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Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (October 1, 2010) : Maggie Q digs us, Sarah Silverman sticks up for us and “Glee” is a tease

Ciara. The R&B star followed up a performance at Atlanta Pride by making a video to tell gay youth to keep on keepin’ on, as part of Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” viral video campaign. Ciara is so good to us, even when she’s not showing off her “Goodies.”

Out musicians. Mirah and Brandi Carlile both gave interviews talking about their pride in being lesbians this week. We couldn’t be happier with their satisfaction.

Jimmy Eat World. The band’s new video has a sci-fi feel and two girls that appear to be together. Of course we love it.

Maggie Q. The Nikita actress said she is really into lesbians liking her. Well, whomever among us didn’t like Maggie before probably likes her now.

Amy Poehler. The Saturday Night Live host took on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and played a lesbian in a gay marriage skit while opening the 35th season last week. As if we needed more reason to love her.

Gays taking over the world. Research magazine says the LGBT community is dominating in society, technology, economics, environment and politics. Well great! Looks like our equality mission is accomplished!

The Oprah Show. A lesbian couple was featured on an episode this week because of their unique situation: one of the women is an MTF that froze her own sperm before transitioning, which made it possible for her partner to carry her child.

The Real Housewives of Orange County. The newest housewife (Fernanda Rocha) is a celebrity trainer who identifies as bisexual. A queer trainer? A queer housewife? In one? This could go either way, but we’re (cautiously) optimistic.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. The debut of the trailer has us salivating for Lisbeth Salander and the final chapter of the film trilogy. But then we realized it’s all over after that, at least until the U.S. remake.

Glee. The Britney Spears episode gave Brittany (Heather Morris) her turn to shine and deliver her gayest lines yet.

Glee. While most of us enjoyed the performances, there was a definite missed opportunity for a kiss between Brittany and Santana or Brittany and Britney in “Me Against the Music.”

The A.V. Club. The publication says Ellen is more famous for being a lesbian than being talented. Someone please tell them it’s possible to be both.

Modern Family. Yes, the show is hilarious but the lesbian bit from this week wasn’t anything but stereotypical. Being 13-years old and not having kissed a boy doesn’t mean you should have to declare your straightness, especially not in front of the whole soccer team.

American TV. GLAAD reports there are more gays on TV this year than there was last year. It’s a step in the right direction, but several of the lesbian characters are very minor, and some haven’t even done anything “lesbian” yet. And where are the women of color? Or anyone of color, for that matter?

DJ Kiki. With her second appearance on reality TV as the token lesbian, we’re wondering if she’s just an aspiring “personality.”

Mona Shores High School. The school stripped a transgender student of his Homecoming King title because he is officially enrolled as a female. Luckily, his friends and mother are supportive and think the powers that be are royally stupid.

President Obama. He completely left gays out of his Presidential Proclamation of Family Day (despite our inclusion last year and in other previous addresses). Apparently the White House thinks we’ve received enough attention from that movie with Julianne Moore and Warren Beatty’s wife.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shrivrell. The Michigan official harassed the new University of Michigan student body president for being gay. And his boss, AG Mike Cox, is defending his right to do it. When is he up for re-election?

Ann Coulter. It wasn’t a surprise to hear that the political commentator said gay marriage isn’t a civil right, but we were shocked she’d have the nerve to say it while speaking at Homocon. And that no one booed her off the stage.

Bullying. Several gay youth have committed suicide this week after being bullied by their peers. We may be gay, but at least we’re not immature, homophobic idiots that would rather focus time and energy on someone else for being who they are. Bullies, get a new hobby and a conscience.

In 1928, Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness was published and subsequently banned in the UK because of its depiction of “unnatural practices between women.” As someone who considered herself “sexually inverted,” Hall is one of the first queer women in history to publish a lesbian-themed novel. U.S. courts eventually decided that a novel could not “corrupt” young minds. It remained unpublished in the UK until 1949, though it was easily accessible in other countries (such as France).

As anyone who has read The Well of Loneliness can attest, it’s not overtly sexual or offensive in any way. It’s just very sad. And if you haven’t read the rite of passage novel, this is a great week to give it a go because it’s Banned Books Week. This week, we celebrate published pieces of work that schools, libraries or other authorities once deemed unworthy of reading because they were considered offensive, explicit or unsuitable in some way.

Below are a few lesbian-themed books that you could read for Banned Books Week.

What’s your favorite banned book?

Sarah Silverman, Thomas Lennon, John Cho and their friends at Funny or Die make fun of those folks who are against allowing out LGBT people in the military. Remember that old slogan about us being homophobes “worst nightmare and best fantasy”? Yeah, it’s like that. (Hat tip, Lauren!)

Nancylee Myatt‘s upcoming webseries, Cowgirl Up, has added Nicol Paone (The Big Gay Sketch Show) to the already impressive list of talent signed for the production. Also on board are Dot Jones (Coach Beiste on Glee), Mandy Musgrave (South of Nowhere), Maile Flanagan and Marnie Alton (Exes & Ohs). The producers are looking for investors, so go here if you want to make a contribution.

PFLAG will honor Glee creator Ryan Murphy and The Kids Are All Right director Lisa Cholodenko tonight at a star-studded event in Los Angeles.

Larry Kramer’s epic tome A History of Gay America will be published in the spring of 2012. It is 4,000 pages long and he’s been working on it for 30 years. We really hope it includes lesbians and bi women too!

It looks like the upcoming UK lesbian series Lip Service will soon be available on DVD, at least for European viewers.

Gawker.com explains “What It’s Like to Be a Gay Teen.”

GLAAD wants to know which gay TV kiss you think has been the most significant. Vote here! And, yes, Tara and Willow are among the choices.

Time reports that children of lesbians may fare better than their peers.

The Cher DVD Collection comes out on November 2. It includes Good Times, Chastity, Moonstruck, Mermaids, Tea With Mussolini and Silkwood (in which she played a lesbian).

The Butch Voices LA conference runs October 8-10.

A collection of portraits of successful gay and lesbian professionals working in the film industry will be exhibited at the Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff. The photographs are by Donald MacLellan and include images of Heather Peace (Lip Service), Sir Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry, among others. The free exhibition runs from October 9 to 6 November at the Upper Level, Grand Arcade, St David’s, Cardiff. For more information on the exhibition and the Iris Prize Festival, visit irisprize.org. (Hat tip, peppermintpatti!)

Sara Ramirez headlines Broadway Takes the Runway on Monday, October 4, benefiting the Al D. Rodriguez Liver Foundation (ADRLF). Audra McDonald is also scheduled to appear, and you can get tickets to the New York event here.

Calzona/Grey’s Anatomy fans who are looking for some teaser-y, spoiler-y goodness should follow this link.

Check back next week for more Rizzoli & Isles subtext recaps from Dorothy Snarker. In the meantime, you can check out previous subtext recaps here.

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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