GLAAD Says SNL’s Estro-Maxx Skit is Transphobic and Even Less Funny Than SNL Usually Is These Days
If you are one of those people who a) has a TV and b) watches Saturday Night Live even though Tina Fey isn’t on it anymore, you may have seen an SNL sketch this week advertising a false product called “Estro-Maxx.” You may also have flipped a shit over how transphobic it was, and consequently either changed the channel or kept watching even though you were disgusted because wasn’t this the one with Nicki Minaj?
As is its custom, GLAAD has issued a demand for an apology, and started an online petition for Saturday Night Live to respond. Their statement reads:
In the January 29 episode of Saturday Night Live, NBC broadcast a dangerous and blatantly anti-tansgender segment which they called ‘Estro-Maxxx’ – the punch line of which was the lives of countless transgender people across the country.
The piece was a mock commercial for estrogen replacement therapy and featured men with facial hair wearing dresses, meant to represent transgender women. This segment cannot be defended as “just a joke” because there was no “joke” to speak of. The attempted comedy of the skit hinges solely on degrading the lives and experiences of transgender women. Holding people up for ridicule simply on the basis of their identity fuels a hurtful climate and puts people in danger, especially given how infrequently the media shines a fair and accurate light on the lives of transgender people. “The violence, discrimination and harassment that transgender Americans experience each and every day is no laughing matter,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “Saturday Night Live is a touchstone of American comedy, but Saturday’s unfunny skit sends a destructive and dehumanizing message.”
See that? What they did there? They made a logical and solid point about when things are funny and when things are not funny. This is a disappointing story in terms of the sickness of our national climate and the casual cruelty of our media culture and the willful ignorance of The Average American, but these things will only change when people understand WHY these things aren’t funny, or why it’s different when the joke is at the expense of marginalized groups.
From “Is GLAAD Humorless? Is it Just a Joke?” (the whole thing is worth a read):
From a pure script standpoint, this sketch is not at all anti-transgender and is actually rather respectful. In fact, some transgender people might agree with lines like “nature got in the way.” But the fact that the sketch gets all of its laughs from visual gags, aside from Brittain’s line, undermines that respect entirely. In fact, the respectful dialogue almost makes the sketch even worse, and here’s why.
By having the actors play these transgender characters more like straight men, this sketch is telegraphing how it really feels about transgender people; they’re actors, pretenders, and ‘men in dresses.’ Two of the characters even have obvious facial hair, one of whom has purposefully groomed his into a mustache. And by playing their appearances for laughs, the sketch is telling the audience that no matter how seriously transgender people take themselves, that doesn’t mean you have to take them seriously.
It’s not “just a joke,” and it’s not that GLAAD doesn’t “get the joke,” because there was not a single ‘joke’ in this entire sketch, unless you think the appearance or acceptance of a transgender person is funny. SNL should be better than this.
COMEDY should be better than this.
Is GLAAD overreacting? Opposing Views says no:
“Yes, it’s true that SNL pokes fun at people of all shapes and sizes, races and genders, backgrounds and political leanings. But they poke fun at their behaviors or their mannerisms or the way they react in certain situations. They don’t poke fun at them just for being who they are.
From a really basic creative standpoint — a spoof has to point out the ridiculousness of the original — like the idea of spreading a magic potion on your head to grow hair overnight, or that the best way to get skinny is to hold a vibrating weight in your hand. But the fact that you need to take Estrogen more than once a day isn’t really problematic, ridiculous or funny and furthermore, it’s never advertised on television! And if the idea is to poke fun of ads for bio-women’s estrogen pills, it seems like the more effective ad would be more akin to this ad spoof of Annuale and have nothing to do with transpeople at all.
An apt point to end on, from The Opposing Views article:
But just because something makes people laugh does not make it comedy. (There were lots of people laughing when I was shoved into a row of lockers or knocked down the stairs in junior high. I don’t think any of you would call that act, in and of itself, comedy.)
Video! Interviewing Out Lesbian Amber Heard, Others, at GLAAD’s 25th Anniversary Party
“The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s LGBT media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, marked 25 years of service to LGBT Americans.”
Autostraddle design director Alex Vega and Autostraddle Calendar girl Miss April (and Host-with-the-Most) Sarah Croce hit the grey/blue carpet in Los Angeles on December 3rd to talk to the likes of Chaz Bono, Wilson Cruz, Amber Heard (obviously), and “Pioneer Award” recipient Jonathan Murray (executive producer of The Real World, Road Rules and Project Runway) about gay things and GLAAD.
Richard Jennings, former President & Executive Director of GLAAD, was also honored at the event with the GLAAD Founders’ Award.
It was a great event for an organization that we still very much need on our side, fighting for our community in the media. As it said on the screen at GLAAD’s event: words and images matter.
In between the honorees and guests speeches, they played video clips of GLAADs history since 1985. Sounds boring? It was not. I almost cried and I never cry.
Ten Things That Are Purple, Like The LGBTQ Spirit Day Shirt You Wore Last Week
I’ve been trying to write this post since LGBTQ Spirit Day, which happened last Wednesday and went like this:
… Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month… honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it’s also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them.
Purple symbolizes ‘spirit’ on the rainbow flag, a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.
As one of the event’s Facebook pages says: “This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple.”
Literally every time I start to write this post, someone else dies (or not) and then I write about that instead, and then I’m playing Scrabble in the backyard, shielding the sun from my eyes, lamenting our country’s inability to magically transform along with the weather at nightfall into the things I’ll dream about later on. Not literally the things I dream about. But in spirit. I still have this sorta naive/sheltered idea that it’s possible for things to change dramatically even in our own lifetime, if somebody could just find the right words. I think that’s what I like/d about Obama. I think that’s why writers and journalists loved Obama, too, because we wanted to believe in the power of his unbeatable rhetoric. I think that guy has the right words. How do we make him say them.
I’m not sure what it looks like on the ground. What was Spirit Day like in your school and home?
I found myself wondering “would Asher Brown have worn a purple t-shirt to school, if he’d lived for this day?” Because maybe not. Would those eschewing purple have made a subtle but nevertheless audible statement themselves, would their refusal make things seem worse in parts of the country where things were already bad? Would I have worn purple, if it’d happened when I was young? If my friends wore purple shirts, I would’ve worn one too. That would’ve been the only factor, really.
The point is the conversation, of course. Purple starts the conversation, and it’s also my favorite color. Purple shows Asher Brown that people care
Spirit Day means something because it started conversations. That’s the thing. And all the famous people wore purple, at least.
However, now that it’s taken me an entire week to write this post, Spirit Day is no longer newsy and so therefore I was forced to change the topic of this post into something less time-sensitive. Like The Color Purple itself!
I have changed the Topic of the post from “Top Ten Best Parts of Spirit Day” to “Top Ten Best Parts of Being the Color Purple.”
Top Ten Super Awesome Purple Things
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10. TEGAN’S SHIRT ON SPIRIT DAY
This is Tegan, right? I consulted with a semi-expert but I can never be too sure.
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9. Jimi Hendrix – Purple Haze
Jimi Hendrix is dead, which is unfortunate because JIMI HENDRIX IS GOOD. Purple Haze is kindddaaaaaa a drug anthem/”archetypical psychedelic drug songs of the sixties.” It’s from the 1967 album Are You Experienced from THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE.
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8. Purple Muppets
The Muppet Wiki is one of my favorite places on the internet. Here’s all the muppets that were made from the “purple rod puppet” prototype. One puppet and so many possibilities.
Some purple muppets worth noting:
The Hipster: “a jazzy character who appeared in the Sesame Street version of the “Visual Thinking” sketch, alongside the Square.”
The Purple Hippie: Performed “Good Morning Starshine” along with Bob in the first season of Sesame Street.
Big Bippadotta: The inspiration for scribegrrrl’s fashionable face, Big Bippadotta is most famous for performing the nonsense song “Mahna Mahna.”
Teresa: This trailblazing lady decided to apply her skills as a seamstress to a new career as a medical surgeon, inspiring women all over the world to go to med school and accrue debt and then work as a doctor to pay it off.+
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7. Everyone Looked Super Cute in Purple on Spirit Day to Support LGBT Youth!
SUPER FAMOUS Participants in The Spirit Day Spirit included Hilary Clinton, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Keith Olberman, Ellen DeGeneres, Kristin Chenoweth, Dixie Chicks, Chris Colfer, Rickie from My So-Called Life, Kathy Griffin, Perez Hilton, Jewel, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Lea Michele, Ani DiFranco, Kate Walsh, Chely Wright, Lea Salonga and Alyssa Milano.
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6. Bishop John Shelby Spong’s Shirt:
Have you read his manifesto yet. You really should.
I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is “an abomination to God,” about how homosexuality is a “chosen lifestyle,” or about how through prayer and “spiritual counseling” homosexual persons can be “cured.” Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy… The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn’t.
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5. The Color Purple
The Color Purple is a very good book with homosexual tendencies. Also a movie, also a musical, also a color and that color is you guessed it PURPLE.
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4. Johnny Weir’s Army of One T-Shirt:
Um, where do we begin? To tell a story of how great Johnny Weir’s hair can be?
In Johnny Weir’s Army, asking and telling is a bit easier. You just have to get a t-shirt! All the proceeds go to the Trevor Project which works to prevent suicide especially in the LGBT youth communities.
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3. Harold & The Purple Crayon
This is a fantastic book about how even if you are gay, you can draw a path for yourself and then walk on it. Also you can create the sun, moon and stars from a blank canvas, even if you live in Greenland.
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2. Purple V-Neck T-Shirts from American Apparel
You can get a tri-blend v-neck in Orchid for $12.99 right now just saying. Or a Unisex Deep-V t-shirt for $8.99. Then every day can be spirit day.
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1. 19,000 Tumblr Re-Blogs of this Graphic:
CBS Gays Up, Invents 3 Homosexuals to Fill the Void GLAAD Rated
The GLAAD Equality index gave CBS a failing grade for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender representation. Although we assumed this was related to CBS’s continued dedication to airing new episodes of Two and a Half Men, that’s not the case: CBS simply doesn’t have any homogays on its shows. In an unprecedented move for a company in America, CBS is pulling a Book of Genesis and whipping up some gays for ‘ya. I mean, how hard could it be, right? Just find those people with like three lines and make them lesbians. At the very least, they could assign a secret lesbian past to some of the dead bodies scattered about on Cold Case, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York, or Criminal Minds, amirite?
After receiving failing grades from the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation for three consecutive seasons for the inclusiveness of its prime-time programming to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, CBS announced today it will add gay or lesbian characters to three series.
The brother of the attorney played by Julianna Margulies on the legal drama “The Good Wife’ will be gay, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said during the network’s presentation at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
The surrogate mother of the child of Jeff (Patrick Warburton) and Audrey (Megyn Price) on the comedy “Rules of Engagement’ will be a lesbian and there will be a gay recurring character on the new comedy “S#*! My Dad Says,’ Tassler said.
GLAAD’s fourth annual Network Responsibility Index released Friday found the 7 percent of CBS’ prime-time programming from June 1, 2009 to May 31 was lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender inclusive, the vast majority of which came from the network’s reality programming.
Of course, some asshats are understandably putting hats on their asses and then speaking blankly into the air:
Dan Gainor, vice president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Culture and Media Institute, a media watchdog group on cultural institutions, told City News Service, “two groups of people care about this — GLAAD and their buddies in Hollywood.’
“They don’t care anything about what viewers or particularly parents want,’ Gainor said.
“Every study shows that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender are a very small portion of the population, a couple percent. They expect them to be in every program. To satisfy a complaining, popular, left-wing group, CBS is caving in immediately, re-writing programs.
“If conservatives complained about something, would CBS quickly turn around and make three of its characters Christian? Of course not. That’s not how Hollywood works,’ he said.
Well. Hopefully this means our Design Director will be a shoo-in for Survivor. They could throw her onto the island right now. What the hell, we’ll all go. Let’s make a lesbian Survivor. It would be like The Real L Word, but in houses made out of sticks and drama.
Or, they could’ve made any of these ladies into lesbians!!!
It’d be great if John Cryer became a lesbian on Two and a Half Men, because my Mom looks like Duckie, and she’s a lesbian.
In conclusion, I’m sure CBS will find some lezzers to trap in the Big Brother House (a show which nobody on Team Autostraddle is able to explain/watch/understand, seriously we don’t get it, you just watch people lie around the house all day? Visually, I am not grabbed. Are there prizes to be won? Challenges? How is this show even still on). Because we ain’t watching The Good Wife unless you change it to be The Good Wives, and also legalize gay marriage. Anyhow good job CBS! Maybe since y’all own Logo you could get some lesbians on that channel too. Just an idea.
I Believe That Children Are Our Future (For Gays on TV)
Every year GLAAD releases its Network Responsibility Index, effectively spoon-feeding the lesbian media a headline-worthy dirge on how, despite any apparent overall progress, gay men far outpace queer women on television. Yes, we had some artificially enhanced record-breaking years thanks to The L Word, but that’s over now. This year, like every year since the NRI began, we’ve been told to applaud a handful of queer-inclusive networks and scold another handful of homo-invisible networks and this year, like every year, this visibility feels awfully invisible to us. (Personally, I imagine the problem is twofold: television lacks WOMEN, let alone lesbians, playing roles that would pass The Bechdel Test.)
So I’m not gonna talk about the lack-of-ladies. Instead I’m gonna talk about how this year’s survey shows something that political polls have also revealed in spades: the kids are alright (with us).
The difference in support for gay rights is about 35 percentage points more among the young than the old. Similarly, networks with the highest ratings from GLAAD are also the networks with the youngest viewerships and the most prominent GLBT characters are getting younger, too. And this index only ranks the top ten cable networks, so we’re not even counting Bravo, Logo, or Teen Nick.
About the Index:
The fourth annual GLAAD Network Responsibility Index is an evaluation of the quantity, quality and diversity of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people on television. It is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBT media representations.
Let’s look at this year’s top scores!
1. MTV – 42%
The 2009-2010 GLAAD Network responsibility index gave MTV its highest rating ever:
Of the 10 cable networks evaluated, MTV posted the largest increase (+25%) and ranked highest for LGBT-inclusive original content. Out of 207.5 total hours of original primetime programming, 87 (42%) hours included LGBT impressions. This year, MTV becomes the first network, cable or broadcast, to receive an “Excellent” rating in this report due to the quality and diversity of its many LGBT impressions.
Obviously, MTV is the number-one rated 24-hour ad suported cable network among the 12-24 demographic.
MTV History: When MTV was born and still had a soul, that soul was an open-minded teenager eagerly energizing the YOUTH OF AMERICA, encouraging them to ROCK THE VOTE and UNDRESS and STOP BEING POLITE AND START GETTING REAL. They even hired not-conventionally-attractive VJs and played a lot of good music and are essentially responsible for proving the vitality of the teen/20something market to The Man. Undressed, with little fanfare, executed more gay storylines in a week than an entire year of CBS. The Real World has always been noted for its GLBT inclusivity (or tokening) and in the early 90’s even featured out gay HIV-positive Pedro. The True Life series included topics like I’m Coming Out, The Life of a Gay High School in Texas, I’m Gay and I’m Getting Married, I’m Bisexual, and I’m Changing my Sex. Queers have also been included on MTV dating shows like Room Raiders and Fifth Wheel.
But you know. They’re also responsible for shit like this:
Though they air 75% crap at this point, MTV is apparently still repping its gays… either because they actually care, or because they’re responding to demand in a more GLBTQ-inclusive youth culture.
Did MTV lead the way for kids to grow up thinking gay people were just like everybody else? Or has MTV simply reflected what’s always been so: that teenagers just don’t hate like their grandparents do? When you look at the Youth of America, you see gay people. And gay people, in turn, would like to see themselves.
Who Are These People?
The Real World: Washington D.C. featured two bisexual roommates: Christian athlete Mike Manning and adorbs midwesterner Emily Schromm. The Real World: Cancun featured gay roommate Derek, and bisexual roommates Emilee and Aiiya.
Transgender contestants appeared on Making His Band (Jailia Simms) and Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew (Leiomy Maldonado). The rest of Leiomy’s dance crew, Vogue Evolution, was openly gay. Season Five featured Static Noyze, a crew with a gay member. Also, a gay contestant won Paris Hilton’s My New BFF, which may or may not be a good thing.
Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat 2 featured returning transgender contestant Katelynn Cusanelli and bisexual contestant Sarah Rice. Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins featured lesbian and bisexual contestants Sarah, Eve, and Shauvon.
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2. ABC Family – 37%
ABC Family scored second to MTV in inclusivity ratings, which might surprise you as ABC Family was once upon a time owned by the Christian Broadcast Network. But they sold that shit to Disney in 2001, and as you know Disney birthed our Lady Lindsay Lohan’s career and The Mickey Mouse Club (aka Britney Spears/Justin Timberlake’s loveshack) and also I think Snow White, so.
Now it’s gone super-teen, even though it occasionally submits us to terrible atrocities like Britsol Palin on The Secret Life of the Fertile American Teenager:
ABC Family, a network new to the NRI this year, is also noteworthy for its debut in second place. Of the network’s 98 hours of original primetime programming, 36.5 (37%) featured LGBT-inclusive content. ABC Family has recently become a ratings powerhouse in basic cable and is likely to become a strong presence in our future reports.
Who Are These People?
ABC Family’s gays include Greek’s college students and fraternity brothers Calvin and Grant, The Secret Life of the American Teenager‘s high school freshman Griffin, and Baby and Mandela, high school lesbians voted cutest couple in now-canceled 10 Things I Hate About You.
Though Greek will end this year, Pretty Little Liars seems prime to pick up where Greek left off with Emily and Maya, who we’ll return to this week with a follow-up mini-recap (hopefully!).
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3. The CW – 35%
CW is the only broadcast network with a median audience age under 40 and the youngest audience among its broadcast competitors by almost a dozen years. And COINCIDENTALLY it’s the top-ranking broadcast network in the GLAAD index:
After three years in second place, The CW is now the top broadcast network in this report with 198.5 (35%) LGBT-inclusive hours out of 570 total hours of original programming. This is the highest percentage ever recorded for a broadcast network since this report’s inception. The CW’s programming also reflected greater LGBT and racial/ethnic diversity than any other broadcast network.
Who Are These People?
The CW’s queer representation includes contestants (all under 25) and judges on America’s Next Top Model, high schooler Eric Van der Woodsen and two of his ex-boyfriends on Gossip Girl, bisexual Ella Simms on Melrose Place, Rumer Willis in a recurring role as Gia and the girl she dated Adriana on 90210, One Tree Hill‘s Josh (One Tree Hill is the leading primetime program for teenage girls), and the new hit series The Vampire Diaries revealed that Caroline’s father is gay.
The Beautiful Life, which was on for about a minute, featured a gay villain named Simon. Privileged featured African-American Chef Marco. The new reality series High Society featured an openly gay Latino socialitie named P.J and occasional guest spots from gay African-American socialite Malik So Chic.
Television History: The CW network was created by combining UPN & the WB, back in 2006, and what shows essentially defined and drove the success of The WB? Dawson’s Creek, obvi, with this fine young homo blazing his trails…
… and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with these two lovely ladies:
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4. Fox – 30%
After the CW, Fox has the lowest median audience age on network television, and unsurprisingly therefore is, after the CW, the highest-ranked broadcast network on GLAAD’s list:
Fox continues its ascent in the NRI rankings this year by moving into second place with 235.5 (30%) LGBT- inclusive hours out of its 781.5 total hours of original programming.
Obvi Fox got a major boost from Glee‘s Kurt Hummel and was secondarily rounded out by a bulk of gay hours starring Ellen Degeneres as a host on American Idol. Adam Lambert‘s guest appearance even scored a few gay points for the network.
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So, what comes first, the chicken or the egg? Are kids more accepting because they see more gays on TV? Are more gays on TV because it more accurately depicts high school and college life these days? Do we need more grown-up gays on television? Is Modern Family and the cranky lady on ER enough? Is the cranky lady still on ER? Is ER still on? Is this thing on?
I think the first gay character I ever connected with on TV was this kid. What about you?
GLAAD Asks Newsweek for Apology (Though This Isn’t Its First Anti-Gay Offense)
GLAAD AND NEWSWEEK:
God, it’s just so satisfying when Mom agrees with you, isn’t it? This statement from GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios, agreeing with sentiments raised by Kirsten Chenoweth (first reported on Autostraddle.com), Ryan Murphy and many others:
“Whether he intended it to or not, Ramin Setoodeh’s article in Newsweek sends a false and damaging message about gay actors by endorsing the idea that there are limits to the roles they are able to play.
If Setoodeh wanted to start a discussion about the work of gay performers, he undermined his own premise by affirming stereotype after stereotype, such as gay actors being ‘insincere’ or unbelievable when playing romantic leads, and dismissing or disregarding the work of actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, Wanda Sykes, Jonathan Groff and Alan Cumming, among others.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender actors can play a wide variety of diverse roles and Setoodeh’s perspective on this issue reflects his own discomfort that he attempts to project onto the audience by indicting Sean Hayes instead of examining his own inability to embrace gay actors in straight roles.
Since the article’s publication, Setoodeh has attempted to reframe his opinion piece as an analysis of the lack of gay men in leading roles, however, he continues to posit that gay male actors are not believable. In his May 11th interview with Joy Behar, Setoodeh claims about Neil Patrick Harris’ television role: ‘He’s not really a romantic lead where women are actually supposed to believe him as a heterosexual character.’
Whatever Setoodeh’s intentions or beliefs, Newsweek is ultimately responsible for having published this deeply problematic essay and consciously or not, promoting and encouraging Setoodeh’s discomfort.
GLAAD has been in dialogue with Newsweek to provide space for views on the subject that expand their readers’ understanding of this issue past the harmful attitudes of writers like Setoodeh, whose perspective is used to pressure gay actors to stay closeted.
GLAAD also joins Glee creator Ryan Murphy in urging Newsweek to issue an apology.”
This is probs quite a shock to Setoodeh, who went largely unopposed by Joy Behar last night, has seemingly rarely been fact-checked or asked by his editors to provide examples, and has been writing offensively for a while, as we covered the first time we called him out.
Honestly, it’s gotten to the point where normally we’d start to feel mean. But there’s something special about Setoodeh, and insidious about his reach, that makes this continue to matter. 
Setoodeh’s work for Newsweek is so covertly anti-gay that it’s exactly the kind of thing you could imagine reading if you were say, your Mom, or even yourself ten years ago, and you can imagine thinking (though you’d smack your enlightened head over it now), “oh yeah, good point.” Because it’s not THAT over-the-top. It’s packaged neatly inside of Setoodeh’s own homosexuality and his belief, inherent in his prose, that he’s raising “important issues” rather than exhuming ancient, pervasive, damaging stereotypes we ought to be actively “sweeping under the rug.”
Because if it was the kind of issue that didn’t much matter to you, you just might agree with him sometimes. Which is why watchdog agencies like GLAAD exist. Because for most of America, our issues are something they feel they can afford forming benign opinions on.
A look back at his body of work:
July 2008 Newsweek Cover Story: Young, Gay, and Murdered – Ramin blames the victim in the case of 15-year-old murder victim Lawrence King, saying that “the reason Larry died isn’t as clear-cut as people [who are labeling it a gay-bias crime] think.” who are labeling it a “gay-bias crime.” The story is framed with such alleged tenderness, but the implicit message is a stunner:
“A 15-year-old boy told family and friends he was gay. He dressed flamboyantly; he hit on a classmate. His murder made clear that issues of sexuality, at such a young age, can have heartbreaking consequences.”
Read a breakdown of exactly why this is so freaking offensive at the Box Turtle Bulletin.
March 2009: In March, Setoodeh wanted to make a point about AIDS on television post-Pedro, and so he made some shit up, as addressed by Jack Mackenroth in his blog, titled Inaccurate Newsweek Article by Ramin Setoodeh: “[Setoodeh’s] article implies that it was some deep dark secret which could not be further from the truth. This sends a horrible message to the HIV+ community. I think it was very irresponsible of him to not fact check his article before he published it.”
Nov 2009: Kings of Queens: Does Television’s Gay Influx Promote Stereotypes? – Ramin postulates that we lost the same-sex marriage vote in Maine and California (and have lost every time same-sex marriage has been put to a popular vote) because of effeminate gay men on television, contrasting the alleged progress made in the era of Jack of Dawson’s Creek and Will of Will & Grace compared to the anti-gay legislation passed in the era of Glee, Ugly Betty, Project Runway, Modern Family and Adam Lambert.
DON’T ASK DON’T TELL:
I think that the good men in Afghanistan are trying to save the US some cash on that “in-depth investigation” by submitting their own research reports via YouTube. They’re okay with gay soldiers, y’all.
HAPPINESS:
Dates From The Server’s View – “The Tip: High to excessive, Jim’s tip says, ‘I’m leaving you an extra twenty because the world is beautiful. And I’m about to get laid.'”(@nerve)
RELATIONSHIPS:
Have you checked out the frisky’s bi-weekly column Girl-On-Girl? Musings include “If only my parents had talked to me about sexuality when I was little” and “Have I become an angry lesbian?” (@thefrisky)
UNIVERSITY:
Marquette University listens to students after rescinding their offer to a lesbian professor. (@wisn)
VIDEO: AutoNatic Does GLAAD 2010 in LA – Glambert, The Lynch & More!
Relative to the entire timespan of human history, the Los Angeles GLAAD Awards occurred pretty much an hour ago. You already know who won, and you already know how cute everyone looked, but until you see Nat Garcia for AutoNatic at the GLAAD Awards 2010 in Los Angeles, you have no idea.
Watch Nat give a lot of high fives and interview our favorite people in the entire world including Adam Lambert, Constance McMillen, Wanda Sykes, JANE LYNCH BECAUSE THE LYNCH CAN DO NO WRONG, the ladies of The Real L Word, Bryan Batt aka Sal from Mad Men, Nicol Paone and more! Also, she gets Johnny Weir to pretty much come out on Autostraddle today, which is, coincidentally, on Cinco de Gayo! (more…)
Lady Gaga Rises, Lesbians Model, Crystal Chappell Goes Both Ways & Glambert Tops
LADY GAGA
Lady Gaga’s old friend, writer Brendan Sullivan, writes on “Lady Gaga Before She Was Famous” for Esquire Magazine’s “Women” issue:
“We went around the corner to some shithole, and after we had a few drinks and her music hit me again, I told her that even though I had been to the bar a hundred times, I suddenly felt as if I were in a Lady Gaga song — it felt different because of her. And it was true. Her music is about doing, and it’s about possibility. It’s exciting. You can hear her belief that there’s much more to come — sex, love, money, fame, exhibitionism, success.”
It’s a gorgeously well-written piece accompanied by a bunch of old photos of Gaga with according anecdotes. Even in the past, she was laying a foundation for how she’d be talked about in the future:
On Saturdays we would sit on the floor of her bare Lower East Side apartment, drinking wine from pint glasses. I would read drafts of my novel to her while she lay on the floor, head in my lap. Every once in a while we’d take a Springsteen break. (She loves “Thunder Road.”) She would use the drafts as blank pages to write notes, workshopping her career plan.
(@esquire)
CRYSTAL CHAPPELL:
Crystal Chappell of Days of Our Lives and the webseries Venice was in Colorado for HRC’s Mile High Gala, also attended by Real World DC’s Mike Manning. There she did an interview with OutFront Colorado where she once again confirmed that she is attracted to both men & women. Howevs, she is presently married to soap opera actor Michael Sabatino, sorry ladies!
MK: You are coming to Colorado as the special guest for HRC’s Mile High Gala, and many gay men and lesbians are huge fans of soap operas and of you. Why do you think that you are so popular with the LGBT community?
Crystal Chappell: I think it really began with the Otalia storyline on Guiding Light. It was a story that represented the gay and lesbian community, and at a time when there isn’t a lot of gay content out there. I think it really has a lot to do with the exposure of that story, and I have many, many gay friends and am a big supporter of equal rights. I am very grateful for the encouragement that the community gives me to keep moving forward.
MK: You play a lesbian character on Venice. What is that like for you as a straight woman and how did you prepare for your part?
Crystal Chappell: I did not have to do much to prepare. I am equally attracted to men and women and I like both genders, so it is not an issue for me. You are attracted to who you are attracted to and fall in love with who you fall in love with. This is who my character is – a gay woman. It wasn’t difficult to understand or portray her.
Crystal gave a similar answer in a TV Guide interview last year:
TVG: Alright, let’s send the Otalia fans into a tizzy — what’s been your gay experience in real life? I know you’re a human being first, but did you always have gay friends? Did you dabble/experiment? The fact that you have become a super-gay icon is not an easy feat to accomplish, but it’s clear you are a part of our community because you get us, much like Madonna.
CC: I’ve always had gay friends. To me, it’s a non-issue. I consider myself a very open and sexual person. Homo or hetero — it doesn’t matter; I’m available to life. I fell in love with my husband, but I could have easily fallen in love with a woman.
TVG: [Joking] OK, now I’m worried for Michael’s safety! [Seriously] Let’s talk about your kids, Jacob and Dylan. What do they know about the Otalia phenomenon and what have you taught them about homosexuality? I would venture to say that they are going to be pretty evolved adults when they grow up.
CC: Because we have such a large group of gay friends in our life, this is nothing new to them. But we did have to explain to them that gays can’t get married in the state of California. So they get it, but they know gays still have to fight for equality. As for Otalia, they treated it like any other love story I’ve played before. Listen, they were more traumatized by the fact that I ran Ava over with a car! [Laughs]
REAL L WORD:
Tonight Showtime is offering a sneak peek of The Real L Word: Los Angeles after Nurse Jackie and The United States of Tara:
Each cast member will tease her own individual story — the good, bad and sometimes ugly — that will be revealed in the nine-episode season, which will premiere on Showtime on Sunday, June 20th at 10pm PT/ET. The series is sure to challenge stereotypes and prove, unequivocally, that lesbians can be every bit as glamorous, fashionable, fabulous and even as cutthroat as those hetero housewives.
Also, Autostraddle.com’s Nat Garcia recently did a photoshoot for Lucky Dog Leather and Bound Magazine, featuring The Real L Word‘s Tracy Ryerson as well as Jill Bennett and Cathy DeBuono of We Have to Stop Now.
+
ADAM LAMBERT:
At last, the videos of Adam performing at the GLAAD Awards have come along! Here’s Adam performing FEVER, and you can see him do Music Again here.:
Other videos of note: Constance McMillen talking about how we all have the right to bring our date to prom, Wanda Sykes accepting her award and Drew Barrymore accepting her award.
Adam Lambert also dropped in at G-A-Y in London to promote the May 3rd UK release of his album, For Your Entertainment. Glambert is proving to be huge draw overseas as well as domestically — What Do You Want From Me is #1 in Germany and his June 5 show at Starland Ballroom is one of the fastest sellouts in venue history.
On the April 24, Jonny Weir tweeted: I refuse to fit into a box that is predetermined for me. I am happy living my life as it comes to me. Let me enjoy it. I love everyone, and Adam wrote back Hallelujah. (We think that’s how it went).
MELISSA ETHERIDGE: The Eth talks to Babble about Fearless Love.
Babble: What advice do you have for moms who have less traditional families?
ME: Live fearlessly — for yourself and your children. Know that the love you have for your kids is the only fuel they need and the only thing that will protect them and yourself. Know that love is more powerful than anyone’s fear or anyone’s misunderstanding of your life and your happiness.”
RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE:
RuPaul’s Drag Race two-and-a-half-hour finale extravaganza starts tonight at 9 on Logo! The season finale will be followed by an all-new episode of Untuckd and then an outrageous reunion special.
OMG, TONIGHT!!!! IMPORTANT: Tune in to LogoTV.com tonight for the massive ladyboy-fest that will be the Season 2 Finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race. From 8:30 pm to 10:15 pm ET Jon and I will be broadcasting live online from the Drag Race Finale event here in NYC. We’ll interview the 3 finalists, plus Pandora Boxx, Sahara Davenport and more!
And also during the finale tonight, you can join a Live-Blogging Finale Event at LogoTV.com featuring Michelle Collins of BestWeekEver.tv, Tanner Stransky of Entertainment Weekly, Jarett Wieselman of the NY Post’s PopWrap blog, Rich Juzwiak of VH1 Blog, Tom and Lorenzo of Project Rungay and others!
LINDSAY LOHAN:
Update on Lindsay Lohan’s album. (@prophet blog)
JILL SOBULE:
Jill Sobule, the original pop star who “kissed a girl” back in 1995, has a new side project dedicated entirely to professing her love of bears. (@queer sighted)
MODELING:
Probs gay Freja Beha Erichsen shot a new campaign with VOV. (@design scene)
GLEE:
Emily Nussbaum on GLEE:“For many viewers, the villainous cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) has been the show’s breakout star. But Sue doesn’t interest me as much as Chris Colfer, who plays an effeminate boy named Kurt… There have been other gay-teen plots, including the beautiful lesbian romance on Once and Again, and Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life. But there’s something at once original and old-fashioned about Glee’s evocation of doomed drag-queen longing in a young boy’s body.” (@nymag)
IN YOUR BOX OFFICE:
Episode Five of Julie & Brandy in Your Box Office is UP! Watch it now & Share Your Feelings!!
Glaad Awards 2010 Photos: Nat Garcia Meets Homostars on Red Carpet
The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards happened in Los Angeles on April 18th, 2010 and who was there? Pretty much everyone we love and more. We sent Nat Garcia to the red carpet accompanied by Rocco of Wingspan Pictures who filmed the shenanigans along with her photographer who took the pictures you see in the gallery below.
Drew Barrymore and Wanda Sykes were honored on Sunday night, and the photos it looks as though Nat got a lot of one-on-one time with Ms. Sykes herself.
I have so many questions besides why don’t I live on the west coast(?!), like: isn’t Nat so cute in her little green dress?! Doesn’t Johnny Weir look so damn hugable?! Jane Lynch! Why does Adam Lambert have this hold on my heart? OMG NAT AND ADAM LAMBERT SHARED AIRSPACE. (more…)
GLAAD Awards 2010: Famous Lesbians With Unexpected Dates. Also, Adam Lambert.
Last night, Saturday April 17th, all the gaystars & allies came out for the 2010 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, California, hosted by Rickie Vasquez and Candis Cayne. Adam Lambert performed. Autostraddle.com sent Nat Garcia & Wingspan Pictures to the star-studded event and we’ll have their red carpet report for you later this week. In the meantime, we have web scavenger hunt coverage! (more…)
Adam Lambert Headlines GLAAD Awards: Big Gay Events Booking Big Queer Stars
A NEW ERA:
A few months ago, Out magazine complained that because of Out‘s Big Gay Agenda, Adam Lambert had allegedly been difficult & cagey about his photoshoot and interview for the Out 100. Lambert disputed the account, and it seems particularly absurd in retrospect: though Lambert admits he’s not up on gay issues enough to speak confidently about gay rights in interviews, he definitely hasn’t shied away from his gay identity. And now Lambert has signed on to perform at the 2010 GLAAD Awards. Straight allies have lovingly attended and been honored at the GLAAD Awards for years (to a fault), but never has a star with so much mainstream appeal as Adam Lambert been at our disposal. Yet despite his apparent comfort with his sexuality, GLAAD’s announcement somehow surprised us.
Is it because we’re gay media and therefore often dealing with the paradox of gay artists canceling interviews and straight artists eager for gay coverage that we’re surprised by such big-name gay affiliation? Is it the times that have changed, or did we just get lucky that so many chart-toppers happen to be homos this year?
Though President Obama’s scheduled spot at the HRC Dinner was surprising, Lady Gaga’s appointment and eager participation was somehow even moreso. Lady Gaga, presently (arguably) the most talked-about/popular new musical artist in the world, was eager to perform at our gay rights event!
And it was only a year ago that Lady Gaga, an out bisexual, headlined Club Skirts’ legendary Dinah Shore Weekend, and this year’s program is headed up by the inexplicably popular and apparently bisexual Ke$ha, who is more popular now than she has ever been (and likely ever will be) with two singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and the longest running number-one debut single by a female artist since 1977. It’s one thing to say you’re bisexual and quite another to posit yourself on stage at Lesbian Spring Break! And she’s doing another gay event the next week!
A few blocks down, Girlbar’s Dinah Shore Weekend party has roped the elusive DJ Samantha Ronson, who’s been out since the get-go but has essentially stayed away from gay politics and gay events.
We’ve always had popular queer musicians headlining our events, but not until recently have we snagged performers equally in demand by mainstream audiences/events.
And it trickles down; the “edge” and cool factor given to an event when it’s gay-affiliated has made even vacations and cruises totally acceptable — in fact awesome — venues for gay artists to book a gig. Because I mean really how punk rock is the chocolate buffet on the Norwegian Sunrise? But queer takeovers provide crucial edge.
Mostly we just are hoping that Adam and Tommy will make out again onstage at the GLAAD awards and then get awarded immediately as like, Makeout Vanguard Bandits.
MARLEE MATLIN:
Marlee Matlin Tweeted from the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, “I am so glad I’m DEAF! Every time they mention Justin Bieber or Taylor Lautner, 10,000 girls SCREAM here at Nickeodeon’s KCA … OMG they just slimed Katy Perry! Now Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus here at KCA. They are screaming so loud even I CAN HEAR IT!”
THE CLOSET:
In response to Ricky Martin coming out yesterday (I’m just FLOORED by that information. Really.), Gawker put up a list of the 10 People Who Need to Finally Come Out of the Closet, already! Most queers will already know this list by heart, with the exception of Kevin Spacey, though it might come as a surprise to the strais. (@gawker)
AUTONATIC:
Our dearest Natalie Garcia is gonna joining We Have to Stop Now, the websirees starring Cathy DeBouno and Jill Bennett:
Nat will be here on www.wehavetostopnow.tv LIVE conducting interviews in our members only section of the site with such folks as Suzanne Westenhoefer, Meredith Baxter and other contributing artists of the show including the creator, actors & musicians featured in the episodes and on the site.
Also, her show will debut on Autostraddle soon! We’re having a meeting tomorrow!
RICKY MARTIN:
GLAAD is happy that Ricky Martin came out: “When someone like Ricky Martin comes out, hundreds of millions of people now have a cultural connection with an artist, a celebrity and, perhaps most importantly, a father who happens to be gay,” Barrios said. “His decision to model this kind of openness and honesty can lead to greater acceptance for countless gay people in U.S., in Latin America and worldwide.”
KE$HA:
How Ke$ha divides the masses: Saturday Night Live skit gone too far, or amazing performer/superstar? (@jezebel)
WRESTLER:
Monday, the cat is out of the bag, so to speak: Pro Wrestling’s first openly bisexual wrestler hits the air: “Orlando Jordan is the character – and truly is bisexual, not just portraying a gay (or bi) character, as has been the norm in pro wrestling’s past. Jordan made his debut for TNA Wrestling on Jan. 4, with no hint that night of his sexuality. He walked to the ring for a February match accompanied by a male and a female.” (@outsports)
TILA TEQUILA:
What the fuck is happening to Tila Tequila? She goes to the grocery story all practically naked and shit, it’s like our bad dream is her chosen reality. (@ontd)
NICKI MINAJ:
bisexuals DJ Amber Rose & Nicki Minaj shot a video together. Meanwhile, Clutch Magazine writes The Deformation of Nicki Minaj: Why Black Women Are No Longer Enough for Hip Hop:
The vacancy of female rap artists have made such an astounding impact on the hip-hop generation that the emergence of someone like Minaj presents a peculiar mix of unpreparedness and prediction. Minaj isn’t merely a Lil’ Kim clone, she is the 21st century inheritance of post-modern branding, technological advancement and hip-hop male desire. In a music genre where authenticity is everything, Minaj’s (and camp) diligent attempts at packaging a distinct female hip-hop presentation with borrowed Barbie nuances and a rehearsed dialect in tow raises questions around the Minaj underneath it all.
BAD ROMANCE:
Jordan Catalano covers Bad Romance. It’s not about his car this time. (@buzzfeed)
GLAAD Awards 2010 Red Carpet, NYC: Robin Shoots!
The GLAAD Awards took place in New York City on Saturday night, and Robin and Taylor went out into the blustery day to capture the event. Taylor has some interviews with maintenance men which perhaps she will share with you soon.
In the meantime, check out the fantastic red carpet photos by Robin Roemer for Autostraddle.
Vogue Evolution
Sandra Bernhard
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon won the Vito Russel award, presented to an openly lesbian or gay member of the entertainment or media community for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia. Here’s Cynthia at a New York City Gay Marriage Rally in 2009:
Lesbian Batwoman Wins GLAAD, Felicia Day’s Interstellar Gayness
RUCKA GETS GLAAD:
Detective Comics, featuring Greg Rucka’s gay Batwoman, wins the GLAAD award for Outstanding Comic Book. Rucka’s Batwoman run follows the story of Kate Kane, an ex-soldier who takes crimefighting into her own hands following her DADT discharge. With such an amazing writer, it’s natural that the lesbian reinvention of Batwoman was handled with such grace and humor. Not to mention JH Williams’ inventive art. I mean, gay Batwoman could’ve gone really, really wrong. And I’m really glad it didn’t!
On the page featured below, Kate Kane, our intrepid lesbian Batwoman wears a tux (!!!) and was slow-dancing with another gay menswear-sporting lady just a few panels prior. Before some villians broke up all the good gay fun, of course. (more…)
Revealed! Glaad Awards Lesbian Nominees, J-Beals’ L Word Book, Tila Tequila’s Whereabouts
GLAAD: The nominees for the 21st Annual GLAAD Awards were announced yesterday. Cynthia Nixon will be specially honored because seriously, if you aren’t a Miranda, then WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? No really, Cynthia is gonna get the Vito Russo Award, named after a founding member of GLAAD and presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the community.
Last year Carlytron & Robin went in NYC and had a gay old time, and in Los Angeles our secret source attended and Ilene Chaiken wore Jenny’s garbage bag dress deflated and talked for a long time.
This year the award ceremonies will be held on March 13 in New York, April 17 in Los Angeles and June 5 in San Francisco.
A lot of things we like have been nominated including:
Ellen Degeneres for Outstanding Talk Show Episode (“Sirdeaner Walker Interview”) and also Oprah has been nominated in the same category for the day she had Ellen & Portia on! (“Ellen DeGeneres and Her Wife Portia De Rossi”)
The Outstanding Musical Artist Category should all get together and go on a big tour, they could call it True Colors or something, participants as follows: Brandi Carlile, Lady Gaga, Gossip, Adam Lambert and Otep.
For the teevee; Outstanding Drama Series includes Mad Men, Skins, True Blood, Grey’s Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters and nominated Comedies include Glee, Greek, Modern Family, United States of Tara and Beautiful People.
U People is up for Outstanding Documentary, Precious for Outstanding Film (also “I Love You, Man” — someone explain to me why this is?), Kathy Griffin: MY Life on the D-List and RuPaul’s Drag Race for Outstanding Reality Program.
Although this list is a big ol’ reminder that we’ve not let anyone entertain us this year besides Adam Lambert, we have indeed read/seen/DISCUSSED ON AUTOSTRADDLE almost all the nominees for for Outstanding TV Journalism, Magazine and News Articles, such as “Kept From a Dying Partner’s Bedside” (The New York Times), Uganda Be Kidding Me (Rachel Maddow), Total Transformation: Why Chaz Bono Decided to Change (Good Morning America) and Coming Out in Middle School (The New York Times Magazine).
THE L WORD: Jennifer Beals did an interview with SheWired to discuss her upcoming L Word book, which features photos she took behind-the-scenes as well as cast interviews. From the interview:
What I started to then was interview people as I showed them the photos because the photos from the first rehearsal ever brought up a discussion about how the show began and what our relationships were like when we first started and how we imagined things would be. And then you have a photograph of Mia Kirshner’s last day on the show and that elicits another conversation of how the show ended and how people felt about the way the show ended and what our relationships were like by that time. And certainly by that time we were like a family — functional and dysfunctional. Everybody had an opportunity talk about their journey. So I transcribed those interviews and put them in the book as well for us to have — for everybody to have.
The book will be available on February 1st from ColorCentric via LWordBook.com. All proceeds will go to charity. (@shewired)
RIHANNA: Rihanna is on the cover of W Magazine with a hawt photoshoot on the inside. (@ontd)
TILA TEQUILA: Tila Tequila has given an exclusive interview to Radar Online about Casey Johnson, and when she found out that Casey had died. She cries a lot and it’s pretty sad. Also I’d like to point out that we can not embed this video, so Radar Online way to go I bet you are gonna make a lot of money today!
Speaking of Radar Online, did any of y’all read RADAR magazine (in print) during any of its various incarnations? It was this cool Spy Magazine-ish effort with a ton of talent behind it that re-launched three times but went under every time despite its clear superiority over the rest of the universe.
In 2008, AMI purchased RadarOnline as the print version folded for the last time. Within a few months, Gawker began referring to the new website as “Zombie Radar Online,” and it bore no resemblance whatsoever to its intellectual/snarky predecessor besides the name. OH AMERICA. (@radaronline)
HISTORY OF TILA: Gawker also has a pretty compelling piece about what Tila Tequila’s life was like before all this — honestly, it’s interesting. (@gawker)
TABLOIDS: If you ever bought In Touch Magazine before, you should probs never buy it again. Here’s why: “In Touch, the magazine known for stories like “Brad Moves Out,” “Brad’s Moving Out,” and “Brad Feels Trapped,” changed directions this week: The cover features Sarah and Bristol Palin, holding babies, with the cover line: “We’re Glad We Chose Life.” (@jezebel)
BADDER ROMANCE: I know you thought nothing could be as awesome as Alex & Stef’s Bad Romance, but this is pretty awesome:
Will New Jersey Get Gay Marriage? Magic 8 Ball Says “Outlook Not So Good.”
MARRIAGE: New Jersey voters oppose gay marriage legislation by a slim margin, according to a poll released this morning by Quinnipiac. The New York Times reports that efforts to legalize gay marriages in New Jersey may be faltering and Queerty says they should give up ’cause everyone else lost already.
GLAAD: “It is disappointing that ‘Good Morning America‘ did not give Adam Lambert the opportunity to tailor his performance to their audience,” Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, told the New York Post. “‘Good Morning America’ confirmed that sexual orientation did not play a role in this decision. GLAAD advocated that ‘Good Morning America’ work with and host Adam Lambert and continue to host openly gay and lesbian performers and guests in the future.”
Clearly they gotta appease the masses, but really GLAAD, really? Couldn’t you say “informed us” instead of “confirmed”? This whole thing is just a big fat example of how everyone is so accustomed to hot women being sexualized with other women or themselves (keep in mind; this is not about out lesbians or butch women — that remains the final frontier of what America is willing to see on stage) and men sexualizing women that they honestly don’t even realize that the act they saw performed was scandalous precisely because we cannot handle seeing gay men sexualized in that way? It’s not homophobic, it’s just a result of the world we live in. If the audience can’t recognize their own unconscious bias — has effects in everyday life — we’ll never get anywhere.
NOT ABOUT MARRIAGE: Queerty presents the most touching video about love they’ve ever seen.
GAY PARENTS: Even if there’s been confusion lately about the goodness of gay parents, there’s one kind of parents I know I wouldn’t want — an ex-gay parent! Lesbian partner wins custody case against ‘ex-gay’ partner: A Rutland Family Court judge ordered a first-of-its kind parent custody change Friday in a child-visitation dispute involving a Virginia woman and her former lesbian partner who lives in Fair Haven. In a 21-page order, Judge William Cohen granted sole custody of 7-year-old Isabella Miller to her nonbiological but court-recognized parent, Janet Jenkins.
CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS: Guys, straight people just wanna commitment ceremony each other too Let’s all watch Julie Goldman and Kate McKinnon and remind ourselves that, even though marriage is still unequal, there are a lot of funny gays. (@guardian)
FILM FESTIVAL: The Academy Foundation has given $30,000 to the 2010 Outfest. (@variety) and The Southern Voice gets a $12k matching grant for new gay publication (@ajc)
MARIJUANA: The AMA’s reversal on marijuana: For all the debate over whether marijuana has medicinal value, arguments that the drug has significant palliative properties or that it has none suffer from the same flaw: There’s little scientific proof either way.
LAWSUIT: Lambda Legal is filing a lawsuit against the Atlanta police department for the raid on the Atlanta Eagle back in September. (@cnn)
Top Chef Challenges Lesbian Contestant, Kim Stolz Asks “Where Are the F*cking Women?”
On last night’s episode of Top Chef, lesbian contestant Ashley finds the bacheloette party challenge “beyond comprehension,” and wasn’t shy about saying so. Who was out of line — Bravo (Top Chef’s network), Ashley, or just the heteronormative world we live in? Autostraddle has feelings.
Teevee Posts! Also, check out our Reality Televisionary, including Project Runway and Top Chef premiere recaps as well as Intervention and America’s Best Dance Crew. Then, Carlytron gives us a dose of Televisionary awesomeness with Weeds Goes Gay, True Blood Gets Hypnotized and Nurse Jackie Hits the Pill-O-Matix.
Have you entered the AUTOSTRADDLE SUMMER SCAVENGER HUNT? Time is running out to participate in the best thing that has ever happened to you!
+ Arts & Culture
GLAAD ALERT: We were sitting here flipping through the Manhattan glaad event photo album on Queerty wondering why all the fancy gay events are seemingly soley attended by: 1)Gay men, 2)Straight women-who-love-and-entertain-gay-men and then we come to Kim Stolz, reading our fucking minds: “Whenever I go to a gay event, it’s all men…what is that? …Where are the fucking women? I find that the best events seem to have the men, so I don’t think that’s very fair. I want to get dressed up for some women sometime, you know?” Sidenote Carlytron & Robin were there, probs super dressed up for each other!! Anyhow THANK YOU KIM STOLZ. (@queerty/wireimage)
BLOODSUCKAHS: Is Evan Rachel Wood Playing a Lesbian Vampire on True Blood? “She’s not necessarily a lesbian,” Wood, 21, recently explained to me. “Her human partner is a girl, but I’m pretty sure she goes both ways [laughs]. I think vampires are like that in general.” (@e!)
LESBIAN LIVING A LIE: We don’t even know what to tell you about the answer to this. There are some confusing sections. Help! I’m a Lesbian married to a man: I know that I am a lesbian. I dream of being with a woman. However, I am married with one child. I love my husband, and I believe he knows in his heart I am gay.I don’t love having sex w ith my husband, but I do what I must in order to make him happy. I struggle with what I am doing. But our life is so good and comfortable, why change it?
DEGRASSI: Degrassi Goes Hollywood premiered last night at the Toronto Film Festival, and all the (kinda) stars came out for the show — Lauren Collins, Adamo Ruggiero, less the ones who have already moved to Hollywood for real, Aubrey Graham — aka rapper Drake (Jimmy in the wheelchair) and Shenae Grimes (now starring in 90210) . Also notably absent from the film are Melissa MacIntyre (Ashley) and Deanna Casaluce, who played lesbian Alex Nuñez, otherwise known as one half of famous lesbian relationship “Palex.”
Cassie Steele, Stacey Farber, Adamo Ruggiero, Lauren Collins, Jake Epstein and Jason Mewes
Daily Fix: The GLAAD Network Responsibility Index Makes Us Do Math to Uncover its Most Shocking Statistic (Lezwhat?)
Autostraddle wonders why they have the power when they keep fucking/fucking up: “Evangelicals, Rapists, Tramps & Thieves: Why Anti-Gay Leaders Love to Sin, Are the Sinners.” Maybe it’ll make you angry and you’ll wanna do something about it and you can read about The Lesbian Avengers: Dyke Power!
Sometimes instead of doing things we have our interns do things. This month they saw a musical about a bunch of hippies, a lifetime-style movie about a transsexual and a reading of a screenplay about these two girls in the old days who are in love: Intern Camp.
Autostraddle Special Report on
The GLAAD Network Responsibility Index:
GLAAD has released their report card Network Responsibility Index to tell all the networks who’s doing good with the gays and who needs some after-school tutoring from Alan Ball.
Methodology: For GLAAD’s third annual report, we divided our analysis of reports into two sections (network & cable) and found neither section provided statistics by sexuality/gender, therefore requiring us to read the entire report line by line to gather some info about the ladies. We suspect this decision was made because lumping gays, lesbians and transpeople together is less depressing for the lesbians and transpeople and we have enough problems as it is.
Perusing the entire 41-page pdf [excluding the section on Showtime which was confusing as it’s unclear if they’re counting The L Word or not as they exclude specific numbers on that show so we counted nothing from that network (if there was an all-gay-male show that we did include, that’d skew the stats, but there isn’t, so this is scientifically sound) (based on our own definition of “science”) and we only included the networks with full reports, rather than the little ones with blurbs at the end] we found 28 lesbian or bisexual female references (including a murdered lesbian astronaut and her girlfriend from an episode of Law & Order) and 86 mentions of gay or bisexual male characters. Most of those females were from Grey’s Anatomy or The Real World/Road Rules Challenge.
Of these, 9 queer females were cited as recurring characters, opposed to 35 queer males.
Look, we made you a graph!
We believe this gendered discrepancy is owed in part to the tendency of reality shows to select gay male judges because they are funny, have nice hair, and like to judge. Our other theory involves the patriarchy.
Other highlights of the report (we read it so you don’t have to!) include:
+ ALSO THE DEATH OF JENNY: “The cancellation of The L Word also means that the coming 2009-2010 TV season will be the first time since the premiere of Will & Grace in 1998 that there won’t be a mostly gay series on air.”
+ WHITEWASHED: “Television characters in general are predominately white, regardless of sexual orientation.”
+ CALLIE CARRIES THE TEAM: ABC is the top LGBT inclusive broadcast network network with props to Brothers & Sisters, Grey’s Anatomy and Dancing with the Stars (Lance Bass holler).
+ MR & MRS. JAY: “The CW leads all networks in terms of being inclusive of the African American/black LGBT community. The majority of these impressions are made on America’s Next Top Model because of the prominence of J. Alexander.”
+ HIGH HOPES FOR MELROSE: “The CW’s fall shows are ripe with opportunities … the highly anticipated reboot of Melrose Place takes place in gay Mecca West Hollywood … can make up for the shortcomings of the original.”
+ GLAADBERT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE: “By now everyone is aware that Lambert is gay, but he did not confirm this fact until recently … as such, American Idol was not counted as having any LGBT impressions.” (13)
+ SOMEONE NEEDS A SENSE OF HUMOR: “Family Guy aired an offensive half hour episode in which Peter was injected with the ‘gay gene” and proceeded to act out countless gay stereotypes.”
+ OBVS: “GLEE has excellent promise for LGBT inclusion.”
COME OUT LIZ LEMON: “Though NBC has stepped up … there is still ample room for growth. The Office could benefit from increaisng Oscar’s screen time … 30 Rock is infused with LGBT-inclusive humor but would be better if one of the show’s characters came out of the closet.”
+ HBO WINS: Out of 14 original shows, 10 feature LGBT-inclusive content, with True Blood leading the way … “Ball has used the persecution of vampires on True Blood as a thinly veiled allegory for obstacles faced by the LGBT community … however, HBO has room to grow in terms of lesbian and transgender representation.”
+ HOPEFULLY THEY’LL BE JUST AS INTERESTING AS KC HERSELF WTF: “The retooling of The Hills to focus on Kristin Cavallari presents an excellent opportunity to prominently feature some of Kristin’s gay friends.”
+ YOU DON’T SAY: “The level of visibility for lesbian and bisexual women on The L Word has yet to be matched by any show on broadcast or cable television since.”
+ OUR LITTLE SECTION: “NBC boasted the highest percentage of lesbian representations of any network, with 26% of NBC’s LGBT hours including a lesbian. CBS & Fox followed closely with 23% and 17%, respectively. ABC (6%) and The CW (3%) featured the fewest lesbian representations.”
+ UM BUT I THOUGHT KEN SEELY WAS GAY WTF: “History shows that A&E is a network not opposed to LGBT inclusion and yet this season it barely produced tow hours of content.”
The rest of the daily fix, after the jump!
Weekend Fix – GLAAD Awards San Fran & White House Correspondents Dinner & More!
Sooo … Saturday’s almost over and here we are, bringing you the daily fix at the day’s end — buttttt we’re kinda EXACTLY ON TIME actually early for tonight’s glaad media awards in San Francisco (guests include Chelsea Handler, South of Nowhere‘s Gabrielle Christian & Maeve Quinlan, Suze Orman, Chad Allen, QAF cast members, Gavin Newsom and our teenage mancrush Simon Rex) AND The White House Correspondents Dinner hosted by out lesbian Wanda Sykes (other guests include Mariska Hargitay, Chris Matthews, Demi Moore, Glenn Close, Alicia Keys, Natalie Portman, Felicity Huffman, Keith Olbermann, Tyra Banks, Meghan McCain, Kate Walsh; Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel).
So keep coming back to this post on Autostraddle all night (UPDATE: And tomorrow! ‘Cause there’s no glaad award stuff out there yet!) and we’ll give you what we always give you for important events: the most RAW haphazard thrown-together fourth-hand coverage of these two super-awesome and gay-star-studded events! Also, amazing:
“Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl), a Democrat, is attending as a guest of Fox News, and according to Us, he “hopes to be seated next to O’Reilly so that he can talk about his pro-Obama beliefs.” (source)
White House Correspondents, Glaad Awards and Daily Link Fix after the jump …
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GLAAD Awards Los Angeles: What is Ilene Chaiken WEARING?
The uber-wise Angela Chase once declared that “there’s something about Sunday night that makes you want to kill yourself.” Here at Autostraddle, we’re not into suicide, so from now on Sunday will be a day of happiness where we’ll only tell you about happy things, just like Jesus would’ve wanted.
Speaking of Jesus and the gays who love him — BONUS! Tonight this post starts early (it’s 2:44 A.M. EST) so we can bring you super-fast coverage of the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, California. This will be one of those evolving posts — check in today, check in tomorrow, you never know what’ll show up. Let’s begin. (UPDATE: The passionate people of Tibette.com have uploaded a bootleg vid of The L Word’s part — if you want to witness the Chaiken Awkwardness in all its glory!)
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Weekend Fix: Cat Cora Craves Cupcakes & Kids Can Be REALLY CRUEL
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Because we here at Autostraddle are insane, you can count on us to continue to entertain you all weekend long. Your feature today is Photoblogger Robin’s exclusive scoop on some past shoots she’s done with this year’s Dinah artists: Katy Perry [and her Jesus tattoo], Uh Huh Her and Lady GaGa.
Poppy! Iron Chef Cat Cora and her longtime partner Jennifer are interviewed in Life & Style this week, dishing about the baby boys they are preggers with together. Has anyone else wondered if they’re still having sex, and if so, are there special techniques for preggo-on-preggo sex? Does it bond the fetuses? Cat says she’s “not very comfortable” pregnant and has been craving spicy foods, cheeses, breads, tomato sauces and cupcakes.
Jen: “We were a little scared going through the hormones together — that’s a lot of emotion. But it worked because we have such a strong relationship.”
Cat Cora: “It just makes us more supportive of each other. We share maternity clothes and cravings!”
The piece is accompanied by an “Are Two Moms Better Than One?” sidebar featuring Melissa Etheridge & Tammy Lynn, Ro & Kelli and Sara Gilbert & Allison Adler. Their conclusion? A storm is coming! JK! “Two Moms are better than one.” Sigh. (more…)