It is well known that first lady Eleanor Roosevelt had a relationship with another woman, journalist Lorena Hickok. There is also a lot of evidence, despite family members destroying correspondence between the two, that were lovers.

_{Photo courtesy of Library of Congress}

I remember back in 1998 when some students at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah wanted to start a gay/straight alliance at their school, the school board banned ALL extra-curricular activities just to prevent the gay students from meeting. Haven't we made any progress in 11 years?

Apparently not. The Itawamba County Mississippi school board decided to deny all students the joy of prom, just to prevent one girl from taking another to her final senior dance.

I wonder what lesson they think this is teaching students? That if you're in a position of power you can find a way to push your bigoted agenda through? Never mind the cost to the community.

I hope the students at Itawamba County Agricultural High School don't settle for narrow-mindedness and fight to get their prom back. Some people on the internet are calling for Ellen DeGeneres to step in and host a prom for ALL students, but I think it would be a much more powerful statement if the students themselves realized how they were being used and decided to fight this fight themselves.

_{© Roy Hsu}

Cris Williamson started a revolution. Back in 1975, while being interviewed by a radio station in Washington, DC she suggested that to deal with sexism in the music industry, women should start their own record label. Little did she know, a group of women were listening to that interview and taking her words to heart. Soon, she was the first artist to release an album on Olivia Records, the revolutionary all-women record company. Cris Williamson went on to have one of the most successful careers as an independent artist in history. I had the opportunity to interview Cris last year as she was celebrating 35 years since the release of her album The Changer and The Changed.

_{© Photo by Irene Young}

These days Del Martin is known as half of the first lesbian couple married in San Francisco in 2004 and in 2008. But Del was a lesbian activist long before her marriage to her partner of 50 years, Phyllis Lyon. In 1955, with Phyllis and several other women, Del Martin formed Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first national organization for lesbians in the United States. She remained an activist through out her 87 years of life.

_{Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin © Frazer Harrison/Getty Images}