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!).
Lynn Schulman
Lynn Schulman is a candidate for City Council in the 29th Council District in Queens, primarily representing Forest Hills, Rego Park and Kew Gardens. If elected, she will become the first lesbian from an outer borough to serve on the council. As an attorney, Schulman has spent 30 years in city and state politics, promoting tenants’ rights and working to mitigate domestic violence, gender discrimination and poverty. Schulman has been vice chair of Community Board 6 in Forest Hills for over a decade and most recently served as a senior manager at Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), where she orchestrated education and media campaigns. As a Council member, “One of my priorities would be to advocate for re-establishment of a separate Mayoral office of LGBT Affairs,” she says. “….In addition, I want to ensure and enhance the access members of the LGBT community have to public healthcare in New York City. With my healthcare background, I believe I can make successful inroads in that area.” –KL
In no particular order…
