Lesley Gore comes out as a lesbian
Sixties teen idol Lesley Gore has come out of the closet. Yep, the recording artist who scored with such megahits as "It's My Party (I'll Cry If I Want To)" and "You Don't Own Me" told After Ellen, "I have a partner of 23 years and I have a cocker spaniel ... named after Billie Holiday, one of my favorite singers. And I thought, you know, a little gender confusion makes a better person. A little adversity in life at an early age. It’s character building." As for lesbian life back then Gore says, "there was very little acceptance of gay people. I think the record industry, by and large what’s left of it, is still totally homophobic... I think it’s much less so in the film industry now, but the record industry, it’s always been a man’s world. ... I had a conversation just a couple of days ago with Kathleen Hanna of Le Tigre, and she said to me, 'Who were your female mentors?' And I said, Gosh, I didn’t have any. There weren’t any."