100 WOMEN WE LOVE 2008
Lily Tomlin’s extraordinary career as a funny lady bloomed on the TV show Laugh-In in 1969, the year of the Stonewall rebellion. Fittingly, she has woven feminism and LGBT life into her characters—the not-so-hardworking phone operator Ernestine, Violet Newstead in 9 to 5 and the numerous personas populating The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the one-woman play written by Tomlin’s partner Jane Wagner, for which Tomlin won a Tony Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for her turn as Linnea Reese in Robert Altman’s Nashville, played recurring roles on TV shows from Murphy Brown to The West Wing, and has won six Emmys, a Grammy, and a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1977. Tomlin, who has called Wagner the most influential person in her life and career, narrated 1995’s landmark LGBT documentary The Celluloid Closet. –KL
In no particular order…
Hats off to the 100 Women We Love, class of 2008 (in no particular order, ’cause we love ’em all!).
Alison Burgos
As creator of Aqua Girl, one of the country’s biggest and best women’s weekend bashes, Alison Burgos knows how to throw a party. Proceeds benefit the Aqua Foundation for Women, the non-profit organization she founded to educate, empower and foster women’s communities throughout Southern Florida. For nine years, Burgos has produced gay and lesbian events up and down the East Coast, all of which contribute to local or national philanthropic causes. As co-owner of Pandora Events, she produces Peach Atlanta Pride, Girls in Wonderland, and the White Party. Burgos is working to bring the party northward; glittering gay-las in New York and Washington, DC are in the pipeline. Her ingredients for an unforgettable party: “focus on the best entertainment, production, design, beautiful venues, sound, energy and great shows,” she says. “Mega-fabulous.” –JB
In no particular order…
