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!).
Katina Parker
As media strategist for Communities of African Descent at Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Katina Parker projects the compelling stories of LGBT people of color. Her work as a conceptual artist and activist—or self-defined “artivist”—has promoted LGBT visibility, confronted youth violence issues and supported the rebuilding of communities. “The intersection of my work is empowering voiceless communities through the use of independent and mainstream media,” Parker says. “At heart, I am a teacher, and God made me good at it.” She wrote and directed Peace Process, which won Best Documentary Honorable Mention at the 11th Annual Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival in 2007. The riveting 45-minute film shadows a gifted, orphaned teen who investigates the meaning of gang life. Her current project is New Orleans: A Labor of Love, a grass-roots, multi-media public awareness campaign designed to mobilize thousands of volunteers in reconstructing New Orleans this year. –JB
In no particular order…
