Mary Lambert’s new video for Ribcage hits a cord. Featuring Angel Haze and K.Flay the video dark, but powerful. In an interview with FADER, Lambert explained the conception of the powerful song, which came after, she was blindsided on TV following her 2014 Grammy Awards appearance with Macklemore
I was asked without relevance or warning about my childhood abuse, as well as being raped in an army barracks as a teenager. I tried to respond as best I could, knowing that it was live television, but everything afterward was a blur. As soon as the cameras were off, I went into a full-blown panic attack. I didn’t know it then, but this same situation would happen multiple times in the year.”
I questioned so much after that interview. Have I done this to myself? Is this what happens when you are vulnerable and open? How do I take back control of the telling of my own story?”
I wrote ‘Ribcage’ because I was exhausted. I wrote it because my truth was hungover and needed a sarcastic joke. I wrote it because ‘Secrets’ was an optimistic version of vulnerability, and because self-empowerment doesn’t always come wrapped in a bow. I will continue to talk about my own sexual trauma when I feel safe enough to, and when I’m in control. I still believe in the power of vulnerability—that openness is the key to empathy, and that empathy is the key to human connection.”
Angel Haze is no stranger to controversy. The openly pansexual rapper has gotten into Twitter spats with fellow MC Azealia Banks (which Haze has since apologised for), they’ve hit back at the media for referring to them and their girlfriend Ireland Baldwin as “gal pals” (when they are anything but platonic) and Haze has even took their own record label on after they delayed their album release by several months. Now, Haze is using their outspoken nature to help inspire and uplift in a new MTV show called Truce.
In Truce, Haze partners up with Nev Schulman who some may know as one half of the team behind Catfish (the show which looks to expose whether online relationships are real or fake). The duo take on tough situations and act as mediators to help sort people’s problems out. The idea of course, is that not only will these people be able to see a opposing viewpoint to their own, but that viewers at home will learn something new too.
That was the case in a recent episode where Haze met a woman named Chiquina who was having difficulty accepting her bisexual daughter Briyonza’s sexuality. Chiquina told Haze that:
“You wanna know my thinking of guys dating guys and becoming gay? I think they got molested when they were younger…Girls, I think they just try stuff and I’m not gonna sit there and say if I let a girl lick on me that I wouldn’t like it. I mean, I know how I like to be licked. You know what I mean? So, this is how people get hooked on drugs: they try things.”
While Chiquina is certainly not alone in her opinion (unfortunately), her homophobic views meant that her relationship with her daughter was suffering. So, after a meeting with Chiquina, Briyonza and Briyonza’s girlfriend Advani turned sour, the rapper took Chiquina aside and explained that they haven’t spoken to their mother in 5 years due to similar views.
While Chiquina initially told Haze that they should be ashamed of themselves for not talking to their mother, Haze responded with “No, she ought to be ashamed of herself for choosing that over her own child” and it was then that Chiquina saw the error in her ways. Later in the episode Chiquina tells Briyonza that “You should always be happy. Even if you think it’s not going to make me happy…well, you should care, but your happiness is more important.”
With Angel’s help, Chiquina (and Briyonza’s grandmother) said that they accepted Briyonza and that their “hearts were touched”. Hopefully viewers at home felt the same way too.
GLAAD have announced the nominees for its 26thAnnual GLAAD Media Awards, and although the year has been a challenging one for queer female visibility in film, it has been positive in other areas such as TV shows (drama, comedy and documentary) and music.
In the TV world, lesbian/bisexual characters and storylinesrode strong in 2014 and into 2015, and we now see a number of main-stream shows grace our TV screens with a flurry of positive queer female role models.
This was clear acknowledged by GLAAD who ensured to nominate a number of our favourite female star and showsfor awards.
“For nearly 30 years, the GLAAD Media Awards have raised the bar for inclusion in news and entertainment, transforming LGBT representation in media and moving the dial for acceptance across the globe.
It’s been a remarkable year for equality, and nowhere is that more evident than in the visibility LGBT people have gained across media.“
Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO
Although there is no major queer female-led film nominated, GLAAD did nominate academy award nominee The Imitation Game,Love is Strange,The Skeleton Twins, Golden Globe nominee Pride, and Melissa McCarthy’s comedy Tammy for the best wide-release film award.
In the Outstanding Artist Category, British singer, Sam Smith, is up against folk singer Mary Gauthier, rapper Angel Haze, punk rock band Against Me! and singer/songwriter Mary Lambert.
This year ABC tops the broadcast networks with six nominations, while HBO takes the most noms for a cable network with five nominations. To reflect the increasing diversity of LGBT storylines, GLAAD expanded the comedy and drama series categories from five to 10 nominees this year, to include a great number of shows.
ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder, Grey’s Anatomy and The Fosters are all contenders for best drama, while Netflix’s Orange is the New Black picked up a second nomination for best comedy in a row.
In the documentary category The Case Against 8, about the landmark Supreme Case that overturned California’s ban on same sex marriage, was nominated along with True Trans with Laura Jan Grace, and To Russia With Love, about the Sochi Olympic Games and the Russian LGBT community. Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word, which follows the lives of seven transgender youths and Showtime’s L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin, about gay women living in the southern United States also got nods for outstanding documentary.
In total, GLAAD announced 144 nominees in 31 English and Spanish language categories for the awards that will be presented at ceremonies in Los Angeles on March 21 and New York on May 9.
See the complete list of nominees below.
OUTSTANDING FILM – WIDE RELEASE
The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company)
Love is Strange (Sony Pictures Classics)
Pride (CBS Films)
The Skeleton Twins (Roadside Attractions)
Tammy (Warner Bros. Pictures)
OUTSTANDING FILM – LIMITED RELEASE
Dear White People (Lionsgate)
Life Partners (Magnolia Pictures)
Lilting (Strand Releasing)
The Way He Looks (Strand Releasing)
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Film Movement)
OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
Degrassi (TeenNick)
The Fosters (ABC Family)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
How to Get Away with Murder (ABC)
Last Tango in Halifax (PBS)
Masters of Sex (Showtime)
Orphan Black (BBC America)
Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family)
Shameless (Showtime)
OUTSTANDING COMEDY SERIES
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
Faking It (MTV)
Glee (FOX)
Looking (HBO)
Modern Family (ABC)
Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Please Like Me (Pivot)
Sirens (USA Network)
Transparent (Amazon Instant Video)
Vicious (PBS)
OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUAL EPISODE
(in a series without a regular LGBT character)
“Deep Breath” Doctor Who (BBC America)
“Down a Tree” Good Luck Charlie (Disney Channel)
“Identity Crisis” Drop Dead Diva (Lifetime)
“Let’s Have a Baby” Playing House (USA Network)
“No Lack of Void” Elementary (CBS)
OUTSTANDING TV MOVIE OR MINI-SERIES
The Normal Heart (HBO)
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY
The Case Against 8 (HBO)
L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin (Showtime)
Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word (Logo / MTV)
To Russia with Love (Epix)
True Trans with Laura Jane Grace (AOL Originals)
OUTSTANDING REALITY PROGRAM
Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce (Fuse)
B.O.R.N. to Style (FYI)
Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project (VH1)
R&B Divas: Atlanta (TV One)
Survivor: San Juan del Sur (CBS)
OUTSTANDING DAILY DRAMA
Days of Our Lives (NBC)
General Hospital (ABC)
OUTSTANDING MUSIC ARTIST
Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Xtra Mile Recordings)
Angel Haze, Dirty Gold (Island Records/Republic Records)
Mary Gauthier, Trouble & Love (In the Black Records)
Mary Lambert, Heart on My Sleeve (Capitol Records)
Sam Smith, In the Lonely Hour (Capitol Records)
OUTSTANDING COMIC BOOK
Hawkeye, written by Matt Fraction (Marvel Comics)
Lumberjanes, written by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis (BOOM! Studios)
Memetic, written by James Tynion IV (BOOM! Studios)
Rat Queens, written by Kurtis J. Wiebe (Image Comics)
Saga, written by Brian K. Vaughan (Image Comics)
OUTSTANDING TALK SHOW EPISODE
“Issues Facing the Transgender Community” Katie (syndicated)
“Laverne Cox discusses ‘The T Word'” The View (ABC)
“Michael Sam” Oprah Prime (OWN)
“Pepe Julian Onziema” Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
“Robin Roberts” The Ellen DeGeneres Show (syndicated)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM – NEWSMAGAZINE
“Coming Out” Nick News With Linda Ellerbee (Nickelodeon)
“Gay and Muslim in America” America Tonight (Al Jazeera America)
“Gay Rodeo” This is Life with Lisa Ling (CNN)
“Infield & Out: Baseball for All” Morning Joe (MSNBC)
“Transgender Society” [series] Ronan Farrow Daily (MSNBC)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM SEGMENT
“Change is Coming to the South” Melissa Harris-Perry (MSNBC)
“Fired for Being Gay?” MSNBC Live (MSNBC)
“License to Discriminate?” Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)
“A Model with a Mission” Alicia Menendez Tonight (Fusion)
“Transgender Tipping Point?” This Week (ABC)
OUTSTANDING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
“A Christian Family, a Gay Son and a Wichita Father’s Change of Heart” by Roy Wenzl (The Wichita Eagle)
“For Transgender Service Members, Honesty Can End Career” by Ernesto Londoño (The Washington Post)
“An Identity to Call Their Own” [series] by Michael A. Fuoco & Mackenzie Carpenter (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
“Longtime Utah LGBT Advocates Recount Brutal History” by Erin Alberty (Salt Lake City Tribune)
“When They Stopped Waiting” by Shaun McKinnon (The Arizona Republic)
OUTSTANDING MAGAZINE ARTICLE
“Do Ask, Do Tell” by S.L. Price (Sports Illustrated)
“The Forsaken” by Alex Morris (Rolling Stone)
“Inside the Iron Closet: What It’s Like to Be Gay in Putin’s Russia” by Jeff Sharlet (GQ)
“Sex Without Fear” by Tim Murphy (New York)
“The Transgender Tipping Point” by Katy Steinmetz (Time)
OUTSTANDING MAGAZINE OVERALL COVERAGE
Essence
Glamour
Out
Sports Illustrated
Time
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM ARTICLE
“31 Days of PrEP” [series] (Advocate.com)
“Black Parents, Gay Sons and Redefining Masculinity” by Edward Wyckoff Williams (TheRoot.com)
“Conner Mertens came out to his college football team. Now he comes out publicly.” by Cyd Zeigler (Outsports.com)
“A Nun’s Secret Ministry Brings Hope to the Transgender Community” by Nathan Schneider (America.Aljazeera.com)
“A Year Later, ‘Nothing’ Has Changed Since Transgender Woman Islan Nettles was Killed” by Tony Merevick (Buzzfeed.com)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM – MULTIMEDIA
“Left Behind: LGBT Homeless Youth Struggle to Survive on the Streets” by Miranda Leitsinger (NBCNews.com)
“Why did the U.S. Lock Up These Women with Men?” by Cristina Costantini, Jorge Rivas, Kristofer Ríos (Fusion.net)
“With Technology I Didn’t Have to Sell My Body” by Kerri Pang (MSNBC.com)
“Young and Gay: Jamaica’s Gully Queens” by Adri Murguia, Christo Geoghegan (News.Vice.com)
“Young and Gay in Putin’s Russia” by Milene Larsson (News.Vice.com)
OUTSTANDING BLOG
The Art of Transliness (theartoftransliness.com)
Autostraddle (autostraddle.com)
Box Turtle Bulletin (boxturtlebulletin.com)
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters (holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com)
My Fabulous Disease (marksking.com)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
OUTSTANDING DAYTIME PROGRAM EPISODE
“Cementerio homófobo” Caso Cerrado (Telemundo)
“Maestro despedido por [ser] gay” Caso Cerrado (Telemundo)
“Un mundo de juegos” La Rosa de Guadalupe (Univision)
OUTSTANDING TELEVISION INTERVIEW
“Abigail Pereira participante transgénero de Yo Soy El Artista” Suelta La Sopa Extra (Telemundo)
“En cuerpo ajeno” Un Nuevo Día (Telemundo)
“Felicia en Ventaneando: Platica sobre su transformación” Ventaneando (Azteca)
“Identidad Sin Fronteras: Inmigrantes transgénero buscan nueva vida en EEUU” Despierta América (Univision)
“Intolerancia familiar” Realidades en Contexto (CNN en Español)
OUTSTANDING DOCUMENTARY
“Identidad sin fronteras” Panorámica (Univision/Pivot)
La Travesía del Atleta Gay (CNN en Español)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM – NEWSMAGAZINE
“Felipe Najera abre su corazón” Primer Impacto (Univision)
“Michael Sam confiesa su homosexualidad” Sin Límites (CNN Latino)
“Orlando Cruz habla de su vida” Al Rojo Vivo (Telemundo)
“Vínculos y rupturas” Aquí y Ahora (Univision)
OUTSTANDING TV JOURNALISM SEGMENT
“Corte Suprema de Justicia en EE.UU decline estudiar recursos sobre bodas del mismo sexo” Informativo NTN (NTN24)
“Posibles sanciones” Noticiero Telemundo (Telemundo)
“La historia de una [mujer] transexual” Café CNN (CNN en Español)
“Obama apoya la comunidad transgénera” Noticias MundoFOX (MundoFOX)
“Ya no hay obstáculos” Noticiero Univision (Univision)
OUTSTANDING LOCAL TV JOURNALISM
“En centros de detención” Noticias Telemundo Arizona (KTAZ-Telemundo 39 [Phoenix])
“Cobertura de Spirit Day” [serie] Noticias 34 (KMEX-Univision 34 [Los Angeles])
“Justicia para Zoraida Reyes” Noticiero Telemundo (KVEA-Telemundo 52 [Los Angeles]
“Nombran a la primer mujer gay al Tribunal Supremo de Puerto Rico” Ultima Hora (Univision [Puerto Rico])
“Tacones de charro” Noticias 34 (KMEX-Univision 34 [Los Angeles])
OUTSTANDING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
“Caravana gay en contra la marginalidad social” by Panky Corcino (El Diario New York)
“¿Es la TV latina homofóbica? La respuesta te sorprenderá.” by Marta Sarabia (La Opinión)
“Gay, indocumentado y sin cuidados médicos” by Patricia A González-Portillo (La Opinión)
“Latino gay elegido alcalde de Long Beach responde a ataques homofóbicos” by Olivia Tallet (La Voz de Houston)
“Mamá, soy homosexual dijo Ricardo; su familia no entendió y lo corrió de su casa” by Selene Rivera (Hoy Los Angeles)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM ARTICLE
“Identidades invisibles” [serie] by Marcos Billy Guzmán (ElNuevoDia.com)
“Identidad sin fronteras, un documental sobre los inmigrantes transgénero” (PeopleenEspañol.com)
“Una misión: repartir amor” by Istra Pacheco (PrimeraHora.com)
“¿Qué tan difícil es salir del clóset en Colombia?” (BBCMundo.com)
“Ser gay en China: La bandera del arco iris ondea libremente” (CNNEspanol.CNN.com)
OUTSTANDING DIGITAL JOURNALISM – MULTIMEDIA
“Derechos de los homosexuales entran a la campaña electoral en Brasil” by Shasta Darlington (CNNEspanol.CNN.com)
“Hispanos LGBT quieren su propia reforma” by Álvaro Ortiz (LaVozTX.com)
“Maité Oronoz jura como juez asociada del Tribunal Supremo” by Rebecca Bamuchi (PrimeraHora.com)
“¿Que es ENDA?” by Cary Tabares (Univision.com)
“Venezuela: Madre lesbiana pide al Parlamento reconocer derechos de su hijo” (EFE.com)
SPECIAL RECOGNITION
“Era Diferente” Los Tigres del Norte
Rapper, Angel Haze has just released her own unique version of ‘Same Love’ – one of the biggest LGBT themed songs to be released ever – and boy is her version powerful, raw and honest.
Haze, who identifies as pansexual and eschews gender pronouns in her music, always exhibits an insatiable thirst for authenticity and a take-no-prisoners attitude, making her rapid-fire rhymes all the more compelling.
She is currently dating model Ireland Baldwin (the daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger). The couple made their red carpet debut at the MTV Movie Awards in August last year, since dating rumours begun months before. They have since been outspoken about her relationship, supporting each other the long away.xcvbnmnb
At age 13 my mother knew I wasn’t straight she didn’t understand but she had so much to say she sat me on the couch looked me straight in my face and said you’ll burn in hell or probably die of AIDS it’s funny now but at 13 it was pain to be almost sure of who you are and have it ripped away and i’m sorry if it’s too real for some of you to fathom but hate for who you love is not exactly what you’d imagine and i guess it was disastrous cause everything that happened afterwards was just madness locked away for two years to keep me on the inside because she’d rather see a part of me die than me thrive and it’s tougher when it’s something you can’t deny
and ignorance teaches us it’s something that you decide
you’re driven by your choice is an optical illusion
here’s to understanding that it’s not always confusion
Angel Haze
Watch the original – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft Mary Lambert
In terms of representation, queer women have had a fantastic year. From the many queer female characters in our movie theatres (e.g Life Partners) and in our TV shows (e.g Orange is the New Black) to the monumental human rights decisions that have taken place this year (e.g the many US states that now have same-sex marriage), things are on the up.
We’ve also seen many queer women come out – or, if they were already out, they’ve been kicking ass and taking names all year round. And so, to celebrate these out and proud ladies, we’ve put together this list!
1. Ellen Page
Possibly the biggest coming out story of the year was when Oscar nominated actress Ellen Page came out.
After years of rumours and speculation the tiny Canadian actress put them all to bed, telling the crowd at the HRCF Time to Thrive Conference she was ‘tired of lying’ about who she is. The moving speech brought many to tears and plenty of credited it with being the reason that they themselves have come out.
And, as if her amazing speech wasn’t enough, Page also spent the year being wonderful on Twitter, most preciously by renaming people’s pets!
2. Brittney Griner
A trailblazer by many accounts, Brittney Griner made headlines last year when she came out ahead of the 2013 WNBA draft (where she was the number 1 pick). Then, with the Phoenix Mercury she broke the WNBA dunk record in her very first game. With her phenomenal talent she also won over fans when she helped take the Phoenix Mercury to a championship title in September.
As for other records she became the first out athlete to get a Nike campaign, showing that no, being gay does not harm your marketing potential.
Furthermore, Griner also got engaged to fellow WNBA player Glory Johnson in August, which may not have set any records but it was certainly adorable.
3. Mary Lambert
While you know her best for doing the backing vocals of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ track ‘Same Love’, Mary Lambert is also a massively outspoken gay rights activist.
An out and proud lesbian herself, Lambert very often talks about religion and how it relates to sexuality as well as body image and how to appreciate yourself. Earlier this year she also launched the Body Love campaign to encourage people to love themselves.
4. Emily Rios
Emily Rios’ name will be familiar to those who watch cult TV classics Friday Night Lights and Breaking Bad but more recently you may have seen her play a young gay reporter in The Bridge.
While the show was sadly cancelled back in October after two seasons, Rios’ character in The Bridge was significant because we got to see a queer Mexican woman on our TV screens, which doesn’t happen very often. Rios also explained that “I’m gay, personally, so being Mexican and a lesbian — this is why I love the character because I deal with the same type of things with my own family.”
5. Angel Haze
Whilst straight rapper Macklemore may have picked up plenty of awards for Same Love, its this cover by out pansexual rapper Angel Haze that feels like a more honest rendition.
This year, Haze has made headlines not just with her discography of fantastic, hard hitting lyrics but due to her love life too. Earlier this year Haze confirmed that she’s dating model Ireland Baldwin and the couple both flirt on Twitter and hilariously take down those who dismiss their relationship as ‘gal pals’.
6. Djuan Trent
When we think of the beauty pageant scene, few people would ever refer to it as a ‘progressive industry’ yet surprisingly, at least one former contestant is outspoken about equality.
Djuan Trent, Miss Kentucky 2010, came out as ‘queer’ earlier this year explaining that she needed to hit back against those who thought that she agreed with their anti-equality views.
Trent says that she chose ‘queer ‘ because it’s a more inclusive term and that she hopes to open up the conversation about sexuality being fluid and she also wants to foster more visibility and representation of young women of colour.
7. Samira Wiley
Samira Wiley is familiar to us as the funny and emotional inmate Poussey Washington in Orange is the New Black. Her amazing performances this season as Poussey dealt with her feelings for her best friend Taystee and as we saw flashbacks to Poussey’s difficult life as the child of an overseas soldier garnered praise and interest, but plenty were talking about Wiley this year for an altogether different reason.
It became public in September that Orange is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli would be divorcing her husband, after striking up a romance with Wiley. The pair had been acting cute together on Instagram for the past year (they were also seen looking close at the Emmys) and the fact that the couple was now out was just the previous icing on the cake.
Wiley also took to New York City’s Pride Parade with the rest of the OITNB cast, making her a bit of an advocate too.
8. Joanna Lohman
Also garnering headline for dating a colleague is Joanna Lohman. A professional football (soccer) player for the Boston Breakers, she became engaged to fellow Breakers player Lianne Sanderson earlier this year.
Whilst players dating each other is not a total rarity in the world of women’s football (current USWNT player Abby Wambach is married to now retired player Sarah Huffman) they are the first to date a teammate.
In an interview earlier this year Lohman told a reporter that “When someone comes up to you and says, ‘Thank you for being who you are,’ it has much more of a profound impact than, ‘Good game.’”
9. Vicky Beeching
Like the aforementioned beauty pageant scene, the world of Contemporary Christian Music is also an unlikely source of progressive opinion yet that’s exactly what gay Christian singer Vicky Beeching delivered when she came out earlier this year.
Beeching told The Independent: “What Jesus taught was a radical message of welcome and inclusion and love. I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people.” helping to foster a more accepting viewpoint in the religion.
10. Anna Paquin
Finally, we have bisexual actress Anna Paquin.
Paquin came out as bisexual several years ago, following her marriage to her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer. But does the fact that she’s married to a man make her bisexual identity any less legitimate? Of course not. however, she was forced to explain this to TV host Larry King earlier this year when he was baffled by the concept of bisexuality. Her explanation is an absolute must-see.
Who is your choice for out woman of the year? Leave a comment and let us know!
LGBT people often worry about the ramifications of coming out to their families, friendships, work-places, and in their relationships. However, when you live your life in the spotlight the consequences of coming out can be harder. While coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) in the entertainment world, sports or politics has become increasingly less taboo, these experiences are still extremely personal and not met without backlash.
This year we have seen a number of women celebrities step forward, and tell the world they are queer. So here is a list of prominent individuals who came out publicly this year.
Ellen Page, Actress
Actress Ellen Page, best known for her role as a pregnant teen in Juno, came out as a lesbian during a speech at Human Rights Campaign ‘Time to Thrive’ youth conference in February 2014.
“I am here today because I am gay… and because maybe I can make a difference to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless for me I feel a personal obligation and a personal responsibility. I also do it selfishly because I’m tired of hiding and I’m tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered, and my relationship suffered. And I’m standing here today with all of you on the other side of that pain.
I am young yes. But what I have learned is that love — the beauty of it, the joy of it and yes even the pain of it — is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being. And we deserve to experience love, fully, equally, without shame and without compromise. There are too many kids out there suffering from bullying, rejection or simply being mistreated for who they are. Too many dropouts. Too much abuse. Too many homeless. Too many suicides. You can change that and you are changing it. But you never needed me to tell you that.”
Ellen Page
Zoie Palmer, Actress
Canadian actress Zoie Palmer revealed for the first time publicly that she is gay at the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards in March when she thanked her partner Alex Lalonde as she accepted her “Fan Choice Award for Favourite Canadian Screen Star”.
Palmer plays Dr. Lauren Lewis in the Showcase Canadian TV supernatural drama Lost Girl.
Patricia Yurena, Miss Spain
Reigning Miss Spain Patricia Yurena came out of the closet via an intimate photo of her and her girlfriend Vanesa Cortes which she posted to Instagram. She is now the first openly gay national pageant queen in the world.
“I published the picture completely spontaneously and in an impulsive manner. Thank you for all your support.”
Said Yurena
Angel Haze and Ireland Baldwin
Ireland and Angel first sparked romance rumours when they posted pictures on Instagram. The rapper then confirmed their relationship in June, but admitted some people were still struggling to accept them as a couple.
“There are still certain limitations for women. If we were two guys, it’d be insane, negatively insane with the attention. With us it’s all being very positive, the media are like, ‘Oh they’re so cute, they’re best friends.’
An interracial gay couple, I mean that’s just weird for America right now. We f**k and friends don’t f**k. I have never f**ked one of my friends. Once I see you in that way, it doesn’t happen. But we do f**k and it’s crazy and that’s weird to say because I think about it in terms of an audience reading it and them thinking, ‘What the hell?’ But it happens.”
Angel Haze
Emily Rios, Actress
Actress Emily Rios (The Bridge, Friday Night Lights, Men of a Certain Age and Breaking Bad) has came out as gay in 2014.
“I’m gay, personally, so being Mexican and a lesbian – this is why I love the character because I deal with the same type of things with my own family. Mexican-Americans especially — because this generation, we come into America and your family wants to be proud.
Emily Rios
Maria Walsh, the Rose of Tralee
The Rose of Tralee is an international competition started in 1959 and open to women of Irish descent from all over the world. It’s held in Kerry County, Ireland and each year a woman who best matches the attributes “lovely and fair” as described in the nineteenth century ballad. This year, the winner was Philadelphia Rose Maria Walsh, and she’s gay, a fact she revealed shortly after winning in August.
“I’m confident in who I am as a person. The Rose of Tralee is about celebrating women’s intelligence, careers, their volunteer work. The question of sexuality never came up. To me, being gay is normal. It’s natural.”
Maria Walsh
Casey Stoney, Professional Football and England Captain
It was footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger and Tom Daley who inspired Casey Stoney, a defensive player for both the England women’s football and Arsenal Ladies teams, to say she is gay after years of speculation by fans.
“I’ve never hidden it within football circles because it is accepted. But to the outside world, I’ve never spoken about my sexuality I feel it’s really important for me to speak out as a gay player because there are so many young people struggling with being gay.
You hear about people taking their own lives because they’re homosexual, now that should never happen. They should never feel those pressures. How can I expect other people to come out and speak about themselves if I’m not willing to do that myself?”
Casey Stoney
Djuan Trent, Former Miss Kentucky
Djuan Trent, Miss Kentucky 2010, came out of the closet in March shortly after a federal judge ruled that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages from other states.
“For months, I have been contemplating how I would write this post, how I would position it, when would be the right time to post it. Should I make it funny? Should I make it mysterious? Should I make it serious? Should I pick a special date to do it? Should I build some kind of anticipation around it? Hmmm…ain’t nobody got time for that. I have written and re-written and deleted and restarted this post more times than I care to share, and after all of that I have finally realized: “There ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it.” So, here we go folks… I am queer.”
Djuan Trent
Monica Raymund
Monica Raymund, who plays paramedic/firefighter-in-training ‘Gabriela Dawson’ on Chicago Fire, came out publicly as bisexual via a tweet in January in support of efforts to protest Russia’s anti-gay laws during the Olympic Games.
When Vicky Beeching was diagnosed by with an auto-immune disease triggered by the years of stress, caused by being in the closet, she decided to reject the years of desolation the church, and decided to live her own truth. Beeching, the UK star of the American Christian rock scene, whose music is sung at mega-churches across the heartland, had had enough. In August she choose to come out.
“I increasingly began to feel like I was living behind an invisible wall. The inner secrecy of holding that inside was divorcing me from reality – I was living in my own head. Anybody I was in a friendship with, or anything I was doing in the church, was accompanied by an internal mantra: ‘What if they knew?’ It felt like all of my relationships were built on this ice that would break if I stepped out on to it.
When I [told a priest] that I had feelings for the same sex he prayed the prayer of absolution, for me to be forgiven. And that was it….I felt there was something really wrong with me, that maybe I was so sinful and awful I couldn’t be healed.
I felt like it was ripping me in half. I knew I couldn’t carry on. I was trying to align the loving God I knew and believed in with this horrendous reality of what was going on inside me….I remember kneeling down and absolutely sobbing into the carpet. I said to God, ‘You have to either take my life or take this attraction away because I cannot do both.'”
Vicky Beeching
Lauren Morelli and Samira Wiley, Orange is the New Black’s Lead Writer and Actress
In one of the best revelations of the year, was ‘Orange is the New Black’ lead writer Lauren Morelli, who back in May wrote an article for Policy Mic describing how working on the Netflix series helped her come to terms with her sexual orientation.
“I went through it all on set: I fell in love with a woman, and I watched my life play out on screen….And now, as we are gearing up for the release of season 2, it feels liberating and appropriate to live my life in front of you.”
The use of slurs in popular culture is a subject that often draws heavy debate. On the one hand, many people say that if we keep using the words and ‘reclaim’ them then people would have nothing to get upset about, whereas other people feel that once something is established as a pejorative term it will always be a pejorative term and we should stop using them.
One thing is certain though and that’s that slurs can cause offense. This is something that Harlem-based rapper Azealia Banks learnt the hard way after calling notorious blogger Perez Hilton a “f****t” during a Twitter spat.
In an interview with The Guardian, Banks told the publication that although she doesn’t regret using the term, she’ll “never do it again, because [she doesn’t] care enough about the person to have the battle again and defend my use of the word faggot.”
She then added:
“A lot of gay men are way more misogynistic than straight men. The s**t they say about women behind their backs, it’s like, ‘Wow, oh my God!’ You can be a straight faggot, you can be a gay faggot. A faggot is anybody that hates women.”
It’s like, y’all sing along to my words when I’m saying n***a and ****, but as soon as I call this one white man a faggot the whole world exploded.
Listen, I didn’t say all gay men are faggots; I said Perez Hilton is a faggot, so don’t try and bring the rest of the gays down with your faggotry.”
Azealia Banks
While it’s hard to argue with her feeling that gay men are more misogynistic than straight men – gay men’s misogyny has long been an issue in the female LGBT community – it’s not hard to see why someone would be staunchly against her defence of the word “f****t”.
As someone who is an out and proud bisexual woman, Banks has stated on several occasions that she couldn’t possibly be a homophobe yet even so, should she really be using such a potent slur? It’s been used for many years to insult and disgrace gay men and so at the bare minimum only other gay men should be able to say it.
Banks herself notes that listeners of her music sing along and say the n-word, taking some issue at it, so she clearly understands that there’s a right and a wrong for who can say which words. It is unfortunate that such a vocal LGBT ally doesn’t understand why this is a contentious issue but as she’s booted it from her dictionary (at least in public anyway) let’s hope we don’t hear the f-slur from her again.
In Out Magazine yearly portfolio, they capture the year’s most entertaining, heroic, and compelling people, from all walks of life—including professional athletes, trans pioneers, actors, activists, designers, journalists, emerging musicians, artists, and dancers.
For their special 20th anniversary OUT100, “On the Shoulders of Giants,” all of the subjects reference pivotal moments in LGBT history.
Here is a selection of our favourite ladies.
Ellen Page: Actress
On coming out Ellen Page says,
“You just feel different in the world. Once you’ve done something that you used to think was impossible, what could ever really scare you again? Even now, press is more enjoyable because I don’t have to have certain conversations. For instance, I’m never going to have to have a conversation about a dress, or heels, ever again.”
Angel Haze: Rapper
The rap artist Angel Haze, who identifies as pansexual and eschews gender pronouns in her music, exhibits an insatiable thirst for authenticity and a take-no-prisoners attitude, making her rapid-fire rhymes all the more compelling.
“This year has been remarkable because I have been finding myself. It feels good.”
Evan Rachel Wood: Actress
The year, two-time Golden Globe nominee Evan Rachel Wood has been increasingly vocal about the things she’s passionate about – including the importance of coming out.
Samira Wiley: Actress
On coming out Samira Wiley says,
“I remember it so vividly. There was this girl who went to my school, and she did a Nikki Giovanni poem, ‘Ego Tripping,’ and it was just different from everyone else’s. It wasn’t flat recitation. It had an energy and a life to it. And it made me sit up in my seat, and my eyes got wide, and I really felt inside myself, She’s making me feel things. I want to do that.”
Ariel Schrag: Writer, Illustrator
You may know Ariel Schrag from her graphic memoirs, each detailing a year in her life at Berkeley High School in excruciating, heartfelt detail. But this year she channeled all of that awkward energy into her first novel, Adam.
Lena Waithe: Comedian
This year, Lena Waithe turned 30; took the first film she ever produced, Dear White People, to Sundance; sold a pilot to BET based on her Web series Twenties; and was named one of Variety’s 10 Comedians to Watch.
“But the coolest thing I did was fall in love with an amazing woman. That put all the other things into perspective.”
Lisa Kron: Playwright And Actress
This year, while performing in a wacky production of Bertolt Brecht’s Good Person of Szechwan, Kron also served as the book writer and lyricist for the musical adaptation of Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s modern classic, a graphic memoir about her own coming out and her father’s complicated life and death.
Source: Out Magazine – Photography by JUCO | Retouching by Anna Glen at Wet Noodle.
The media and the LGBT community seem to be very smitten with Angel Haze and Ireland Baldwin new found relationship.
However, they aren’t the only ones. According to Ireland Baldwin’s cousin, Alaia Baldwin (daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin), the Baldwin clan are cool with the relationship and welcoming to Haze – taking time out to get to know her.
In a recent interview with independent.ie, Alaia praised Ireland – the daughter of Hollywood stars Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger – for the relationship and admitted she has ”grown a lot as a person” over the past 12 months.
She said…
‘‘I’m really proud of her. The past year through everything she’s been doing with modelling and relationships, she’s grown a lot as a person. Having supportive friends is something wonderful, but being able to rely on your family, even if it’s only some of your family, is really important. I have some very special cousins who have been the fiercest allies in my family, especially as I have no siblings.”
Alaia Baldwin
Yeah to acceptance.
Ireland and Angel first sparked romance rumours when they posted pictures on Instagram. The rapper then confirmed their relationship in June, but admitted some people were still struggling to accept them as a couple.
“There are still certain limitations for women. If we were two guys, it’d be insane, negatively insane with the attention. With us it’s all being very positive, the media are like, ‘Oh they’re so cute, they’re best friends.’
An interracial gay couple, I mean that’s just weird for America right now. We f**k and friends don’t f**k. I have never f**ked one of my friends. Once I see you in that way, it doesn’t happen. But we do f**k and it’s crazy and that’s weird to say because I think about it in terms of an audience reading it and them thinking, ‘What the hell?’ But it happens.”
The world of hip-hop is notorious for being a haven of misogyny and laced with homophobia. However, in 2012 Azealia Banks took a stand and publicly admitted she was bisexual.
However, cut to one year later and the LGBT friendly artists caused mass controversy by using a number of homophobic slurs on twitter. First, she battled with then rising rapper Angel Haze, in a spat where her insults were strongly transphobic. She then picked a fight with gossip blogger Perez Hilton and resorted to homophobic insults. Her behaviour caused a massive media backlash and her Twitter account was cancelled.
Move forward in time and she was released from her contract with Interscope/Polydor. She was signed to the label for two years, but they didn’t release her debut album, Broke With Expensive Taste.
Now in 2014 and Azealia hopes to release those songs on her own label, and move on with her life.
She has a new single out – ‘Heavy Metal and Reflective’, which comes with a new video. A video where Azealiais driven out into the desert and left to die alone of thirst, which shows some awareness of the state of her career given the roll she was on two summers ago.
“I’ve literally just been sitting here waiting to get off the label. For awhile it was like, ‘What is she doing? She’s here, she’s there, she’s doing this, she’s saying this. When is the album coming out?’ So I’m really happy to get this project off. Cause I’ve already started working on a bunch of new stuff.
I’m still connected to the [Broke With Expensive Taste] music, but I’m still somewhere else, with these other projects, because I know how quickly I like to move and my fan base likes to move. So I’m halfway, like one foot in Broke With Expensive Taste and one foot in the next project, and having all these other ideas. But I’m just happy that I can do whatever I want now.”
Azealia Banks
Watch Azealia Banks’ ‘Heavy Metal and Reflective’ video:
Rapper Angel Haze told the UK paper the Independent she is often annoyed that coverage of her relationship with Baldwin often refers to the couple as “best friends”. Ireland Baldwin is the golden haired daughter of Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin.
I don’t know if there’s like some confirm or deny thing with the way relationships work in the media, but everyone just calls us best friends, best-friends for life, like we’re just friends hanging out. It’s funny. It’s rad in some ways, it sucks in others.”
Angel Haze
The rapper has accused the press of being uncomfortable with her interracial lesbian relationship with Ireland Baldwin.
There are still certain limitations for women. If we were two guys, it’d be insane, negatively insane with the attention. With us it’s all being very positive, the media are like, ‘Oh they’re so cute, they’re best friends’. An interracial gay couple, I mean that’s just weird for America right now. We f**k and friends don’t f**k. I have never f**ked one of my friends. Once I see you in that way, it doesn’t happen. But we do f**k and it’s crazy and that’s weird to say because I think about it in terms of an audience reading it and them thinking, ‘What the hell?’ But it happens.”
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