Katherine Heigl in “Jenny’s Wedding.”
(Photo courtesy of Tiffany Laufer)

BY EMELINA MINERO
Lesbian.com

LOOK FOR “JENNY’S WEDDING” IN THEATERS NOW.

It’s rare that we see a film with lesbian characters in the theaters. The few times we do see a movie with a strong queer character on the big screen, we are moved because the opportunities to see that aspect of ourselves reflected on the big screen, an aspect that society had made taboo, are scarce. We feel empowered, or perhaps scared – maybe a sense of fulfillment and validation, or anger that a movie with a lesbian character making it into the theaters is still a big deal. And it is a big deal.

“Jenny’s Wedding” is a big deal, and not only does the film have a lesbian character, but lesbian leads. Katherine Heigl (“Gray’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up”) is cast in the title role, and Alexis Bledel (“Gilmore Girls,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”) portrays her lesbian fiancé.

Katherine Heigl and Alexis Bledel (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Laufer)

“Jenny’s Wedding” is our exposure. It’s not a campy film. Being gay is a theme in the film, but it’s not the entire story. It’s humanizing – of everyone. It humanizes Jenny, a conventional woman from a conventional small town who is also a lesbian. She doesn’t want to stand out. She just wants to marry the woman she loves, start a family in her hometown and just be another town member among her neighbors.

There are no villains in this film. “Jenny’s Wedding” humanizes Jenny’s family. When Jenny comes out to them, they’re thrown into this new world that they hadn’t any exposure to previously. They’re more conventional than conservative. They’re not change makers. They prefer not to stand out, and Jenny coming out in their small town makes them stand out.

They’re hurt that Jenny had kept a part of herself a secret from them for so long. They struggle, not only with trying to accept this change, but also with how Jenny coming out is making them look at themselves, evaluate themselves and change themselves.

“Jenny’s Wedding” is a story about family, love, personal courage and stretching past one’s personal limits when confronted with something new. This film is a roadmap for families who are struggling with their kids coming out, and it’s a roadmap for families who are struggling to accept anything out of their comfort zone, not just their LGBTQ children.

When we go see “Jenny’s Wedding” in the theaters, it will move us. We’ll laugh. We’ll cry and we’ll be moved by seeing an aspect of ourselves portrayed on the big screen that at one point in our lives we had kept hidden, or perhaps that we still hide.

“Jenny’s Wedding” has a lot of Hollywood support, but it is an independent film. Mary Agnes Donoghue, the writer of “Beaches” and “White Oleander,” wrote, directed and produced “Jenny’s Wedding.” The film is loosely inspired by her niece coming out to her family. Michelle Manning, also the producer of the film, produced “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club,” and worked with Paramount Pictures as senior vice president of production, and later as president of production. Gail Levin, again a producer, was the executive vice president of features casting at Paramount Pictures, and personally casted “Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire” and ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.”

The film boasts an incredible ensemble cast as well. Golden Globe and Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominated Tom Wilkinson plays Jenny’s father, Eddie. Linda Emond (“Across the Universe,” “Julie & Julia”) plays Jenny’s mother, Rose, and Grace Gummer (“Zero Hour,” “The Newsroom”) plays Jenny’s sister, Anne.

The film has been a passion project for everyone involved. Filming has wrapped and the project is now in post-production. It’s a low-budget film and the producers have launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund the soundtrack, an integral element of any film.

The filmmakers are offering some very enticing campaign incentives: tickets to the Los Angeles and Cleveland screenings of the film; autographs from Katherine Heigl; the wedding dress from the film. Donations are tax-deductible thanks to their partnership with From the Heart Productions and a portion of each donation will be contributed to non-profit PFLAG Cleveland.

“Jenny’s Wedding” is a film that can change lives and through the Indiegogo campaign the community is being offered the opportunity to contribute to that change.

Help the Filmmakers of Jenny’s Wedding from Jenny’s Wedding on Vimeo.

The post ‘Jenny’s Wedding’: A lesbian marriage goes mainstream first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY CANDY PARKER

In 2013, its inaugural year, National Give OUT Day allowed over 400 LGBTQ organizations from across the U.S. to raise over $600,000 as more than 5,500 donors stepped up to participate in the event.

Conceived and funded in part by Charlie Rounds, Board Chair of the IGLTA Foundation, and his husband Mark Hiemenz, and organized by Bolder Giving and Razoo, National Give OUT Day is a 24-hour online fundraising competition that unites the LGBTQ community to raise vitally needed funds to support a wide array of LGBTQ nonprofits.

This year, Thursday, May 15, has been designated as National Give OUT Day and nonprofits across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., are hoping that the LGBTQ community and their allies will take the opportunity to put their money where their pride is by making a donation to the LGBTQ organization of their choice between 12:00a.m. and 11:59p.m. ET that day.

In addition to the individual contributions received, the three organizations with highest dollar volume in donations will also receive cash prizes, as will the top three groups in each of the states/regions with prize boards. The Transgender Law Center (TLC) in Oakland, California, was the fundraising leader for Give OUT Day 2013, garnering $17,000 in individual donations and an additional $11,000 in prize grants.

“We’re certainly not the largest, nor the most resourced – so it still feels a little like a David and Goliath situation,” said Shawn Demmons, TLC’s board vice chair in an interview with EDGE Media. “To be honest though, I hope even more organizations participate. The whole point is to increase giving to LGBTQ causes and we’re all in this together. Look at what’s possible when we come together for a common purpose – last year, Give OUT Day generated over $600,000 on a single day. That’s huge!”

With more than 500 nonprofits participating this year, organizers are hoping the 2014 event will generate donations in excess of $1,000,000 from 10,000 donors as awareness of the event expands. The minimum allowable donation is $10; no upper limit on contributions is imposed.

“Give OUT Day is an unparalleled opportunity for even small LGBTQ nonprofits to reach new donors. And, as the same time, by making information on the nonprofits so readily available, Give OUT Day empowers both long-time and newer donors to support causes they care about,” said Roger Doughty, Executive Director of the Horizons Foundation, sponsor of two of the nine prize boards across the country.

Last year, over one third of all donors discovered a new group to support on Give OUT Day and 13 percent were first time donors to an LGBTQ organization. Further, 81 percent of participating groups reported receiving gifts from new donors and 82 percent reported raising larger donations from their current donors.

Some organizations are taking the opportunity to partner with outside groups to maximize the fundraising effort. For instance, Rounds’ International Gay Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA) Foundation entered into a high-level marketing partnership with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau via which individual donations made to IGLTA Foundation will be matched, up to $15,000.

“Giving Day campaigns across the country have been successful at raising millions of dollars for nonprofits. What’s more, this model has proven to bring in new donors and new dollars, complimenting and amplifying nonprofits’ existing fundraising efforts,” said Charlie Rounds. “We come together as a community around so many things – Pride, sports, cultural events and elections. This allows us to come together one day a year to give back.”

For more information on National Give OUT Day please visit their website and watch the video below.

The post National Give OUT Day: Let your wallet show your pride first appeared on Lesbian.com.

With wedding season around the corner, and marriage equality sweeping the world, more and more same-sex couples are getting married — because now we can.

“Jenny’s Wedding,” a film starring Katherine Heigl (“Grey’s Anatomy”) as the title character, is bringing lesbian weddings into the mainstream with its fall theatrical release, and now filmmakers are offering the chance to win the wedding cake toppers prop from the film to use in your wedding.

You can also win a signed wedding album that includes all of the photos from Jenny’s ceremony autographed by Heigl and Mary Agnes Donoghue, the writer, director and producer of the film. Simply by spreading the news about “Jenny’s Wedding” Indiegogo campaign, you can win these unique mementos to use in your own upcoming wedding — or honor your wedding-to-be.

Here are the contest rules:

1. You must donate at least $1 to the “Jenny’s Wedding” Indiegogo campaign.

2. You must have an Indiegogo account. (It is free to sign up for one.)

3. When you share the “Jenny’s Wedding” Indiegogo campaign, you must be signed into your Indiegogo account.

4. To share, you can cut and paste the short link on the Indiegogo home page into your social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) or you can use the share tools shown on the “Jenny’s Wedding” Indiegogo campaign page.

By sharing “Jenny’s Wedding” Indiegogo campaign while logged into your Indiegogo account, the people you refer to the campaign and the money raised from your referrals will be tracked. Whoever raises the most money through referrals will win the wedding cake toppers prop, as well as the signed wedding album.

The contest ends Thursday, April 3 at 12:00 am PST. Good luck!

The post Contest: Win cake toppers, autographed photo album from ‘Jenny’s Wedding’ first appeared on Lesbian.com.

On the heels of the wildly successful Lesbians Who Tech San Francsico Summit, organizers have announced plans to bring a similar event to New York City, but need your help to do so.

Lesbians Who Tech, founded by Leanne Pittsford, is a community of queer women in technology and the people who love them. Just over a year ago, the organization began hosting Lesbians Who Tech happy hours to bring together queer women across the tech industry. The concept caught fire and quickly grew to include over 3,000 people in 14 cities worldwide.

In early March, the group organized the Lesbians Who Tech Summit in San Francisco. The event brought together 800 queer women, incredible speakers, a hack-a-thon for social good and featured weekend events like a bike ride and brunch.

Based on feedback at the San Francisco event, Pittsford is now hoping to host a Lesbians Who Tech Summit on the east coast. In order to do that, Lesbians Who Tech has launched an Indiegogo campaign.

In order to secure a venue for the event, scheduled for June 19-22, 2014, Pittsford needs to pre-sell 150 tickets and raise $20,000.

You can support the campaign by purchasing your early access ticket at Indiegogo today. At press time, just 15 hours remain in the campaign, with $17,836 raised toward the group’s $20,000 goal.

The Lesbians Who Tech New York City Summit will be held at Tishman Auditorium at the New School, in Union Square.

The post Last day to help bring Lesbians Who Tech Summit to NYC first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Kate Bornstein in 2010 Photo: Meri Bond

Kate Bornstein has lent her voice and much of her life to advocating for and educating the masses about diverse gender identities and expressions. She is a groundbreaking author, performer and “advocate for teens, freaks and other outlaws” whose books, like My Gender Workbook and Gender Outlaw, have been critical to furthering gender theory over the last 20 years.

Sadly, the self-described “queer and pleasant danger” was diagnosed with lung cancer in August. Doctors thought Bornstein had been cured after surgery, but in February they discovered that the disease had returned. To make matters even worse, her treatment is more complicated than most because she has suffered from another kind of cancer — CLL, or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia — for over fifteen years. The good news is, despite astronomical costs, the cancer appears to be treatable.

For more information on the fundraiser, click here. For more information on Kate Bornstein, visit her blog and follow her on Twitter.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Kate Bornstein needs our help first appeared on Lesbian.com.

“I think we’re looking pretty strong, but the other side has yet to put on their onslaught of commercials and fear and division,” Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley told HuffPost Gay Voices at a star-studded New York fundraiser for the cause of marriage equality in Maryland, where a marriage equality bill the governor signed goes to the voters this fall. “Right now in the polling we’re running about 53% and those that are opposed to marriage equality in Maryland are at around 38, 39 percent. So we need to shore that up and push the truth that no child’s home should be denied equal protection under the law.”

O’Malley joined comedian Sandra Bernhard, Susan Sarandon, Josh Charles of “The Good Wife,” Ed Norton, and filmmaker John Waters, as well as George W. Bush’s daughter Barbara and former Bush campaign manager and one-time RNC chair Ken Mehlman, on the rooftop of The James hotel in Soho, where attendees paid anywhere from $250 to $25,000 to help the cause of equality and mingle with the celebrity supporters. Maryland was seen just a few months ago as a tough state to win marriage equality at the ballot, where it has lost in over 30 states previously. But President Obama announcing his support for marriage equality appears to have changed the equation, and the fundraiser itself was evidence of that, as supporters realize they now have a good shot but need to raise money.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Stars shine at Maryland marriage equality fundraiser first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Nancy G. Brinker

BY TheSeattleLesbian.com

Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced Wednesday a new period of transition as it positions itself for the future in the ongoing global mission to end breast cancer. Komen Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker announced plans to move to a new management role focusing on revenue creation, strategy and global growth as chair of the Komen Board Executive Committee when the search for a new senior executive has been completed. At the same time, Komen President Liz Thompson announced plans to leave the organization in September.

Komen also announced that board members Brenda Lauderback and Linda Law, who have served on the Komen board since 2008 and 2009 respectively, are leaving the board of directors. Komen had previously announced plans to add a second Affiliate network representative to the Board of Directors in September; a process for nominating replacements for Ms. Law and Ms. Lauderback has begun.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally.

The post Komen founder and CEO steps down to focus on revenue creation first appeared on Lesbian.com.

The Trevor Project has announced the official launch of its new merchandising initiative, Trevor Gear. The marketplace storefront features apparel, buttons, stickers, and accessories sold at no premium or mark-up, ensuring this not-for-profit store serves to raise awareness for the leading provider of crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth, ages 13-24. Trevor Gear is available at TheTrevorProject.org/Gear.

Trevor Gear products include t-shirts in four different styles and designs, including unique ombre dyes, fitted, scoop-neck and crew-neck. All shirts are 100% ring-spun cotton and made in the USA. Stickers, buttons and silicone wrist bands that raise awareness about the Trevor Lifeline and NTL, short for “Need to Talk Live,” are available in quantities ranging from 1-100. Supporters can also show their LGBT Pride with stickers available in the same quantities.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally.

The post The Trevor project launches gear store first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Androgyny Founder and CEO
Melissa Millan

Lesbian.com, July 18, 2012

Melissa Millan has reinvented the button-down shirt. After years of struggling to find clothes that fit both her body and queer identity Millan founded Androgyny, a fit solution company aimed at serving the underserved lesbian demographic.

Based in San Francisco, Millan has worked tirelessly over the last year to develop shirts that provide a “classic style with a revolutionary fit” in hopes of offering women an alternative to their present somewhat limited choices betweeen often overly feminine garb or ill-fitted and over-sized menswear.

In deveoping her handcrafted line of all-cotton button-downs, Millan drew inspiration from her own experiences, recalling the frustrations she’d felt while searching for clothes that would allow her to feel both authentic and comfortable—and ultimately confident—while wearing them.

Millan now stands ready to introduce the Androgyny product line to the masses, having completed samples, developed a demand and established brand identity. In order to fund her initial production run Millan has turned to Kickstarter and hopes to attract $20,000 in funding by July 23.

“Your gift will help us on multiple levels,” explained Millan. “First, it will serve as a vote of confidence in our vision. Second, it will allow us to pre-sell part of our inventory build to our Kickstarter supporters. Third, it will allow us to produce a varied assortment of colors and styles providing our consumers the choice of expression that they are so desperately seeking. Finally, you will be empowering women.”

With incentives offered for the various donation levels from $5 – $1,000+, the Adrogyny Kickstarter project sounds like a win-win for lesbians looking to find a modern fit in a premium shirt.

The post San Francisco lesbian inspires confidence one shirt at a time first appeared on Lesbian.com.