Fresh Ten Celebrity Lesbian Moms

Since Mother’s Day is this Sunday, May 10, 2009 (yup – hurry up and order those flowers ASAP!), we thought we would bring some attention to a few of the lesbian mothers out there who live in the public eye. Let’s face it, it’s not easy being a mother, but add to that the pressure of coming out, the annoyance of having the whole world take an interest in the details of your pregnancy, and the pain of facing ignorant criticisms from homophobic strangers, and we think maybe the ladies on this list deserve some extra special recognition on this holiday. So, here – in no particular order – are our Fresh Ten Celebrity Lesbian Moms.

1.    Cat Cora: Professional chef best known for being the first female “Iron Chef.” With two more on the way, Cat Cora and her wife Jennifer currently have two sons and all members of their family were conceived using the same anonymous sperm donor. She made news recently for both her pregnancy, and the unique way in which she and Jennifer decided to extend their family: Cora is carrying Jennifer’s biological child and Jennifer is also pregnant and with her pregnancy, both women’s embryos were implanted – so they don’t know who the biological mother is and they say they don’t plan on doing DNA testing to find out.

2.    Ilene Chaiken: Creator/Executive Producer of The L Word. Chaiken, the mother of twin girls from a 20-year relationship, was quoted in an interview last year with Queerty as saying, “Motherhood changes you in a way that every little thing you do is changed – the everyday experience forces you to reach for qualities you… never knew you had.”

3.    Mary Cheney: Daughter of Dick Cheney, the former Vice President of the United States, and former Vice President for Consumer Advocacy at AOL. Despite the large amount of media attention she received as the lesbian daughter of George Bush’s VP, Mary and her long-term partner, Heather Poe, ignored the conservative criticism from her father’s administration and extended their family when they gave birth to Samuel David Cheney on May 23, 2007 in Washington, D.C.

4.    Melissa Etheridge: Academy Award-winning and two-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. Etheridge had a long-term partnership with Julie Cypher and received a lot of press coverage when Cypher gave birth to two children fathered by sperm donor David Crosby. That relationship did not end well – Cypher claimed she was no longer a lesbian – but in April of 2003 Etheridge found happiness again when she became engaged to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels and the two were married later that year. In April 2006, Etheridge and Michaels announced that Michaels was pregnant with twins via an anonymous sperm donor. Michaels and Etheridge welcomed a son, Miller Steven, and a daughter, Johnnie Rose, on October 17, 2006.

5.    Rosie O’Donnell: Television host, stand-up comedian, actress, singer, and author. Anyone who caught even a minute of O’Donnell’s daytime talk show, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, easily picked up on the fact that she loves children and with her wife, Kelli, she has now provided a loving home to four children – three who were adopted and their youngest, Vivienne Rose, who was conceived through artificial insemination and born in 2002.

6.    Sara Gilbert: Actress, child star on Roseanne. It’s hard to imagine Darlene Conner ever being a warm, loving, and happily committed mother of two children, but that’s exactly what the woman who played her for around 10 years ended up becoming. Gilbert has been with Allison Adler since 2002 and together they have a son, Levi Hank, and a daughter, Sawyer.

7.    Sheryl Swoopes: Professional basketball player and Olympic Gold Medalist. Swoopes married her high school sweetheart and in 1997 the two had a son, Jordan Eric Jackson, but in 2005 Swoopes announced that she was a lesbian and in doing so became one of the most high profile athletes in a team sport to do so publicly. She and her partner, former basketball player, Alisa Scott, are now raising Swoopes’s son.

8.    Cynthia Nixon: Actress. Nixon has two children from a previous long-term relationship with a man but has been dating education activist Christine Marinoni for several years now and approached the change in her life – and the media attention that it received – with a very honest and healthy attitude, setting a great example for her children.

9.    Judy Gold: Stand-up comedian and actress. One of the first things you will read on Gold’s website is: “I’m the single mom of 2 wonderful boys—Henry and Ben. They love each other one minute, and the next minute they are kicking each other in the testicles. I’m hoping that one of them will come and wipe my tush and pull out my chin hairs when I’m drooling, gazing out the window at The Hebrew Home for the Aged.”

10.    Amanda Bearse: Actress, director, and comedian. Known to many as “Marcy D’Arcy,” Bearse has also made a name for herself in Hollywood for her steady quality work as a director. She came out publicly in 1993 and has an adopted daughter named Zoe with her long-term partner.