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!).
Chrissy Gephardt
Mary Cheney isn’t the only lesbian daughter of a political bigwig; Chrissy Gephardt, daughter of former Democratic Congressman Richard Gephardt, came out during the 2004 race—while her dad was running for president. She then realized the public platform she had for championing LGBT rights, and has since begun working with LGBT political organizations and touring schools, encouraging young people to become politically active. Gephardt is Director of the Grassroots Campaign Corps for the National Stonewall Democrats and serves on the board of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect LGBT candidates to local, state and national offices. Of the recent Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, she says: “This could affect the rights of LGBT couples all across this country, since many states will likely follow California’s lead.” –KL
In no particular order…
