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On Wednesday, May 16 at 8 pm, South Florida audiences have a chance to hear the raspy voice and poetic lyrics of rock star Melissa Etheridge in her Fearless Love tour. Etheridge is best known for chart-toppers such as “I Need to Wake Up,” “Come to My Window,” “I Want to Come Over,” “The Weakness in Me,” and “Angels Would Fall.” Her latest, Fearless Love, is her tenth studio album, the original title of which was Songs of Love and Fear. Fearless Love was inspired by her children and was produced by longtime friend John Shanks, who also produced Sheryl Crow and Michelle Branch.

Changes for a Rock Icon

Etheridge’s recent past has been marked by turning points. 2011 saw Etheridge, 50, receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the year before, she split from her wife of nine years, Tammy Lynn Michaels. In 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and responded to her hair loss with trademark bravery, singing a cover of India Arie’s “I Am Not My Hair” while at the Grammy’s. In 2007, she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, along with several other artists. Before that, she won two Grammy awards – one for 1989’s song “Ain’t It Heavy,” and one for “Come to My Window” off her groundbreaking 1993 album Yes I Am, which playfully hinted at questions then being asked about her sexual orientation. Etheridge is known for her confessional lyrics, classic-rock style, and passionate delivery. She is also a committed LGBT activist since her own public coming out in 1992 and often supports gay rights issues. In spite of her long history as an LGBT activist, she will appear at her very first Pride event in 2012. 

Green Activist

In the last several years, Etheridge has been involved in the environmental movement, most notably offering support to Al Gore and contributing the Academy-award winning song “I Need to Wake Up” to his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Her website offers tips on green living. In 2006, she toured America and Canada using biodiesel and has a long track record of support for environmental and green issues.

If You Go

Melissa Etheridge will be at Hard Rock Live on May 16, 2012 at 8 pm. For more information, including ticket prices and availability, go here.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By rockzoom_de

As Ellen DeGeneres famously pointed out after right-wing group One Million Moms boycotted her JC Penney spokesperson position, they only have 40 thousand people on their Facebook page. (I guess 40 Thousand Homophobic Moms With Nothing Better to Do just didn’t sound as catchy.) However, their inaccurate name didn’t stop OMM from getting their proverbial knickers in a twist again just in time for Mother’s Day. Why? because corpo giant JC Penney has taken yet another stand in their support of LGBT families and featured an adorable lesbian family in their most recent catalog.

JC Penney Supports Lesbian Moms

JC Penney’s May 2012 catalog features partners Wendy and Maggie and their daughters Raven and Clover on pages 10 and 11. Both women are wearing wedding bands and the whole family is dressed in brightly colored spring clothing. Little Raven is holding tightly to mom Wendy’s hand and smiling into the camera. Even grandma Carolyn, Wendy’s mother, is in the two-page spread. The pages focus on how this happy family likes to enjoy art as a way of self-expression. A happy, artistic, creative family, just in time for Mother’s Day? Oh, say it ain’t so, America!

If You Can’t Say Something Nice, Walk Away

Predictably, One Million Moms is now again at war with the retail giant.…On second thought, maybe the word “war” is just as inaccurate as OMM’s member roster. The word “war” implies that both parties are equally furious, and that’s not entirely true: only OMM is furious.

On the other hand, JC Penney’s employees barely seem to notice, instead responding to One Million Moms with indulgent good manners. JCP’s employees have been instructed to hold fast to their manners, smile politely, and walk away from members of OMM. (Maybe JC Penny employees can thank mom for teaching them the “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” rule, eh?)

Get Over It, OMM

We’re in the 21st century. There is no excuse for bigotry and homophobia. One day soon, I hope that all 40 thousand of the One Million Moms can open their hearts to mothers of all orientations.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By greekadman

Dan Savage’s brainchild, the It Gets Better project, has a special place in my consciousness. Whenever I think back to my own high school experience, or the experiences of my gay friends when they were teens, I feel so blessed and grateful to be in a time of change –as the dialogue slowly shifts from silence and fear to hope and acceptance. Even though there is still a long way to go, Dan Savage’s It Gets Better project has brought national awareness to what was once a silent and terrible epidemic of gay bullying. Dan Savage has started an LGBT media revolution for this generation, and after such an overwhelming explosion of hope, there’s no going back into the national closet.

Hate to Hope

Savage’s It Gets Better project website is a treasure trove of information and hope for LGBT youth, many of whom have not only been bullied, but may be suicidal. According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, an estimated 20 to 40 % of America’s 1.6 million homeless youth are LGBT because 26% of LGBT kids are kicked out of their homes when they come out to family members. While the It Gets Better project’s main focus is providing hope and not housing, there is no doubt that the IGBP is an important resource in challenging homophobia.

From High School Kids to The President

The message of the It Gets Better project is simple: live, make it through, and life will improve. To date, there are over 40,000 It Gets Better videos that have been viewed millions of times. The best part of this visual mosaic of hope is that everyone has made the videos. People from all walks of life have made an IGBP video – from high school jocks and middle school lesbians all the way to celebs like Lady Gaga and even President Obama.

Learn More

Kids who need help or support can call a toll-free confidential hotline at 866-4-U-TREVOR. To learn more about the It Gets Better project, to donate, or to contribute or view the videos, go here.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By soundfromwayout

Courageous, profound, and tender, these memoirs describe the lives of three very different celebrities.

Untied by Meredith Baxter

Best known as the hippy wife from the 80s hit Family Ties, Meredith Baxter played America’s favorite left-wing mom as she parented junior Republican Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox), Jennifer (Tina Yothers) and Malory (Justine Bateman). But the woman behind the scenes of Family Ties hid a life-changing secret: tv’s favorite mom was gay. Meredith Baxter’s memoir Untied follows her journey to self-acceptance. From a troubled childhood to fame and fortune in Hollywood, Baxter relays her experiences as an emotionally and verbally abused wife, her struggles with alcoholism, and eventually her self-acceptance as a lesbian.

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

Model and actress Portia de Rossi struggles with self-acceptance and a life-threatening eating disorder as she achieves fame and fortune in Hollywood in Unbearable Lightness. One of the best things about de Rossi’s book is the relationship she draws between her eating disorders and her repression of her sexuality. Eventually, de Rossi undergoes treatment for her anorexia (at one point, the 5’7 actor was an almost fatal 82 pounds) and finds love and strength as she heals, comes out as a lesbian, and eventually meets and marries Ellen Degeneres. De Rossi’s voice is brave, strong, and interesting; her memoir is important, eye-opening, and it should be on the shelf of anyone who has ever struggled with eating disorders.

Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man by Chaz Bono

Bono’s memoir, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man about his transition from female to male bodied, is brave and extraordinary. Everyone knew Chaz as Chasity Bono, the adorable daughter of superstars Sonny and Cher, then as an out 90s lesbian, and now as a transgender activist and writer. Chaz’s honesty, clarity, and sweetness shine through the pages of this one-of-a-kind tale of self-acceptance, courage, and gender identity.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By Pulicciano

The 14^th Annual Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will begin on April 27, 2012 and run until Sunday May 6, 2012. Since it’s the first LGBT film fest in the year, many feel that it sets the tone for all the other LGBT film events. The MGLFF screens its films throughout Miami-Dade County, including Miami Beach and Coral Gables.

Chely Wright Honored On First Night of Festival

On April 27, Chely Wright, country music star and author of the memoir Like Me, will be presented with the Lavender Heart Award, which honors an entertainer who has presented a positive image of the gay community. The recent documentary about Chely’s coming out, Wish Me Away explores public and private moments as Chely comes out,  much to the surprise of her conservative country fan base. It will be screened at the MGLFF on April 28. Chely is also the national spokesperson for the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

Films

From CoDependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same to the classic The Celluloid Closet, the MGLFF features a variety of films, including shorts and full-length features. Among them will be Vito about writer and activist Vito Russo, the author of The Celluloid Closet; Seventh Gay Adventists, in which the faith of three people collide with their sexuality; Kermit and the gang hit New York in the 1985 family classic The Muppets Take Manhattan; and two sister-in-laws to be fall for each other in the Swedish comedy Kiss Me. The MGLFF also features many films from around the world, including films from Ireland, Israel, and Africa.

If You Go

The Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will take place in several main locations: The Colony Theater in Miami Beach, the Coral Gables Art Cinema, the Miami Beach Cinematheque, the Miami Beach Convention Center, Regal Cinemas on South Beach, and The Wolfsonian. For more information about the locations, please go here. For tickets and ticket prices, go here.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By eschipul

One of the easiest ways to go green is by reusing items and recycling your old stuff. My old high school friend Allie was the queen – I mean the past master – of thrift stores. Once, I watched her find a pair of Michael Kors jeans – retail value of $100 – for a mere five bucks. “Get them. You need these.” They were two sizes too small, but I bought them – and still have them, a proud souvenir of a good thrifting day.

I’ve been to them all: Goodwill, garage stores, and swap parties, but so far nothing has rocked my world harder than Out of the Closet. Billed as “the world’s most fabulous thrift store,” Out of the Closet has many locations spanning California, the new store in Amsterdam, and four right here in South Florida. The two Broward locations are right in the “gayborhood” of Wilton Manors and one located just a few moments away from Wilton Manors in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Sunrise Blvd.

Free HIV/AIDS Tests

Many Out of the Closet locations provide free and confidential AIDS testing and counseling. The tests are conducted in a private section of the store. Several of the South Florida locations offer this free service. For a complete list of the locations that offer free HIV/AIDS tests, please go here. The stores also benefit the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, so when you shop at OftC, your money is going to a very good cause.

Books, Clothes, and More

I’ve been to both the Wilton Manors location and the Sunrise location. The Wilton Manors location is just off Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors, Florida. The Sunrise Blvd location is in a huge freestanding building. It reminded me of a John Waters movie, with just that kind of wacky, kitschy vibe. If you like your thrifting with a bit of flash, check it out. My personal OftC Haul consisted of a half-filled journal, a book with a love letter scribbled on the end pages, and many tee shirts, one featuring Speed Racer (Go, go, Speed Racer, gooo!). There are pride buttons and bracelets aplenty, especially at the Sunrise location, which is bright and airy – a fun place to spend a long weekend looking at interesting and quirky odds and ends.

Pick Up

Out of the Closet will come to your house to collect old stuff, too. (Warning for the shy: the second the massive pink and blue truck pulls into your neighborhood, you will instantly be – just as the truck reads – out of the closet.)

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By anna_logical

I’ve heard it everywhere. And every time I hear someone say this, I want to make myself an “LGBT RIGHTS” cape and burst forth from my hiding place, yelling like a banshee.

“That’s so gay.”

I heard it last week in – of all places – a bookstore. One teen turned to another and said, very loudly “DUDE, THAT’S SO GAY.” The kids, barely seventeen and joshing each other over a nearby stand of Harry Potter books, weren’t saying “gay” as a good thing. When someone uses gay like that, the meaning is clear. Gay is gross. Gay is icky. Gay is something to be hidden.

Words are Powerful…Especially to Teens

All of us are role models, period. When your kids hear you decrying people in the LGBT community, when your kid hears you say that gay marriage is worth less than straight marriage, that the families of gay, lesbian, bi, or trans couples are worth less than straight families, that the legal rights of straights matter more, then you’re ignoring a chance to teach them an important lesson about basic equality and kindness.

Here’s the thing, though. There’s enough homophobia out there that maybe those kids from the bookstore had a gay uncle or brother or mom, and maybe it didn’t matter. Maybe they picked it up from the tons of negative homophobic messages that teens receive every day.

Erasing the Word Won’t Make LGBT Folks Go Away

Words matter. Words can scare or scar, hurt or wound. But they can also heal and transform. Words are one of our strongest weapons as we set out to create a world with equal rights. And we’re getting there a little bit more, day by day. DADT is now a thing of the past and last week, a military base in Afghanistan raised a pride flag. That’s amazing to me. Millions of words from millions of people accomplished that victory.

The Word War Continues

What’s not amazing is the ongoing war over the word “gay”. Last December, the word “gay” was removed from a Christmas carol and then put back once parents protested. The infamous “Don’t Say Gay” Bill from Tennesee is still clogging up the inner workings of the House Education Subcommittee, despite the fact that many school counselors feel that it could lead to the suicide of more students. Heck, it’s even making Tennessee Governor, Republican Bill Haslam roll his eyes.
So, what’s the answer to all this anti-gay verbal nonsense? We can’t stop talking, any of us, about what matters. We can’t allow ourselves to be silenced. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to teenagers who are only starting to peek around the closet door.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By infomatique

Only days before the start of April’s National Poetry Month, Adrienne Rich, famous lesbian poet, died last week in her Santa Cruz home at the age of 82.

A Lifetime of Honors

Rich is known for her passionate poems about women’s rights, racism, and economic issues. Her career included many notable awards and honors, including two Guggenheim fellowships. In the 70s, she won the National Book Award for Poetry, in the 80s she won the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and in the 90s, she won (and declined, in protest) the National Medal of Arts.

A Pioneer

When I woke up on the morning of her death, it seemed that every blog and website had weighted in on the death of this literary giant. She influenced countless women writers, giving a voice to their experiences. Rich famously shared her 1974 National Book Award for Diving into the Wreck with fellow nominees Alice Walker and Audre Lorde.

Rich fully realized she was a lesbian late in life, leaving a 17-year marriage to Harvard economist Alfred Conrad. Not long after, she settled down with writer and editor Michelle Cliff.

The Political is Personal

Rich’s lifelong body of work mainly focused on women and the disenfranchised. However, we can see in her life one of the major principles of ecofriendly living – that, at some level, the personal is always political.

Green issues are personal for all of us, and headlines about global warming or toxic waste don’t exist in a political vacuum. The politics of the green movement – the food we’re eating, the waste we’re trying to reduce, the plant we’re trying to protect – are deeply, deeply personal. We all have different ways of expressing the personal and political – and Rich showed generations of writers, activists, and thinkers how to blend the two.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By K. Kendall

I was a fan of the graphic novel series Fables long before it became the hit TV show Once Upon a Time, a drama set in both modern-day America and in a skewed world of fairy tales. As I looked through my old copies of Fables, it dawned on me that “skewed” fairy tales are often the most interesting. We all know what happens when the prince rides up on his white horse and rescues the princess, but what happens when another woman rescues the princess? Or when the prince braves otherworldly dangers to find his one true love – another man? Here are some of my favorite fairy tales, gay-style.

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

Before Emma Donoghue won awards for her 2010 thriller Room, she wrote a charming 1996 collection of short stories called Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins. In Kissing, Donoghue rewrites her takes on classics – and all of the “new-skinned” tales are sharp, funny, and very queer friendly. (In her version of Beauty and the Beast, Beauty discovers that the “beast” is a woman.) The best part about her revisionist fairy tales? All are gorgeous, poetic, and original.

The Next Fairy Tale

Maybe one day they’ll be a soundtrack for Brian Pugach’s original 2011 musical The Next Fairy Tale. Prince Copernicus wants to rescue his one true love, Prince Helio, from a tower. The only problem is that the mission is facilitated by klutzy godmother-in-training Hazel, and the real trouble starts when Hazel’s homophobic boss, “godmother-queen”, Minerva steps in to create magical obstacles for Prince Copernicus.

Bending the Landscape Series, edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel

Griffith and Pagel edited these LGBT-themed fiction collections. The Bending the Landscape Series has three award-winning anthologies – one fantasy, one science-fiction, and one horror- that explore gay and lesbian characters in fantastic settings and wildly imaginative situations. This series won several big awards, including the World Fantasy Award, the Spectrum Award, and two Lambda Literary Awards.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By Jason Pier in DC

It seems that marriage is everywhere on the national stage. Everyone has an opinion on marriage, freedom, and what the legal right to love will do to our country. (Pay attention, Religious Right. Gay marriage won’t destroy America!)

Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement or A Very Long Plane Ride?

Recently, I saw a wonderful 2009 documentary called Edie and Thea: A Very Long Engagement, about the 42 year-long romantic partnership between Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer. The documentary explores their remarkable relationship and focuses on Edie and Thea (then in their 70s) flying to Canada to get married  because they want to be legal wives before Thea succumbs to fatal multiple sclerosis. There’s a scene in Edie and Thea when the women are leaving for Canada and getting into a van…and there’s wheelchair-bound Thea,  brave and amazing and frail, preparing to fly to Toronto in the dead of winter, miles from her homestate, to get married.

What does this documentary of two elderly women getting married have to do with green principles?

Everything.

Edie and Thea traveled to Canada because gay marriage is legal in Toronto. When this generation is in our seventies and eighties, hopefully things will be different and easier. But what if you want to get married in your home state, right now? What if you want to have a “staycation” wedding – a real, legal wedding – and save some money?

260,000 Plane Tickets?

Well, with the way things currently stand in America, chances are you may not live in one of the handful of states in which gay marriage is legal. If that’s the case, you won’t really have that option to have a legal wedding in your homestate, not if you want to be legally married.

According to a recent article, there are approximately 130,000 same-sex couples in America. What if all of them – at some point – had to travel to another state (or to Canada) to get married? That’s approximately 260,000 individuals who must travel across state lines in order to be legally married. Now think about all the friends and relatives who deserve to be there with them. I shutter to think of the gas mileage, the plane fare, and the carbon credits needed to offset such a journey. Flat out, it’s not fair to LGBT couples or their families. All that travel – unless it’s offset – is bad for the earth. Plus, it’s expensive.

Discrimination Is Not Green Or Kind

Needing to travel to get married while other people don’t have to is also a gross discrimination. I remember 70-something Thea teetering in her wheelchair on her way to Canada because she had no other legal way to marry her beloved Edie. (When my grandparents were in their 70s, they couldn’t be bothered to shut the bathroom door, let alone board a plane to Canada.) Wouldn’t it have been nice and less expensive for Edie and Thea if they could have simply gotten married ten minutes from their home in a nice, little park or house of worship? I think so. That would have been the greener, easier choice. But anti-gay discrimination didn’t give them that option.

Discrimination is not a green choice. Not by a long shot, America.

By Marissa Cohen

Photo By MightyBoyBrian