America’s Most Captivating Couples 2008
Newton, Massachusetts
Jennifer Chrisler, 37, Executive Director, Family Equality Council
Cheryl Jaques, 45, Lawyer, Brody, Hardoon, Perkins & Kesten
Jennifer and Cheryl met almost 15 years ago when Jennifer got involved in Cheryl’s campaign for state senate. They were friends for five years before they started dating. As the Executive Director of the Family Equality Council (formerly Family Pride), Jennifer fights for the rights of all loving families, regardless of blood relation or sexual orientation. In addition to being a lawyer, Cheryl is the former head of the Human Rights Campaign. They are the proud parents of two sons, Tom and Tim, age five. “We love spending time with our kids, playing checkers, go fish and Connect Four. For gown-up fun, we love going to estate sales to find treasures, and taking long walks together,” says Jennifer. Their secret: “We try to remember to attack our problems instead of each other. Whenever we face adversity in our lives, we remain focused on what we are trying to solve instead of getting angry with each other about the situation we’re in. It also helps to have a good sense of humor, and to laugh together often.”
The results are in! After a grueling selection process, we’ve skimmed the sweet cream off this year’s batch of entries and whipped it into GO’s most captivating couples of 2008. Many more couples coming soon!
Scout & Alyssa
New York, New York
Scout Durwood, 24, Actor/Comic/
Beauty Queen
Alyssa Robbins, 28, Singer/Songwriter
“Prepare yourself for the most lesbianic how-we-met story ever,” Alyssa warns. They were the only two lesbians at a mutual friend’s birthday party. They had been alerted to each other’s presence, and were both on the lookout for the “other lesbian” at the bash. They finally met and exchanged numbers, but neither one had much time for dating, as they were both currently directing their own separate productions of The Vagina Monologues. Months later, they reconnected at SaySo!, a sexual assault speak-out. They had their first date at Cubby Hole, but Scout couldn’t drink because she had her Miss America interviews the next day. Alyssa drank enough for the both of them, and Scout graciously offered to shepherd her home. The rest, as they say, is herstory. Scout is currently creating On My Reel, an homage to her three days of reality stardom on A Shot at love with Tila Tequila. She and Alyssa join forces in their new original musical theater piece, SCOUT! Their romantic touchstone: “We have a song we wrote together called ‘Sex and Booze,’ about the only two things we have in common.”
