Kathy Belge's List of Famous Lesbians and Bisexual Women

This is a newly updated list of historical and contemporary lesbians and bisexual women. I learned something new about some contemporary women. Apparently a few jumped the fence when I wasn't looking.

http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/famouslesbians/tp/FamousLesbians.htm

Same Sex "Marriage" Begins in NH

(Reprinted from my All Good News All Day Long blog)

New Hampshire is bringing in the new year by acknowledging the word "marriage" for same sex civil unions. A rose by any other name might smell as sweet, but it's not likely to be recognized as such in other states. It seems to me we should either call all such legal arrangements, whether gay or straight, "marriage" or "civil unions." Separate but equal is still discrimination and isn't any more equal than when African-Americans had "separate but equal" restrooms, water fountains, schools, etc.

http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/starting-the-new-year-with-i-do-new-hampshire-recognizes-gay-marriage-from-midnight/

Meredith Baxter Comes Out as Late in Life Lesbian

This may explain the crush I had on Meredith Baxter decades ago. I think she must have pinged my radar way back when. Whatever it was, woohoo! Good for her! I love to see famous people come out because it makes such a big impact on so many people. Lots and lots of people know and love Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes, and Meredith Baxter. They could be the girl next door--well, we might wish the girl next door looked like one of them. At any rate, they have such well-known faces, and that of course is one of the reasons it's so hard for them to stay in the closet if they do find themselves out on the town or falling in love. Welcome to the spotlight outside of the closet, Meredith. You're in with a really fun crowd, and you are all making such a positive statement just by being yourselves. The act of your coming out makes so many more people aware of the fact that lesbians and really are everywhere and often they are the women you least (or most) suspected.

http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactors/p/MeredithBaxter.htm

About.com's Kathy Belge also posted a great blog on coming out later in life. Both articles deserve a thorough reading and sharing with others. While you're at the site reading her articles, I highly recommend signing up for her newsletter. She always has fascinating information and interesting discussions.

http://lesbianlife.about.com/b/2009/12/02/coming-out-later-in-life.htm?nl=1

Featured Artist: Judy Francesconi

Judy Francesconi's 2010 calendar is here. It is a 16-month calendar, and you don't want to miss a single page.


It is available for purchase at http://judyfrancesconi.com/buy_judy_francesconi_items


The Unmistakable Impression of Judy Francesconi

I have been trying to remember the first time I encountered Judy Francesconi's work. I'm pretty sure it was at the Bailey-Coy book store in Seattle. One look at the cover of one of her calendars all those years ago, and I was hooked. Judy's images of women are so beautiful, so real, and so artful that once you encounter her photographs, you know instantly who the photographer is when you stumble upon a new image by her. Judy manages to capture the very essence of lesbian love and relationships through her art in ways I've not seen paralleled. She captures the tenderness and the sensuality, the love and the passion.

While looking at her photos, I have never had the feeling that I was looking at two models portraying a lesbian relationship. I have always felt as though I were being granted a secret look into the heart of lesbian love. As it says at her website, "Anyone can take pictures of women together, but only Judy can transform pictures of women with women into mystical, sensual experiences between two lovers."

While I love all of Judy's photographs, there is one in particular that completely blew me away. It is a style that stands out from the rest of her work and is different from any other photography I've encountered. The piece is entitled, "Second Chances" and is included below. Some artists can draw a picture that is so good that it appears to be a photograph. With this work, Judy has taken a photograph that appears to be a painting and a sculpture all at once. The interplay of the light and shadows on the models' skin is so amazing that I kept looking at it, trying to crawl inside Judy's head. I knew it was an astonishing work of art when I saw it, but I wanted to know what she was expressing through it. I finally did the sensible thing and asked her about it. All became clear. This particular photographic lighting style was inspired by Michelangelo's "La Pieta," which Judy experienced on a trip to Italy while she was in college. The ingenious way she used the lighting in her studio makes her models look like marble sculptures. I encourage you to take a really close look at "Second Chances" and be awed as I was. This is a true masterpiece inspired by another masterpiece.

Judy's work is available in limited edition prints as well as calendars, gift items, and books. It is my pleasure to introduce this woman to you, though I would be surprised to find that you've not already seen at least some of her work. The photographs featured below are some of the images available for sale at Judy Fransconi's website(links included at bottom of page). These are limited editions, so when they are gone, they are gone. Expand your collection now while you still have the chance. Judy is a master whose work is well worth displaying and preserving. She has been chronicling lesbian love and sensuality for a very long time, and we are proud and pleased to beam the UltraVioletLove spotlight on her work.


"Bliss"


"Bound"


"Dreams of Desire"


"Every Morning"


"Feel My Thoughts"


"It Takes Two"


"Midnight Confessions"


"Never Enough"


"Second Chances"


"Stolen Moments"


"Surrender"


"Then and Now"


"Union"

Below are some recommended links you can click on to learn more about this amazing woman and photographer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyu1GO-rCBM

http://judyfrancesconi.com/about_judy_francesconi

http://judyfrancesconi.com/shows

Judy's work has also been featured in "The Artist Hand" by P. R. Lambros at http://handsongraphicdesign.com/The_Artists_Hand.html.

Featured Artist: Pam Lambros

(Reprinted from http://allgoodnewsalldaylong.com)

Every once in a while you meet someone who stands out in a sea of faces. The artist we’re featuring this week is one of those people. I met her on Facebook. I guess we had some mutual friends and somehow got connected through them. I’m really glad we did, because not only did I discover an awesome photographer and graphic artist, but I also found a friend.

Our featured artist is Pam Lambros, who hails from Chicago, although she is presently living in New England. She has won awards for many of her photographs and for good reason. They are positively magical. That is the best word I know to describe her work. She doesn’t just take photographs. She interacts and communes with nature so intimately that nature joyously unfolds its wonders to her in a slow dance of photographic splendor.

Ms. Lambros didn’t train to be a photographer, although she did study to become a graphic artist after spending far too many years crunching numbers and moving around in the corporate world. She has been doing photography for only a few years, but I’m sure you’ll agree with me that those few years have been well spent. I look forward to what all the years henceforth reveal through the lens of Pam Lambros, someone I think of as the Mystic Photographer.


"Easy Silence"


"Point Lookout"


"Breath of Silence"


"Night Heat"


"Totally Unpredictable"


"Morning of Mystery"


"Break Out"


"Running To"


"Dew Drops"


"A Rose is a Rose"


"Floating Fury"


"Passions Night Fury"

Yes, these prints are available to purchase via Pam's website. I knew you were going to ask that question, so of course I've provided the link to some special deals at Extreme Gallery Specials, but feel free to browse the whole site. http://handsongraphicdesign.com/Xtreme_Gallery_Specials_E8J.php

Use the link below to go to her graphic design business if you are in need of a graphic design artist:http://handsongraphicdesign.com/Home_Page.html
I've also posted her online business card as an ad at the bottom of this website.

Editor of AGNADL

First Ever Openly Lesbian Government Leader in Modern World

(Reprinted with permission from my other blog http://slicesofmylifebethmitchum.blogspot.com)

A new day is dawning around the world. Hopefully the United States' recent surge in understanding that the color of your skin or your gender doesn't determine your ability to do the job of leading a country will continue to propel us forward to becoming a country where all of our citizens have equal rights. What? You mean you didn't realize that not all U.S. citizens have equal rights? Surely you jest. In 1954, the Supreme Court sent a message to all of its citizens in every state. That message was that "separate" rights are not "equal" rights. That message was called Brown vs. The Board of Education. So where in our country are we experiencing separate but unequal rights? In the area of same-sex marriage.

Only one state out of fifty offers same-sex couples the right to marry and enjoy the same (i.e., EQUAL) rights as heterosexual married couples. It's 2009, people, and discrimination still reigns supreme in 49 states when it comes to same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court sent a very clear message in 1954 with Brown vs. The Board of Education. It was 9-0. Now why is it that the 1954 Supreme Court got the message that separate does not mean equal, and yet the people of the United States in the year 2009 still haven't gotten that message? Sure, it's illegal now to make African-Americans sit at the back of the bus, use their "own" bathrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. But it's perfectly legal in 49 states to bar same-sex couples from enjoying the same rights, privileges, and, yes, responsibilities as heterosexual married couples. It's legal to discriminate against same-sex couples. LEGAL to DISCRIMINATE. LEGAL to treat ONE GROUP of CITIZENS as UNEQUAL to the rest. Why? How is it that more people in this country don't understand the concept of equality? How many centuries will it take before the United States grows up and into its own principles of equality? It's not about religious beliefs. It's about equal rights for all. Period. Same-sex couples pay EQUAL taxes. They should have EQUAL tax benefits and everything else that goes hand-in-hand with marriage rights.

I've often said that I won't believe that the U.S. has achieved a true state of egalitarianism (ALL are equal) until I see an African-American lesbian in the Oval Office. Now that we have a President who is partly of African heritage, I'm revising that to a Native American, Hispanic, or Asian-American lesbian, since we've begun to crack the racial wall that has kept African-Americans in second class status for so long. Geez, it took nearly 150 years after slavery ended to get this far. In another millennium or so, we ought to be on track.

But say, what would happen if we allowed ourselves to grow at a personal/social rate at a pace that equals the rate at which our technology is expanding? What would happen if we did something really radical and just passed laws that make us ALL EQUAL? You've already read my blog about it not being possible that same-sex marriage would lead to bestiality, since animal sex is already perfectly legal in more states than same-sex marriage and all the other forms of SEPARATE but UNEQUAL civil unions are legal. If not, go back and read it and be amazed that while it's not legal for adult, human, same-sex couples to enjoy the full rights of marriage, it is legal in a dozen or more states to have sex with your pets and livestock. That is so twisted and completely contrary to logic.

The United States has a long way to go yet, I'd say. A long way to be as advanced in our way of thinking as a country such as Iceland, where they have just appointed the modern world's first openly gay government leader and Iceland's first female Prime Minister. Yeah, their country is bankrupt and needs a strong hand to lead it away from the brink of disaster (sound familiar?). So who do they call in to fix it for them? In Iceland, it's Johanna Sigurdardottir, an openly lesbian governmental leader. In the United States, a man who is both of African and American heritage, an African-American.

A new day is indeed dawning, but it hasn't arrived in the United States just yet. Because, you see, PM Sigurdardottir is married to her same-sex spouse, and if she comes to the United States with her spouse... Do you see where I'm going with this? In Iceland, this woman can become Prime Minister and no one blinks an eye. I quote from the BBC article linked in the title of this blog and again at the close, "'I don't think her sexual orientation matters. Our voters are pretty liberal, they don't care about any of that,'" Skuli Helgeson, Social Democratic Alliance's general secretary, told the BBC."

Now teleport PM Sigurdardottir to the United States, and even if she became a U.S. citizen, she wouldn't have equal marital rights. In Iceland, Prime Minister, in the United States, a second class citizen at best. I may say this a lot, but I'll keep saying it until this world changes. In what universe does this make sense?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7863923.stm

http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=98015&videoChannel=75

Mamma Mia! Same-Sex Comments!

(Reprinted with permission from my other blog "Slices of My Life" http://slicesofmylifebethmitchum.blogspot.com

I was shocked to see a ratings warning on a DVD I recently rented. It states that the movie is rated PG-13 because of "some same-sex comments." Apparently the censors think it's hazardous to the minds of children under thirteen to talk about being gay. Never mind the all the simulated sex that was going on in the movie between dancing heterosexual couples or the female character who dons a fake red penis to simulate sex acts. This movie attributes its rating to one scene where a character comes out to himself. No gay sex involved. Not even simulated gay sex in a dance. I don't even recall if he kissed his newly found boyfriend. I don't think so, but if he did it was a quick, closed-mouth job with absolutely no sizzle to it. It was all so tame and as far as I'm concerned, completely unnecessary.

These days a lot of films are tossing bones to the gay and lesbian communities by having a minor character in their otherwise mainstream movie either be gay or come out during the film. It's to the point of what I'd call "gratuitous gayness." What is truly gay (as in gay male, not lesbian) about the film is that it is: 1)a musical, 2)rife with flamboyant costumes, 3)full of half-clad dancing men, 4)centered around the dance hits of the band ABBA. Other than having real gay content, it can't get much more superficially gay than that.

But I'm a little disturbed that the movie industry is using coming-out scenes to give out PG-13 ratings. I can't imagine that if you removed this one little scene that the movie would suddenly be acceptable for all audiences, including children. It is so not a "family" or "children's" movie at all. It's all about love, marriage, and SEX, 98.6% of it heterosexual. It's clearly a movie for adults because, face it, not too many adolescents, who would be allowed to watch because they're over thirteen, would watch it because it is: 1)a musical, 2)rife with flamboyant costumes, 3)full of half-clad dancing men, 4)centered around the dance hits of the band ABBA ("Who's ABBA?"). Unless of course the adolescent is a gay male teen. In which case, he'd feel right at home.

Now I'm not saying that I didn't like the movie because I did. It's funny and campy. Watching extremely famous and talented actors pretending to be ABBA is worth the price of admission alone. The movie, which is based on the international hit musical is Mamma Mia! It stars Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, and Christine Baranski. So if you love watching actors get paid a bunch of money to have a blast and make fools of themselves, it's definitely worth watching at least once. If you're a gay male, you'll probably enjoy it because of the reasons listed above. For me, watching Meryl Streep acting as though her character is still the young starlet she used to be is worth it all. The lady is amazing and still in darn good shape, I'd say. Make sure you keep watching as the credits rolls and the hits continue to play. The final show is the best part of the movie, I'd say.

But for goodness sake, people, lose the stupid ratings warning about "same-sex comments." Otherwise every contemporary film should have it, and be warned that the gay and lesbian community is not amused by what is definitely an insult. Hello? You have to warn viewers when you're going to TALK about being gay? That is so lame and so bigoted. Maybe my blog should have a ratings disclaimer: "PG-13 rating due to comments about half-clad men dancing to fabulous disco music and flamboyant costumes. Sheesh. I am so ready for a post-Bush world.