Better Halves
LGBT COUPLES WHO ARE CHANGING NASHVILLE
BRIAN SULLIVAN | @NashvilleScoop
This Valentine’s month O&AN would like to introduce you to some of the AMAZING LGBT couples who are not only giving back to our community, but also fighting for our causes and representing us on the Nashville scene. There are innumerable couples we could have chosen, and many worthy examples aren’t presented here, so if you know of couples who should be featured, feel free to contact the editors and make suggestions for future features! Now, let’s take a look at the couples shaping our community.
ABBY RUBENFELD & HELIA RETHMANN
best to support the community. They met through political events (the Gore campaign and gay pride, among others). Their first time “almost” going out together was the TEP’s holiday party in 2004: Their first “date” was the next night. “Helia is a saint for putting up with me,” said Rubenfeld. “She would tell you that I have worked every single day that we have been together, including the day of our wedding.” The wedding was during a national conference of LGBTQ lawyers in San Francisco. “I spoke at a plenary and then we got married,” said Rubenfeld. “Seriously.” Rubenfeld has led the state’s fight for marriage equality, and continues to fight for the rights of Tennesseans to marry. And it’s paid off, as this year the Supreme Court of the United States will take up Tennessee’s case. One thing’s for sure: No matter what any court says, this couple’s the real deal.
JIM SCHMIDT & JOE WOOLLEY
Attorney and champion for equality Abby Rubenfeld runs her own legal practice focused primarily on family law and civil rights issues. Abby was Legal Director at Lamda Legal Defense from 1983 to 1988, and served on its Board of Directors for seven years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. She served on the Board of the ACLU for Tennessee for 20 years and has helped found several different Tennessee LGBTQ groups over the years. Helia Rethmann is a teacher, trainer, educator, and translator, as well as a once-certified court interpreter! She takes care of the couple’s thirteen acres and many animals. The couple have three daughters between them (Lily, 23; Sarah, 19; and Laura, 19). They’ve been involved with the Tennessee Equality Project from its inception, and do their
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Jim Schmidt and Joe Woolley will have been together for fourteen years in May. They were married on their thirteenth anniversary last May in San Francisco.
They have two dogs and live in the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood. The couple have been very active in politics. Schmidt and Woolley helped found the Tennessee
OUTANDABOUTNASHVILLE.COM
FEBRUARY 2015
Equality Project (TEP) in 2003 because of a lack of a statewide advocacy group for the LGBTQ community, and have also been active in the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Victory Fund. Schmidt has worked in government affairs on state level policy in Nashville for 20 years. He runs his own lobbying firm, Schmidt Government Solutions, currently specializing in healthcare lobbying. He currently serves on the boards of the Nashville Children’s Theatre, Davidson County Mental Health and Veterans Court Foundation, the Tennessee Lobbyists Association, and the Brooks Fund. He is a past Board Chair for the Victory Fund Campaign. Woolley has worked in journalism with CBS in New York and then in marketing, but now he is a marketing and operations consultant for small businesses and non-profits. He is the current Vice President of the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce, and also serves on the Belmont-Hillsboro Neighborhood Association. Woolley previously served on the Board of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival. Joe also volunteers for CASA (Court Appointed Child Advocate), an organization for children removed from their families due to abuse or neglect. “It is important for everyone to step up and get involved in any way they can to help make change happen,” says Woolley. “There is an old saying that if you are not at the table then you are on the menu. We think that is very true. So, we want to make sure we have a place at that table.”
LISA HOWE & WENDY HOLLEMAN HOWE
Even after thirteen years together, the Howes think their relationship continues to grow stronger, with every life experience bringing them closer together. They are best friends. And, with so much in common, it’s easy to see why! Wendy Holleman Howe grew up in Dallas, Texas, and played college soccer at Jacksonville State University. After being an Assistant Coach in NCAA Division I, she now teaches lower school PE and coaches varsity girls’ soccer and middle school girls’ lacrosse at USN. Wendy has twice been named Coach of the Year, and won a state title in 2012 and runner up in 2014. Wendy is one of the co-founders of the Nashville Gay Parents, and is a member of HRC and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). Lisa Howe is also from Dallas, Texas. She played soccer at Barry University and won the Division II National Championship. In her seventeen-year career coaching NCAA women’s soccer, she was named Conference Coach of the Year in the Atlantic Sun Conference three times. In 2011, she received the NCLR Justice Award, and has also been honored at Autumn Honors and received a Making History Women’s Award from Vanderbilt Divinity School. In February 2012, Lisa became the first Executive Director of the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce. In three years, the organization has more than tripled its membership and revenue. She is also serving her fourth year on the