Lesbians In The News

[Kobi]

The 51-year-old Oscar winner wed girlfriend Alexandra Hedison over the weekend, Foster's publicist confirmed Wednesday. Jennifer Allen offered no other details.

E! was the first to report that Foster tied the knot with Hedison, a 44-year-old photographer based in Los Angeles.

It's the first marriage for Foster, who came out publicly in a rambling, heartfelt speech at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards, where she accepted lifetime achievement honors.

Foster acknowledged longtime partner Cydney Bernard, with whom she has two sons. The couple ended their 20-year relationship in 2008. While Foster never hid the relationship, she kept her sexuality private until the Globes speech.

E! says Foster and Hedison have been dating since last summer.

Hedison, who was previously linked to Ellen DeGeneres, is also an actress with TV credits including "Nash Bridges" and "The L Word."

http://news.yahoo.com/jodie-foster-w...lkA1NNRTM0M18x

[Kobi]

When Christine Svendsen’s first book was turned away by publishers, she launched her own publishing company.

Now, four years later, she’s got a stable full of award-winning lesbian authors and her own award-winning books published under the pseudonym Isabella via Sapphire Books.

“Believe in yourself. Rejection isn’t the end of a story, it can be a beginning,” Svendsen said. “Looking back, I didn’t think in terms of what if this doesn’t work? I only thought of the possibilities.”

Sapphire Books is offering anyone who likes their Facebook page a free book. After you like the page, email to Svendsen.

Svendsen took time out of her busy schedule to share the secrets to Sapphire’s success with us.

What do you do and why?

I’m the publisher and an author at Sapphire Books Publishing. I started Sapphire Books Publishing in 2010. We publish lesbian novels, written by lesbians. Our authors include Linda Kay Silva, Kim Pritekel, Beth Burnett, Karelia Stetz-Waters, Linda North, Lynette Mae, Riley Adair Garret, Lorraine Howell, Rhavensfyre and Stephanie Kusiak.

What did you do before you started your company?

I do the same thing now as I did when I started Sapphire Books, I work as a community college instructor in California. My current job affords me the luxury of working remote for most of my work load. The flexibility allows me to set my own hours, which really helps with the publishing company.

How did you come up with the idea for your company?

I had submitted my first manuscript to two publishers and was rejected by both. One said they weren’t looking for my type of story at that time. The other company wanted me to completely rewrite the story and resubmit. I thought long and hard about rewriting it. After talking to my wife, I decided that I’d try and publish it myself.

I researched self-publishing, looked at all the options and decided to start a publishing company. I’d always thought about growing the company at some point, but that was in the future. When Linda Kay Silva, a popular lesbian author, left her publishing company, I sent her an email. We met and discussed writing, publishing and motorcycles. It clicked for us and the company took off from that point. We’ve signed some really awesome writers. I have to say that I’m thrilled to work with some really talented ladies.

What do you find most rewarding about owning your own business?

I get to work with some amazingly talented women. They write books that blow my socks off.

Where do you see yourself / your company in five years? Hopes / dreams / plans?

Sapphire Books isn’t going anywhere. We’re in it for the long haul and plan on adding to our already growing list of fantastic authors.

What resources would you recommend to someone who is contemplating starting her own business?

Research the industry. Do your homework and ask questions. Learn everything you can and even then there will still be things that surprise you, so plan to be surprised. Roll with it, flexibility is important in today’s business world.

Social media is starting to play a huge role in business and it’s important that you treat social media as a tool in the business tool box.

Go to conferences, meet people in your industry and make sure to check out the competition. See what they are doing right and notice what isn’t working. IBPA and SPAN are great resources, if you really want to get into publishing.

Finally, be persistent.

What’s the process for an aspiring author to get published with Sapphire?

First, write your book. Polish the manuscript. Send the best work possible, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Sapphire isn’t the traditional lesbian publisher. We don’t have a formula. I like to think we publish great books that a lot of other publishers wouldn’t touch. For example, we’ve published books that were over 500 pages, most publishers in lesbian fiction won’t publish long manuscripts. We’ve published some truly scary books about serial killers and fetish killers. We also have published erotic books, Sci Fi, paranormal as well as romance. We just signed an author who writes the Happy Lesbian Housewife blogs and she has been referred to as “the love child of Erma Bombeck and Chelsea Handler,” so we are pretty open as long as they have strong lesbian characters, written by lesbians. Writers can contact me at publisher@sapphirebooks.com.

What would you say is the single most important key to sustaining a business long term?

Have a plan and be flexible. I can’t say that enough. The industry is constantly changing and we need to change with it.

What obstacles did you face in establishing your company and how did you overcome them?

I think the biggest obstacle I faced was being taken serious, both as a writer and as a publisher. I won an award for my first book and that started the ball rolling. When we signed Linda Kay Silva, a lot of people started to take notice.

After that, we signed some pretty awesome talent and our authors started winning awards, which moved Sapphire Books up on the list to be noticed.

Follow Sapphire Books on Facebook and Twitter

http://www.lesbian.com/sapphire-book...tine-svendsen/

[Kobi]

[Kobi]

BRITISH servicewomen who were suspected of being lesbians were routinely spied on by the police, it has emerged.

Previously secret files reveal that recruits in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) who showed signs of same-sex attraction were put under covert surveillance by the military police officers.

Documents seen by Scotland on Sunday show that airwomen who were then judged to be gay or bisexual were offered the choice of immediate dismissal, or being forced to undergo medical treatment to “cure” their homosexuality.

The ban preventing gay men and women from serving in the armed forces was lifted in 2000.

However, the Whitehall files, which have now been opened and placed in the National Archives at Kew, reveal that up until that date women suspected of “abnormal” inclinations were subjected to institutional persecution.

A confidential briefing paper entitled “Homosexual Practices Involving WRAF Airwomen” ordered station commanders to monitor and eliminate “unnatural relationships”.

It states: “In the initial stages of service life strong bonds of friendship develop between contemporaries and it is dangerous to assume that such close friendships between young airwomen involve homosexuality or are the forerunners of lesbian relationships.

“In such cases when the closeness of the friendship causes embarrassment and gives rise to speculative gossip a cautionary word of advice on behaving more maturely and showing more consideration for other members of the community is all that is required.

“However, when an officer has reason to suspect that an airwoman is a lesbian, she is to inform the station commander immediately.

“When he considers the suspicions are well founded he is to request the officer commanding the appropriate RAF police region to initiate an investigation.”

From the 1950s until the 1990s a secret “observation list” of women suspected of harbouring an attraction to other females was maintained.

Those involved were placed under surveillance, interrogated by military police officers, had their letters intercepted, subjected to regular kit searches and blacklisted from being promoted.

When officers concluded “beyond doubt that an airwoman has committed a homosexual act” she was to be confronted with a stark ultimatum,

The file, which dates from 1977, states: “The Ministry of Defence (MoD) will advise the station commander that the airwoman is to be interviewed and asked if she wishes to seek medical advice.

“If she does so wish, the officer in charge of the WRAF section is to arrange for her to be seen by the station medical officer who is immediately to refer the airwoman to the consultant adviser in neuropsychiatry at the Central Medical Establishment.

“If the airwoman declined the offer of medical advice the MoD will authorise the airwoman’s discharge.” Another WRAF document, dating from the early 1980s, gives an insight into the prevailing attitude towards same-sex relations in that era.

The memo, entitled “Guidance on Instruction to Recruits on Homosexuality”, states: “Whilst it should be remembered that some of the recruits from very sheltered backgrounds will be totally ignorant of the subjects, the wide publicity in newspapers, magazines, films and TV indicates that the majority probably are well aware of what the terms ‘homosexuality’ and ‘lesbianism’ mean.”

It also warns female officers that they may be the subject of “crushes” by young recruits.

Defence Minister Anna Soubry claimed huge strides had been made in recent years and said: “The MoD and the three services want to create a workforce that is drawn from the breadth of the society we defend, that gains strength from that society’s range of knowledge, experience and talent and that welcomes, respects and values the unique contribution of every individual.”

http://www.scotsman.com/news/odd/arm...wraf-1-3429359

[Kobi]

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s Senate on June 23rd confirmed Maite Oronoz Rodriguez as an Associate Justice on the U.S. island territory’s Supreme Court, making her the first openly gay person to serve on the Court.

Oronoz Rodriguez, who served as legal director for the capital city of San Juan, was nominated earlier this month by Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to fill a vacancy on the court.

The chamber voted 16-10 in favor of Oronoz Rodriguez’ nomination.

“I am conscious of the enormous responsibility that has come to me, Oronoz Rodriguez told El Nuevo Día earlier this month.

The confirmation of Oronoz Rodriguez to the court is the latest in a series of advances for the LGBT community in Puerto Rico since García Padilla of the commonwealth’s Popular Democratic Party took office in 2013.

Since then, lawmakers have passed a law banning employment discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, and approved a separate bill that extends a domestic violence law to same-sex couples.

García Padilla signed both bills into law.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2014/06/p...DshTg.facebook

[Kobi]

Garden was best known for the lesbian themed novel Annie on My Mind, about two girls at a New York high school who fall in love with each other.

The book was published in 1982 and drew critical acclaim in its positive depiction of a same-sex relationship but was also attacked by social conservatives and the religious right and was banned by Kansas City schools for two years from 1993 until students brought a First Amendment law suit to put it back on shelves.

Annie On My Mind was awarded the Lee Lynch Classic Award by the Golden Crown Literary Society in 2014, cited as one of the most important classics in lesbian literature.

The book also won Garden the ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2003 which recognizes one writer and a particular body of work ‘for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature.’

Annie on My Mind was number 44 on the American Library Association’s list of most banned books by American libraries during the 1990s and she was awarded the Robert B. Downs Award for Intellectual Freedom in 2001 from the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The book was also ranked in 2000 in School Library Journal among the top 100 books to have shaped the 20th century.

In the 32 years since it was first published the book has never gone out of print and it has also been made into an audio-book.

Annie on My Mind was one of the earliest American novels to depict a lesbian relationship that did not come to a tragic end, with most works with lesbian themes written before it written for the sake of titillation.

Garden told young adult author Cynthia Leitch Smith in 2001 that she had been drawn to write stories for young people with LGBTI themes because of the lack of books depicting their lives when she had been young.

‘When I was growing up as a young lesbian in the ’50s, I looked in vain for books about my people,’ Garden said.

‘I did find some paperbacks with lurid covers in the local bus station, but they ended with the gay character’s committing suicide, dying in a car crash, being sent to a mental hospital or "turning" heterosexual.’

Garden would go on to write more than 30 books – most aimed at teenagers, though some were written with younger children in mind.

Supernatural themes were a recurring theme in her works with many of the stories she wrote involving werewolves and vampires.

Garden is survived by her long term partner Sandy Scott and their golden retriever Loki and their cats.

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/p....Tj2IWAaT.dpuf

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