Best.
Lesbian. Week. Ever.
by Sarah
Warn,
AfterEllen.com Editor
The
lesbian pop culture column
Friday, November 10, 2006
THIS
SHOULD QUELL THOSE LESBIAN RUMORS
Singer Alicia Keys makes her feature film debut in the upcoming
movie Smoking Aces, as an assassin who gets romantically
involved with another woman, played by Taraji P. Henson.
A
new MTV article
describes her performance in the film as "as soulful
as any song she's ever sung — but spiced up with an
undercover hooker outfit, lesbian love affair (with Henson's
character) and one very, very enormous gun." There's
a bunch of other people in the film, like Ben Affleck, Jason
Bateman, and Jeremy Piven, but after that description, does
it matter? The film will be released January 26th; check
out the official
website, or watch the trailer on YouTube.
COME
OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE. OR ELSE.
Blogger Perez Hilton is getting both glorified and vilified
in the media for his part in outing Lance Bass, T.R. Knight,
and Neil Patrick Harris - and his declaration that he's
just getting started. In a post titled "Anderson
Cooper and Jodie Foster are Next!", Perez touts
his role in outing Harris and writes, "We are throwing
down the gauntlet and issue a challenge to all the closeted
celebrities out there: Come out. Come out NOW! Come out
in droves!! Can you imagine the good it will do??? Society
will no longer be able to marginalize us!! Please, stand
up! Do your part! We are talking to you Anderson Cooper,
Jodie Foster, Kevin Spacey, Clay Aiken, Queen Latifah, Ricky
Martin, Matt Dallas, Wentworth Miller, Richard Simmons,
Sean Hayes and the rest of you!" But tell us how you
really feel, Perez.
This
is a tricky issue. I want more high-profile women to come
out as much as the next lesbian does, but it seems like
something they should want to do, not something
they're forced into. It's like your mom making your sister
apologize to you after she took all the Gobstoppers in your
grandmother's dresser drawer and blamed it on you - the
words somehow lack the desired note of sincerity. As the
great troubadours Cheap Trick put it, "I want you to
want me."
But
these moral nuances don't seem to keep the tabloids up at
night. They are currently buzzing with the story
that singer Katie Melua (pictured, right) is currently making
"no great effort to hide her feelings" for a 25-year-old
photographer Lara Bloom, because, "Katie's very upfront
and frank about herself and is completely comfortable about
[her relationship with Lara]." But if she's so comfortable
and frank about it, why are they quoting anonymous sources
instead of Katie herself?
I
find it much less morally ambiguous to out folks who are
actively working against gay rights, like Republican leader
Ken Melman, who Bill
Mahar outed this week on Larry King Live, and
Ted Haggard, the married president of the National Association
of Evangelicals. Evangelical Church last week, who was outed
by a gay hustler last week. In fact, I wish I knew some
anti-gay Republicans to out - but the one Republican I know
is straight and so gay-friendly she proofreads these columns
every week (hi mom!).
But
should we be outing the Jodie Foster's and Queen Latifah's
of the world, assuming they're not actively working against
us? Or is staying in the closet itself a form of working
against us? Give us your opinion in this quick poll:
But to be clear: if I find out Sanaa Lathan or Lauren Graham
is gay, all bets are off. I'm just sayin'.
LESBIAN
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"It was funny, that part came in the middle of a trilogy
of lesbian roles for me. I had just played a closeted lesbian
suburban wife in an indie movie, and then I played a lesbian
detective on Karen Sisco. Do I give off a girl-on-girl
vibe, I wonder? Or is it because I'm tall? I guess the chicks
just dig me!"
-
Grey's Anatomy star Kate Walsh in the November
issue of Women's
Health
magazine, on playing Sandra Oh's girlfriend in 2003's
Under
the Tuscan Sun
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