Dear Out magazine,

Hi, remember us? Yeah, we’re women. We’re gay women. Look, I know you don’t normally like to think about us because we’re all icky and girly and you prefer men — hence the gay thing. But we are a part of your community. We exist.

I know that last part is also hard for you to believe, since no gay women were featured on your cover during all of 2008. In fact, only four women (all straight, naturally) made your cover in 2008 total, and that’s being generous and including your December 2007/January 2008 double issue. Otherwise it would just be two — two women in 12 months.

But, hey, I understand. You are a magazine that largely caters to gay men. We get that. We’re used to it. And yet, when I looked at your Out 100 December cover I couldn’t help but see red. As in all the blood rushed to my head and started to boil and then started to churn and then started to explode red.

You picked Katy Perry as the female representative of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people of the year?

Katy Perry? Katy “I Kissed a Girl” Perry? Straight Katy Perry whose song has become an anthem for drunken straight girl-on-girl hook-ups at a frat party everywhere? Seriously? That Katy Perry?

You see, it’s not that I have a problem with her inescapably catchy song, per se. I mean, it does irk me when she sings that she hopes her “boyfriend don’t mind” and that it’s an “experimental game” and “not what good girls do.” Yes, I know she is joking. She really loves the gays even if she has never actually kissed a girl or anything truly gay like that.

Still, just because the religious right doesn’t like the song either doesn’t mean we have to automatically embrace it. In fact, it feeds into the worst stereotypes about what it means to be gay, namely an experiment on the road back to heteroville. … continue reading

This week, our Scientistics team decided to try our hand at some art. No, not creating art — our skill set is limited to charts made by Excel and Photoshop. We decided to try our hand at appraising art.

We selected three paintings that were up for auction, and taking into consideration all of the information we learned from the headsets at London's National Gallery and the Louvre, we assigned each painting a monetary value.

This little fingerpainting on canvas we figure could fetch about $50 from a proud parent.

This one is a little creepier, what with the eternal eye starting at you like something Orwellian, but we figure a doting aunt would also pay around $50. … continue reading

The other day I bumped into a friend of mine from high school whom I had not seen since she wrote the letters “K.I.T.” in my yearbook. After our awkward hug hello, the immediate question to follow was, “So what have you been up to?”

In the course of 10 minutes standing on a busy street corner, we summed up our lives, CliffsNotes style. She immediately tells me she is married with kids, and she is working at some law firm with three last names that I couldn’t possibly ever recall. The conversation then turns to me, and I have the always-awesome task of coming out — again. I tell my former classmate where I am working and that I am now living with my girlfriend of three years. I then wait for an awkward and befuddled face, and on cue, it arrives. After the momentary shock settles in, she becomes more intrigued than anything, and thus more conversation ensues:

“How’d you meet her?”

“I thought you might be gay in high school!"

“Did you like anyone in our grade?”

And then the dialogue I wasn’t expecting:

Former classmate: What kind of lesbian is your girlfriend?
Lesbian: Um, I’m sorry. What?
Former Classmate: You know, is she like an Ellen-type person, or more like a Portia de Rossi? Or is she like k.d. Lang or like that woman on Bravo with the gym?
Lesbian: Jackie Warner.
Former Classmate: Yes! Jackie Warner. See, you know!

While I could understand the curiosity surrounding her questions, I found it remarkable that she asked them. I mean, she told me she was married, and I didn’t launch into a litany of male celebrities: “So what’s your husband like? Is he a sloppy-sweatshirt-wearing kind of guy like Adam Sandler? Is he a baldy like Bruce Willis? Or does he have a full head like that McDreamy fellow?”

I guess as much as I was shocked by her candor, I couldn’t be offended by what she asked me because I admittedly have asked those sorts of questions of my own friends. How many times have you had to describe your ideal woman to someone using words like femme, butch, boi, androgynous, chapstick, lipstick or sporty?

Perhaps now, in place of those terms, it is easier just to use celebrity equivalents. So instead of saying something like, “I am attracted to femmes who are a little sporty,” you could say, “I’m looking for a Bette Porter with a splash of Dana." There you have a perfect visual and you know who you are getting. (And good for you, I might add.)

I know some of you may be getting mad at me and want to remind me that we are all individuals and very unique and shouldn’t succumb to any pigeonholes or stereotypes — and I totally agree with you. I understand that no one wants to be put in a box (they are cramped and often uncomfortable), but boxes can aid in describing the general style a person has, which is helpful in the art of attraction. You aren’t defined by this box; you are just painting a broad-spectrum image of yourself.

Given that some people (like my former classmate) wouldn’t know who Dana or Bette are, but would know who Ellen is, I was curious if any of you could describe yourself to someone using an out lesbian celebrity.

Let’s put it to the test. Which of these celesbians best describe you and your style? … continue reading

It's a brand new bright and shiny episode of your favorite super gay chat show. This week, Liz and Raimy share their rules about dating dos and don'ts.

Then Liz welcomes Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara to the kitchen table. Things get scandalous and they play a round of "Who's Gayer?" (Any idea who wins?)

… continue reading

Check out Liz Feldman's MySpace page for more info on Liz performing live. Also check out This Just Out's brand new Facebook and MySpace pages. And keep your finger in the v-hole of pop culture at Raimy's blog.

Sisters kind of live up to the old adage "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em." Or maybe that's just me because my sister is currently sleeping on my couch until she moves into her own apartment this weekend. She's two years younger than me, so we've always had a little too much in common and a little too many differences.

Like myself, some sisters know how to share, and they share the stage, the recording studio, and the songwriting credits. From the track record of these ladies who keep it all in the family, I'd say it's the best way to start making music.

Heart

Ann and Nancy Wilson are a duo that were born to perform together. The match perfected big hair and pop-rock in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, and they are still playing together today.

The Breeders

Kim Deal is best known as the bassist for the Pixies, but when she announced that she would be reforming the Breeders with sister Kelley and their male band mates last year, fans were elated. Their '90s indie rock hit "Cannonball" is impossible to get out of your head, and their new album showed the sisters had some more music like it left in them. My thanks goes out to the Deal parents! … continue reading

I keep coming across lists I can't really improve on, so I'm just going to list them. In a list. Of lists. (A few of these are via Pop Candy, which is always a good source for lists and, well, just about everything else.)

1. 10 Star Wars toys that unintentionally look like other celebrities

When I was a kid, I often complained that my Princess Leia action figure just wasn't made right — it kept toppling over. And it annoyed me that her gun was so flimsy and useless, especially compared to Chewbacca's giant over-the-arm weapon. But at least the '70s toy version of Leia didn't look like Christian Bale:

And then there's Mon Mothma and Laura Bush:

The list includes other frighteningly spot-on comparisons, like Han Solo/Josh Brolin and Yak Face/Robert De Niro.

2. 13 movies worth preserving

EW.com readers recently named the films they'd like to add to the National Film Registry. I agree with Raising Arizona and The Women — and with the reader who submitted the latter and said, "I can't believe it's not already there." … continue reading