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Biographies
Story Telling for Social Change

Grandpa and Grandma Walton Were Gay
The actors who played Grandma and
Grandpa on The Waltons TV series
(1972-1981) were both actually gay in
real life.
Ellen Corby and Will Geer brought
veteran acting skills as Grandma and
Grandpa Walton. Indeed, The Waltons
never even considered recasting the
elderly couple when each fell on hard
times with their health. They became an
inseparable unit on screen. However, in
their private lives, each was actually
gay and in same-sex relationships.
As a married couple on TV, Grandma and
Grandpa Walton represented the base of
the Walton family tree, armed with
wisdom and traditions. Ellen Corby as
herself, however, swore like a sailor.
Additionally, the actress behind
god-fearing Esther Walton smoked like a
chimney, even after Grandma insisted,
“If the good Lord had intended us to
smoke He would have put a chimney in our
heads.” And fell in love with women.
Specifically, she became close to Stella
Luchetta.
While Grandma Walton’s extramarital
relationships slid under the radar as a
quiet, well-known secret, Grandpa Walton
was keeping no secrets. Geer’s path to
notoriety began around 1934 when he met
Harry Hay. As lovers, the two inspired
and influenced one another into gay
rights activism. His fate, to end up on
the blacklist, was practically sealed by
his additional involvement in union
strikes, including the San Francisco
General Strike. Today, Harry Hay is
celebrated as a sort of founding father
in gay rights activism. But Hay himself
credits Will Geer for getting him
started.
Grandpa and Grandma Walton Actually Gay
Secret Lives of Grandpa and Grandma
Walton
The Waltons: Tribute to
Ellen Corby and Will Geer
Jennifer Lopez and Emme
Jennifer Lopez and her child Emme
Maribel Muñiz, 14, are being praised for
a recent duet, but not because of the
music.
The pair - who last made headlines for
performing together when Lopez
co-headlined the Super Bowl LIV Pepsi
halftime show in 2020 - took to the
stage recently at the LA Dodgers Blue
Diamond Gala. Lopez introduced Emme
using the gender neutral pronouns
they and them.
"The last time we performed together was
in a big stadium like this," Lopez said.
"And I ask them to sing with me all the
time and they won't."
"So this is a very special occasion.
They are very, very busy. Booked. And
pricey," Lopez went on to say. "They
cost me when they come out. But they're
worth every single penny because they're
my favorite duet partner of all time."
Emme then appeared on stage, carrying a
rainbow microphone to sing Christina
Perri's hit, "A Thousand Years."
Lopez shares Emme and twin brother Max
with her ex husband, singer and actor
Marc Anthony.
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child
Onstage Using They/Them Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces One of Her
Twins with Gender Neutral Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child
Using Gender-Neutral Pronouns
Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child with
Neutral Pronouns on Stage For Duet

Edwardian Lesbian Couple
In 1907 Edwardian Britain, lesbian
couple, Lily Elsie and Adrienne Augarde
were very famous acting and singing
stars of the period.
Lily Elsie was an English actress and
singer best known for her starring role
in the London premiere of Franz Lehár's
operetta The Merry Widow. She became one
the most photographed woman of Edwardian
times.
Adrienne Augarde was English actress and
singer popular for her roles in
Edwardian musical comedy. Her career
included performances in pantomime,
drama, vaudeville, and opera. She gained
wide popularity playing leading roles in
the popular musicals produced by George
Edwardes. She also starred in a number
of long-running productions in London
and New York from 1903 to 1912.
The two actress appeared together in the
play production The New Aladdin.
Notable was the fact that Lily dressed
in manly attire.
Biographical Notes on Lily Elsie
Biographical Notes on Adrienne Augarde

League of Her Own
Baseball icon and A League of Their Own
inspiration Maybelle Blair comes out as
gay at the age of 95.
Between 1943 and 1954, baseball fans
immersed themselves in the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBL).
Maybelle Blair and other women baseball
players in the late 1940s were the model
for the central characters in Penny
Marshall’s 1992 comedy A League of Their
Own. The
95-year-old announced she was gay at the Tribeca Festival premiere of Amazon’s
new series based on the film.
Speaking about the new, more inclusive
version of the story of the All-American
Girls Professional Baseball League,
Blair said, “I think it’s a great
opportunity for these young girl ball
players to come realize that they’re not
alone, and you don’t have to hide.”
Blair, who earned the nickname “All the
Way Mae” during her time with the Peoria
Redwings in the late 1940s, recalled
realizing she was attracted to women as
a teenager.
Maybelle Blair, Who Helped Inspire 'A
League Of Their Own,' Comes Out At 95
Player Who Helped Inspire 'A League of
Their Own' Comes Out at Age 95
Biographical Notes on Maybelle Blair
Baseball Player Who Inspired A League of
Their Own Comes Out at 95

Courageous Trans Kid Testifies
10 year
old Kai Shappley didn’t feel scared when she sat before
the Texas Senate committee in April 2021. Wearing a
flowing yellow blouse, floral skirt and cowboy boots,
the then-4th grader calmly introduced herself. “I love
ballet, math, science and geology. I spend my free time
with my cats, chickens, FaceTiming my friends and
dreaming of when I finally get to meet Dolly Parton,”
she testified. “I do not like spending my free time
asking adults to make good choices.”
Shappley urged lawmakers to vote against Senate bills
1311 and 1646, which banned doctors from providing
gender-affirming treatment to transgender kids like
herself. One of the bills even went as far as to define
the treatment as “child abuse.” (Both bills ultimately
failed.)
“It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids
like me to get votes from people who hate me just
because I exist,” she continued. “God made me. God loves
me for who I am. And God does not make mistakes.”
Video of Shappley’s testimony quickly went viral. It
wasn’t the first time she’s garnered attention. The
now-5th grader has been publicly telling her story and
calling for trans equality for years. She’s traveled the
country with her mother, speaking at rallies for LGBTQ
rights. She’s worked with the ACLU on pro-trans
projects. She’s met with national lawmakers to urge them
to pass the Equality Act, which would outlaw
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and
gender identity. But April was the first time she’d ever
testified on her own. Her reasoning was simple. “I
wanted to show them that all these lies people have been
spreading about trans kids are not true,” she says.
Shappley is a force of nature. At only 11 years old, the
trans rights activist has built a following online;
children and adults have written to her saying she’s
inspired them to come out. “It makes me want to keep on
going, knowing that there are so many people who rely on
me,” Shappley says. And amid an unprecedented rise of
bills in US state legislatures targeting trans
kids—including over 130 anti-trans bills in 2021 alone,
per the advocacy group Human Rights Campaign—she has no
plans on stopping. “Activism matters to me because it is
a way to show that we belong,” Shappley says. “It’s a
way to show that we will fight for what is right. We
won’t sit silent."
Kai Shappley Takes on Lawmakers in Her Fight for Trans
Rights
Trans Kid Kai Shappley Testifies
10-Year-Old Activist Kai Shappley on Fighting for Trans
Kids in the Texas

Trans Hairdresser in Birmingham
Meet Jody Suzanne Ford, an out
transgender woman and business owner in
Alabama. She owned Ms. Sid's Coiffures
in Birmingham's Five Points South
Neighborhood in 1975.
Born Sidney Ford III, she was a college
basketball star (6'4") at David Lipscomb
College and a semi-professional football
player in Miami before she moved to
Birmingham, transitioned, and opened her
beauty shop. She earned a good
reputation and became very well-known for her skill as a
hairstylist.
In 1977, when she was 41, she was killed
by a short-range shotgun blast to the
chest by the 26-year old owner of a
Travelodge Motel. He argued he was
acting in self-defense and was
acquitted.
Jody Suzanne Ford, Trans Birmingham
Hairdresser Shot to Death in 1977
Trans Lives Matter: Jody Suzanne Ford
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