Brewbies, it’s Friday! We made it!
Brittney Griner is continuing to have the greatest year ever. The recently engaged basketball phenom was named the WNBA’s 2014 Defensive Player of the Year this morning, receiving 31 of 38 votes from the team of sports writers and broadcasters who choose these things. It’s not surprising; check out these stats from the press release.
Griner played in all 34 games for the Mercury and paced the league in blocks per game (3.79). With 129 total blocks, Griner surpassed the previous single-season mark of 114, set by Margo Dydek in 1998. Griner blocked more shots individually this season than eight other WNBA teams combined. She also posted a WNBA single-game record with 11 blocked shots on June 29 at Tulsa, topping the previous mark of 10, set by Dydek and Lisa Leslie.Who runs the world? Griner.
The UK is set to premiere its first transgender sitcom, Boy Meets Girl, the story of a guy named Leo who is down on his luck, but meets a transgender woman named Judy who changes everything for him. BBC found the writing team for the six-episode series through a talent search called “Trans Comedy Award,” something they hosted, in large part, because of Laverne Cox‘s influence! (In the same press release, BBC also announced a new travel series for Sue Perkins!)
But speaking of Laverne Cox, some idiot asshole with a Congressional IP address made transphobic edits to Laverne Cox’s Wikipedia page, which resulted in editing bans from all Congressional IPs for one month. The AV Club says, “The Wikipedia user who made the changes to Cox’s page-who at one point in the talk pages claims to be a Congressional staffer working under the explicit permission of his or her boss-has also made a number of similar edits to other pages this week, complaining that these Wikipedia articles are ‘too-pro-trans.’ ” Unsurprisingly, the Wikipedia user community at large is calling for a permanent ban for this jerk.
The Washington Blade has the story of Brandiilyne Dear and Susan Mangum, one of the lesbian couples from The L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin, who were threatened after they appeared on the Showtime documentary. According to the Blade, a man called from a blocked number shouting obscenities and threatening to rape them. Dear captured the call on YouTube, and although the couple reported the incident, they have been unable to press charges because the man called from a blocked number.
HuffPo has rounded up a collection of anti-LGBT discrimination complaints for various restaurants, as submitted by users of Whisper. Apparently there’s a place in Belfast where you can’t even order a cake with Bert and Ernie on it. Come on, man.
Ever wonder how straight actors prep to play gay? I mean, it seems like acting is an art form and sexual orientation doesn’t really play a part in it. But! Apparently people are curious, so Queerty has compiled a list of get-ready techniques from gay-for-pay actors. About the lesbian rom-com Gray Matters, Heather Graham said:
“I liked that it was about someone kind of learning to accept themselves for who they are and celebrating who they are. I kind of felt like I could relate to that even though I hadn’t gone through the exact same thing but it’s hard to really learn about yourself and to accept all the different parts of yourself. I thought it was a very happy story.”Right, so. Same as a opposite-sex rom-com?
Kristen Chenoweth‘s new PSA for the Human Rights Campaign is just as adorable as you imagine it is. Another PSA worth your time today is a really funny marriage equality spoof from Ireland called “Armagaydon.” It’s not the end of the world, lads, but it is the end of the work week. Have a great weekend!
