Alix Dobkin, Who Sang Songs of Liberation, Dies at 80
She broke new ground in 1973 with her album “Lavender Jane Loves Women,” recorded and distributed by women for women, which sketched out a lesbian separatist utopia.
The singer and lesbian activist Alix Dobkin in 1975. This image of her exploded on social media 40 years later and introduced Ms. Dobkin to a new generation of young women.Credit.Liza Cowan
May 28, 2021, 1:53 p.m. ET
Long before K.D. Lang transformed herself from a country artist into an androgyne pop idol and sex symbol, smoldering in a man’s suit on the cover of Vanity Fair being mock-shaved by the supermodel Cindy Crawford; long before Melissa Etheridge sold millions of copies of her 1993 album, “Yes I Am,” and in so doing came out as a gay rock star; and long before the singer-songwriter Jill Sobule’s “I Kissed a Girl” hit the Billboard charts, the folk singer Alix Dobkin chopped her hair off, formed a band and recorded “Lavender Jane Lov
Still Here and Still Queer: The Gay Restaurant Endures
Many have closed in a time of growing inclusion and more fluid sexual identities. But in several places around the country, they remain anchors of safety and community.
Laziz Kitchen in Salt Lake City is one of several newer restaurants that cultivate a wide spectrum of L.G.B.T.Q. customers, as symbolized by the redesigned version of the traditional rainbow flag out front.Credit.Kim Raff for The New York Times
Scott Frankel’s favorite memories of New York gay restaurants aren’t about food.
Universal Grill cranked “Dancing Queen” on birthdays. There was that incredibly hot Italian waiter at Food Bar. Florent was around the corner from a notorious sex club in the meatpacking district. Manatus was so gay, it had a sobriquet: Mana-tush.
In an interview, the creator and star of the Netflix comedy discusses the hazy line between fact and fiction, the value of uncertainty and the joy of finally getting to be a leading man.