Morning Brew – Wednesday, July 6: Portia de Rossi thinks being a vegan is harder than being gay, Otep shows off her ink

Morning all!

Portia de Rossi is on the cover of VegNews this month, and inside, she discusses being a vegan, cooking for Ellen, and how she thinks being a vegan is harder than being a lesbian.

Listen, I think it’s more difficult to be vegan than gay. I think people have a harder time accepting it; people feel more uncomfortable with a vegan at their dinner table than they do a lesbian. It’s confronting. It’s kind of suggesting that what someone else is doing is bad or wrong, and it hits them on a more personal level. … If somebody is setting there eating a steak watching you eat polenta, they’re thinking that you’re trying to preach to them or you’re trying to convert them in some way. Whereas with being gay, I don’t think anyone’s concerned that that’s the agenda. “Hey, Mom, you also have to be gay. I’m gay and so should you be!” Certainly when I told her that I was vegan, it forced her to look at her habits.

Portia’s whole family is now vegan. She did not say, but I don’t think any of them has gone lesbian.

Otep is featured in Inked magazine’s spread of hot tattooed rockers. She says of her tats:

I have two favorites: the grenade on my neck and the Kali [the Hindu goddess of eternal energy] on my forearm. Both are powerful symbols for the spiritual wedding of art and emotion. I have many that no longer hold the same meaning for me, like an ex-girlfriend’s name. So I am waiting to find an expert cover artist to help design a swell bit of body art for me that looks intentional, beautiful, and not cluttered.

A girlfriend’s name is often the kiss of death! But I’m sure it still looks pretty awesome.

Jennifer Aniston says the word “faggot” in her new movie, Horrible Bosses. Does it offend you? (FYI, she’s one of the “horrible bosses.”)

President Obama has named retired Army Captain Brenda S. Fulton to the Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy at West Point. She’s a lesbian, so this makes her the first ever out LGBT person in this position. Love this photo of her!

Prepare to hate The Daily Mail even more than you already do. They ran a piece on how Coronation Street is too queer. Seriously.

Wondering what’s going to happen on the first episode of Candy Girls tonight? Here’s a description from Newshopper:

We meet the club’s new owner – for the first time in history, a man – Gary. He’s hired top DJ Sandra as a promotions manager, who’s keen to overturn the place’s reputation of being filled with stand-offish staff and clientele. She’s got her eye on one of the regulars, Danni. The young aspiring model is hired as one of the club’s pole dancers, but her new-found fame at the venue is putting a strain on her relationship with a long-term girlfriend.

Drama. Scandals! Lesbians. And we’ll be recapping it, of course.

Photographer Catherine Opie has a new project called “Empty and Full,” which marks her return to portraiture, as well as some queerness. The Advocate has a great piece on her, in which she discusses her new work which is of “President Obama’s inauguration, Tea Party rallies, a Boy Scouts of America convention, and the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival.” There’s a great shot of MichFest, but it’s a little NSFW. (Duh, boobs!) Opie said of “Empty and Full”:

I thought it was time to represent the incredible diversity and defensiveness of American democracy. These pundits articulate the incredible freedom [we are granted in this nation]. At the same time, they go and protest us.

Very cool. I love me some Catherine Opie! I love to picture people’s faces if I purchased her infamous “Dyke” photo and placed it in my living room.

Check out the teaser trailer for a new movie from Another Country Films called Saint John the Divine in Iowa. It’s about the lesbian daughter of an Episcopal Minister who wants her mom to marry her in the church. Her mom isn’t so psyched on it.

For more on the movie, visit its Facebook page.

Today in Lesbianish TV: *The Ellen DeGeneres Show, *House Hunters International (HGTV 12:30 p.m.), The Talk (CBS 2 p.m.), *Degrassi (TeenNick 2 p.m.), Bump! (Logo 7 p.m.), Exes & Ohs (Logo 7:30 p.m.), The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC 9 p.m.), Men of a Certain Age (TNT 10 p.m.) (Thanks Roni!)

*Denotes a rerun