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
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Hats off to the 100 Women We Love, class of 2008 (in no particular order, ’cause we love ’em all!).
Rebecca Tillet
As a member of Human Rights Campaign’s Board of Directors, Rebecca Tillet is one of the people who is going to get same-sex marriage legalized in New York. With the election approaching, a governor and Assembly that support marriage equality, and the knowledge that we only have to flip two seats in the Senate this fall, her goal is well within reach. “At every meeting I have tears of pride in my eyes at some point hearing about the incredible work being done by our staff and volunteers around the country,” says Tillet. “I feel honored to be involved in an organization that knows what it takes to win and knows how to mobilize our community to create real, lasting change.” –MF
In no particular order…
