October is National Coming Out Month!

Can you believe it? Once again it's time to scare some straight people and burst forth from our closets! To celebrate this lovely In-Your-Face day, we now have teamed up with 10 Percent to bring you a full selection of beautiful Lesbian Pride Jewelry, which includes gorgeous work from California Designer, Rick Alarcon. We also have Lesbian Pride Gear including Rainbow Key Chains, Flags, Journals, Wrist Bands, Lesbian Calendars, and Magnets. For your friends, and More Than Friends, we have a new full line of Lesbian Birthday and Friendship Cards, and Lesbian Love Cards just for you! October is the month of "Flaunt it and Haunt it" so grab yourself some great Pride Items and march to that LGBT drum!

NEW SERVICES AT AMAZING DREAMS PUBLISHING
This month we installed the Google Search Engine on our main website pages. This should help our visitors search our entire website and find exactly what they need quickly. The Google Search is located in the footer of our home page, and will soon be on every page on our website. Thank You Google for this great free service, and for always being supportive of what we do here at Amazing Dreams Publishing! We also have new News from Planet Out on our GLBT News Feed page that even includes a wonderful News Search function.

We've been working hard to bring you new free Ecards from Anne and Ta Neil, and a whole lot of scary Halloween Ecards from Tracey, Craig and Out There Productions. All of our Halloween Ecards should all be online by the third week of October, so make sure to check our website because they are really fun . . .

And speaking of fun, here are the
Top Ten Reasons why Trick or Treating
is sometimes better than making love:

1. You are guaranteed to get at least a little something in the sack.
2. If you get tired, you can wait 10 minutes and go at it again.
3. The uglier you look, the easier it is to get some.
4. You don't have to compliment the person who gives you some.
5. It's O.K. when the person you're with fantasizes you're someone else, because you are.
6. Forty years from now you'll still enjoy candy.
7. If you don't like what you get, you can always go next door.
8. It doesn't matter if the neighbors hear you moaning and groaning.
9. Less guilt the morning after.
10. YOU CAN DO THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD!
    

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

SEPTEMBER WEB STATS
In September we had 89,160 visits and 2,485,625 accesses--another incredible month! Today, our websites are number 1, 2, and 3 out of 642,000 websites on Google when searching for Lesbian Ecard, and when you search for Lesbian Coming Out, we are number 4 and 5 out of 8,340,000!

SUPPORT FOR LESBIANS COMING OUT GROUP
Our Lesbian/Bi Women Online Support Group now has 264 members from all over the world, and just this month we had women join who are living in Ireland and Egypt! Here's a commentary from our moderator, who has recently come out as a lesbian:

National Coming Out Day is held on October 11th every year to commemorate the first March on Washington by LBGT people. The March took place in October of 1987 and highlighted the lesbian/gay struggle for acceptance. The first National Coming Out Day was held on October 11, 1988. The purpose of National Coming Out Day is to promote honesty and openness about being lesbian, gay or bisexual.

It is difficult for many individuals to Come Out, yet if you asked them to be completely honest, I would bet that 99% would give anything to do so. They are afraid of the labels, the stereotypical thinking, rejection, and sadly many fear for their own lives. As I read numerous articles about National Coming Out Day, one word was repeated over and over in each article--honesty. Now there is a tough one for many of us.

Interestingly enough, we have to be honest with ourselves when we first begin to accept our sexuality. For many of us, this realization has happened later in life. Finally we have a better understanding of who we are, and then the urge to act on our new found needs takes over. I was no exception to this.

When I figured it out, I was married with two sons and still living at home. The marriage was dead and had been for many years. I had to test the waters though, so I found a girlfriend and lived a double-life. I could never tell my husband for fear of loosing my two sons. This relationship ended. Not having learned the first time, I did it again. During the time I was in my second relationship, I could hear my therapist and a friend of mine say the very same words to me. "You can not be in two relationships at once. You have to be honest. Even if one or the other knows exactly what is going on, honesty will come into the situation. Call it what you want, but if you are having a relationship outside the bonds of marriage it is an affair."

I left my husband, but my gf was still married. She was living a lie. The same one I had lived. I was willing to go to the ends of the earth with her, but soon things began to change. I was now free to pursue a relationship yet she still had to lie and sneak around. She controlled when we saw each other, where and for how long, because the fact of the matter was she was still in a relationship with her husband. A huge light-bulb went on in my head and I began to understand exactly what my therapist and my friend were both saying.

Coming to terms with our own sexuality, even if it is later in life, is a beautiful thing. It is wonderful to begin to understand the feelings and put a face on who we are. Sadly, there are many obstacles that we will encounter. If we can be honest, then that would be one less thing to worry about.

Nancy
Moderator of Support For Lesbians Coming Out Group

See more quotes from members of our support group.

OUR LESBIAN NETWORKING GROUPS
Our 58 Lesbian Networking Groups are thriving with one in every US state, and several more in English Speaking Countries. These groups now have over 1,350 members, both single women and women in couples, but we still need moderators. Being a moderator means you get to meet lots of women from your local area, a perfect way to make new friends or more. Our Moderators are setting up online chats, lunch get-togethers, and coffee meetings in their areas, so join in the fun, make some new friends, and network in your community.

The following Networking Groups now have moderators: AZ, CANADA, CO, FL, IL, IN, MD, MI, MN, MS, NC, NY, NZ, OH, PA, RI, UK, VA, VT, and W VA. We have 37 more that need good women to make sure that the groups are a safe space with no men joining or lurking. If you are an honest, caring, woman who would like to volunteer some time for your community, please join your state's, or country's, Lesbian Networking Group and then email the List Owner that you would like to volunteer as moderator. The email address for the List Owner is listed under Group Email Addresses at the bottom of the Networking Group's home page.

To help our moderators, we have opened a group just for them. As a member of the Lesbian Networking Moderators group, you can get support and information to help run your group both smoothly and successfully. All the members of this group have been very supportive of each other, and are sharing ideas and information on how to make our groups the best they can be.

As always, sending huge THANKS to everyone who has spread the word about our website and our support and networking groups.

How we fund our free services is by selling our books and products, which are selected especially for lesbian and bisexual women. If you'd like to help us to help other women worldwide, be sure to check out what we are offering from our website below.

NEW ECARDS BY TA NEIL
TA Neil has an online store named Virgounnhibited. She features abstract, graphically designed artwork with themes sure as nature, wildlife, erotic (and whatever else the artist comes up with) on coffee mugs, buttons, bags, T-shirts, caps, calendars, wall switch plates--you name it! Products are high quality useable artwork. Have fun! Be uninhibited! Come one come all--shop at Virgounnhibited!
Visit TA Neil's Ecard Page to send beautiful free Ecards, or her online store to find great products featuring her work.

NEW SERVICE FROM OUR ECARD ARTIST KARIN
Held back by unwanted feelings? Stuck? Uncertain? Here's an effective and creative approach for resolving and healing inner turmoil - and start living a happier life! For gentle yet direct guidance you can feel in your heart and soul - at the exact time you need it - get online, voice guided coaching with Guidance Cards sessions! The Guidance Cards are interactive and engaging. Type in your question and a card session is chosen to immediately guide you to answers and new perspectives for your life. Professional Coach Karin Bauer's soothing voice guides you step by step online, through your computer!

Contact Guidance Coach Karin Bauer at karin@guidancecards.com and visit her website at www.GuidanceCards.com for an insightful online video presentation.

Our affiliates provide quality products for our supporters.
Profits from them and our own books help us to
keep our services free for women worldwide.

PRIDE ITEMS AND LESBIAN GREETING CARDS
We have teamed up with 10 Percent to provide you with a full selection of beautiful Lesbian Pride Jewelry, including some gorgeous work from California Designer, Rick Alarcon. We also have Lesbian Pride Gear including Rainbow Key Chains, Flags, Journals, Wrist Bands, Lesbian Calendars and Magnets. For your friends and More Than Friends, we have a new full line of Lesbian Birthday and Friendship Cards and Lesbian Love Cards just for you!

HUGE SELECTION OF CALENDARS FOR HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING!
We just added a huge selection of over four hundred 2006 calendars to our website! Women in Art and Ethnic Calendars, Beautiful, Sexy Women Calendars, Dog Lover Calendars, Cat Lover Calendars, Horse Lover Calendars, Domestic Animals Calendars, and Wild Animals Calendars. Calendars are the perfect holiday gift. Why fight the traffic at the mall, and waste your time and gas? Buy online and have your gifts sent straight to your door. It is never too early to get your holiday shopping done!

NEW FANTASY WOMEN ART PRINTS
Along with our lesbian-themed posters and magnets, we've now got 100 fantasy women art prints that you can frame yourself, or purchase totally matted and framed and ready as gifts! From sensual to radical, from pride to fun, these posters and magnets make great gifts for friends, lovers, and just about anyone who loves women.
Visit our Lesbian Poster Page for beautiful prints.
Visit our Lesbian Magnet pages for the best in miniature art.
Visit our Fantasy Women Page for beautiful prints of incredible women.

SEND FLOWERS TO SHOW HER YOU CARE.
Our online service for the people you love: flowers sent directly from the growers at half the price of many florists! We researched the best online flower distributor to find one who will provide quality products for our GLBT community. You can set up your own online account and send flowers for all occasions.

SPECIAL FALL PROMOTIONS:
We are offering an online special for 18 Red or Mixed Roses for the price of 12. This offer is valid for online orders placed on or before October 21 at 5pm ET. Remember the Sweetest Day is on Oct 15, 2005 and Boss's Day is on Oct 16, 2005, so order your flowers now!

Once again, we are offering a Halloween Bouquet for the spookiest of seasons, and three new, beautiful, Fall bouquets: Fall Fields, Give Thanks, and Indian Summer, will be available from our store, and our free vase promotion with all fresh cut flowers runs until the end of the year!

Visit the Amazing Dreams Flower Shop and send your favorite woman flowers today!