Archive

Lez Dish It Out! The AfterEllen Les/Bi News Roundup

It’s the first day of Pride month, but before we dive in, a little May recap.

May is always a bit of a quiet month for us. Whether it’s getting used to the hot temps, or gearing up for Pride, it seems like everyone is in prep mode for summer. Not to fear, we’re here with rainbow capes, a lesbian President, and some Mother’s Day message for you. And get ready, because we’re rolling into Pride Month like…. Kristen Stewart put her foot down at Cannes.

The archaic Cannes Festival rule that a woman cannot wear flat shoes on the red carpet has sparked some serious shade over the last few years, but no one has taken as bold of a stance as Kristen Stewart, during the year she serves as a jury member no less.

At the Monday night premiere of Spike Lee’s film BlacKkKlansman, Stewart made a point of kicking off her spike Christian Louboutin heels and strutting up the red carpet barefoot. Kristen’s badassery never ceases to amaze me, and this is no except. Lena Waithe stood proud at the Met Gala. https://www.instagram.com/p/BigM8ynhLrj/?taken-by=lenawaithe

Regal. That’s the word that jumps to the front of my mind and my heart every time I see a photo of Lena Waithe from this year’s Met Gala. The theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” and Waithe really just went for it, glorious rainbow cape and all.

In response to her choice of attire, Waithe told Vogue Magazine, “Tonight, this cape is not imaginary, it’s rainbow-colored. And we got the black and brown [stripes], you know. I’m reppin’ my community, and I want everybody to know that you can be whoever you are and be completely proud, so . . . Wear the damn cape.” Jen Aniston and Tig Notaro as the “First” Lesbian Family?

Oh, Netflix, how you play with our little lesbian hearts. First you cancel Everything Sucks, then you go and green light something as wonderful as this.

What we know so far:

The comedy is called ‘First Ladies’ and will feature the duo as the president and first lady of the United States. Netflix teased that the story will show that behind every great woman is another woman. The film was written by Notaro and her wife, Stephanie Allynne. Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, Jessica Elbaum and Betsy Koch will produce the film, along with Aniston, Notaro and Allynne.

As we learn and see more info, look for the original post where we broke the news to be updated. Arizona Robbins has worn her scrubs for the last time on Grey’s Anatomy. It happened. We’ve known for weeks it was going to, but it still doesn’t feel real. Jessica Capshaw’s Arizona Robbins, who’s been some of the strongest lesbian representation we’ve had on screen for the last decade, had made her official exit from Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Here’s a snippet from our article on the character’s last few episodes:

“She was so bubbly, so buoyant, and so sure of herself and her sexuality. She be-bopped around the hospital on wheels and hot pink to make her child patients feel happy in a hospital. Arizona Robbins is a treasure, and it’s utterly heartbreaking for fans to have to give her up.” You can read the rest here. GLAAD Media Report 2017 results are in. In a nutshell, film is trending down, television is trending up. As a result of the findings, GLAAD has called on the seven major film studios (20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Disney and Warner Bros) to make a minimum of 20% of their film releases LGBT inclusive by 2021, and 50% by 2024. I’m not holding my breath, but it’s a great goal to have! None of the big seven even earned a “good” rating for 2017 films.

The 2016 total for LGBT characters in mainstream films was 70 in 2016, but it made a steep drop to only 28 last year.

Below are some of GLAAD’s key findings from its TV report:

  • Of the 901 regular characters expected to appear on broadcast scripted primetime programming this season, 58 (6.4%) were identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. This is the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the history of this report. There were an additional 28 recurring LGBTQ characters.
  • The number of regular LGBTQ characters counted on scripted primetime cable increased to 103, and recurring characters increased to 70, making for 173 characters.
  • There were 51 LGBTQ regular characters counted in original scripted series on the streaming services Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix as well as 19 recurring characters. This is an increase of five total characters from last year’s 65 total LGBTQ characters.
  • Bisexual+ characters make up 28 percent of the LGBTQ characters tracked across all platforms (broadcast, cable, streaming originals), a slight decrease from last year. These characters still heavily skew toward women (75 women to 18 men).
You can download the full TV report here and the film report here. Forget Rita Ora, Hayley Kiyoko dropped a new video featuring Kehlani… …and it’s hot, Hot, HOT. Both Kehlani and Hayley recently spoke out against the lyrics contained in Rita Ora’s bisexual summer anthem “Girls”. With lines like “”Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls / Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls,” you can see why the jam is getting some deserved criticism for implying one would have to be drunk or high to smooch the ladies. This is weird though, considering Rita Ora is a self-proclaimed bisexual.

Rita Ora apologized via Twitter:

Cardi B, who collaborated with Ora, was put on blast in a video clip for using the word “dyke” in a pretty reprehensible way. At first Cardi B defended herself, then deleted the tweet, then apologized. Phew.

Anyway, the best possible way to clapback was, of course, by dropping a sexy video, am I right? Hayley and Kehlani dropped the video for the collaborative bop “What I Need”, and it is fantastic. Not all music videos take you on a journey anymore, and this one does, a la early ’90s Janet Jackson. We have the full video for you below. It’s a full five minutes and some change, but be sure to stick it out until the end, because, well, you’ll thank me later.

https://youtu.be/YynKelHGhNc Abby Wambach gave the commencement speech at Barnard College. https://www.instagram.com/p/BjC0ngSlOjg/?taken-by=abbywambach

The women wolves of Barnard College were given the honor of listening to soccer icon Abby Wambach speak her truth and inspire a room full of graduates. I can’t imagine what it would feel like being a lesbian or bi student in that audience that day, hopeful and scare of the future but empowered by seeing someone like me standing up there sharing inspiration. Wambach’s speech was incredibly moving. I feel like if I played it every morning while I’m getting ready, I’d feel like a rockstar each and every day.

You can watch the full speech below:

https://youtu.be/wJe40l2waxs The Fosters say goodbye next week. Stef and Lena, The Fosters

The Freeform series had an epic, emotional spring season finale back in March, but our favorite lesbian moms are back for a three-night final goodbye starting Monday, June 4th. The last episode, which will air next Wednesday, is reportedly a “supersized” one, where we’ll hopefully get to say a sweet goodbye to these characters we’ve gotten so close to over the years.

A while back it was announced that Callie and Mariana would be getting there own spin-off, and we finally have a title for it, too. The new series will be called Good Trouble. Maybe we can hope for a Lena and Stef cameo every once in a while? The Fosters has never shied away from tackling politically and socially charged issues, and will surely stand the test of time as in important benchmark in LGBT representation on television.

https://twitter.com/TheFostersTV/status/1001994726080503813 Read this piece on “American Film’s Disappearing Lesbians”. JStor Daily recently ran an essay by writer Erin Blakemore that discusses a bad habit of filmmakers in the ’90s. The article discusses how film adaptation of novels took lesbian romances and made them platonic friendships, like Idgie and Ruth in Fried Green Tomatoes or Celie and Shug in The Color Purple.

This essay is based on the research by Jan Whitt, in work entitled “What Happened to Celie and Idgie?: “Apparitional Lesbians” in American Film“. Are you going to see Jodie Foster’s comeback? I had to head over to IMDb to verify the last movie Jodie Foster was event in. Turns out it was alongside Matt Damon back in 2013 in Elysium. I think she played a villain, but don’t quote me on that. Before that it was a few pretty obscure films until 2007, when she did The Brave One. Anyway, Foster fans, she’s back, and badder than ever. Have you SEEN the trailer for Hotel Artemis? No? Well, here you go.

In a not-so-distance dystopian future in Los Angeles, Hotel Artemis is a secret sanctuary makeshift hospital for criminals. Jodie Foster plays Jean Thomas, A/K/A “The Nurse”. The movie hits theaters June 8th. All of our favorite Moms had a Happy Mother’s Day. As a new stepmom, it brings lots of joy to my little bisexual heart to see so many multi-mom families celebrating Mother’s Day together. “The Advocate” published a wonderful gallery wishing a happy Mother’s Day to 50 of their favorite LGBT moms, which you can look at here. I’ve also taken the liberty of gathering some of the sweetest Instagram shout-outs from that day for your below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiuVGKjFttZ/?taken-by=glennondoyle

https://www.instagram.com/p/BivC_XjBqLx/?taken-by=officialmariabello

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiuoTNvh-7Y/?taken-by=weissgoldsteins

https://www.instagram.com/p/BivDAcFhMSR/?taken-by=iamwandasykes

That’s all for May’s roundup, so now we’re ready for Pride! Happy June! Did I forget anything? Dish it out with me in the comments and let me know.

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

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button