Tegan and Sara Quin are young and out rockers from Alberta, Canada. They’re twins of identical features and, yes, identical sexuality. Twin lesbian sisters? Now that doesn’t happen everyday.

They grew up in a family that Sara says taught them to be “open-minded, strong, and empowered.” The open-mindedness, Tegan says, made it a lot easier for the lesbian sisters to come out. Their realizations, however, did not happen at the same time. Sara came out first, then Tegan. “Our mom said, `Couldn’t you both have come out at the same time?’” Tegan recalls, “She handled it with a lot of humor. She’s always been supportive.” Cool mom, eh?

In 1998, they made an early breakthrough by winning Garage Warz, a local music competition in Calgary. Since then, the two have toured extensively with many artists, including The Pretenders, Ben Folds, Cake, and Bryan Adams. They have also had the honor to perform at Sarah McLachlan’s all-women rockfest, the Lilith Fair.

If you’re a dedicated L-Word fan, you’ve probably seen them perform as themselves in The Planet in the episode “The Last Dance” in 2006, where they played the song “Love Type Thing”. Some of Tegan and Sara’s songs have also appeared on soundtracks, including those for the films Monster-in-Law and Sweet November, and television shows Grey’s Anatomy, The L Word Season 3, and my favorite, Veronica Mars Season 2.

The twins strive to be a positive influence in people’s lives. “You can’t walk through life feeling negative,” Tegan says, regarding the positive tone of the songs. She affirms that songs by Kid Rock and Eminem can be harmful to youthful listeners, but she says the same of Britney Spears’ music. “I don’t think there’s anything as dark as `My loneliness is killing me,’” referring to the song Baby, One More Time. “You’ve got these songs where the girls are so desperate for these guys, they’re ready to kill themselves! Then they put a pop beat behind it and everything’s A-OK? I disagree.”

Good to see more sensible people around. Their latest album, The Con, was released earlier this year. For gig schedules, audio samples, and other news, check out their MySpace site.