Monday, December 02, 2013

Bella Bello

Life gives us so few “Eureka!” moments. But when I heard through the lesbian grapevine (i.e. ScribeGrrrl and Scribe’s Girl, who read it in the New York Times dead tree edition yesterday morning) that Maria Bello had come out in one of the paper’s famed “Modern Love’ columns, I practically screamed “Eureka!” More like, “Lezreka!”

She had always pinged for me and probably for you. But she also seemed like the kind of lady who would owe up to loving whomever she loved. And now, it seems, she has. The column is lovely, thoughtful and searching in ways people don’t often like to search out loud. What does it mean to be a family? What does it mean to be a partner? There are so many definitions to so many words and all that really makes a family in the end is, of course, love.

Maria tweeted out a picture of her thoroughly modern family (her, son Jackson, partner Clare and son’s father Dan) over the weekend.

Also of course, you’re all curious about this “Clare.” We gay ladies are such nosey bitties, myself totally included. From her essay, Maria described her first meeting with Clare and her “sitting in a bar wearing a fedora and speaking in her Zimbabwean accent.” Yes, finally, we figure out what Maria’s crazy “Prime Suspect” fedora was all about.



With a little more sleuthing I found out that Clare appears to be Clare Munn, “Chairman, The Communication Group, a new media corp with social media, branding & training business units.” Maria and Clare have appeared at events together and tweeted photos of each other. And, yes, there is a fedora. Most importantly, they look happy.



Like many (come on, most) of you, I’ve had a thing for Maria forever. I believe I’ve called her “lesbian catnip” in the past, and I meant it. She has this no-nonsense capable air about her, like she can fix her own tire without breaking a sweat. So I’m more than ready to welcome her into our big, happy, gay modern family with open arms. Also, I think we can all give ourselves a pat on the back for our finely tuned gaydar. I’m off to go watch “Coyote Ugly” in a whole new light.

p.s. Guess someone had a clearly unfair advantage in that Maria v. Mariska SGALGG Fight from a few years ago. Ahem.

10 comments:

  1. From the very first moment I saw her in 'Coyote Ugly' I had a crush..and I always kinda knew she is gay..its that gaydar radar that beeps so loud :))
    since I read the New York Times article today I'm smiling !!! Happy for her,for her who came out so gracious ...with no much drama...no much big deal about it...more reasons to like her/love her/respect her !

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  2. And a lovelier lady-lover the ladies could not ask for. Well, Uma Thurman, maybe.

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  3. Anonymous4:12 PM

    And while the gay boys are complaining that Tom Daley came out "yawn, we already knew, what took you so long" we are welcoming Maria with open arms..,

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  4. KristenF8:41 PM

    I saw this first on shewired.com and thought, "I bet Dorothy Surrenders did a SGALGG on them" and sure enough, you did -- five years ago! Well done!!

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  5. Just a reminder to be careful not to label Maria as as lesbian or Tom as gay, since both were very careful to say that they have attractions to both sexes, though their present relationships are with members of the same sex. The media has been careless about this, but there is no reason why members of the LGBT community should erase this opportunity for bi/pansexual/queer visibility.

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  6. This really makes my day, my week, my month, my year! :D I don't know why this coming out story beyond all others rates so high. Maybe because she is such a cool chick in both her politics and acting.

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  7. Anonymous11:34 PM

    I agree with the anonymous person above, it's kinda dodgy to label someone gay when they've had relationships with both sexes and haven't specified what label they prefer. It makes me sad when people do that :(

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  8. Anonymous8:32 AM

    The hottest thing done by the woman I'm dating was when she changed my car tire. OMG - I must be a lesbian.

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  9. Anonymous10:29 PM

    A few years back I read somewhere - obviously a gossip article of some sort - that she was dating Mariska Hargitay.
    I'm emphasizing on gossip here.

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