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Vital Stats
Allison is a counselor at a school for the mentally gifted.
She's the middle sister between Lillian and Leah.
Typical of most middle children, Allison is pretty grounded and often acts as an intermediary between the other two women.
Lil has problems with her mother, Leah with her father and Allison with neither, but she always finds herself in the middle of their disagreements .
Allison is a rescuer and a problem solver by habit.
Part of her investment in her relationship with Shante is the fact that Shante needed to be rescued at the time when the two of them reconnected.
As the dust settles with the divorce and custody fight, Allison will have to decide if she really wants to be with Shante or if it was all about her superhero complex.
Things are further complicated by the fact that Shante is still carrying a torch for her ex, but her practical nature will not allow her to acknowledge that.
Vital Stats
Jacqueline is a tenured professor of Francophone literature at a small, private liberal arts college.
Jacqui's family immigrated from Haiti when she was a pre-teen.
Jacqui' s divorced from her high school sweetheart, who is also a faculty member at the college where she teaches. They have no children
At 40, Jacqui finally came out to herself and a few members of her family as a lesbian. This revelation is what precipitated the divorce.
Another impetus for the announcement was Jacqui's relationship with a former student, Sita, who is a grad student at a nearby big university at the time.
Although Sita and Jacqui were not romantically linked when Sita was a student at the College, their current involvement would be detrimental to Jacqui's reputation.
Sita is pushing Jacqui to come out of the closet about their relationship, at least a bit, and to indicate the seriousness of what they have by moving in together.
Vital Stats
Jisela is a struggling artist, a sculptor, currently teaching fine arts in local high schools.
Jisela and her partner of eight years, Lillian, are expecting their first baby conceived by artificial insemination by an anonymous donor.
Impending motherhood for Jisela is further complicated by the fact that she was adopted as an infant and has never known her birth mother. Although she considers her adoptive family her real family, being pregnant has pushed to the fore questions and uncertainties about who her real parents are that 'Sela thought had long been dispensed with.
Jisela's very Puerto Rican, staunchly Catholic family are up in arms about her decision to become a parent. Jisela's only ally in the family is her mother and best friend, Rosario. Jisela's father refuses even to admit that his daughter is a lesbian.
Up until the announcement of the pregnancy, the family, except for Rosario, had continually tried to set Jisela up on dates with nice Latino men. Her brothers are especially eager to see their little sister married off to a man.
Jisela wants to leave the Philadelphia area before the baby is born in order to escape all of this family turmoil. What is keeping her here is the fact that this is where Lillian's long-standing creative community resides, her writing partners, band members etc... Also, 'Sela is loathe to be anywhere beyond a short drive's distance from her mother.
Unbeknownst to Lillian, 'Sela has been seeing a therapist about the pressures of balancing the many people, antipathies and loyalties in her life.
Vital Stats...
Lillian is a former background singer cum-songwriter-cum solo artist and multi-instrumentalist in the alt-soul/rock milieu.
She's currently on her first small venue, national tour. It's a very rough and unglamorous tour as Lil is signed to a relatively new indie label.
Lil's partner since college, Jisela, is pregnant with their first baby.
Lil is wracked with guilt about pursuing her dream, being away from home for months on end while 'Sela is carrying their baby.
Lil, although a deeply creative and artistic person, has worked hard as an adult to be more practical minded. It took her over two years to make the decision to quit her 9-5 to pursue music on a full-time basis.
Add all of the above angst to the fact that Lillian's very middle-class, Black family filled with inveterate politcos from the DC area are so not down with she and "Sela having a baby. Being gay is one thing, being a gay parent is something altogether different.
Luckily, Lil does have the support of her sisters Allison and Leah.
Lil's conservative City Council mother has a record of anti-gay legislation.
Lil and her mother are right now on the outs as a result of her mother's voting habits in Council.
Shante is an accounts manager at a medium-sized law firm.
Until two years ago, Shante had been happily married to an Army man. They have two children.
Shante and Allison were friends in high school, but had lost touch until their tenth reunion. What started out as a rekindled childhood friendship grew into a full blown romance.
Shante's marriage was troubled before she realized her feelings for Allison, but their nascent relationship was the catalyst for leaving her husband.
Shante is still unsure how to define herself, but is deeply in love with Allison, and the two of them along with Shante's grade school aged son and daughter are all living together.
Sita is a biracial (Afro-Cuban and white) throw-back hippie/flower child from the Bay Area.
Sita came out as a lesbian as a pre-teen and her parents handled it rather well.
Sita’s parents met in a commune in the mid-70’s. Although divorced, the two remain good friends and raised Sita jointly. Growing up, Sita spent half the year in Berkeley with her mom (women’s bookstore owner) and the other half in Greenwich, CT with her Dad (political science professor).
Sita has a good relationship with both parents, but is confounded by their shift from the extreme left to comfortable centrism in their socio-political outlooks.
Sita is a third year grad student in Comparative Literature at UPENN.
Sita is an old soul in a young person’s body.
Sita’s main conflict now is how to get her much older and previously straight girlfriend, Jacqui, to just hang loose and be way, way gay.