WOMEN COMING OUT
WHO WE ARE:
We are a private, members only social networking community website for women who are coming out as gay, bi or questioning their orientation. We are here for women from all over the world: all races, ages, and from all walks of life.
We have been running support and networking groups for women in the LGBTQ+ community since 2002. For many years we were using the Yahoo Groups platform, but we found that the free Yahoo platform was not secure enough for privacy, and we had men joining under female names all the time. That led to some dangerous situations for our members. Yahoo also closed all of their groups in December of 2020, so we decided to host our own social networking software. Our hosting is set up on a private, dedicated secure server. To protect our members from men joining, and to help us pay for the dedicated private server, which is quite expensive, we have initiated a reasonable fee for members of our social community website.
Many people have asked me why I began writing and eventually opened Amazing Dreams Publishing. My answer usually starts out with the fact that I had studied art and writing my whole life, but everyone kept telling me that I would never make any money at these occupations, so I settled for a degree in Mechanical Engineering/Technical Illustration. The technical illustration training took care of my need to create art and write instructional manuals, but I found so much prejudice from men in the engineering field that I became a graphic/website designer instead. I've always written stories and created artwork since I was a little kid. I won several awards for writing in school and I showed artwork throughout Florida, so writing and art are the things I love the most--that and working with animals, especially horses.
I started writing novels in the early 1990s, and I found that a lot of my books centered around the hard issues that most other writers won't touch, like women becoming successful after experiencing devastating circumstances such as child abuse. I realized I was gay at an early age and I also grew up in an abusive household, so I had a lot of experience about these things, and I wrote about what I knew. Sadly, at that time these kinds of stories were not acceptable by mainstream NYC publishers, and my manuscripts were rejected over and over again.
I began searching for lesbian publishers and came upon Wildcat Press. It turned out that Patricia Nell Warren owned Wildcat Press, and Patricia's novel "The Beauty Queen" was the first gay-themed book I'd ever read when I was 15 years old. I contacted Patricia about reviewing one of my novels, but she was not accepting outside manuscripts at that time. She did read some of my work, and suggested that I write some nonfiction books that would help other women to know that you can be a success even though you may have gone through hard times in your past. This is why my first nonfiction book, How To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide was written. Patricia also encouraged me to take back the control of my work and open my own company, and on October 15, 2001 AmazingDreamsPublishing.com was born.
A couple of years after we opened Amazing Dreams Publishing, our company took off in an unexpected way when a woman emailed me about our Coming Out Guide. She said she was married and coming out in a small town in the Midwest, and even though she loved the Coming Out Guide, she wanted to know more about how she could come out of her marriage.
Kathy and I didn’t have a chapter specifically for married women in our first book, so when this woman emailed me, we decided to open an online support group for all women who are coming to terms with their sexuality, whether they are gay, bi or questioning. On November 5, 2003, the Support For Lesbians Coming Out (SFLCO) Yahoo group was born. Later Google blacklisted the words Lesbian and Bisexual, so we changed our support group to Support For Women Coming Out (SFWCO).
Through the years, our SFWCO group helped over 5,000 women with their coming out process from all over the world, including countries where being a LGBTQ+ can get you 10 years in prison or even executed! We had many women email us that our group has actually saved their lives. I never thought the publishing company would evolve in this way, but I do believe that our support groups are some of the most important things I have done in my life to date.
Kathy and I have also written, illustrated and published 5 non-fiction books: How To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide, Coming Out Advice for Gay and Bisexual Women, Relationship Advice for Gay and Bisexual Women, Lesbian Sex Tips: A Guide for Anyone Who Wants To Bring Pleasure to the Woman She (Or He) Loves, and The Lesbian Big O: Over 100 Sensual Illustrations. Our Lesbian Sex Tips Guide was picked up by Selector in Mexico and translated into Sex Tips Para Lesbianas which is available from our website in an Ebook format.We have recently completed a total update of our books and they are now included in our The Gay and Bi Women's Survival Guide Series. This series includes the following books that are available in both print and PDF Ebooks:The Coming Out Guide for Gay & Bi Women, Coming Out Advice for Gay & Bi Women, Relationship Advice for Gay & Bi Women and Sensual Advice for Gay & Bi Women.
We have been Featured Writers and Advice Columnists for LesbianNation magazine, Lesbians On the Loose" (LOTL) Magazine in Australia, Shewired.com, Lesbianation.com, Gaywired.com, 247gay.com, Latinoglo.com, Queerfuture.com, Countrygayweb.com, Gaymonkey.com and Grayandgay.com. We've also been interviewed by companies like Match.com and have worked with producers from the Showtime network. I also have several lesbian novels on the back-burner.
We want our Women Coming Out website to be your home-away-from-home, a safe space for women who want something more and better in their lives. Here, we respect and honor our members, and in an atmosphere of genuine love we care and support each other through the process of learning who we really are; whatever that may be.
We are open 24/7 and our members can set up their own page with a banner and profile photo, upload photos, set up blogs, and use our text chat rooms so that our members can communicate with each other. We are also working on live streaming chat software. We also have one-on-one private support sessions with Kathy or Tracey for anyone who needs extra support in their lives.
At Women Coming Out there are several levels of membership: Silver, Gold, Platinum and Big Sisters:
SILVER SISTER MEMBERSHIP:
Our Silver Sisters Membership is for women who need support, but do not need access to our coming out books or one-on-one private support help from our authors. Membership includes your own customizable page on womencomingout.com, and you will be able to upload photos and videos, read and write blogs and use our online text chat. Membership Page Link
GOLD SISTER MEMBERSHIP:
Our Gold Sisters Membership includes your own customizable page on womencomingout.com. You can also upload photos and videos, read and write blogs, use our online text chat, and join our regional and specialty groups. You will be sent links to two of our PDF Ebooks: The Coming Out Guide for Gay & Bi Women and Coming Out Advice for Gay & Bi Women. Membership Page Link
PLATINUM SISTER MEMBERSHIP:
Platinum Sisters Membership includes full access to our website and and all of The Gay and Bi Women's Survival Guide Series. This series is packed with information and includes the following PDF Ebook titles: The Coming Out Guide for Gay & Bi Women, Coming Out Advice for Gay & Bi Women, Relationship Advice for Gay & Bi Women and Sensual Advice for Gay & Bi Women. Platinum membership also includes your own customizable page on womencomingout.com, and you will be able to upload photos and videos, read and write blogs, use our online text chat rooms, and join our regional and specialty groups. This membership also includes bi-monthly hour long support sessions with one of the authors of our books. Membership Page Link
BIG SISTERS LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP:
The Big Sisters Lifetime Membership is reserved for anyone who has been with us in our Support For Women Coming Out group for 5 years or longer. Big Sisters have access to all or our website features, and they are encouraged to support new members who are coming out. Many Big Sisters have been married, have kids, have religious or homophobic families. They have experienced A LOT, and many have invaluable support because they know the ins and outs of coming out, and how hard it can be. Membership Page Link
Our goal at Women Coming Out is to create a warm, loving and supportive sister-hood. Here you can make lifelong friends with women across town, across your state, across the country and across the oceans! In a world that is increasingly full of alienation and uncaring strangers, you will find friends and family here in your community at Women Coming Out!
Please contact Tracey Stevens with any questions and concerns you may have by using our Contact Form. All inquiries are handled promptly, but please allow up to one business day for a reply.
In closing, we welcome you to our new Women Coming Out community website, which is truly unique and one of a kind!
Best Wishes,
Tracey Stevens and Kathy Wunder
Big Sisters
WOMEN COMING OUT
www.womencomingout.com
Amazing Dreams Publishing
www.amazingdreamspublishing.com
Women Coming Out is a private,
secure online community for women only.