An Oklahoma artist loses her girlfriend and is forced to move back in with her mother in rural Oklahoma. Unable to cope with her loss, she finds solace in a reckless affair with her brother’s girlfriend, which tears the family apart. This ambitious features tells the story through family, relationships and finding yourself, even when you feel like everything is lost.

The film is written by Velinda Godfrey and Todd Waring. It’s a very strong debut from new director Maura Anderson, and also stars Laura Spencer (“The Big Bang Theory” and “Bones”) and Beth Grant (“The Mindy Project” and “Little Miss Sunshine”) alongside Velinda Godfrey (“Boats Against The Current” and “Adonis”).

CONTEST
So we have an exclusive contest for only available for Lesbian.com. The cast and crew of Heartland got exclusive shirts made by Bison Alley, an Oklahoma-based shirt company, and you could get one! Only three winners will be chosen, so make it good. These shirts are the ones the actors wore all over set. Check out Heartland’s website at heartlandthefilm.com to get a better feel or instagram at @heartland_movie.

HERE’S WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO
Best heartland inspired phototag @heartland_film on instagram:

Do your best to capture what “Heartland” means to you in photos, whatever that is, it could be anything that makes you think of “Heartland.” Winners chosen in July, the top three winners will get an exclusive, crew-only T-shirt. Make sure you remember to tag the film or your entry won’t count. Good luck!

The post Share your images of ‘Heartland’ and win first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY FRANCESCA LEWIS

We’ve all been there – stranded in an unfamiliar city with no idea how to get the most out of it. We end up sticking to what’s familiar – Starbucks, McDonalds – when what we really want to be doing is exploring the community, experiencing local color, soaking up the culture. That’s if we can even find somewhere familiar – I hear there are entire stretches of this planet without a coffee shop or burger joint on every corner. Finding your way in an unfamiliar city can be daunting, even with Google Maps, and even with technological innovations the experience is impersonal and prone to hilarious mix-ups. If only there was a friendly human tour guide to show you where the action is. With new travel video platform, Vidpal, that guide may be only a click away.

Vidpal, which is still in beta, hosts video tour guides. You can find videos about all sorts of places – neighborhoods, districts, cities, events – all over the world. The scope of this is still becoming established but already this is being used not only for simple A-B directions but for cultural guides on local customs and tips on getting the most out of events such as NYC Pride. You can request videos, state what you’re willing to pay, and if someone can provide what you’re looking for, you’ll get the video you need. This is especially useful for gay travellers, who can enlist a local person to clue them in on the hot spots or help them find queer-friendly businesses. And, of course, if you’re a person who lives in an often visited place, you stand to make some easy money.

To encourage people to upload videos and infuse the fledgling site with content, Vidpal are running a contest this month, aimed squarely at the queer community. “We’re focusing on targeting the queer community” says their press release, “because inclusivity, diversity, community, and safety while traveling are important to the spirit of what Vidpal represents.” The contest, which began last week and ends June 30th, The Ultimate NYC Video Contest by Vidpal. The competition is open to anyone, but aimed at queer women, who are asked to “submit a video tour guide, giving a tour of their favorite thing to do or their favorite queer place to visit”. The prizes include two nights at the Adirondacks bed & breakfast, two USA Discovery Passes to Niagara Falls, or one ticket to a broadway show.

So if you’re dying to share your knowledge of the local lesbian scene, or you just really like the sound of those prizes, head on over to vidpalcontest.com/lgbt/

The full contest rules are here.

Francesca Lewis is a queer feminist writer from Yorkshire, UK. She writes for Curve Magazine and The Human Experience as well as writing short fiction and working on a novel. Her ardent love of American pop culture is matched only by her passion for analyzing it completely to death.

The post The Ultimate NYC Video Contest: Travel Video Platform Vidpal Wants Your Tour Guides first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Did you climb Kilimanjaro, learn to juggle, beat the odds or otherwise take life by the horns? If the answer is yes, then you might be UNSTOPPABLE.

MOTRIN® has teamed up with Lesbian.com and Autostraddle.com to celebrate our Unstoppable readers with a video and photo contest. Share your passion for not taking no for an answer and you could win fabulous prizes.

Make a short video (30-45 seconds) or take a photo that answers the question, “What makes you unstoppable?” and enter it in our Unstoppable contest presented by Motrin.

Upload your video to YouTube® and tag it with the key words “unstoppable contest” and submit the video link using the form on the Unstoppable page.

For photo submissions, take a high resolution photo of you clearly being/doing something awesome, or holding a sign that says, “I’m unstoppable because _____________________.”

Submit your photo using the form on the Unstoppable page and post it on our Facebook® or Twitter® pages with the tag #unstoppablecontest and tag Lesbian.com and Autostraddle.com on Facebook® and Lesbiandotcom and Autostraddledotcom on Twitter®.

Six video winners will each receive a tablet and six photo winners will each receive a DVD collection from Wolfe Video. All entrants who submit an eligible photo or video will see their videos and photos on Lesbian.com/Autostraddle.com’s Unstoppable page as well as receive a promo code for a free movie rental from Wolfe Video on Lesbian.com.

The contest ends July 21st. Winners will be chosen by a Lesbian.com / Autostraddle.com panel.

No purchase necessary. Open to legal residents of the 50 U.S. & DC, 18 or older. Contest ends 11:59 p.m. PT 7/21/14. Void where prohibited. Subject to Official Rules.

The post MOTRIN® celebrates unstoppable you with video, photo contest 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.

Melissa Etheridge is giving away an Ovation acoustic guitar! And as if that wasn’t enough, Etheridge has personalized the instrument with the lyrics of her Russian LGBT rights anthem “Uprising of Love.”

Visit Etheridge’s website for details and to enter to win.

The post Win ‘Uprising of Love’ guitar from Melissa Etheridge first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Stay tuned for details!

Lesbian.com and Zoe Amos invite you to a book giveaway! “Superior,” an exciting new adventure romance by Zoe Amos is now available on Amazon.com in both paperback and e-book formats. As a faithful reader, you have a chance to win a free autographed paperback! To learn more about the book, check out our interview with Zoe, Bett Norris’ review of book, or visit Amazon.com.

Over the next two weeks, Lesbian.com and Zoe Amos are joining forces to help you win one of a dozen books. That’s right – twelve autographed books will be given away at random to lucky winners who participate in our social media giveaway. Each week, six qualified winners will be chosen, three from our Facebook giveaway and three from our Twitter giveaway.

To enter on Facebook:
To qualify, participants must follow both Lesbian.com (www.facebook.com/lesbiandotcom) and either friend or follow Zoe Amos (www.facebook.com/zoe.amos.author). We’ll be posting special “Superior” giveaway promotions on our Facebook page and all you need to do is share it. It’s easy! One share per day per person will be counted. Please use your personal page (not a business page) only.

To enter on Twitter:

To qualify, participants must follow both Lesbian.com (@lesbiandotcom) and Zoe Amos (@WhoisZoeAMOS). We will be tweeting about the giveaway, so retweet or post this message: @lesbiandotcom @WhoisZoeAMOS #SuperiorBookGiveaway — bit.ly/1benFPR

One tweet per day per person will be counted. Personal accounts only.

The first giveaway period will run from midnight PST on November 10th to midnight November 16th.
The second giveaway will run from midnight PST on through midnight November 23rd

You can participate in both Facebook and Twitter giveaways but you may win only once. Winners will be messaged and will have 24 hours to reply or another winner will be chosen. Winners agree to have their names announced. Winners’ mailing information will be kept private.

Stay tuned for more and get ready to read!

The post Official ‘Superior’ book giveaway rules first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Share your favorite lesbian kiss picture between now and the end of the month and you could win a free DVD of the new smash hit lesbian movie “Kiss Me” courtesy of Wolfe Video.

The rules are simple — just post your lesbian kiss pictures on your Facebook wall with the phrase: I want to win the Lesbian.com “Kiss Me” Contest! and be sure to tag us so we know you posted. (Just “like” us on Facebook then type @Lesbiandotcom when you post).

Images can be personal pictures, or images from TV, film or pop culture — just please don’t post anything inappropriate.

Winners will be selected at random on Friday, Nov 30, 2012. Contest open only to U.S. residents.

Preview, rent or buy “Kiss Me” today.

The post Enter the Lesbian.com ‘Kiss Me’ contest first appeared on Lesbian.com.

TwitchFilm.com called “Joe + Belle” Israel’s hillarious answer to “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and many are hailing the film as the long-awaited lesbian “Thelma and Louise.” Now you can win a free copy from Lesbian.com!

From now until August 31, simply “Like” Lesbian.com on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and you’ll automatically be entered into our daily drawing for a free copy of the film AfterEllen.com describes as “Totally off-kilter, sexy and stylish in a distinctly grungy, almost ’90s sort of way.”

“Joe + Belle” is available on DVD and digital from Wolfe Video.

Contest open to U.S. residents only.

The post Win a copy of the new lesbian love story ‘Joe + Belle’ on DVD first appeared on Lesbian.com.