It was a rough year.

As we look back at 2009, it seems to be the year death came calling. Celebrities young and old passed away, each dimming the lights of Hollywood and Broadway just a bit with their passing. It seems fitting to pause for just a moment before we go off to celebrate the end of 2009, and remember those we lost.

She will always be golden.

Bea Arthur

Some remember Bea from her Broadway roles, and others for being a perfect foil to Archie Bunker. But ask any gay man about Bea, and you’ll see a mist form in their eyes as they recall her as one of the surrogate grandmothers living in a house together in Florida, forever golden.

No one quite understands the connection so many of us feel to the Golden Girls, and why it’s still so strong many years later, but let's just there’s a warmth and a safety to that slice of cheesecake that we appreciate. And Bea as Dorothy was the one who would tell it like it was, even if you didn’t want to hear it. Her loss in April, so soon after losing Estelle Getty in 2008, stung.

A friend to the GLBT community throughout her long life, she managed to be so even in death with a $300k gift to The Ali Forney Center for homeless GLBT youth in New York City in her will.

Thank you for being a friend, Bea.