Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. (December 10, 2010): Rachel Maddow takes on hate in Uganda, Wanda Sykes heads to “Rio”
Cat Cora. The out Iron Chef star began shooting her show for Oprah Winfrey’s new network (OWN) this week. All we know so far is that the show will premiere in January and in it Cora “will travel the country, offering nutritional, cooking, and healthy living advice to families in need of a lifestyle overhaul.” We feel confident that Cora’s cuisine will continue to reign supreme.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines. Two couples, one gay and one lesbian, became the first same-sex couples to get married aboard an airplane this week thanks to SAS’s Love is in the Air campaign. Nice to know that the skies just got a little friendlier.
Wanda Sykes. The out comic/actress will be lending her voice to the new animated film, Rio, about “a nerdy macaw who leaves the comforts of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio de Janeiro.” Also voicing a character in the film will be Jane Lynch. Someone must have been running a two-for-one special on funny lesbians.
Fernanda Rocha. Originally described in promotional materials as “bisexual,” the newest cast member of The Real Housewives of Orange County has told The National Enquirer that she is actually gay. She also told the rag that it’s her “dream” to pose for Playboy magazine.
Martina Navratilova. The legendary tennis star is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for disadvantaged youth. Navratilova, who just wrapped treatment for breast cancer, says that her appreciation for life has been “enhanced” and that she’s looking forward to taking on the daunting task of scaling the 19,341 mountain and hopes to double her original goal of original goal of 100,000 Euros for Laureus Sport for Good Foundation. Game, set, match Navartilova!
Lady Gaga. Billboard has declared the out bisexual singer to be its “2010 Artist of the Year.” CNN’s Showbiz Tonight has named her the “Most Provocative Icon of 2010,” beating out Charlie Sheen, Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan and Miley Cyrus. That’s a good thing, right?
Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson captivated an audience outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals courthouse in San Francisco this week with a passionate speech in favor of marriage equality. He said, “We cannot not sit idly by while Prop 8 seeks to target gays and lesbians for a disfavored legal status, as America’s newest second-class citizens.”
Texas lawmakers. SheWired.com reports that “at least seven bills relating to bullying in schools and online have already been filed for consideration in the legislature next session, which opens on January 1. Two of those bills would require schools to report annually on its incidents of bullying, making note of which were based on race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.”
Equal health benefits. Facebook is joining Cisco, Kimpton Hotels, the Gates Foundation and other companies that reimburse gay workers who are taxed on the value of their domestic partner health insurance benefits. We this.
Rachel Maddow. Wednesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show, the host took on Ugandan parliament member, David Bahati, author of a bill (still pending in parliament) calling for the execution of gay people. She told him, “You are promoting life imprisonment for all gay people in your country, and your country has a lot of gay people who do not want to be subject to life imprisonment. And I think the international community is trying to decide whether Uganda is going to become an international pariah, a rogue state excluded from the community of nations, because you are singling out a minority among your population for treatment that frankly is not the direction that the rest of the world is going.” Miraculously, she did not then punch him in the face.
Time Magazine. The news magazine devoted an entire cover story to the topic of marital bliss (“Who Needs Marriage?”) without addressing same-sex marriage. AfterElton.com writes, “Same-sex marriage is clearly not the only marriage-related issue currently facing the country, and I can even understand the author of a piece such as this acknowledging the huge amount of oxygen being sucked up by the heated debate over GLBT marriage and specifically setting the issue aside for the purposes of this particular article. But to ignore the issue entirely? That just seems weird. And, frankly, it seems like bad journalism.”
Conservative comic book bios. Mediaite.com reports that Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh are getting comic books. Paging Batwoman!
Portia DeGeneres. The out actress has turned down an invitation to appear on the ABC dance competition Dancing with the Stars. PopEater.com quotes an “insider” as saying, “She was the only star that could have pulled this off without completely offending the program’s conservative viewers. … producers have decided to wait a few years and not rush into creating a same-sex dancing couple just to get attention and publicity.” Sigh. Back to one!
Jillian Michaels. Michaels tweeted this week, “Season 11 of Biggest Loser will be my last 🙂 have to finish out my contract.” She added, “I want to take a year off TV and focus on becoming a mommy and doing more charity work.” E!Online reports, “As for The Biggest Loser, Michaels said her replacement is already on board and that she will help break her in when season 11- the show’s fourth couples edition – kicks off next month.” Happy for her, bummed for us. We’ll miss her!
Chris Colfer/Glee. In our interview with the out Glee star, we asked him to weigh in on the Brittana relationship. He told us that the Brittany/Santana relationship provides “comic relief” by turning gender stereotypes inside out (girls can be promiscuous?!) while the Blaine/Kurt relationship is “there for the uplifting, inspirational message.” Unfortunately, from the looks of the article comments/Tweets we read in response, Brittana fans do not appear to be laughing.
Tom Brokaw. The former NBC news anchor told The Advocate that he’s all for giving anti-gay hate groups airtime on news networks because it’s a good way to “generate the kind of outrage that prompts nationwide conversations.” Yes, but we think there are probably better ways.
Paranoid (or visionary!) reporters. Out Houston Mayor Annise Parker walked out of a press conference when some of the attending reporters asked her if she and the city council were trying to create a “majority gay council district.” Ridiculous! Awesome idea, but still, ridiculous!
Art City Elementary. Some parents and administrators at the Utah elementary school are upset because Leonard Ridley, who lives adjacent to the school, has posted signs stating, “Tell the truth, gays are born gay. Stop gay suicide” on his front lawn. The school district is “concerned” because of the “adult content” of the signs. Joe.My.God reports that the city “has declared that the size of the signs exceed zoning codes and Ridley has agreed to post only one sign at a time.” We think any homophobic language those kids are probably already hearing at school is far more “adult” in its content than what’s written on Ridley’s signs.
Belmont University. Lisa Howe, the University’s women’s soccer coach, resigned last week and soccer team members say that Howe told them privately that she was pressured into leaving after telling school administrators that she and her same-sex partner were going to have a baby. One of the Nashville university’s major benefactors has called for Howe to be rehired, and Belmont students are protesting on campus. Interesting (and ironic) factoid: the founders of Belmont College were Ida E. Hood and Susan L. Heron, whom many historians believe were lesbians.
The U.S. Senate. The National Defense Authorization Act, including repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was defeated, 57- 40 in the senate this week. President Obama tweeted that he was “disappointed.” Sen. Joe Lieberman tweeted that he and Senator Susan Collins and would introduce a free standing bill to repeal #DADT. Fingers crossed. Again.
THIS JUST IN: LESBIAN OFFICIANTS
This week, folk singer Catie Curtis announced she’d be teaming up with GayWeddings.com in helping make homo wedding dreams come true. The out musician will be officiating and helping plan weddings through the site. (I wonder if she is then also the wedding singer by default?).
The interesting partnership (no pun intended) got me thinking about what kind of weddings this may lead to, and what weddings planned and officiated by other celesbians might look like. Hypothetically.
For example, will all the weddings done by Curtis be for folk-loving lesbians living in New England who have at least two cats? Will the reception be a cozy potluck with an acoustic set and maybe a poetry reading or two? Will the singer re-invent her hit “My Shirt Looks Good on You” to be “My Last Name Sounds Good On You”?
OK, maybe not. But let’s have some more fun and think of how other lesbian-led weddings would go. Ready?
Wanda Sykes. If Wanda Sykes is helping plan and officiating a wedding, I definitely want an invite, as it would likely be the party of the year. You know this will be for the couple who doesn’t take things too seriously: they want to have fun and aren’t worried about everything being “perfect.” And their families aren’t uptight and offended by swearing or inappropriate jokes.
There will be an open bar, of course, and the only tears during the ceremony will be from laughing so hard. The reception will basically be a roast of the couple – and anyone who happens to cross Wanda’s path and make an impression. The video of this union may seem, to any one who was not in attendance, to be a bloopers tape of hilarity.
Suze Orman. A Suze-led wedding could go in two totally different directions. If you have student loans, a mortgage, an average job or don’t have nine months worth of “emergency savings,” you can bet you will be “denied” a big, elaborate wedding from Suze. She will say you have more important things to spend (or save) your money on, and the wedding of your dreams may just not be practical right now – or ever.
But, if you are the financially responsible type of couple, a Suze Orman wedding would look a lot like the impending nuptuals of Prince William and Kate Middleton. In fact, Suze may even suggest the Royal Palace as a location option. Why not? There will be caviar and the finest champagnes, designer dresses and tuxedos. The invitations will probably be printed with gold ink. People will be on their best behavior, you know, because you will be terrified of spilling anything on the fancy tablecloths.
Ellen and Portia. Since these two had the lesbian wedding of the century, they’d clearly come as a pair, to show everyone how it’s done. They’d likely want everyone to wear white, because it’s classic and makes for really nice photos, especially outdoors. The wedding will be emotional, and sometimes sappy. Guests will be balling their eyes out, commented on how perfect the couple seem together.
Everyone will be urged to wear only man-made clothing (definitely no leather or fur allowed) and the food at the reception will be 100 percent vegan. Probably organic and local, too. Photographers will be in abundance, but most likely, there will just be a giant spread in People featuring Ellen and Portia: the wedding planner / officiants. You and your new spouse will be cropped out, because Ellen and Portia are so adorable.
JD Samson. Former Le Tigre member/current frontwoman of electro-dance band MEN would give a great wedding to all the anti-wedding hipster queers out there. You don’t want something traditional, and you’re probably more concerned with the after party, anyway. It’ll be more friends than family, and go late into the night with guaranteed good jams. PBR tall boys and shots of Jameson are probably more your speed than wine and champagne (besides, you don’t want to worry about cleaning up broken glass).
If you’re lucky, JD’s boo, Sia will come too and perform her hit “Clap Your Hands” while all your friends circle around for an old-fashioned dance-off. People will get sweaty, layers of clothing will come off, and you won’t remember half of it the next day. But you probably had a photobooth, so NBD.
Rachel Maddow. An RMadd wedding will not just be for the politically-inclined lesbians. I mean, Ana Marie Cox would probably be down for one, too. Just saying. While you may not be a political pundit to want Maddow to plan and lead your big gay day, most people in attendance will at least be pretty socially aware. Or just obsessed with Rachel (so like, any of us here).
The delivery of your ceremony will be elegant, poignant and funny (but not over the top). The reception will include a lot of schmoozing with important people you didn’t even know you knew but will make you see things so much clearer! Oh, and everyone will probably have changed into their flannel shirts and sneakers by then, making dancing or standing around chatting about the recent tax deal a lot more comfortable.
– by Jamie Murnane
Over at 365gay.com, this week’s edition of “Ask the Celebrity Expert” posed a tough question to out designer Patricia Field. What to do if you don’t like your girlfriend’s style?
Field is right. Beauty doesn’t come from a scarf. It comes from those amazing sunglasses she’s wearing!
Also amazing is the “It Gets Better” video from Sistas in the Pit:
Vote to fund a GLBT Film Endowment at the University of Florida Libraries via the Pepsi Refresh Project.
Out filmmaker Tina Mabry‘s acclaimed film Mississippi Damned is now on sale at the MD store, as is the gorgeous poster for the film.
Have you seen the disturbing yet compelling companion website for the film Black Swan? It’s www.ijustwanttobeperfect.com.
Out on DVD this week at Wolfe Video is the offbeat lesbian dominatrix comedy My Normal, and available for pre-sale at a special discounted rate is A Marine Story (which comes out March 1, 2011). Here’s a list of U.S. Senators who might benefit from watching the powerful drama about being gay in the military.
Whoopi Goldberg is voicing her support for marriage equality, and board member Jane Lynch is asking you to share the wealth with L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.
Check out Antigone Rising on Women’sRadio!
Erasure have just released a new version of “A Little Respect” recorded with youth chorus students from the Harvey Milk School. Proceeds from the track will benefit The Hetrick-Martin Institute and True Colors Fund. You can buy the song here.
Season 3 of RuPaul’s Drag Race premieres January 24 on Logo and will feature guest judges Margaret Cho, Eliza Dushku, Carmen Electra, Susan Powter, Amber Rose, Rita Rudner, Sara Rue, Chloë Sevigny, Cheryl Tiegs, Lily Tomlin, Alessandra Torresani, Aisha Tyler, Jody Watley, and Vanessa Williams.
The nominees for the 2011 Writers Guild Awards have been announced and include nods for some of our favorite LGBT-friendly shows, including Boardwalk Empire, Glee, Nurse Jackie, Mad Men, and The Good Wife. Winners will be announced on Saturday, February 5, 2011.
The season finale of Lost Girl airs on the Canadian Showcase network this Sunday, December 12.
Our 2010 Visibility Awards polls are open until midnight tonight (Friday, December 10). Vote now, and we’ll announce the winners on Monday, December 20.
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.
