So many worthwhile blogs have come and gone -- The WoW Report with its fascinating posts by Stephen Rutledge comes to mind. But what I find amusing is that we've all been tricked into thinking they're "dying off" because of lack of interest, or "replaced" with social media, when in fact blogs are just as popular as ever -- they're now just called Substacks and you have to pay to read them.
With that in mind, I encourage you to follow Stephen on Facebook -- free of charge -- where he just posted a terrific piece about the legendary Jane Fonda, who turned 87 today!
Read BELOW.
"I loved campaigning with Harvey Milk in the Castro District in San Francisco against Prop 6. He was the most joyous. He was like Allen Ginsberg. He was always smiling and laughing, and he was beloved, and he was funny. The most lovable person. I was so happy when I was with him. And it was just so much fun going into those gay bars with him -- oh my god! " Jane Fonda #BornThisDay -- Dec. 21, 1937
Jane Fonda claims that she was the No. 1 beard for closeted gay actors during a time when homophobia in Hollywood meant that being queer would end a promising career. Fonda: "When I was young, I was the female that gay guys wanted to try to become heterosexual with. A very famous actor who is gay, and I will not name names, asked me to marry him. I was very flattered, but I said: 'Why?' This was 1964, and I mean, he wasn't the only one. It's very interesting. And I lived for two years with a guy who was trying to become straight. I'm intimately acquainted with that."
Fonda has long been big on LGBTQ rights. In 2013, she said: "I've lived a long time, 20 years of that time was in the south, and I have seen too many lives destroyed and distorted by homophobia. I pray with all my heart that I live to see the day when people can come out freely, safely and be accepted by every strata of society."
Fonda and her friend Lily Tomlin gave us seven seasons of "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix. I was slow in appreciating this series, even though I hold the two leads in the very highest esteem. For the first five episodes, I found it forced in its comedy, and Sam Waterson and Martin Sheen as the husbands that leave their wives for each other, seemed to be acting gay, instead of being gay. I originally thought the show would be a laugh fest, considering the pedigree; Marta Kauffman was the creator, and she had brought us "Friends" (1994-2004). I melted and fell in love with the series eventually, yet I still think the two leading women should have switched roles and the whole thing could have been presented like an Ingmar Bergman style "Scenes From a Marriage" (1973) for the 21st century. "Grace and Frankie" received 12 Emmy nominations, including for both Fonda and Tomlin and SAG Award and Golden Globe nominations.
Fonda has spoken out to our queer youth, urging them not give up hope as they come out to their parents, whatever the reaction to the news might be: "Do not despair, no matter what your parents say. You've got to understand it can be very hard for parents to hear that their son or daughter is gay. But it's their problem. It's not your problem. Don't despair." Fonda has had many personas: Academy Award-winning actor, sex symbol, film producer, political activist, fitness guru, trophy wife, and gay icon, and we love her for that. Along with her two Oscars, her awards cabinet has two BFTAs, seven Golden Globes, an Emmy Award as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Tony Awards. Fonda also the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2014, the Academy's Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2021, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2025.
Fonda when asked if the LGBTQ community needs her: "... they are a very powerful movement, they don't need me, but they like me [and] they know by working together we can be stronger than either entity is by itself."
Photos: Top, CBS News, 1964; bottom, Berkeley Library, 1978.
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