Archive

Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (November 30, 2007)

MY BEGOÑA Thanks to AE reader Rogue, we learned that actress Patricia Velasquez (Arrested Development, The Mummy) has been cast in the fifth season of The L Word. Velasquez will play Begoña, a character whose story line includes the subject of immigration. She indicated that her character will be introduced at the end of the upcoming season and will later be developed into a main character if The L Word is renewed for a sixth season. (For the full quote in Spanish, read Rogue’s blog.)

You may remember Velasquez as GOB’s girlfriend (and Michael’s crush) on Arrested Development, or as the body paint-wearing Anck Su Namun in The Mummy movies. No? Please allow me to jog your memory: It’s notable that Velasquez is

Venezuelan, which means she’s a Latina playing – gasp! – a Latina on The L Word! Alert the media! Oh, wait a minute …

HALF NELSON, FULLY CRAZY In more L Word-related news, there are fun new previews of what’s to come in Season 5, and it looks … slippery.

First up: In the words of Tina Kennard (Laurel Holloman), “Turkish oil wrestling?” Who else would we find in the center ring but Jenny Schecter (Mia Kirshner), rolling around on the mat in leather pants (?) with her partially clothed (but completely lubricated) next victim. Is it a scene from her movie or a scene from her head?

Even if it means fighting dirty, would somebody please take her down?

Next is a brand-new trailer that gives away the big issues of Season 5 – and a lot of salacious details: Will Bette and Tina get back together? Can Helena hold her own in the prison yard? Will someone be stupid enough to let Jenny direct her own movie? Only 37 more days until we find out!

NO, YOUR TICKET PURCHASE DOES NOT INCLUDE A HAIRCUT! One final L Word tidbit: Katherine Moennig will be attending Untitled: A Film Festival to Support Rainbow Alley, Dec. 7-9 in Denver, presented by the Matthew Shepard Foundation, the GLBT Center of Colorado and the Denver Film Society/STARZ FilmCenter.

Along with movie tickets, you can also buy tickets to a meet-and-greet with Moennig. Rainbow Alley is a drop-in center designed to support

LGBT

youth and their allies ages 12-21, so in addition to getting your Shane fix, you can make a contribution to a great cause. And maybe you can ask Moennig about Shane’s plans for “Begoña.”

ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE THE NEWLY OUT BISEXUAL AE reader Liz tipped us off that Australian singer Missy Higgins has officially come out as bisexual. (“And not as ‘A’ bisexual, much to Tila Tequila’s confusion I’m sure,” Liz added in her note to us. News and snark? I love it!) On Monday, Missy wrote on her MySpace profile:

Hey there,

You might have seen some media excitement about my sexuality lately. Basically, I gave an interview that’s since been twisted around by other writers so I figure I should clear things up for anyone who’s been confused by it all.

As I explained in that original interview, I’ve never felt comfortable with labeling or categorizing human beings. However if we’re going to pigeonhole me, I’ve been in relationships with both men and women so I guess I fall most easily under the category “Bisexual”.

The reason I’ve tried to avoid discussing this with journalists is because – like most people – I just don’t like the idea of virtual strangers delving into my private life and possibly misrepresenting things.

Recent events have just reinforced that view. Please rest assured that I am not, never have been, and never will be ashamed of my sexuality but also please respect the fact that when I do an interview I want it to be about my music and not about my love life!

Thanks for your support and understanding.

Missy x

We’re thrilled that Higgins is more comfortable talking about her sexuality now, because we need all the out lesbian and bisexual musicians we can claim – especially those as talented as Higgins. But, for the record, it is possible to ask a few questions about an artist’s sexual orientation without focusing an entire interview on that topic. In fact, we do it all the time!

I VOTE FOR SARAH PAULSON TO STAR IN A NEW TV SHOW An AE reader (thanks jatteggott!) turned us on to an excellent new PSA encouraging women to vote that features out actress Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). In it, Paulson, along with

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Christine Lahti and others deliver some sobering statistics about single women voters (47 million single women are eligible to vote, but only 20 million do),

as women of all makes and models stand before

– and, most importantly, behind – the presidential desk in what looks like the Oval Office. The PSA was created by Women’s Voices. Women Vote, an organization whose goal is to “turn unmarried, uninvolved women into active voters who are influencing debate.”

Watch the clip below: Of course, those single women voters include actual single lesbian and bisexual women and those who, despite commitment ceremonies and joint credit card debt, for all intents and purposes are “married” but still considered “single” by government standards. In other words, there are potentially a lot of us included in that pool of non-voters.

So do your civic duty and send all of your friends an email with the PSA included. And in the subject line, write “Sarah Paulson’s new haircut is HAWT!” You could make a difference, and you’d be telling the truth!

LESBIAN VIEWERS WILL BE GOING BACK FOR SECONDS

Still stewing (sorry, I just couldn’t resist) over the fact that neither the openly bisexual (Tiffani Faison) or lesbian (Josie Smith-Malave and Sandee Birdsong) contestants brought home the bacon gold on Bravo’s hit reality show Top Chef? You’ll be happy to know that all of them will be competing alongside other Top Chef alums in the upcoming Top Chef Holiday Special, airing Dec. 6 at 9:00 p.m. ET on Bravo.

Faison, Smith-Malave, Birdsong and other contestants deemed “fan favorites” from Seasons 1, 2 and 3 will prepare a special holiday meal for the judges (including out lesbian pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner) in hopes of winning a $20,000 prize.

If there happens to be a consolation prize for Most Grinch-like Chef, Smith-Malave is a sure thing. Incidentally, Smith-Malave was in the news recently when it was announced that two new arrests had been made in connection with the assault on her and her friends by a crowd of people after being thrown out of a Long Island bar on Labor Day. Melissa Trimarchi was charged with misdemeanor assault, and Elizabeth Borroughs was charged with aggravated harassment for their involvement with the attack. Smith-Malave’s lawyer has been an outspoken critic of the police department’s handling of the investigation, accusing them of not taking the assault seriously as a hate crime. No word yet on when the case will go to trial.

IF THEY REALLY DO HOOK UP, COULD KRISTEN BELL PLEASE NARRATE THE LOVE SCENE? Dorothy Snarker tipped us off to a New York Post report that CW’s teen melodrama Gossip Girl may soon feature a “same-sex incident.”

According to “network sources,” the kiss will be between Blair (Leighton Meester) and her best friend (with benefits?), Serena (Blake Lively). No word on when this alleged kiss might happen, but the next sweeps week is a safe bet, right? To date there has been no official lesbian action on Gossip Girl, but Sarah and Lori have had their collective eye on Blair and Serena for some time now. In fact, they recently named them the “Best Lesbian Couple That Isn’t” in their vlog She Made Me Watch This! In it, Sarah proclaimed that the two of them ooze chemistry and are “doing everything but sleeping together!”

Want to decide for yourself? Check out Serena and Blair’s longing glances, vengeful sneers and oops-I-ended-up-on-top-of-you smackdown (at field hockey practice, no less!) in this fan video. If any kissing actually happens, check back with us here at AfterEllen.com. We’ll be sure to file an incident report.

THE U.S. VERSION WOULD REQUIRE MORE CLOTHING AND LESS “AUTHENTICITY” On Dec. 5, Satisfaction, a new show about female prostitutes, will debut on Australian cable television. (Thanks to AE reader Connie42 for the tip!) It centers around the lives of six women who work in a brothel, including a lesbian character, Heather, played by Peta Sergeant.

Below is a photo of the cast: The show is already making waves because it features full-frontal nudity and sexual fetishes, and because the sex scenes were reportedly shot in a “robust” manner in order to achieve maximum authenticity.

In addition to acting, Sergeant is also the singer for the band The Bellows, and as evidenced on their MySpace audio track “Supernatural,” the woman has some pipes! So if the unthinkable happens and playing a lesbian prostitute doesn’t immediately catapult her to international fame, Sergeant can always accentuate the rock star angle instead.

LESBIAN QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“You want to make me a lesbian? That’s fine with me. I’d love to have an affair with Angelina! And there are other beautiful girls I like too – including Charlize Theron, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Alba!” – Hayden Panettiere (Heroes)

A REAL LESBIAN MYSTERY SOLVED In a rare moment of candor regarding her personal life, author Patricia Cornwell talked to The Daily Telegraph about her new novel, Book of the Dead, and spoke about her relationship with her female partner. Cornwell dedicated the book to “Dr Staci Gruber, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and Associate Director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging Laboratory, McLean Hospital,” whom she she married in Massachusetts in 2005. Cornwell has never before spoken publicly about her lesbianism or gay and lesbian rights, but when the Daily Telegraph reporter recently asked how her marriage to Gruber has made a difference in her life, Cornwell spoke at length about how she met Gruber, her own experiences with homophobia and religious fundamentalism, and her passionate beliefs about the necessity for gay marriage rights in the United States. (Read the interview in its entirety here.)

In the past, Cornwell has been evasive with the media about her own sexual orientation and her relationship with Gruber. In fact, in a July 2005 interview with the Telegraph, Cornwell referred to Gruber as her “traveling companion.” It’s a quaint euphemism for that special person who loves you enough to take the middle seat so that you can sit on the aisle.

DESERT HEARTS AUTHOR JANE RULE DIES Writer Jane Rule died this week at the age of 76 in British Columbia, Canada, from complications from liver cancer. Rule is perhaps best known for her first novel, Desert of the Heart (1964), which was later made into the iconic lesbian film Desert Hearts, directed by out filmmaker Donna Deitch and starring Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau (read our review of the film here). Rule wrote a dozen books and was politically active throughout her life. Though Rule was a vocal opponent of gay marriage (seeing it as a wrong-headed move toward conventional, state-regulated unions), she was in a 45-year relationship with her partner, Helen Sonthoff, until Sonthoff’s death in 2000.

To learn more about Rule’s life and career, read this article about her at 365Gay.com.

Queer filmmaker and journalist Lydia Marcus is currently making a documentary about the cultural impact of the film Desert Hearts. Below is a clip from the film, featuring her interview with stars Shaver and Charbonneau: It’s nice to see that even 20 years later, they haven’t lost the spark.

BE KIND, PLEASE REWIND We’re closing in on the end of the year, and you know what that means: office holiday parties that you will regret in the morning, and the sort of year-in-review polls and quizzes that make you realize with horror that you only really remember the things that have happened since summertime.

Logo (AfterEllen.com’s parent company) is joining the fray with the NewNowNext 2007 Rewind polls, in which you can weigh in on important topics like “Favorite Viral Video Clip,” “Favorite Lesbian Movie” (yes, there were enough movies in that category to constitute a proper poll – you just don’t remember the ones released before June!), and “Hottest TV Lesbian” (what’s left of my journalistic integrity prevents me from endorsing Jill Bennett). I’m not personally invested in your participation, of course, but you might be interested to know that one of the categories is “Best Video Blog.” There are rumors on the internets that some of you enjoy watching AfterEllen.com video blogs now and again, so it might be fun for you to vote for We’re Getting Nowhere your favorite.

MINE IS SET TO “VIBRATE” We’ve tried to keep you up to date on the lesbian shenanigans happening on the popular Spanish prime-time program, Hospital Central, but these women are busy! After the wedding of main characters Dr. Maca Wilson (Patricia Vico) and Esther (Fátima Baeza) back in 2005 (the first same-sex wedding on Spanish television), actress Carolina Cerezuela was cast in the part of Dr.Verónica Solé, who began having an affair with Maca this season.

The latest development (thanks to AE reader Sylvia for the tip!) comes in the form of a new Samsung commercial in which Vico and Cerezuela fight over a cell phone on the set of the Hospital Central conference room. (It’s an inside joke, as cell phones were pivotal components in their illicit affair.) In the commercial, Cerezuela promotes a pink Samsung phone and tells Vico that for every phone sold, Samsung is donating 5 euros to the Breast Cancer Research fund of Spain.

Watch the commercial below: If they really cared about each other, they would stop fighting over the phone and just sign up for the Family Plan!

LESBIAN QUOTE OF WEEK NO. 2 “You can’t be gay for just one person, unless you’re a lady and you meet Ellen.”

– Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) to Frank (Judah Friedlander) on this week’s episode of 30 Rock (“Cougars”)

IF YOU TURN ON THE TELEVISION AND NEVER SEE A LESBIAN, DO WE REALLY EXIST? OK, we’re being dramatic. But our point is valid! The writers on strike recently mounted the “Speechless” campaign to illustrate the importance of writers and what would happen to film and television without them. We want to take this opportunity to make a similar point to the writers and the networks about what it means to lesbian and bisexual women when they create television shows that don’t include us.

Some of the AfterEllen.com video bloggers joined together to make these PSAs. The first takes an angry-lesbian approach, the second a smartass one (and is partly just for our own amusement). But don’t be scared off by the scowling lesbians – you really need to watch the first PSA to appreciate the second one. Lesbians on TV PSA No. 1 Get embed code from the <> box at the bottom of the player or from DailyMotion or Veoh.com

Lesbians on TV PSA No. 2 Get embed code from the <> box at the bottom of the player or from Veoh.com or DailyMotion

Please embed these on your MySpace profile or blog, and send them to everyone you know, especially any writers in your lives. We want to spread the word that we need more lesbian visibility on television. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with nothing but us for your “entertainment.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Out actress Jane Lynch (Best in Show) lends her voice to the FOX animated series American Dad on the Dec. 16 episode.

A survey taken after German TV journalist and national celebrity Anne Will came out last week showed that this revelation actually improved her image among Germans.

Logo has announced the premiere of its new reality program, Gimme Sugar, in which “five hot young friends on the L.A. lesbian club scene bite off more than they can chew when they try to launch and promote their own club night.” The show will air next summer in six half-hour episodes. The press release promises that “the girls will fight, fall in love, break apart, and come back together as they struggle to make their dream come true.”

Logo’s VisibleVote08.com video blog has returned, this time with a new brand new name, The Gay Agenda! Tune in this week to watch vloggers John Polly and Jennifer Vanasco talk about what’s really up with Trent Lott, why underage kids can vote in Iowa, and who they like this week in Candidate Watch.

Ellen DeGeneres will receive the Trevor Life Award on Dec. 2 at the The Trevor Project‘s 10th annual Cracked Christmas event in Los Angeles. The Award honors “an individual who, through his or her example, volunteerism and/or occupation, is an inspiration to gay and questioning youth.”

Jodie Foster will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter‘s 16th Women in Entertainment Power 100 Breakfast on Dec. 4 in Los Angeles. The Award recognizes “women who have been pioneers or leaders in their field in the entertainment industry,” and past recipients have included Meryl Streep and Barbara Walters. (Thanks to AE reader dairy queen for both the DeGeneres and Foster award tips!)

The New York Post says Tila’s not really bisexual.

Finally, Sarah and Lori’s video blog She Made Me Watch This: Favorite Lesbian TV Moments, Part 2 will be posted on Monday instead of today. Don’t complain, because the angry, finger-drumming, eyebrow-raising lesbian from our PSAs can hear you!

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

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button