fifty years
ago. I was 17 years old.
Cleve Jones Website
Cleve Jones and the National AIDS
Memorial
Cleve Jones: NPR Interview
Cari and Kim Plus Khaya
Cari Searcy and Kim McKeand legally
married in 2008. Cari Searcy's partner, Kim McKeand, had
given birth to a baby boy, Khaya Searcy, in December
2005, with the aid of a donor. Searcy then sought to
become the adoptive parent of the child, who bears her
last name. Adoption would give Searcy rights to make
medical decisions for the child as well as securing the
sense of family in their home.
In July 2015, Baldwin County (Alabama)
Circuit Court Judge James Reid granted the adoption for
Cari Searcy in Mobile County Probate Court. His approval
of the measure ended a winding and politically fraught
legal battle for Searcy and her wife Kim McKeand,
Khaya's biological mother.
Their four-year-long quest to adopt the
child led to a federal judge overturning the state's
constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
"It was such a surreal feeling to hear
the judge say that it is in the best interest of this
boy to have two legal parents," Searcy said. "For me,
that's when I broke down. It's very emotional and a day
we've been waiting for a long, long time."
Searcy first filed paperwork in Mobile
County Probate Court in 2011 to legally adopt the boy,
whom she has raised since birth. After a brief hearing,
Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis rejected the
petition in April 2012, citing the state's ban on
same-sex marriage. The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
later upheld that decision.
In February 2015, a federal judge ruled
that Searcy could not be denied her desire to adopt
Khaya, clearing the way for same-sex marriage in
Alabama.
But hours before the law legalizing
same-sex marriage was to begin, Supreme Court Chief
Justice Roy Moore ordered the state's probate judges to
withhold same-sex marriage licenses pending the US
Supreme Court decision on the matter.
Searcy filed a second lawsuit after Davis
indicated he would not give final approval of the
adoption until after US Supreme Court case resolved the
same-sex marriage issue. The US Supreme Court legalized
same-sex marriage nationwide in June 2015, striking down
any remaining barriers to Searcy's adoption.
At the courthouse, Khaya, 9, was dressed
for the occasion, wearing a gray suitcoat, a blue button
up shirt, dress pants, and a plaid clip-on tie.
Clutching a brown teddy bear, he said, "It's good that I
finally have two legal parents."
Lesbian Couple That Brought Down Alabama’s Gay Marriage
Ban Sues State Over Second-Parent Adoption
Here's How Two Women Changed The Lives Of
LGBTQ Families In Alabama Forever
Edwardian Lesbian Couple
In 1907 Edwardian Britain, lesbian
couple, Lily Elsie and Adrienne Augarde
were very famous acting and singing
stars of the period.
Lily Elsie was an English actress and
singer best known for her starring role
in the London premiere of Franz Lehár's
operetta The Merry Widow. She became one
the most photographed woman of Edwardian
times.
Adrienne Augarde was English actress and
singer popular for her roles in
Edwardian musical comedy. Her career
included performances in pantomime,
drama, vaudeville, and opera. She gained
wide popularity playing leading roles in
the popular musicals produced by George
Edwardes. She also starred in a number
of long-running productions in London
and New York from 1903 to 1912.
The two actress appeared together in the
play production The New Aladdin.
Notable was the fact that Lily dressed
in manly attire.
Biographical Notes on Lily Elsie
Biographical Notes on Adrienne Augarde
Maybelle Blair:
League of Her Own
Baseball icon and A League of Their Own
inspiration Maybelle Blair comes out as
gay at the age of 95.
Between 1943 and 1954, baseball fans
immersed themselves in the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBL).
Maybelle Blair and other women baseball
players in the late 1940s were the model
for the central characters in Penny
Marshall’s 1992 comedy A League of Their
Own. The
95-year-old announced she was gay at the Tribeca Festival premiere of Amazon’s
new series based on the film.
Speaking about the new, more inclusive
version of the story of the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League,
Blair said, “I think it’s a great
opportunity for these young girl ball
players to come realize that they’re not
alone, and you don’t have to hide.”
Blair, who earned the nickname “All the
Way Mae” during her time with the Peoria
Redwings in the late 1940s, recalled
realizing she was attracted to women as
a teenager.
Maybelle Blair, Who Helped Inspire 'A
League Of Their Own,' Comes Out At 95
Player Who Helped Inspire 'A League of
Their Own' Comes Out at Age 95
Biographical Notes on Maybelle Blair
Baseball Player Who Inspired A League of
Their Own Comes Out at 95
Violet Trefusis: Breathtaking Love
Letters
Violet Trefusis today, if she is
remembered at all, is known for a slim
volume of her published love letters.
These letters are wild and lyrical in
which she declares to her female lover:
“I love you Vita because I’ve seen your
soul.”
What is less commonly known is that
Trefusis was also a writer and a
remarkable lesbian pioneer who explored
themes of androgyny. She was steadfast
in her belief that there was nothing
inherently ‘wrong’ with lesbianism.
She opposed the assertion made by
lesbian Radcylffe Hall in her book, The
Well of Loneliness that lesbianism was
caused by a “genetic imperfection.” She
did not see it as either better or worse
than the heterosexual ‘norm’ but rather
simply as a different form of sexuality,
which was a radical view for the time.
Trefusis was born Violet Keppel on June
6, 1894. She was an English socialite.
She did not live openly as a lesbian,
nor did she hide her sexuality in life
or in print. Her works are both subtle
and vicious studies of repressed desire.
Sadly, today her works are out of print,
and she exists only in the words of
others.
Violet Trefusis: Remarkable Lesbian
Pioneer
Biographical Notes:
Violet Trefusis
Breathtaking Love Letters from Violet to
Vita
Ruth Coker Burks:
Cemetery Angel
In 1984, when Ruth Coker Burks was 25
and a young mother living in Arkansas,
she would often visit a hospital to care
for a friend who had cancer. During one
visit, she noticed the nurses would draw
straws, afraid to go into one room, its
door sealed by a big red bag. She asked
why and the nurses told her the patient
had Gay-Related Immune Deficiency
(GRID), later known as AIDS.
On a repeat visit, and seeing the big
red bag on the door, Burks decided to
disregard the warnings and sneaked into
the room. In the bed was a skeletal
young man, who told her he wanted to see
his mother before he died. She left the
room and told the nurses, who said,
"Honey, his mother’s not coming. He’s
been here six weeks. Nobody’s coming”.
Burks called his mother anyway, who
refused to come visit her son, who she
described as a "sinner" and already dead
to her, and that she wouldn't even claim
his body when he died.
“I went back in his room," she recalled,
"and when I walked in, he said, Oh,
momma. I knew you’d come, and then
he lifted his hand. And what was I going
to do? So I took his hand. I said,
I’m here, honey, I’m here. She
pulled a chair to his bedside, talked to
him, and held his hand until he died 13
hours later. After finally finding a
funeral home that would his body, and
paying for the cremation out of her own
savings, Burks buried his ashes on her
family's large plot in Files Cemetery.
After this first encounter, Burks cared
for other patients who needed her help.
She would take them to appointments,
obtain medications, apply for
assistance, and even kept supplies of
AIDS medications on hand, as some
pharmacies would not carry them. Burks
work soon became well known in the city
and she received financial assistance
from gay bars. "They would twirl up a
drag show on Saturday night", she
explained. "And the drag shows were how
we raised money, that's how we'd buy
medicine, that's how we'd pay rent. If
it hadn't been for the drag queens, I
don't know what we would have done."
Over the next 30 years (with assistance
from her daughter) Burks cared for over
1,000 people and buried more than 40 on
her family's plot (most of whom were gay
men whose families would not claim their
ashes). For this, she has been nicknamed
the "Cemetery Angel."
“Someday, I’d love to get a monument
that says: This is what happened. In
1984, it started. They just kept coming
and coming. And they knew they would be
remembered, loved, and taken care of,
and that someone would say a kind word
over them when they died."
Ruth Coker Burks: Biographical Notes
AIDS Angel: Ruth Coker Burks
Ruth Coker Burks: Home Page
Natl AIDS Memorial: Ruth Coker Burks
Blue Max Motorcycle Club
Fernando, seated , and his husband, both
members of Los Angeles’ Blue Max
Motorcycle Club, get pulled over as they
leave their wedding ceremony, December
1969 . In the mid-twentieth century, the
Blue Max Motorcycle Club, along with
many other gay motorcycle clubs,
provided an alternative to gay bars,
which were constantly at risk of police
raids and harassment.
The classic “metal look” that Heavy
Metal Rock came to be associated with
(leather, studs, tight fitting clothes)
was introduced by Rob Halford of Judas
Priest, an openly gay man who says he
was simply wearing the look from the gay
leather subculture on stage, and people
started imitating him.
So the two “iconically hetero” fixtures
of masculinity - biker gangs and heavy
metal music - are both actually just gay
culture that heteros unknowingly
adopted.
Stories From LA’s Pioneering Gay
Motorcycle Clubs
Archive: Blue Max Motorcycle Club Notes
and Records
USC Archive Sheds Light On LA's Gay
Motorcycle Clubs
Courageous Trans Kid Testifies
10 year
old Kai Shappley didn’t feel scared when she sat before
the Texas Senate committee in April 2021. Wearing a
flowing yellow blouse, floral skirt and cowboy boots,
the then-4th grader calmly introduced herself. “I love
ballet, math, science and geology. I spend my free time
with my cats, chickens, FaceTiming my friends and
dreaming of when I finally get to meet Dolly Parton,”
she testified. “I do not like spending my free time
asking adults to make good choices.”
Shappley urged lawmakers to vote against Senate bills
1311 and 1646, which banned doctors from providing
gender-affirming treatment to transgender kids like
herself. One of the bills even went as far as to define
the treatment as “child abuse.” (Both bills ultimately
failed.)
“It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids
like me to get votes from people who hate me just
because I exist,” she continued. “God made me. God loves
me for who I am. And God does not make mistakes.”
Video of Shappley’s testimony quickly went viral. It
wasn’t the first time she’s garnered attention. The
now-5th grader has been publicly telling her story and
calling for trans equality for years. She’s traveled the
country with her mother, speaking at rallies for LGBTQ
rights. She’s worked with the ACLU on pro-trans
projects. She’s met with national lawmakers to urge them
to pass the Equality Act, which would outlaw
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and
gender identity. But April was the first time she’d ever
testified on her own. Her reasoning was simple. “I
wanted to show them that all these lies people have been
spreading about trans kids are not true,” she says.
Shappley is a force of nature. At only 11 years old, the
trans rights activist has built a following online;
children and adults have written to her saying she’s
inspired them to come out. “It makes me want to keep on
going, knowing that there are so many people who rely on
me,” Shappley says. And amid an unprecedented rise of
bills in US state legislatures targeting trans
kids—including over 130 anti-trans bills in 2021 alone,
per the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign—she has no
plans on stopping. “Activism matters to me because it is
a way to show that we belong,” Shappley says. “It’s a
way to show that we will fight for what is right. We
won’t sit silent."
Kai Shappley Takes on Lawmakers in Her Fight for Trans
Rights
Trans Kid Kai Shappley Testifies
10-Year-Old Activist Kai Shappley on Fighting for Trans
Kids in the Texas
Trans Hairdresser in Birmingham
Meet Jody Suzanne Ford, an out
transgender woman and business owner in
Alabama. She owned Ms. Sid's Coiffures
in Birmingham's Five Points South
Neighborhood in 1975.
Born Sidney Ford III, she was a college
basketball star (6'4") at David Lipscomb
College and a semi-professional football
player in Miami before she moved to
Birmingham, transitioned, and opened her
beauty shop. She earned a good
reputation and became very well-known for her skill as a
hairstylist.
In 1977, when she was 41, she was killed
by a short-range shotgun blast to the
chest by the 26-year old owner of a
Travelodge Motel. He argued he was
acting in self-defense and was
acquitted.
Jody Suzanne Ford: Trans Birmingham
Hairdresser Shot to Death in 1977
Trans Lives Matter: Jody Suzanne Ford
Flight Attendant Loves His Job
Hank
Rouse, an airline passenger, shared the following
experience:
My flight
was being served by an obviously gay flight attendant,
who seemed to put everyone in a good mood as he served
us food and drinks.
As the
plane prepared to descend, he came swishing down the
aisle and told us that "Captain Marvey has asked me to
announce that he'll be landing the big scary plane
shortly, so lovely people, if you could just put your
trays up, that would be super."
On his trip back up the aisle, he noticed this
well-dressed Arabic-looking woman hadn't moved a muscle.
"Perhaps you didn't hear me over those big brute engines
but I asked you to raise your trazy-poo so the main man
can pitty-pat us on the ground."
She calmly turned her head and said, "In my country, I
am called a Princess and I take orders from no one."
To which (I swear) the flight attendant replied, without
missing a beat, "Well, sweet-cheeks, in my country I'm
called a Queen, so I outrank you. Tray-up, Bitch."
Flight Attendant Comedy
Routine
Flight Attendant Performs Funniest
Safety Routine
Funny Flight Attendant
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