Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (May 8, 2009)

LESBIAN-ISH QUOTE OF THE WEEK NO. 2
"When it comes to marriage, you know, I think that civil rights need to be for all."

— Singer and Mormon icon Marie Osmond in a radio interview in which she discussed her love and support of her lesbian daughter and her own position on gay marriage.

PREPPING FOR THE HOT 100
The AfterEllen.com Hot 100 will be published on Monday, and I thought I'd address in advance a few of the questions and issues that tend to come up every year.

Diversity. The people who most often come to mind when you're voting in polls like the Hot 100 are the people you see on TV and at the movies, because these mediums make them larger than life, persistently visible, and memorable. Since TV and movies are still dominated by white, straight women (and men, but that's not relevant here), so is our list, and similar lists in magazines like People and Maxim.

The number of women of color and out gay/bi women on the Hot 100 this year is about the same as last year (20% to 25%). Yes, it should be higher — especially for women of color — but please remember that this list was chosen by readers, not staff, and it's a direct reflection of the fact that we live in a world dominated by images of white, straight women (and men). That's one of the reasons we added the Top 10 Hottest Women of Color, Out Women, and Women over 40 lists this year (and why this site exists) — to draw attention to those who don't tend to get enough mainstream media coverage.

In other words: the lack of diversity sucks, but we're doing what we can to try to make things a little better.

Recognizability and Predictability. We have a global readership with wildly divergent tastes, and over 150,000 votes cast this year. This means women who seem no-brainers to you to make the list may not make it, and there may be women on the list you don't recognize (we've tried to introduce you to some of them in our Hot 100 Preview posts).

Also keep in mind that 95% of those who voted did not post their nominees on the site for all to see, so you shouldn't use the names listed in the comments as strong indicators of whether (or where) someone will end up on the final list.

Videos. We're more short-staffed this year than last, so we're not doing any Hot 100 videos this year, unfortunately. But look for a discussion of the winners in next Tuesday's episode of Gal Pals!

Photos. It's actually very difficult to find good photos of 100+ women that meet our requirements, which are: Photos should be as recent as possible (i.e. within the last year); preferably from photoshoots or a red carpet; sexy but not in a porn-magazine-pose way; and — for actresses — pictures of themselves as themselves, not in character. The photos also need to be least 450 pixels wide.

That rules out a lot of photos, and we have a very limited selection to choose from for many of the women on the list, especially those actresses who haven't done many photoshoots (e.g. Gabrielle Christian). So occasionally we had to make exceptions to our own rules and choose older photos, or less sexier ones, etc. Please keep all this in mind if, for example, you don't think Rose Rollins looks butch enough in her photo (that's not how she presents herself in real life), or Meryl Streep looks sexy enough in her photo (she hasn't done a photoshoot in awhile).

Also, if anyone has a good, sexy, recent photo of Home and Away star Esther Anderson that is over 450 pixels wide, please send it to me at afterellentips@gmail.com! (That woman wins the award for Hardest Woman to Find a Decent Large Photo Of!) Friday Update: I've now been deluged with good photos of Esther, so you can stop sending them. Thanks everyone for the help!

Now that we have all the rules, reminders, and explanations out of the way, I'll give you a some good news to chew on over the weekend: five of this year's top 10 women are openly gay or bisexual, and only one of these women was in the top 10 last year.

Leave your guesses in the comments!

— by Sarah Warn

The New Adventures of Old Christine, starring out comedian Wanda Sykes and Julia-Louis Dreyfus, has been renewed by ABC for a fifth season.

The movie Soeur Sourire — a biopic about Jeannine Decker, a bisexual Belgian nun who gained international fame with her hit song "Dominique" — was released this week in France and Belgium. (Thanks to Sofie for the tip!)

Writer/director Cheryl Dunye is holding a fundraiser and screening of Watermelon Woman in Los Angeles on May 11, with proceeds going towards the restoration of the film and getting it added to the Outfest Legacy Collection at UCLA.

The CBC in Canada aired the documentary Bisexual Virgins: Crossing the Line on CBC Newsworld this week.

Heather Matarazzo lends her name to the Levi's campaign for gay and lesbian teens.

There are two new Brazilian shows with lesbian characters: the police drama Força Tarefa, whose only female cop is gay, and the comedy Deisy Coturno, which features a butch lesbian in a recurring role. (Thanks to Luciana for the tip!)

The Israeli soap Hasufim, about the behind-the-scenes happenings at a news station, features several gay and bisexual characters.

Writer/director Shamim Sarif's The World Unseen and I Can't Think Straight were both released on DVD this week in PAL Region Zero format. The NTSC DVDs are available for pre-order for the South American and Japanese markets on May 11. Both versions can be purchased here. Still no official release date yet for North America.

The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center is having a contest for short videos about marriage equality (thanks Ali!)

Out Wimbledon champ Martina Navratilova is the subject of a documentary on the Tennis Channel.

Sweden and the state of Maine now allow same-sex marriage!

That's it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at afterellentips@gmail.com. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.