the speakeasy Archives

P-Valley

the speakeasy

tv feature

P-Valley Has Changed the Rules of Black Queer Storytelling

A roundtable between four queer black writers about THEE show of the summer that united exceptional storytelling, with blackness and queerness and southernness, in ways we’ve never seen before.

Natalie —

Aug 19, 2022

jessica betts

niecy nash

celebrities (vapid fluff)

No Filter: Simply the Betts! Happy First Anniversary to Niecy Nash, Jessica Betts, and the Greatest Day of Our Gay Lives

August 31st 2020 was a day that shook all of us to our core — a previously assumed heterosexual actress dramatically announcing that she was not straight via stunning wedding…

Christina Tucker —

Sep 1, 2021

Asian American

netflix

In Never Have I Ever, Fabiola looks confused directly into the camera.

tv reviews

It’s Time to Talk about It, “Never Have I Ever” Has a Race Problem

Fabiola’s story taps into a real dynamic in queer communities, but “Never Have I Ever” couldn’t bring itself to actually identify the problem for what it truly is: racism.

himani —

Jul 26, 2021

the speakeasy

Patti LaBelle performs in the 1980s, crying with emotion into the microphone. she has on long dangly, sparkly earrings, bold make up, long nails, and her signature big hair pulled back.

first person

Somebody Loves You Baby: When Patti LaBelle Taught Me Black Femme Desire

After the song’s gentle teasing passes, Patti exclaims, “it’s me,” the somebody who loves you. I think of the women I have loved, despite the ways we have hurt each…

danijanae —

Jul 22, 2021

peacock

the speakeasy

tv reviews

Whatever You Thought “We Are Lady Parts” Was Going to Be, This Ain’t It

“Gone is Ayesha’s confidence. Gone is her swagger. All that’s left is a girl with a crush.”

Natalie —

Jun 29, 2021

queen latifah

the speakeasy

celebrities (vapid fluff)

Queen Latifah Honors Eboni, Her Love, and for a Moment Heals the Black Queer Kids BET Never Loved

How do you talk about the multiple (almost) coming outs of a celebrity who’s never really been “in” to begin with? Sunday night felt like whatever was opposite of death…

Carmen Phillips —

Jun 29, 2021

latinx

netflix

tv news & trailers

Exclusive Trailer Drop! Con Todo Netflix’s “Visions of Us” Is an Absolute Love Letter to Queer Latinx TV and Film

It’s one thing for white gays to line us up and tell our stories for a scorecard of ‘diversity points,’ it’s quite another when we’re given space to really do…

Carmen Phillips —

Jun 24, 2021

latinx

orlando shooting

Honoring the Pulse Nightclub shooting on its anniversary: A home photograph of an altar built in a living room with a collection of white table cloth, candles, and Puerto Rican flags.

first person

Building An Altar to Honor Pulse on Its Fifth Anniversary

“Building ofrendas unite the living and the dead; they give space for our stories to be held. I light candles and kneel before them to say prayers because doing so…

Carmen Phillips —

Jun 11, 2021

latinx

orlando shooting

A collage of all the lives lost at the shooting at the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse in 2016. Every photo is a close up portrait of each of the 49 faces.

first person

Five Years After Pulse, Queer Nightclubs Still Bring Both Freedom and Fear

“It’s taken me five years, but the feeling of joy, freedom, excitement, and fulfillment that I feel when I can dance to bachata with my queer kin, when I don’t…

Olivia Zayas Ryan —

Jun 11, 2021

hbo max

interview

In a still from the movie, Daphne Rubin Vega and Stephanie Beatriz play girlfriends Daniela and Carla. Carla is dipping Daniela while dancing.

movie features

Stephanie Beatriz and Daphne Rubin-Vega on “In the Heights” and Queer Latinas Finding Love in the Everyday

“To really be in a moment where I could fully inhabit and celebrate all those things that we call limitations. Or let me say that better, what we perceive of…

Carmen Phillips —

Jun 10, 2021

interview

the speakeasy

A collage of Leah Johnson side-by-side with her books. "Rise to the Sun" and "You Should See Me in a Crown"

book features

Leah Johnson Is the Toni Morrison of Queer YA, It’s Time We Get Real About That Fact

“I just want people to know that at the core of every book I write, I want to center black girls in their wholeness and show that you can be…

Carmen Phillips —

Jun 4, 2021

AAPI Heritage Month

autostraddle behind the scenes

af+

Editor’s Notes: On AAPI Heritage Month 2021

To exist as a queer/trans Asian/Pacific Islander means to put your stakes in the ground and to say, “I am all of these identities, and I exist, so therefore these…

himani —

May 31, 2021