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Lez Dish It Out: The AfterEllen Les/Bi News Round-Up

The shortest month of the year has come and gone, and we had lots to celebrate here in the world of bi and lesbian women. Ladies were loving other ladies all over the place, and not just on Valentine’s Day. We celebrated Black History Month with a bisexual anthem from Janelle Monáe, and lots of good news from Lena Waithe. Ellen Page has a new movie! The Charmed remake is officially gay as hell, and the Winter Olympics gave us some serious pride. Lez get started! Gina Rodriguez plays a butch lesbian in Annihilation https://twitter.com/HereIsGina/status/966495465645592576

You might have heard of the trippy, sci-fi rollercoaster that is Annihilation, which hit theaters over the weekend. Maybe you read the book, or maybe you read about the white-washing controversy that hung like a dark cloud over the promotion of the film. What you might not have heard, though, is that it has a lesbian lead. What, you say? YES.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgxMbIAI5A/?hl=en&taken-by=hereisgina

Gina Rodriguez plays Anya Thorensen, a paramedic and recovering addict who volunteers to go into the Shimmer. While the film doesn’t focus on her sexuality, it’s made clear as soon as her character is introduced and she openly flirts with Natalie Portman’s character Lena. She’s a badass butch, and you should probably get your ticket right now to support this representation. Ellen Page’s new film has premiered Ellen Page has both acting and producing credits for the new film The Cured, which premiered on February 20th in Los Angeles. IFC Films released the horror film in both theaters and On Demand on February 23rd. Here are some photos of our fave from the event.

Photo via IFC Films. Credit: Tara Ziemba

 

Photo via IFC Films. Credit: Tara Ziemba Marvel ditched another LGBTQ character As we previously mentioned, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok featured a bisexual character but didn’t acknowledge her bisexuality in the film. She wasn’t straight-washed, she just wasn’t portrayed as being attracted to anything but her booze and right hook. This year’s buzzworthy black-led powerhouse superhero film Black Panther does a number of incredible things, but recognizing one of its character’s sexuality isn’t one of them.

Image via Marvel Comics

Wakanda’s royal bodyguards, Ayo and Aneka, have a romantic relationship in the Marvel Black Panther comics, but this love was nowhere to be found in the film. Early screenings of the movie reportedly featured a scene of Ayo dancing flirtatiously with a guard name Okoye, who would be the equivalent of Aneka, but the scene was cut from the final version of the film. In fact, Okoye is portrayed in the film as being in a heterosexual relationship with the male character W’Kabi, T’Challa’s right-hand man.

Joe Robert Cole co-wrote Black Panther discussed these creative decisions recently with ScreenCrush, and he claims to not even remember the aforementioned scene between Ayo and Okoye. He claims, “We didn’t like, pull out a full thread of some theme.”

Add that to the fact the Roxane Gay, who wrote the comic series World of Wakanda, wasn’t invited to the premiere, and you get some suspicious erasure.

https://twitter.com/rgay/status/958183880950923265 The “Charmed” reboot will have a lesbian lead! Original Charmed One Holly Marie Combs might not be the biggest fan of the new CW reboot of the beloved bewitching series, but we at AfterEllen officially are.

Back at the beginning of the month, we heard the show was on the hunt for someone to cast as the girlfriend of Mel, one of the Charmed sisters. Cue squeals of delight from nostalgic lesbian and bisexual millennials who grew up wishing they could see themselves in one of these powerhouse, witchy women.

Now the show has officially cast Mel herself! The time-freezing witch will be played by actress Melonie Diaz, who is known for her role alongside Michael B. Jordan in “Fruitvale Station”.

Diaz excitedly shared The CW’s official announcement on her Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfcn7kXjJDe/?hl=en&taken-by=meloniediaz Lena Waithe continues on her road toward lesbian world domination in 2018 If you thought 2017 was the year of Lena Waithe, wait until you see what she has in store for 2018. The girl is just getting started.

Just yesterday she inked a deal with Unseen Pictures to bring forward underserved and underrepresented emerging voices. Lena said of the deal,

I’m so excited to be partnering with such a forward-thinking production company like Sight Unseen. My mission is to help introduce the industry to new and exciting voices, while putting money in those writers pockets.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bft_6mHBsy7/?hl=en&taken-by=lenawaithe

An autobiographical comedy series called The Twenties was also recently given the green light by TBS. Lena created and wrote the series almost ten years ago, which features Hattie, a queer black girl who navigates life with her two straight best friends. We can’t wait to watch this one.

Last, but not nearly least, in other Lena news, we’ve finally been graced with a glimpse of her character Aech, a lesbian gamer who gives the protagonist of Reader Player One a run for his straight boy money in the blockbuster cyber-reality Spielberg film out March 29th.

Watch the trailer here:

Lena Waithe in Ready Player One Janelle Monáe released the ultimate bisexual music video Unless you’ve been living under a rock since about 2015, you know that singer, actress and Prince protégé Janelle Monáe and actress Tessa Thompson are besties who are rumored to be quite a bit more. Thompson has exploded on to our screens recently with major roles in both Thor: Ragnarok, where she played the bisexual (although Marvel never stated so in the film) Valkyrie, and in Annihilation (see above). Although neither Monáe nor Thompson have ever come out and acknowledged a romantic relationship, they’ve never flatly denied it either.

The two stepped out onto the red carpet together for Annihilation, and most recently in Monáe’s newest music video for “Make Me Feel”, a track off her upcoming album Dirty Computer. Before this video was even realized, the lyrics of the new song were being lauded as a bisexual anthem, and now, well, just watch it. Behold the bisexual lighting, the dancing banter, and that. Lollipop. If you need me, I’ll be over here drooling over these two and the possibility of their forever love.

Also, we can’t leave this story without showing you the photo shoot Monáe recently did for W Magazine with Jordan Peele as a reinvented Hitchcockian heroine. My sexuality is now Janelle Monáe in menswear.

https://twitter.com/wmag/status/965942746346385408 Emma González is an activist in every send of the word The students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida have stepped out and stepped up in the aftermath of the gun massacre they survived. This group of teens has made more strides toward gun control than any adults have in decades. One powerful voice that has risen from the horror of this is Emma González, who is openly bisexual and the President of her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance organization.

González has been passionately calling B.S. to all of the supporters of the ownership of assault rifles along with the NRA and the politicians who refused to make changes to the law in order to make these weapons harder to obtain.

The Washington Post recently did a profile on the teenager, who is known for her signature style and hand-sewn clothing, and is open about her decisions to rock that buzzed haircut. On the day of the shooting, she was seen passing out “professions of love” for Valentines Day, which were designed to look like marriage certificates.

Image via Twitter Everything Sucks! features an incredible coming out story. Netflix has gone all in on ’90s nostalgia with its newest comedy Everything Sucks!, a coming of age series that brings back all of the best feels we got from Freaks and Geeks back in the day, and then some. The series gets “straight” to the point and kicks off its lesbian storyline right in the premiere as Kate swipes a female nudie magazine to masturbate to.

In an interview with TV Guide, Peyton Kennedy, who plays the teen lesbian, spoke out about the storyline and its coming out arc:

I think her coming-out story is a beautiful story, and it was a beautiful story that I was able to tell. And I think that [way] because so many people are able to relate to it and it’s still something that’s going on now. And there’s still more acceptance that we can accomplish, it was really important for me to be able to tell that story.
The show takes its time exploring Kate’s journey of self-discovery, which culminates in a rewarding kiss in the season finale that’s totally adorable and worth the wait. We’ve seen a plethora of powerful coming out stories recently that feature grown women, but rarely do we see such a poignant representation of a teenager trying to figure out growing up and coming out at the same time. Everything Sucks! season one is now available for streaming on Netflix. You can watch the trailer here, and stay tuned for a full AfterEllen review!

https://youtu.be/hf_YjzEvYeQ Here are a few highlights of what the bisexual and lesbian Olympic athletes achieved in Pyeong Chang in 2018 Ireen Wüst from the Netherlands wins her 11th Winter Olympics medal, making her the most decorated speed skater of all time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfI9tpngtKF/

Australian cross country skiier Barbara Jezer?ek finished 33rd in the 10 meters free and 39th in the 7.5 meters + 7.5 meters skiathon. The Aussie cross country team achieved their best ever Team Spring result this year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfdWCPGhUqB/?hl=en&taken-by=barbarajezersek

Belle Brockhoff, the Australian snowboarder, finished the snowboard cross in 11th place. She reinjured the ACL she had previously torn during the trials, and recovered just in time to compete.

Austrian ski jumper Daniela Iraschko-Stolz finished up in 6th place for the normal hill. She had won gold in the World Cup in Slovenia earlier this year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Be-olTShVyH/?hl=en&taken-by=danieiraschkostolz

Cheryl Maas, a snowboarder from the Netherlands, finished 23rd in the slopestyle and 20th in the big air.

Brittany Bowe won bronze medal along with the rest of her U.S. teammates in team pursuit. Individually, she finished 4th in the 1,000 meters, 5th in the 1,500 meters and 5th in the 500 meters. Bowe has also been selected as a finalist for Female Olympic Athlete of the Games for the Team USA Awards.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfvn49THnTK/ I will leave you with this adorable Valentine’s Day Instagram post for Portia to her wifey. https://www.instagram.com/p/BfMnylpDSWu/?hl=en&taken-by=portiaderossi

See you next time in Lesboland! Don’t forget to check out some of our Black History Month celebrations before you close out February 🙂 Links below.

‘The Member of the Wedding’ is a Black History Month Must-Watch

Poetic Justice: Reflections on Black Feminist Lesbian Mother Poet Audre Lorde

32 Black Lesbian and Bisexual Characters We Love

8 Black Female Artists to Applause During #BlackHistoryMonth

Honoring Black Lesbian And Bi Women In History

Coming Out as a Black, Gay Woman

A Conversation with Black Lesbian Poet JP Howard

The Power of Sistahood: Black Lesbian Representation in Sista!

Thunder and Black Lightning: Black Lesbian Representation is Here!

Revisiting the Words of Audre Lorde in A Burst of Light and Other Essays

Black History Month Spotlight: Audre Lorde and Sapphire

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

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