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.
Shelly Mars
Kinetic performance artist Shelly Mars brings complex characters to life: from Damon, the obnoxious independent filmmaker, to Zana Anna Rosen, a “feminist, separatist poetess” who can’t bring herself to say the word “penis”. In her latest solo show, The Homo Bonobo Project, Mars gives the world French primatologist Dr. Ghislaine Pussait, who studies matriarchal primates, pointing out similarities between them and the LGBT population. Her new performance series, The Bulldyke Chronicles, which she co-hosts with an English bulldog named Kirby, takes place at New York’s Dixon Place Lounge, a salon for new work produced in a comfortable social setting. Mars explains it in this way: “I wanted to create a place where folks could hang out and socialize and a place where queer performers could work on new material. It’s something different each time.” -CB
