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Christine Woods talks about her newly outed lesbian role on “FlashForward”

I didn’t think it was possible for a lesbian character to look so good in a power suit since Bette Porter, but Christine Woods has proven me wrong. This week, Woods spoke to The Advocate about her (awesome) initiation into primetime, major network lesbianhood as Janis Hawk, the federal agent star of ABC’s new drama FlashForward.

Woods is more than enthusiastic to be playing a lesbian for the first time in her career and pushing the limits of her acting experience. She describes Janis as a “tough broad” who “holds her own” in her predominantly male FBI squad based in LA.

About playing gay for the first time, Woods gushes, “I love it,” and applauds ABC for having “some really great gay characters on a lot of their shows.”

Hmmm, I don’t know if they deserve that much applause – a certain platonic Calzona relationship and firing Dr. Erica Hahn in the middle of her sexual breakthrough come to mind – but nonetheless, she’s right when she appreciates the fact that her coming out on a date with Maya wasn’t a “big to-do; it was just part of her life and it was normal for her.”

As for the message that her (in the future) pregnant lesbian character sends to the red states in America, Woods says, “I think that it might piss them off, which is good.” She goes on to say that it’s not just a “gay issue” but a “woman issue as well as a human issue.” Woods, a “huge advocate of gay rights,” stresses the importance of normalizing and humanizing queer relationships, which is awesome.

Though Janis Hawk’s character just broke up with Maya (Navi Rawat) – who became her girlfriend after one date/hookup (typical) – or “Mosaicing” her (a social networking site even more intense than Facebook: you can see other people’s “flash forwards” to stalk them to the fullest creepy potential in the future and beyond), Woods says she doesn’t think “it’s the last we’re going to see of Maya.”

Score! I love Navi Rawat. Hot, hot, hot (even hotter now that she’s not getting knocked up by Ryan Atwood on The O.C.)

It’s awesome to see Janis Hawk and FlashForward portraying lesbianism and queer issues in such a positive, normal light. (Lesbian relationships, normal? Nah.) Christine Woods seems like a down-to-earth gem of a person, and I’m pretty sure she just got herself about a million-and-a-half more viewers.

I know I’ll be tuning in; are you sold?

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