Also.Also.Also: Kate McKinnon Is Starring in Margot Robbie’s Barbie Movie, Barbie’s Now a Lesbian, We Don’t Make the Rules

Feature Photo of Kate McKinnon by Paul Morigi/Getty Images

This is coming out a little late because I lost track of time goofing with my friends online. My most professional moment? No. But it’s honest, and I hope you can respect that.


Queer as in F*ck You

Here Are All the LGBTQ+ Olympians Who Have Won Medals at the Beijing Games (So Far)

How the Black Queer Community Is Re-Imagining the Family Tree “LGBTQ groups like SisTers PGH, Bklyn Boihood and Destination Tomorrow are building chosen families for Black queer people who were disowned by their birth families.” I love SisTers PGH and Bklyn Boihood and I love seeing them get their flowers!

New Zealand Just Became the Latest Country to Outlaw Conversion Therapy

Vanessa and Ro picked this out for you! The Erotics of Grief: Mourning My Leather Life Before COVID-19 by DaemonumX for LOGO! (If you want more DaemonumX, you can also read her many works for us! Just saying.)

And finally, Kate McKinnon Is Joining Greta Gerwig & Margot Robbie’s Barbie Movie. So you just know I’m going to bring back all of our lesbian Ken’s.


Saw This, Thought of You

Here I am! Dispatching the online discourse for you to read! Have you seen those “vibe shift” memes on Twitter the last two days? If you have, great — here’s the source! If you haven’t, the chances that the “vibe shift” has already passed you is strong and either way, you should read this article if you want to contemplate your own looming mortality and Youth Culture (TM): A Vibe Shift Is Coming

The Moral Danger of Declaring the Pandemic Over Too Soon. From the author, Gregg Gonsalves: “This was incredibly painful to write. It brought up terrible memories of the worst of the AIDS epidemic. All that death. All that suffering. All that pain.” Not to be depressing, but this is your must read of the night.

Also.(also.also): Why Were Scientists So Slow to Study COVID-19 Vaccines and Menstruation?

How UPN Ushered in a Golden Decade of Black TV — and Then Was Merged Out of Existence. A timely reminder that I wouldn’t be who I am today without Moesha!

Also in pop culture news, ‘Law & Order’ Is Having an Identity Crisis (Related, have you ever read our Yes All Cops, Even SVU’s Olivia Benson?)

OLYMPICS TIME! From the editor this piece, Michelle Garcia: “At first, thinking about this story on Black figure skaters and tights, I was kinda like, “OK, could be good,” but after editing this I’m absolutely enraged on Black figure skaters’ behalf at the indignity some have to face just to compete or perform.” What the Lack of Tights for Black Figure Skaters Says About the Sport

And while we’re here! More Olympics/Skating, The Culture of Child Abuse That’s Poisoning Figure Skating

How a Beloved Orange Tabby Cat Became a Voice for America’s Union Workers


Political Snacks

Judge Says Trump, Adult Children Must Testify in New York AG Probe

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

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