OCTOBER IS COMING OUT MONTH
Lots of coming-out news. First, basketball star Sheryl Swoopes--often referred to as the Michael Jordan of the WBNA, and one of the only women to have had a Nike shoe name named after her--went public with her seven-year relationship with former assistant coach Alisa Scott (there's a photo of the two of them in the article). So far, the reaction to Swoopes's revelation has been mostly positive, aside from the WNBA president's ridiculous use of the phrase "lifestyle choice" in her supposedly-supportive statement.

Then yesterday, George Takei--aka Star Trek's Mr. Sulu--came out about his 18-year relationship with his partner Brad, which brings the list of openly gay Asian American actors to, well, three.

And earlier this month, Michelle Rodriguez finally re-appeared on Lost.

BUFFY MOVIE SANS BUFFY--AND WILLOW?
There are "serious discussions" going on about making straight-to-DVD Buffy the Vampire Slayer movies, according to former Buffy exec producer Marti Noxon. But the movies would center on "minor" characters, like Spike or Angel, since Sarah Michelle Gellar is extremely unlikely to reprise the title role. And Noxon also believes it would be very difficult to convince Alyson Hannigan to participate, since she's currently doing another TV series (How I Met Your Mother) and several films.

A Buffy movie without Willow?? Bummer. Does that mean no Vamp Willow, either? Can we at least have her leather outfit make an appearance?

THUS SPOKE SARAH SCHULMAN
The New York Times published an extensive article on controversial lesbian theater pioneer Sarah Schulman this week. Schulman, who has written several award-winning books and plays, has achieved critical but not commercial success, which she attributes largely to the fact that she's a lesbian who writes openly about lesbians in an industry largely run by men. In theater today, "works that reinforce dominant fantasies about oppressed people are inflated beyond their merit", Schulman contends, whereas works like hers that address oppression from a "more authentic perspective" are ruthlessly marginalized.

Translation: Men have all the power. Lesbians? Not so much.

SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
There is rampant speculation by Alias (ABC) fans that Rachel Nichols's new blonde computer-hacker-turned-spy-girl-in-training character Rachel Gibson is a lesbian. What's it based on? A few pointed comments early on about a cute guy not being Rachel's "type", and a lot of chemistry between Rachel and Sydney (Jennifer Garner). So far, there's been no spoiler confirmation of this plot twist, which means it's probably not true--but it might be, and if lesbians are good at anything, it's clinging to the smallest shred of hope that someone is gay (if only that were a marketable skill...).

But even if Rachel turns out to be gay, don't get your hopes up about a Sydney-Rachel relationship. Sure, viewers can believe in Rimbaldi prophecies, dead mothers and exes who aren't really dead, and beautiful women who fight bad guys in impossibly sexy outfits and save the world from killer viruses by a well-timed phone call.

But Sydney suddenly bisexual or gay? Now that would be pushing it.