100 Women We Love Class of 2010
A Houston, Texas native, Annise Parker has remained close to her roots. She was sworn in as the 61st mayor of Houston in January, becoming only the second woman and first openly gay person to hold that office. She graduated from Rice University and worked for two decades in the oil and gas industry, with 18 of those years spent at the Houston-based Mosbacher Energy Company. For ten years, she co-owned Inklings, a Houston-based independent gay bookstore. Parker was involved in Houston politics for several years prior to becoming mayor, serving six years as a member of the City Council and one six-year term as Houston City Controller. -CB
As the first decade of the new millennium comes to an end, we take a moment to celebrate 100 out lesbians who have made the past year one of inspiring change and amazing progress.
Amy Jo Goddard
A multi-talented sex educator and faculty member at the City University of New York, Amy Jo Goddard is producing and directing the forthcoming documentary At Your Cervix, which she hopes to finish next year. The film chronicles the dedicated work of the Gynecological Teaching Associates (Goddard herself has been one), who use their own bodies to instruct medical and nursing students how to perform more respectful breast and pelvic exams. Most recently, Goddard launched the Women’s Sexuality Empowerment Apprenticeship to work with women to explore their sexual potential. “The most difficult part of being a sex educator is that, by virtue of the things I teach about, I hear so many stories of rape, violation, shame and sexual trauma,” Goddard says. “Yet as hard as that is, it’s beautiful to witness people there in that raw vulnerability and help them work through it, heal it, understand it and become more empowered sexual people.” -CB
