Chucky, with his fiery red hair and frighteningly loyal pledge to be “your friend till the end,” was never gay by design. But in 1998, four films into the Child’s Play franchise, the undying slasher flicks centered on a ghastly ’80s-era talking doll took a campy, gay turn with the sequel Bride of Chucky. 

We have out Chucky creator Don Mancini to hail for the queering of Chucky, who fathered a gender-fluid child named Glen / Glenda with goth-turned-glam lady doll Tiffany Valentine in 2004’s Seed of Chucky, notably featuring filth king John Waters and a Britney Spears look-alike (Chucky’s reaction to running her off the road? “Oops, I did it again”). 

Doubling as Tiffany and herself is lesbian fave and voice of the plastic assassin Jennifer Tilly, who returns for the Good Guy doll’s seventh film, Cult of Chucky, to wreak havoc on the patients and staff at a mental institution, among them a gay nurse named Carlos (Zak Santiago). Chucky is scary again, as Cult begins where his reentry into straight-up, decamped horror via 2013’s Curse of Chucky left off. 

Tilly, gay-adored star of screen and stage (and also an Oscar nominee for her memorable role in Woody Allen's 1994 black comedy Bullets Over Broadway), spoke with her trademark kid-like cadence about the extreme gayness of the Chucky movie and the latest film’s clever homages to her groundbreaking lesbian classic Bound. The star looked back on that 1996 landmark movie in LGBT cinema, reflecting on how she and onscreen lover, co-star Gina Gershon, helped each other look flawless on camera and why she thinks sibling filmmaking power duo, Lily and Lana Wachowski, before they came out as male-to-female, created one of the most iconic lesbian love stories. 

Chucky’s LGBT following

I haven’t seen the first three – I shouldn’t say that! – but Bride of Chucky was the first time (Don) had a positive gay character, which is my best friend (in the movie). Then, Seed of Chucky, obviously, was really balls to the wall. But Don created the Chucky movies, and he’s gay himself and definitely has that sensibility. Also, Seed of Chucky had the first transgender kid doll in the history of movies, which was Glen / Glenda, who was, I guess you could say, gender confused. And there are always positive gay characters in the Chucky movies and there’s also Jennifer Tilly / Tiffany, this sort of drag queen-y gay icon.

Seed of Chucky: ahead of its time 

It really was, but we didn’t really think of it much that way. But in gay and lesbian parades, there was a lot of chatting about Glen / Glenda, and then we realized that it was. Seed of Chucky was where Don Mancini delightedly threw everything in that we ever loved in the movies, including John Waters. It was really the campiest movie ever. 

Actually, Universal said, “It’s too funny, it’s too gay, and there’s too much Jennifer Tilly.” How could there ever be too much Jennifer Tilly? (Laughs) They said that about the first draft of the script, though. But Don just basically had a carnival of fun with that movie. I mean, even at the end of the movie with the kids’ birthday party, it’s very reminiscent of Mommie Dearest. My character turned into, like, Joan Crawford. 

Tilly’s kiss with actress Fiona Dourif in Cult of Chucky

Don called me up and he goes, “I’m very excited. I wrote you a new part in the new Chucky movie. You’re gonna be very excited. And you’re hot in the movie! I wrote you a hot scene!” At this point in my life I literally am going out for the parts of grandmas, so I was like, “Ohh, ‘hot’ – I kind of like that idea!” Then I got the script and thought it was absolutely genius. You know, Don is a huge fan of Bound, so it’s a bit of an homage to Bound, especially how they drive off together.

It was deliberate, you know. And he actually made some Bound references in Seed of Chucky also. I think Fiona Dourif is a brilliant actress… and she’s really hot! (Laughs) But the funny thing is, when (Fiona) came out of that building and she was possessed by Chucky, she looked like her dad (Brad Dourif, who has voiced Chucky since the original Child’s Play in 1988) and she looked like Chucky the way she was walking and moving and everything. And it was even hotter than the feminine Fiona Dourif! Fiona Dourif as a man trapped in a woman’s body – got a little bit of transgender, gender-fluid energy going on there. 

Don wanted Tiffany more like Tippi Hedren in this movie. She wants to be a movie star like Cate Blanchett in Carol, all elegant and vintage. He thinks these things out! Like, who sits at night and thinks, “What does a plastic doll that has gone into a movie star’s body want?” These are the questions that keep him awake at night.

Looking ahead to the next (maybe lesbian-ish) Chucky movie

I’m really excited, and I hope less time elapses between this one and the next. I have no idea where this is going, but I’m just really happy that I drove off with Fiona because I’m pretty sure I’ll be in the next movie. I really hope that when we make the next one I’ll still be hot enough to have some hot sex with Fiona – that’s what we all live for! 

Bound to Corky: challenging the Wachowskis for the role 

When I went and auditioned for Bound I really wanted the part of Corky. I did not want the part of Violet. When I came in and read for it, I read for Corky. Linda Hamilton was set to play Violet, so Corky was the only part available. I was like, “Ohh, Linda Hamilton! I’d love to work with Linda Hamilton!” But then she fell out and Violet was available and the Wachowskis were like, “What about Jennifer for Violet?” I wanted to be the badass and the Wachowskis got upset. They were like, “All the girls want to play Corky! Violet is the better part.” 

So we found this girl, Gina Gershon. I hadn’t heard of her. She was in Showgirls, but it hadn’t come out yet. But they were like, “We think you guys would be great together.” And they’re brilliant filmmakers – they really are – and I was in Canada filming a movie. I said, “Don’t even bother to come out if you’re gonna try to talk me into playing Violet. I only wanna play Corky,” and they’re like, “Well, we think you guys would be good together. She wants to play Corky, but she says she’s open to playing either.” But they were just really being master manipulators. 

She came out and right away I was annoyed because apparently nobody had told her she was gonna be playing Violet, and she just started talking about how she was gonna do Corky and how she already got her ears pierced. I was like, “Oh my god, this girl is really eager to take this role.” (Laughs) I was thinking that I was gonna play Corky, but then when I met her we got along so well on the set. We had such a good time, and we’d sit in our trailer and we’d make the craft service person go and get donuts. We’d torture, torment.

Bound sex scene with Gina Gershon: ‘Cover up the cellulite on my thigh’ 

With the sex scene, it was really fantastic because with a guy you’re always kind of trying to show off your tits and bits to your best advantage. But with a girl, we’d be like, “Oh, can you put your hand here to cover up the cellulite on my thigh?” or “Can you prop my breast up a little bit to make it look plumper?” And the thing about Gina is, she’s very generous. She never ever says a bad word about any of her co-stars or any of the movies she’s done, so if I had been working with someone who maybe was more difficult, it would’ve been a nightmare working so closely with her, so to speak, like totally nude. 

But we just had so many laughs, like when we were doing that sex scene we were laughing so much the Wachowskis were like, “Girls, girls! Settle down! We’re making a movie here!” But it was a great thing. It kind of makes sense now, because (at the time) everybody said, “How can two men write such great parts for women and be sensitive and compassionate about the way women think?” And after the movie was over, their mom was leaving the screening and she was saying, “Wow, that’s such a beautiful love story between the two women,” and then the Wachowskis went off and became female after that. 

So, I really do think Bound – those were two of the greatest roles for women ever and the characters were really fantastic. I think that the Wachowskis had that sensibility right from the beginning. But we never thought – they were both very alpha males and brilliant, brilliant men who knew what drives people, and they were able to write such a sensitive, compassionate story about women. 

It really is the classic film noir too. I never saw it as a sexploitation movie; I saw it as a beautiful example of film noir. It didn’t really give me much pause playing a woman in a love scene with another woman, even though at that time – people don’t remember, because every indie film has, like, women kissing women now, but back then it was a thing that you only saw in, like, Red Shoe Diaries, or another sort of weirdly soft-porn thing. And now, it’s sort of a given in film.

Warner Bros.’s resistance to making Bound a lesbian-led movie

I’m always really happy when people come up to me and they say – a lot of women say, “That movie made me come out of the closet.” You know, originally the Wachowskis did Matrix at Warner Bros. and Warner Bros. said they would give them $15 or $20 million to make the movie, but they would have to make Corky a man. They said, “But Corky is a woman.” 

They were just determined to make Corky and Violet running from the mob, and they ended up at (late film producer) Dino De Laurentiis’s studio and they were really nervous because they’d been rejected a lot and they go, “It’s a story about this girl Corky – she gets out of the prison and she meets this girl Violet and she falls in love,” and Dino goes, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. Violet is a girl and Corky – she’s also a girl?” And the Wachowskis go, “Mmhmm.” And he goes, “I love it! I’ll give you $3 million!” He was really great and supportive of the film, and Aaron Spelling was the co-producer. Aaron was the one who sent out all the copies for Oscar consideration because the studio couldn’t afford to do that, or didn’t want to. 

So, it’s really kind of amazing. You would never think that Aaron Spelling and Dino De Laurentiis would get together to create one of the seminal films in gay and lesbian cinematic history, but they did, like strange bedfellows. 

Don’t Be Stupid, You Know Shania Loves You

Contrary to popular belief, some things do impress Shania Twain. The country-pop icon and paragon of leopard print has great admiration for her LGBTQ fans, who she says have become guiding lights in her own life. 

Twain’s inspiring story is one of survival, from her childhood hardships while growing up in the small town of Timmins, Ontario, where she raised her three younger siblings after her parents died in a car accident in 1987, to her 2009 divorce from Robert “Mutt” Lange, producer of Twain’s 1997 crossover behemoth Come on Over. The best-selling country album of all time was a game-changer with an impressive track record – 40 million copies sold globally, 50 weeks atop the Billboard country charts over three years, 11 singles released – that Twain still champions in the female-artist arena.

Fifteen years after dropping her last juggernaut, 2002’s Up!, Twain, 52, is again demonstrating slay status to her legions of loyal, boot-stompin’ queer fans. Even a neurological voice disorder called dysphonia couldn’t keep the genre subverter, who once thought she’d never sing again, from recording her long-overdue fifth LP, Now. Released in September, Twain wrote every song, and her shiny résumé got even shinier when the album instantly seized the No. 1 spot on the Billboard albums and country charts. 

Country-pop’s comeback queen was an open book during our recent conversation, speaking  passionately and candidly about her LGBTQ activism at the onset of her country career in 1993, having to “agree to disagree” with those who aren’t pro-gay, and bringing drag queens and Bud-guzzlin’ bros together with “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” 

But, also, you don’t get Shania Twain on the phone without reminiscing on 1998’s VH1 Divas, when Twain shared the stage with an epic mix of icons – Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan – for one of the most legendary, gay-loved nights in diva (and hair) history.  

Do you have enough leopard print gloves to go around for all the gays to partake in celebrating your comeback? 

(Laughs) I should make them, right? What do you think would be the preferred fabric? Silk or…?

Velour. 

Yeah, like, velvet. 

We need a million of those by tomorrow. But first, Shania, after all these years, how do you explain your connection to the LGBTQ community?

I can’t really explain my connection in any sort of theoretical way to anyone. But I would say my intentions are to inspire and connect with people, to be relatable then and now. I think that it is what resonates – we relate to one another, we relate to struggle, and then surviving struggle and celebrating who we are and what we are and appreciating that as a community of people regardless of what it is. Just celebrating together to the anthemic nature of some of those songs, and on this new album there are several like that as well. 

Is there something specific you hope to convey to LGBTQ audiences with this album?

Surviving against the odds. A song like “I’m Alright” – just that statement there and telling yourself, “I’m alright. I’ve made it through. I’ve survived.” And with a fist-in-the-air attitude, with conviction. 

What was your introduction to the gay community? 

I work with a lot of gay people and they’re just a part of my almost daily family world. So, they’re just part of my friends and my community. I guess more when I started to become successful, I was really surrounded by more creative people, and there are so many creative people in this industry who are gay, both men and women. It just becomes the norm. 

During some of your rough patches, did you get any sage advice from your gay friends?

Oh, I get good advice from gay friends all the time! (Laughs) I think more than anything I’m inspired by the spirit of where the gay community is right now and that conviction to be who you are. I love standing up for that. It’s just so important to be transparent and open about who you are and to not hide behind fear.  

Have you clung to that sentiment as a way to push past your own personal pain? 

Completely! I mean, my whole transition into where I am now in this moment has been facing fears and taking that leap of faith myself, and that would be my advice to anyone out there. A gay person who has been living behind their fears and then makes that courageous decision to start living as who they really are and stop pretending and embrace it – it takes a lot of courage. 

For me, I’ve just learned that there’s no time to waste. You need to take that leap and be who you are, and we’re in a society now that is making it easier. We still have a long way to go, but there are a lot more outlets. 

But the gay community – and minority communities in general – are always fighting. I have a song on the album called “Swingin’ with My Eyes Closed” and it’s a fun party song, but the true depth of the song is about even when you can’t see what is in front of you, you still have to move forward. You can’t move backwards; you gotta keep moving forward and fighting for that freedom to exercise independence and courage. 

There couldn’t be a better time for a song like that. In 2013, you tweeted about the Supreme Court overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, saying, “Congrats to everyone celebrating equality today in the U.S. #loveislove.” Why is it important for you to take a stand on gay rights and other LGBTQ issues?  

I just feel very saddened by any kind of oppression in our society in today’s day and age. I mean, it’s so negative. Equality should be a no-brainer, automatic, all the way around. We need to have mutual respect all the way around. Supremacy of any sort is just poison. I just feel like we’re not above each other in any way and mutual respect and an admiration for an individual’s abilities, talents, heart, commitment – I mean, what does that have to do with any minority status that we might be labeled with today, whatever that may be? Certainly, I know that gays feel that. 

How does it feel knowing that your songs “Forever and For Always” and “From this Moment On” have probably been the first dance at a number of same-sex marriages? 

Awww! That’s lovely. It’s so lovely. But love is beautiful, and music is very much a part of our lives and monumental moments of our lives.

Because country music has long been deemed conservative in its views, could we speak as openly as we are now about LGBTQ issues at the beginning of your career? 

I mean, I did. You know what this is really about? This is about pro-equality, this is about pro-mutual respect. And if you’re really for those things in life, then why would there be any boundaries? Why would you side where there _are_? Why would you draw a line there? 

In the country community, I think it comes down to the fear of potentially alienating conservative fans.

I think everybody has the right to their opinion, and that I would never argue with. That is a huge part of freedom of speech and mutual respect, having the right to your own opinion. If you’re not pro-gay, then you’re not pro-gay, and we just have to agree to disagree. I would never get into a fist fight with somebody who didn’t agree. I just think that would be counterproductive. So, I think we all have to respect each other’s opinions on these issues. 

But, listen, with a song like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” – and this is, what, 20 years ago? – I’m over that come a long time ago. A lot of straight men sing “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” just for the sheer entertainment of it. So, I think songs like that have been great, maybe, contributors to bringing us together, if not for anything than just for the common denominator of music and owning that for whatever it means to them, and that breaks down barriers. 

How do you reflect on your gender-bending style, when you donned menswear, in that video? 

I like to have a sense of humor about everything, especially things that can have a lot of tension. A song like “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” just smacks it dead for me. The audience issue is not something I worry about. I’m respectful to my audience and I appreciate them for relating to my music regardless of their point of view on whatever it is, whether it’s politics or social issues. I’m not here to judge. 

Tell me about the first time you encountered a Shania drag queen. 

I went to an imposter show in Las Vegas and it was incredible. You brought up the country world and maybe how that might be more conservative, but it’s funny, three of the artists that were in the show were myself, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. I thought that was so wonderful. It’s like, “OK, we’re country artists, and we’re in there!” Any artist that is, on a visual level, very expressive would make a great imposter night subject! 

What is the one thing a queen cannot go without if they truly want to feel like Shania Twain? 

Probably something leopard print, and I would say a top hat. The boots, for sure! 

For gay men everywhere, 1998 was one of the best years as it was the inaugural VH1 Divas, the best and most iconic. It doesn’t get any better than you, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin and guest performer Carole King. Of them, who are you still in touch with? 

Mariah Carey. Celine Dion. We still cross paths – it’s great. I always like to catch Mariah when she is live, and Celine too. It was such a wonderful group of ladies, really terrific. 

Who most lived up to the diva title during the show?

I think Mariah had the biggest hair, so probably her. (Laughs)  

You were second, I think.

I was! I said, “OK, I gotta look at Mariah’s hair. I want to try for it to be as big as hers,” because she has this naturally big, amazing hair. So I’m like, “Come on, let’s go for it. I know Mariah’s gonna have bigger hair than me, so I’m gonna go for it and have fun with it.” She has that hair that I want, that naturally big hair with this gorgeous wave and those ringlets. 

When you all performed “Natural Woman” as your encore, I wasn’t sure who was stealing the spotlight: Mariah’s hair or Aretha.  

(Laughs) I know! Nobody can kill Aretha’s spotlight. 

If you did another Divas, what other diva would you want to sing alongside?

Rihanna, for sure. She’s just so awesome. I love her voice; I never get tired of it. Never, never. And we hear it so much on the radio, right? She’s every second song on the radio and I just never get tired of it. Even with “Love on the Brain” – I mean, it just doesn’t get better than that. So, she’d definitely be on my list.

I’m hoping for you and Taylor to team up – our two country-gone-pop queens.  

Taylor would be a good one. She’d be a must on Divas, for sure. She’s awesome. She’s such a great creative person and a super songwriter and really uses her brain, so it’s lovely to watch her.

Lastly, how many costume changes can gay audiences look forward to when you hit the road?

(Laughs) How many would a gay audience find ideal, do you think? 

At least 15. 

(Laughs) Whoa. OK, that is a friggin’ high demand. I’d have to change every two songs! 

As long as you bring out the iconic ensembles, no harm, no foul.  

Gotta have a little flashback moment here and there, yeah! 

Lesbian sports pioneer Billie Jean King would, in due course, take her victory beyond the tennis court, to the front lines of equality for women and LGBT people alike. But first, there was her legendary face-off with her much older, goonish opponent, Bobby Riggs.

Famously coined “Battle of the Sexes,” the game transcended the court, marking a milestone in the fight for equality as it blazed an important trail for minorities in sports, after King crushed her sexist rival during the nationally televised match in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome. 

If it sounds like the stuff of big-screen moviemaking magic, well, now it is. After 2001’s Goldie Hawn-produced TV movie starring Holly Hunter as King, named When Billie Beat Bobby, Oscar winner Emma Stone steps into the tennis champ’s sneakers to remind chauvinist pigs like Riggs to kindly take a seat. Battle of the Sexes, starring a perfectly-cast Steve Carell as Riggs, is as much a time capsule as it is a timely gender-equity statement, a sentiment not lost on Stone. 

“Billie Jean is a social activist and she was always wired for social change, and she knew that from a young age,” Stone, seated next to King, recently told a group of journalists at the W Hotel in Westwood, California. “She was also great at tennis, and this was gonna be an amazing platform, if she could be the best, to change the world.” 

King did, of course. But for Stone, it started with realizing the “super empowering” effects of weightlifting, wherein “physical strength equals strength out in our country or in the conversation or to further equality.” It wasn’t just muscle the actress had to gain, however – Stone had to gain an understanding of King’s history, both professionally and personally (and the latter’s effect on her game). There was also, you know, the actual tennis. 

“This story is about her personal journey and personal struggle, but had this been the Billie Jean tennis movie, I never would’ve gotten it,” Stone says, chuckling. “For a novice tennis player to become No. 1 in the world in three months, it was like, ‘How?’”

To get Stone primed for her role, King joined the La La Land actress on the court, where King tossed her some balls. Additionally, Stone pored over historical footage and ample news coverage on the landmark match. Intimate conversations with King were important too, because Stone needed to engender the spirit of King at a radically different time in her life – and in the world. 

Now, Stone says, “(King) is fully informed and is able to talk about all of this with closure and hindsight and she can just see it more clearly than she might have been able to at age 29.” 

Then, before King entered into a relationship with fellow tennis pro Ilana Kloss, her partner for the past 30 years, the tennis legend came to know herself thanks to an affair with her secretary, the more sexually evolved Marilyn Barnett, which began in the early ’70s. Barnett had been King’s hairstylist for several months before they became romantic and “embodies the free spirit and hope and liberation of the early ’70s,” says British actress Andrea Riseborough later that afternoon, during our exclusive interview. Known for gracefully inhabiting a bevy of real-life personas, including Wallis Simpson (in the 2011 Madonna-directed film W.E.) and Margaret Thatcher, Riseborough didn’t have access to Barnett – in fact, she didn’t consult King either, perhaps because King’s relationship with Barnett was far more toxic than Battle of the Sexes wants to admit. 

In 1981, Barnett sued King, alleging their seven-year relationship entitled her to half of King's earnings, but King’s counsel fought the case (and won), noting that “palimony law” did not protect gay and lesbian couples. 

“Billie has gone on to have a much greater love story with Ilana,” says Riseborough. “But it was an important time in her life. A stressful time, and a wonderful time.” 

She continues: “I really have just treated her as a human being in that, if she offers something up to me, that’s wonderful. But this whole process has been difficult for her, as you can imagine, watching her own life at the most pivotal point of your life.” 

Much to Riseborough’s surprise, King praised Riseborough’s Barnett as realistic despite her ex-lover’s mostly-undocumented life. Instead, select videos and a few photographs featuring a background-positioned Barnett informed Riseborough’s acting. And of course there was the script, written by husband-wife team and Little Miss Sunshine filmmakers Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton.

“It was a collective effort of us all knowing how instrumental she was in the film as the catalyst of change,” Riseborough says, “from Billie feeling her body is a machine to her feeling like a sensual, beautiful thing to be explored in a healthy way.”

King’s husband at the time, attorney Larry King, would discover his wife’s secret, but insisted she focus on shattering the glass ceiling, as “Larry and I always talked about changing the tennis world” to be more inclusive. 

“We were very much in it together,” she remembers, though the pair would ultimately divorce in 1987.

Repressed sexual feelings, paired with the pressure of her newfound role as a feminist torchbearer, put King in a precarious place, as she struggled to be openly gay during a time when it was especially taboo to be out as a public sports figure. 

“The LGBTQ community suffers a lot, especially our young kids, so that’s why it’s so important to embrace everyone,” she says now, reflecting on her own self-discovery. “You want people to be their unique self, their authentic self. It’s so important that we all encourage (that).” 

Dayton and Faris’ film examines King’s own internal torment in a moving scene where Stone breaks down sobbing in the locker room after her Riggs defeat, uncertain about her future as a gay athlete. “She was on four hours of sleep every night, (and there was) all this going on with Marilyn and Larry,” Stone says. “I was thinking about that moment in all other scenes of the film because I think she had such strength, and because she holds it together, but it’s all just right under the surface for most of the film, that sort of breaking point.” 

The scene portrayed “exactly how I felt,” says King, now 73. “It was so touching when I saw it, and so authentic (to) what was in my heart at the time.” 

After organizing and launching the Women's Tennis Association in 1973, King continued to level the playing field a year later, founding the Women’s Sports Foundation. Seventy-nine cents from each ticket sold during the film’s opening weekend will be donated to the foundation via 21st Century Fox, which King finds “so meaningful.” 

Certainly, King’s accomplishments are immense, both on and off the court. In 2009, she became the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which President Barack Obama awarded her in 2009 for her work with women’s advocacy and LGBTQ initiatives.

“When you’re around Billie for a certain period of life, you go back into your life being reinvigorated,” Riseborough says. “You’re sort of ready to fight for justice.” 

On September 9, Stone attended the U.S. Open with King, and together they reveled at Sloane Stephens’ victory. “A woman of color,” King says. “And that’s one of the things we were trying to do (in 1973) as well.”

“Watching that moment was pretty unbelievable,” Stone adds. “And Billie Jean has said, ‘This is what (we) were fighting for.’ They were fighting for the next generation, and onward.”

Now that gay marriage has been accomplished in all 50 states -- and the right to medical marijuana is at the halfway point, we can look back at their shared history. Both have roots in the AIDS crisis -- when partners fought for the right to take care of each other -- and to relieve their suffering with marijuana. Both movements had to fight against unfair stigmas and false concerns that change would somehow harm children.

What once seemed like pipe dreams, have become reality.

Four and a half decades ago, in Baker vs. Nelson, two University of Minnesota students, John 'Jack' Baker and James Michael McConnell, first fought for the right for a same-sex marriage license. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled against them, and the case set a precedent for blocking same-sex marriage efforts.

It wasn’t until 14 years later in 1984, when the Nation’s first domestic partnership laws were passed in California. What started in California, slowly spread to the rest of the nation. The same was true for medical marijuana. California was the first state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996.

More than 15 years later, that change spread to Nevada. In 2013, our state passed comprehensive medical marijuana legislation -- with the first dispensaries opening in recent months.

Not surprisingly, the California dispensary most associated with the LGBT community, The Apothecarium, has now opened a sister dispensary in Las Vegas at West Sahara and Buffalo (www.Apothecarium.com).

The original Apothecarium is located in the heart of the Castro, S.F.’s world famous gay district. A majority of their employees are queer and they probably serve more LGBT patients than any other dispensary in the world.

“Pride Weekend is probably the busiest time of the year at the dispensary,” said Chase Chambers, The Apothecarium’s General Manager and an out gay man. “We’ve been proud to make donations to support marriage equality, AIDS nonprofits and all sorts of groups supporting the LGBT community. We want to bring the same spirit of inclusion and community engagement to our Las Vegas store.”

Both medical marijuana and the freedom to marry movements had to overcome more than their fair share of fear and ignorance. Marriage equality ultimately succeeded through the efforts of a united community. Here’s to hoping the right to medicate in all 50 states isn’t far behind!

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