She was honored by POWER UP in 2005 as one the Ten Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz of the year.

Sponsor Message.

Lynch's versatility as a character actress has earned her guest roles on a wide variety of television shows, from comedies including Frasier, Arrested Development, and Desperate Housewives, to dramatic series such as The X Files, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Boston Legal. She also co-starred in the improvised comedy Lovespring International (2006) on the Lifetime channel.

Lynch is proud to have had a recurring role on The L Word, which she admires because "the lesbianism is a given. Sexuality is a given, and then we just tell stories about people."

Lynch describes her L Word lawyer character as an "old-school butch" type and has enjoyed portraying her. But she adds, "I want to be an actor more than I want to be a 'gay actor.'" She counts herself lucky not to be pigeonholed. "I don't just play gay people," she remarks, but she has never hesitated to do so.

Lynch's cinematic credits include Adam McKay's Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and Lorene Machado's Bam Bam and Celeste (2005), a vehicle for Margaret Cho, who wrote the screenplay. Lynch called her character in the latter "a backwoods mountain-type woman who falls for Margaret, who, though not gay [in the film], falls for me because I treat her like a real lady."

Lynch rejoined Guest's improvisational troupe to make A Mighty Wind (2003), another mockumentary, this time centering on veterans of 1960s folk-music groups coming together for a tribute concert in honor of a deceased promoter. Lynch did her own singing as Laurie Bohner, the lead female vocalist of the wholesome New Main Street Singers, who, it emerged, had a second career as a porn star.

Lynch's latest film to be released is another directed by Guest, For Your Consideration, which previewed at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2006. The movie takes aim at the Academy Awards and their attendant hype. It follow the fortunes of the cast of a second-rate film who dream of glory when rumors begin swirling on the Internet that the has-been performer playing the matriarch may be in line for an award. Lynch appears as the host of a television entertainment show contributing to the Oscar buzz.

Lynch's professional talents have been much in demand of late. She has six other films in production or post-production, including Alan Cumming's Suffering Man's Charity and Gregg Araki's Smiley Face, both tentatively scheduled for release in late 2006, and Steve Blair's I Do & I Don't, expected in 2007.

In a 2004 interview Lynch lamented the lack of visibility of lesbian characters on film and network television but struck a hopeful note, saying, "Our history tells us we ultimately weave everyone into the fabric of society, . . . so I think it's just a matter of time."

Lynch has expressed an interest in directing, so it may be that she will make even more contributions to the positive change she envisions.

American television has made significant strides in its portrayal of homosexuals in dramatic series and movies, but cable networks have been more daring than the "big three" broadcast networks.

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

Treatments of gay relationships on network soap operas have always been limited; recently, however, gays and lesbians have created their own soap operas to tell the convoluted stories of lesbian and gay entanglements.

Since cinema began, Hollywood has been fascinated with finding ways of representing homosexuality.

Lesbian actresses have played a significant role in Hollywood, but their contributions have rarely been recognized or spoken of openly; the "lavender marriage" is by no means a relic of the past.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual actors and actresses are among the elite of contemporary theater, but only recently have many come out publicly.

The poster boy of radical and militant queer cinema, Gregg Araki disdains the ghettoizing label of "gay filmmaker."

Korean-American bisexual actress turned stand-up comedian Margaret Cho has become one of the most prominent Asian Americans in show business and in glbtq culture.

Versatile actor Alan Cumming has performed a wide variety of roles on stage, screen, and television, earning numerous awards for his acting and also for his support of glbtq causes.

A product of Hollywood's star system, Rock Hudson became an international symbol of heterosexuality, wearing a mask until it was savagely ripped off when he was diagnosed with AIDS.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were known as the first family of the American theater, but theirs was a lavender marriage and their presentation of themselves as the ideal married couple may have been their greatest performance.