Oprah breaks down over lesbian rumours

December 2009 - A tearful Oprah Winfrey has denied she is a lesbian, saying constant rumours about her close relationship with a female friend are irritating "because it means that somebody must think I am lying".

The influential TV talk show host addressed her 20-year relationship with Gayle King, as well as her ongoing partnership with lover Stedman Graham, in an emotional interview with journalist Barbara Walters to be shown on ABC America.

"She is the mother I never had. She is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don't know a better person," Winfrey said of King, fighting back tears.

"It's making me cry because I'm thinking about how much I probably have never told her that. Tissue please," she added.

King and Winfrey, 56, met while working at a local Baltimore TV station in the 1980s and have since been inseparable professionally and personally, sparking much media speculation that they are gay.

"I'm not a lesbian. I'm not even kind of a lesbian," Winfrey told Walters.

"And the reason why it irritates me is because it means that somebody must think I'm lying. That's number one. Number two ... why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."

Winfrey, whose daily TV talk show is watched by millions in the United States and 145 other countries, says businessman Graham is still her lover and mate after more than 20 years together, despite the fact they are now rarely seen in public together.

"I made a conscious effort around 2003, 2004 to pull back on my public appearances with Stedman," she said.

She also denied speculation that the pair had split up, telling Walters he was "the love, the lover, the man, the partner, the mate" of her life.

Winfrey is launching a new cable TV network, OWN, in January in a joint venture with Discovery Communications. She will end her ABC TV talk show in May 2011 after 25 years.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/09/3088866.htm

Church warned of split if it relaxes teaching on gay relationships

It will review whether current teaching on homosexuality should be relaxed and also rule on allowing gay clergy in civil partnerships to be bishops.

Leading conservatives warned that the Church would split if the bishops attempt to weaken its policy that active same-sex relationships are wrong.

While liberals argued that the position is untenable at present, they expressed disappointment that the Church announced it would ban gay clergy from becoming bishops until the review is finished next year.
Speaking on behalf of the bishops, the Rt Rev Graham James, the Bishop of Norwich, said the Church needed to update its attitude to clergy in civil partnerships from the last statement made in 2005, which did not clarify whether they could be made bishops.
“Contrary to popular perception the House of Bishops has spent very little time over recent years discussing homosexuality,” he said.

“The House has committed itself to a wider look at the Church of England’s approach to same-sex relationships...

“The House’s decision is motivated by a desire to help shape the continuing debate constructively and not by any view about what the outcome should be.”
The move follows the Church’s publication of legal advice last month that said it could not reject clergy as potential bishops on the basis of their homosexual orientation.
It also raised the possibility that openly gay clergy in civil partnerships could be consecrated as long as they were in a celibate relationship.

Dr Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, was turned down from becoming Bishop of Southwark last year and also forced to withdraw from becoming Bishop of Reading in 2003 after it emerged he was in a long-standing gay relationship.

Rod Thomas, the chair of Reform, a conservative evangelical group, said he supported the ban on clery in civil partnerships becoming bishops, but warned that there will be a schism in the Church if the review concludes with a more liberal attitude on homosexuality.

“The bishops know that if they veer in a liberal direction on sexuality they risk splitting the Church,” he said.
He said Church of England clergy now have the option of joining the newly formed Anglican Mission in England, an organisation set up to provide support to conservative evangelicals that threatens the power of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
“We’re not actively preparing to join it, but we need to work out what is in place if the Church ends up going down a more liberal line that sits light on the constraints of scripture.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8612913/Church-warned-of-split-if-it-relaxes-teaching-on-gay-relationships.html

Claude Cahun, l'artiste lesbienne qui se jouait des genres

Artiste avant-gardiste, queer avant l'heure, résistante... Trop longtemps méconnue, Claude Cahun est aujourd'hui mise à l'honneur par le musée du Jeu de Paume, à Paris. Une expo retrace la vie de cette artiste qui a toujours travaillé main dans la main avec sa compagne.

«Brouiller les cartes. Masculin, féminin? Mais ça dépend des cas. Neutre est le seul genre qui me convienne toujours.» Cette citation de Claude Cahun affichée à l'entrée de l'exposition du Jeu de Paume résume bien la démarche de cette artiste avant-gardiste des années 1930. Dans ses auto-portraits, elle s'amuse à mélanger les genres pour démonter les clichés. Tantôt en bas-résille et tantôt crâne rasé ou portant un monocle, elle cultive sa singularité en rejetant les normes. Sa mise en scène en haltérophile féminisé portant un tee-shirt «I am in training. Don't kiss me» (photo ci-dessus) traduit aussi un humour queer surprenant pour l'époque.

Des amantes inséparables

L'exposition offre un bel aperçu des œuvres de l'artiste (photos, aquarelles, livres…), longtemps méconnues en raison de sa démarche anti-commerciale. Elle permet aussi de découvrir le parcours personnel et professionnel de Claude Cahun, née Lucy Schwob (1894-1954), tour à tour écrivain, traductrice, actrice et photographe. Elle redonne enfin toute sa place à sa relation avec sa compagne et partenaire artistique, Suzanne Malherbe (ou Marcel Moore).

Dans la section «Entre nous», on découvre la complicité de ce couple formé à l'âge de 15 ans et qui

durera toute une vie. Ces amantes du Paris intellectuel lesbien de l'époque sont inséparables dans l'intimité comme dans le travail – Claude Cahun ira même jusqu'à déclarer à Suzanne «Je suis l'œuvre de ta vie». Ensemble, elles réalisent écrits, photos ou photomontages, comme ceux qui illustrent l'œuvre majeure de Claude Cahun, Aveux non avenus(1930). Cet ouvrage, qui vient d'être réédité par Mille et une nuits, ajoute aux photomontages des poèmes, des lettres ou des contes abordant les thématiques favorites de l'artiste comme le corps féminin, le double ou le désir.

Héroïne de la résistance
Mais Claude Cahun ne se contente pas de manifester ses idées dans ses oeuvres. Elle s'engage aussi dans des actions politiques, illustrées dans l'exposition par le film Playing a part: the story of Claude Cahun (2005). Elle rencontre des personnalités comme Robert Desnos ou André Breton et rejoint le mouvement surréaliste et l'extrême gauche intellectuelle.

Entre 1940 et 1944, Claude et Suzanne, souvent forcées de se faire passer pour des sœurs, deviennent des héroïnes de la résistance. Sur l'île de Jersey où elles vivent, elles mènent des actions contre l'occupation nazie. A coups d'inventivité et d'humour, elles n'hésitent pas à se faufiler jusque sous le nez de l'ennemi pour déposer des tracts sur les voitures ou dans les poches des soldats dans le seul but de leur saper le moral. Dénoncées, elles sont emprisonnées et condamnées à mort en 1944, mais heureusement graciées à la libération. Le 8 mai 1945, Suzanne prend Claude Cahun en photo avec l'aigle nazi entre les dents pour symboliser leur liberté et leur créativité retrouvées.

Exposition Claude Cahun, jusqu'au 25 septembre Au Jeu de Paume, 1, place de la Concorde, 75008 Paris

http://www.tetu.com/actualites/culture/claude-cahun-lartiste-lesbienne-qui-se-jouait-des-genres-19585