Hollywood Lesbians: It's a 'Girl World.'(gay Women in the Motion Picture Industry)

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Gay women in showbiz are coming out and succeeding as never before.

A FICTIONAL CHARACTER COMING out of the closet on television may send shock waves through much of America. But in today s Hollywood, coming out as a real-life lesbian won't even raise an eyebrow at the office. "It's a great time to be a gay woman," says Dannielle Thomas, president of InterAct Management. "Five years ago, we would whisper about being lesbian. Now, in the boardrooms of Hollywood, we're talking about it openly, even making jokes."

Now that the closet door has been kicked wide open, lesbians are openly feasting at Hollywood's power-lunch tables. They even have a name for themselves: the Girl World. Theft mentors are called the Girl Titans, the pioneer lesbians in top jobs at studios, networks, agencies, publicists' offices and production companies who declare their sexual orientation with the boldness of, well, a straight woman. With each new public declaration, the …