Jennifer Beals Still Card Carrying (Honorary) Lesbian

Props to Autostraddle for pointing us to the Jennifer Beals Interview on Mathew'sPlace, the blog/community site for the Mathew Sheppard Foundation. Does anyone know if Beals will be a judge on Project Top Lesbian? I think she'll know how to call a lesbian kiss quick fire challenge.

Excerpts from the interview:

MatthewsPlace: Hi Jennifer. How are you?
Jennifer Beals: Hi. I'm sorry, I went for a run and completely lost track of time.

MP: So … I bring regards from Judy [Shepard] as well. She wanted me to say hello.
JB: I'm bowing low.

MP: The purpose of the site and Judy's vision was for it to be a place where young people can come gather information that could help them lead healthy, productive, hate-free lives... I just wanted to start out by asking you if there was ever a time in your life when you felt like you were marginalized for something that made you different?
JB: If I ever felt like I was marginalized for something that made me different…

MP: Maybe picked on or bullied or anything of that nature?
JB: Umm, not when I was a girl funny enough. Like anything [that] made me feel different?

MP: Yes.
JB: I had read, or my mother had read, enough Greek myths to me to instill in me that any difference could also be something that was incredibly powerful and that you searched for that thing that made you different -- that thing that made you special, which therefore was the thing that made you powerful.

Not in a sense of, necessarily, strength, but in your ability to transform things. So there was magic in being different. But I have to say the only time I felt marginalized was as a woman on-set sometimes and obviously not on "The L Word."

MP: And how did that manifest?
JB: It manifested in not being included in discussions that all the male actors were being included in.  

MP: Has that shifted, would you say? Or…
JB: No. [laughing]

MP: Would you say it's still an issue women in Hollywood face?
JB: It depends on the group, obviously. I mean, there are some men who are more restrictive, and there are others who are more inclusive. And luckily I've primarily worked with people who are incredibly inclusive, like the Hughes brothers. Working on "The Book of Eli" was an amazing experience and I felt valued and respected and trusted …