Another one for our team

Examiner: As of May 25, 2012, Chef Anne Burrell is on record as being in a same-sex relationship with her current girlfriend. The two have been together for the past two years. While she does not deny that she has been in the lesbian relationship with her partner, she does admit she has not made a big deal about it because her partner is very reserved. The spark for Anne coming out follows a comment made by fellow chef, Ted Alllen during a radio interview. Allen commented: “I am not going to put a label on Anne, but she is dating a woman right now.”

Anne’s rep shares: “Anne doesn’t feel she was outed. She has made no secret of her relationship,” her rep told the New York Post‘s Page Six. “Her significant other is a very private woman. They have been together for a couple of years and spend a lot of time together. It is no secret in the culinary world.”

Joanna Johnson comes out as a lesbian alongside her “Bold and the Beautiful” character

AfterEllen: The sudsy world of daytime drama isn’t always benevolent to its lady-loving fans. We’ll wait ages for a lesbian story to unfold, wringing our hands and shouting at the TV for a pining couple to kiss already, and when they finally do makeout (or hold hands), they’re always getting carted off to Europe or gunned down in the middle of the road or losing their lives to network cancellation. But we’ve got a lot of reasons to be thankful for The Bold and the Beautiful. Not only are they introducing Crystal Chappell‘s Danielle as a love interest for longtime fan favorite Karen Spencer this week, but the actress who plays Karen Spencer — the gorgeous Joanna Johnson — has decided to publicly come out alongside her character.

In an interview with TV Guide Magazine, Johnson, who just turned 50, reveals that although she came out to her parents when she was 23 and married the mother of her children back in 2008, she has always been afraid to let her fans and co-stars know that she’s a gay lady. But not anymore! In fact, her real-life story is the inspiration for her character’s soon-to-be fictional-life story!

 

Gaydar still working: One more for our team

Outsports: U.S. star women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe, who will be on the Olympic team, answered “we’re out there” when asked when a high-profile player would come out. It was a rather novel way to answer the question. Here is the appropriate part from a video interview with Rapinoe on KickTV (video below):

Q: Do you think we’ll see a high-profile soccer player coming out?

Rapinoe: Hopefully, hopefully, I think that obviously we’re out there. It’s weird. [On the women's side], it’s accepted with the teams and within the sport but it seems as if sports is that last institution of homophobia. In all other professions, there’s plenty of out professional around but for some reason sport isn’t that way. … It’s sad there’s that there’s still thick homophobia in sports.

Rather bizarrely, the interviewer never follows up on what would be a nice scoop for him. He simply ends the segment. AfterEllen quickly added Rapinoe to its list of its 12 favorite out athletes from the last 40 years, saying:

While many speculated (and hoped) that Rapinoe was gay, she did not address her sexuality before this week when she stated “we’re out there” when speaking about gay athletes. Hopefully we’ll be able to watch her excel on the field and continue to be a voice for gay rights off of it.

“We’re out there” is pretty definitive and I echo what AfterEllen said. Quick web searches find Rapinoe linked to fellow player Abby Wambach (Zimbio even has 14 photos of Rapinoe and Wambach together, definitely making a link), so people clearly have been speculating.

It was also enough for one YouTube commenter, who joked: “it sucks that’s she is lesbian. there goes any mathematical chance i might have had.”

Oh crap: Now we lost one

NewNowNext: The super sleuths over at Life & Style have discovered that Johnny Depp is getting crazy intimate with a sexy new lady — his Rum Diary costar Amber Heard. Or, to be more specific, his lesbian Rum Diarycostar Amber Heard.

Apparently the two have “undeniable chemistry,” this according to a witness who caught them catching a flight in Las Vegas. Because wouldn’t Johnny Depp, one of the biggest stars in the world, show how sexy and intimate he can be with a lady before boarding a private jet as opposed to when on said jet? Makes total sense.

We will give L & S credit for acknowledging Ms. Heard’s sexuality, deeming her bisexual (and to be honest we probably have no right to label her a lesbian), but the magazine informs us the actress is “totally open” when it comes to love. Also totally open? The staff at Life & Style when deadline approaches and they need filler.

Two sides of the “date a straight girl” coin

Read Staceyann Chin’s Why Chasing Straight Women Still Thrills Me.

Read Gabrielle Rivera’s Why Chasing Straight Women is for Amateurs (or Not All Lesbians Creep on Straight Girls).