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Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (July 23, 2010)

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

Ugly babies, Jabba the Hut, and lesbian GPS – all of these topics and more were Tweeted about by out women in entertainment this week.

If you come across tweets that you think we should feature in “Tweets of the Week” or if you find (verified) Twitter accounts for out lesbian/bi women in entertainment who you think we should follow, please send us that info at [email protected].

THIS JUST IN: QUEEN LATIFAH IS THE ARTFUL DODGER

Sometimes I really hate going to my gym. In addition to the fact that exercise is not nearly as fun as lying on the couch and eating donuts, my particular gym doesn’t have personal monitors. So in order to listen to the television, one has to be tuned into a radio station. Ah, OK, really? Like I have a portable radio – this is 2010.

Anyway, this past Friday night I took a break from work and biked down to my gym. It is slightly embarrassing that I was doing this on a Friday night, but that is beside the point. The point is that five minutes into standing on the self-torture device also known as the elliptical machine, I looked up to see Larry King interviewing Queen Latifah. Thanks to the good folks at CNN who provide closed captioning, my Friday night had just gotten exponentially better.

Queen Latifah is currently promoting her new book, Put on Your Crown: Life-Changing Moments on the Path to Queendom. During the interview, a floating quote on the screen read, “Every woman is a Queen and should be treated that way.” Heck yeah, I could totally get down with this!

I was sweating but thought that I could easily do 45 minutes on a boring piece of machinery with that kind of in-gym entertainment. Another floating quote: “Queen Latifah opens up about abuse and her brother’s death.” Poor Queen Latifah, I thought to myself as I cranked up the resistance. Then, suddenly, I lost my footing as one does (damn torture device) and I looked away from the screen for one second. In the next minute, I looked back again to see a shocked Queen. Had I missed it? Did Larry spring the question that we have all been waiting for? Did Queen Latifah just say something about her personal life?

Nope, one more dodge. And two seconds later, I was literally laughing out loud while reading these words:

Oh Larry don’t even go there. My personal life is my personal business … I am just Dana. … I share with the public the things that we should share. We should share music. Let’s share that. Let’s share films. Let’s share that. Let’s share thoughts about positive things. Let’s share those things, but what happens in my personal, personal life is my personal business.

Just Dana was not at all interested in giving up any of just Dana’s business. There went my Friday night. The next 15 minutes were somewhat entertaining, with Queen Latifah explaining why Chris Brown should be given a chance to right his wrongs and be forgiven and how she hopes Lilo will find her way. She was asked how she would describe herself and quickly replied “as a daughter” then added “and a sister.”

Boring. Please do not get me wrong – I respect Queen Latifah and will go out and buy her book, and maybe even buy a second copy for my goddaughter (and more for other young girls looking for inspiration). But all the respect I feel for her doesn’t change the fact that I couldn’t tell you about the rest of the interview because I was so bored that I got on my bicycle and went home. Better luck next time.

– by Lindsey Byrnes

WORKING THE POLL: IS A COMING OUT REALITY SHOW GOOD FOR LGBT VISIBILITY?

This week, Nikki Finke reported that super publicist Howard Bragman is in talks with A&E about the possibility of a “coming out” reality show that would feature public figures. Bragman is the man who represented singer Chely Wright when she came out a few months ago, so he seems to be qualified for the job. But is the job a good idea?

Michael Jensen at our brother site, AfterElton.com, wrote:

A celebrity’s coming out process could now potentially be documented for fun and ratings. And don’t forget for profit. Definitely for profit. No details are available on how the show might work, but at first glance, it seems riddled with potential pitfalls.

On one hand, a well done show could potentially educate viewers on the damage that is wrought by the closet and how it warps lives. On the other hand, reality programming isn’t exactly known for its educational qualities and it seems like there would be a lot of pressure to sensationalize a person’s coming out story.

Then, too, there would be the question of motivation. Is the person in question coming out because they really want to come out? Or are they doing it to grab a piece of the reality pie? And if it’s for the latter, wouldn’t a show like this trivialize the fact coming out is still a tremendously difficult process for many people? Or might making it seem trivial actually help make it easier?

Taking all of these possibilities into consideration, do you think a coming out reality show helmed by Bragman would be good or bad for LGBT visibility?

<a mce_thref="http://polldaddy.com/poll/3508694/">Would a coming out reality show helmed by Howard Bragman would be good or bad for LGBT visibility?</a><span style="font-size:9px;"><a mce_thref="http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/">online survey</a></span>

In our poll last week, we asked you which Real L Word star most deserves her own spin-off show.

You voted overwhelmingly in favor of never having to watch any of them on television again. But if you had to choose, the majority of you would prefer to see Whitney’s female troubles play out each week. You’re least interested in seeing The Rose Show. In fact, you’d rather watch a show about Mikey’s sunglasses. So would we.

<a mce_thref="http://polldaddy.com/poll/3478924/">Which "Real L Word" star should have her own spin-off show?</a><span style="font-size:9px;"><a mce_thref="http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/">online surveys</a></span>

LESBIAN VIDEO OF THE WEEK: PARENTS WHO GIVE A DAMN

The good people at the Give a Damn Campaign have created a new video as part of a “monthly series to highlight the discrimination that the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community continues to face.” This one is all about parenting and features, among others, out parent and actor Cynthia Nixon.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

Teen activist Constance McMillen received some good news this week. According to the Associated Press:

American Civil Liberties Union attorneys representing Constance McMillen filed notice Monday in U.S. District Court to accept a judgment offer from the Itawamba County School District to pay $35,000, plus attorney’s fees. As part of the agreement, the school district also said it would follow a policy not to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity in any educational or extracurricular activities.

McMillen said, “I knew it was a good cause, but sometimes it really got to me. I knew it would change things for others in the future and I kept going and I kept pushing,”

Out comedian/actress Marga Gomez recently talked with Feast of Fun about her career, The Real L Word, MichFest, Chely Wright and working with Queen Latifah on the 1998 sci-fi film Sphere.

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which stars Natalie Portman as a ballerina who ends up bedding Mila Kunis, will make its debut at The Venice International Film Festival this fall. Kunis told USA Today, “Anything sexual in this film is not there for the sake of being sexual. I think people are hoping it’s like two girls making out and pillow fighting. It’s not smut.” By “people,” does she mean us?

Anna Paquin was on Chelsea Lately this week, talking about her appearance at Comic Con. Chelsea made a point of telling Paquin how much she and her lesbian roommates love to watch True Blood.

CBS confirmed this week that they’ll be replacing As The World Turns this fall with an L.A.-based daytime panel-style talk show hosted by Sara Gilbert, Julie Chen, Leah Remini, Sharon Osbourne and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Dana at Mombian.com noticed that, in the announcement, the network mentioned the husband and children of each of the hosts, except for Gilbert, who they said, “… lives in Los Angeles with her family.” (Gilbert’s “family” includes her partner, Allison Adler, and their two children.” Later, the CBS News’ Web site ran a post about the show stating, “Gilbert is a lesbian mom, raising two children with partner Allison Adler.” Wonder why they didn’t mention that in the first place, in the widely-released announcement?

SheWired.com recently talked to Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez, and got her to open up a bit about what we can expect to see in the upcoming season. She told them:

Callie and Arizona are together again — that is where we left off at the end of season six. I’m excited to see how their relationship evolves, but moreso, I am really appreciative of how universal the scenes seem to be. We lightly touch upon, “oh, yeah, we’re dealing with two women,”‘ but we don’t comment on it constantly, which is really cool. It manages to be just like any other relationship. There are ups and downs, there’s conflict, there’s making up, etc. There are issues and some issues are more specific than others and we will cross those bridges, too. I am just excited that we are going to be exploring this relationship some more in a way that has integrity and respect. It isn’t just a comment on “a gay relationship” like one big joke. It’s actually kind of as meaningful and as serious as Meredith and Derek or Christina and Owen. You know, it’s just as important.

Lesbian filmmaker/writer Patricia Rozema (Mansfield Park, Grey Gardens) will be working on a new movie with Ellen Page, and she recently talked about it with PopMatters.

Word from the set of Jack and Diane is that Kylie Minogue will be playing gay in the film and is going to have a love scene with another woman.

CBS has confirmed that we’ll get double the Kirsten Vangsness next TV season. The eccentric Criminal Minds computer geek, Penelope Garcia, will hop back and forth between the original show and the spin-off, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.

This week on Big Brother, bisexual bartender Annie was not only revealed as the saboteur to America (aka the one in the house wreaking havoc on the housemates), but was also the first one evicted. Seventy five-year-old out lesbian hand whistler Sally Helen Cohn was also sent home this week from the competition on America’s Got Talent. Lest you worry that there will now be some shortage of queer women on reality television, take heart! Bisexual pop star Aubrey O’Day is getting her own reality show on Oxygen. The Hollywood Reporter says The Aubrey O’Day Project “will chronicle her attempt to make a comeback in the music industry while working with a demanding team of industry professionals.”

Scratch what you know about the casting of the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Apparently director David Fincher has narrowed it down to five actresses and none of them are the big names we were expecting. IndieWire reports that Emily Browning, Sophie Lowe, Sarah Snook, Rooney Mara and an unnamed French actress are the finalists vying for the role of bisexual hacker Lisbeth Salander. Says DigitalSpy, “Fincher has reportedly told the five actresses to work on their Swedish accents, suggesting that Salander and the story’s location won’t be Americanized.”

Showtime has released a preview clip of the upcoming season of Weeds (premiering August 16). In it, Mary-Louise Parker makes Linda Hamilton (who plays a lesbian) an indecent proposal.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 is getting animated, motion comic style, and will include appearances by Satsu and Willow.

The comic book Runaways is being made into a feature film and Comic Book Resources wants to know who you think should be cast in each of the roles, including that of lesbian character Karolina. Production is scheduled to begin in January 2011.

Las Aparicio fans should head on over to Mindschmootz.net to hear an interview with Eréndira Ibarra. She dishes on the Julia and Mariana romance and the English fans that love her Spanish-speaking show. (Thanks Ashley!)

English singer Kate Nash recently told our own Trish Bendix, “I would never say I’m straight. I don’t have an identity in that way.”

Bad news (for us) from The Good Wife. We heard that Kalinda was getting a love interest named “Blake” this season, but it turns out that the character of Blake is going to be a dude.

Fox has announced that two new Glee box sets will hit stores on September 14. The first set is called “Road to Regionals” and is a companion to the previously-released DVDs. The second set is “The GLEEK Edition” and it features two hours of unseen footage along with the complete first season. While we’re on the topic of Jane Lynch (which is pretty much all the time), did you catch her performance as host of the Do Something Awards?

A new webseries is in the works (from a Portuguese production company) about women who are jilted by their partners and decide to get revenge. It’s called The Payback, and one of the main women is a lesbian whose partner cheated on her. It’ll be available in English and expected to launch in the last half of 2010. We’ll keep you posted. (Thanks Kris!)

Anyone But Me is hosting a web-a-thon July 27 – 29 to help raise funds for their third season. You can get full details at their website, anyonebutmeseries.com.

Kate Moennig is making her way back to Showtime. She’ll play a tattoo artist on at least one episode of Dexter.

We’ve garnered a few more details on the new movie My Idiot Brother, specifically about the movie’s girlfriends played by Zooey Deschanel and Rashida Jones. According to IndieWire, “Deschanel plays Natalie, the artistic hipster and bisexual whose flakiness and lies are getting in the way of moving forward with her caring, responsible girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones), who is looking to move the relationship towards a more committed place.”

Our resident Skins expert Heather Hogan recently talked to Skins boss Jamie Brittain about generation three, Katie Fitch action figures, and why he loves Naomily.

A study in the UK says that gay people are “invisible” on the telly. A group called Stonewall has found that “lesbian and gay people appear realistically and positively in just 0.6 per cent of most watched shows.”

Sarah and Lee interviewed Skin of Skunk Anansie for their Great LezBritain column. The openly bisexual singer talked about her band’s new album, Wonderlustre, and what she thinks about the current state of women in music.

Degrassi’s transgender character, Adam,made his first appearance this week in the season premiere of the show, and thanks to AfterEllen.com reader WritingThis, we now know that the British soap Hollyoaks will be introducing a transgender character this summer as well. When The Costellos move to Hollyoaks village, they will bring along their daughter Jasmine, who wishes to live her life as Jason. According to Channel 4’s website: The Guardian has an interesting article comparing Jason/Jasmine’s upcoming fictional story with a real-life stories from transgender teens in Britain.

Big Brother Africa’s new season is bringing back some of its favorite past housemates, including bisexual Sheila.

AfterEllen.com is teaming up with One More Lesbian and eurOut to bring you streaming coverage of the Gay Games July 31 through August 7. The coverage will be hosted by comedian Bridget McManus. There will also be an AfterEllen.com/EurOut.org/OneMoreLesbian.com meet-up at the Games on Wednesday, August 4, at 3 pm at at the WomenPlace.

That’s it for this week! Got the inside scoop on a hot new lesbian/bi actor/musician/TV show/film? Tell us at [email protected]. Check back next Friday for another edition of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever.

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