Editing Alison Bechdel (section)

== Early life ==
Bechdel was born in [[Lock Haven, Pennsylvania]]. She is the daughter of Helen Augusta ([[née]] Fontana)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wetzlerfuneralhome.com/book-of-memories/1585010/Bechdel-Helen/obituary.php|title=Helen Bechdel Obituary – Bellefonte, Pennsylvania|website=Wetzler Funeral Home, Inc.|date=May 14, 2013|access-date=January 13, 2017|archive-date=December 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220103845/http://www.wetzlerfuneralhome.com//book-of-memories/1585010/Bechdel-Helen/obituary.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Bruce Allen Bechdel. Her family was [[Roman Catholic]]. Her father was an army veteran who was stationed in [[West Germany]]. He was also a high school English teacher, working full-time and operating a funeral home part-time. Her mother was an actress and teacher. Both of her parents contributed to her career as a cartoonist.<ref name=Bio97>{{cite book|title=Gay & Lesbian Biography – "Alison Bechdel"|editor1-first=Michael J.|editor1-last=Tyrkus|editor2-first=Michael|editor2-last=Bronski|location=Detroit|publisher=St. James Press|year=1997|isbn=978-1-55862-237-1}} ''Literature Resource Center''. Web. March 8, 2016.</ref> She has two brothers: Bruce "Christian" Bechdel II and John Bechdel, a keyboard player who has worked with many bands including [[Fear Factory]], [[Ministry (band)|Ministry]], [[Prong (band)|Prong]] and [[Killing Joke]]. Bechdel left high school a year early and earned her [[associates degree#united states|A.A.]] in 1979 from [[Bard College at Simon's Rock]]. She graduated with a degree in studio arts and art history in 1981 from [[Oberlin College]].<ref name=Bio97 /> After her father died in 1980, her mother sold the family house in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, the small town where Bechdel grew up, and moved to Bellefonte, a less provincial small town near State College with her long-time partner Robert Fenichel.<ref name=NY>{{cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/04/23/drawn-from-life|title=Drawn from Life|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=April 16, 2012|author=Judith Thurman|access-date=December 3, 2018}}</ref>