Tag Archives: Lesbian TV

The Real Reason We Want To Turn Everyone Else Gay

Have you heard about #StopGayingAllTheThings yet?

I hadn’t, until a few days ago. Basically, this hashtag seeks to trend “fighting back” against the “LGBTQAAIP gaystapo”. Because, of course, we as the LGBT+ community, have the potential to majorly change things in our favor.

Like every member of the LGBT+ community is working to change things.

Like we’re trying to overthrow the cishetero patriarchy.

(Ok, so some of us are working really hard at that, and others are kinda just hoping it happens within their lifetime. Whatever.)

I’ll admit that I’m the prime candidate for queerbaiting. As a woman who couldn’t look gay even if I was dressed in nothing but a rainbow sports bra and flannel boxer shorts, I’m always secretly hoping that every might be gay character is totally gay.

I used to make gaydar bets with myself about which of my friends and classmates were closeted. Maybe I still do this occasionally with celebrities. Do I wish that more queer characters were shown on television? Absofreakinglutely.

It’s not really about turning everything gay, though – but this is a numbers game. The chances of producers listening to us are pretty slim, so we’ve got to cast a wide net and hope we catch something.

If we had 100 hashtags about characters we wanted to see gay, we might be lucky if we got one result. We’re not expecting a miracle – we’re just hoping for a little more representation. We’re not expecting a revolution – we’re just hoping for a chance.

Some might say, well, turning a Disney princess into a lesbian isn’t going to fix anything. The LGBT+ community will still face bigger hardships than seeing a queer character on TV. These are both entirely true statements – but we must take our battles one step at a time.

Queer characters on television are some of the easiest battles to win, because the producers understand that the queer viewership is a vital demographic. They need queer viewers, so eventually, they’ll probably give in to a queer character.

We don’t just want more queer characters… We need more queer characters. We need characters with homophobic families, characters with accepting families, and even characters with no family. Each of these archetypes has its own target demographic, and each one represents some kid who’s having a hard time being comfortable in her own skin.

Each one represents a teenage boy who isn’t like all the stereotypes, and just wants to see himself reflected in the show. Each one represents one kid who thought they needed to take their life to finally find peace. Each one is important, and each one needs to be shown as they really are.

Is it about turning everyone gay? No, I don’t really think so. I don’t think there are too many of us who actually seek to “convert” the straight people. I don’t think there are too many of us out there who set out to change who someone really is, and I don’t think there are too many of us who think that you can change who you really are.

Sure, maybe you can rewrite your habits and reprogram your thoughts, but can you ever really change?

I think maybe we’re just ready to have a voice. This is the age where everyone’s opinion is heard, no matter what their station in life. Some people even find a way to make their opinions heard even louder, through their popularity. But everyone’s opinion is heard, and maybe it’s time the queer community was included in that.

So maybe a hashtag isn’t going to change the world – whether it seeks to make it “us vs. them” or “we and ours”. So maybe there are bigger issues at hand. But does that mean we should stop fighting for media representation?

I don’t think we should.

If we’re searching for a voice, we have to first create one.

We can’t be heard if we don’t speak up.

Do We Actually Need ‘The L Word’ Reboot?

Can you believe it’s been ten long years since The L Word premiered, and only six years since it finished?

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Yet, since then television has yet to replace it with another show centred solely around a large group of lesbian or bisexual characters.

In the last 5 years, we have seen a slight increase in lesbian and bisexual characters in broadcast, cable, and streaming network programming.

And we now have some great queer characters scattered on some great shows.

There are the two loving lesbian parents in The Fosters, a clone or two in Orphan Black, one of the Pretty Little Liars, the couple formerly known as Calzona on Grey’s Anatomy, the bisexual succubus and her human doctor on Lost Girl, the not-actually-faking-it lesbian of Faking It, and about a third of the cellblock on Orange is the New Black.

So do we really need an L Word reboot at this time?

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One could argue that our representation is better served with inclusion in more mainstream shows. Lesbian and bisexual characters play prominent roles in everything from freshman breakout Jane the Virgin to the complicated are-they, aren’t they Root/Shaw dance on Person of Interest and the transitioning nuclear families of Transparent.

And then there are the regular and recurring lesbian or bisexual female roles on Empire, The Walking Dead, Gotham, The 100, Marry Me, Arrow, Chasing Life, Heart of Dixie, Survivor’s Remorse, Black Sails, The Returned, Younger, and more I’m missing that you’ll no doubt tell me about in comments.

Plus, we haven’t even mentioned the recently and soon-to-be dearly departed lesbian and bisexual characters from shows like The Good Wife, Glee, Chicago Fire, and even the latter-day Two and a Half Men.

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Yet, when it comes to a show primarily about queer women, we continue to falter.

The latest edition was the Liz Feldman and Ellen DeGeneres produced sitcom One Big Happy. A series with the first lesbian-led network comedy since Ellen back in 1998.

But the show did not do well, and was cancelled after one season.

The hype was not there, and the excited wave of lesbian and bisexual women actually watching One Big didn’t emerge.

Compare that to The L Word watching parties you had with friends or thrown by your friendly neighbourhood lesbian bars back in the day.

The urgency to see ourselves reflected on the TV screen isn’t as great because we’re already there – the diversity of lesbian and bisexual female characters has increased.

One of the biggest critiques about The L Word (besides everything and anything about Jenny Schecter) was its limited portrayal of queer women.

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They were mostly femme, largely white, overwhelmingly upwardly mobile, and so on and so forth.

The difficulty any show about an underrepresented minority faces, particularly trailblazing shows, is the desire to be all things for all people.

New hits like Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat have successfully avoided that trap while still finding commercial and critical success.

Another L Word would need to straddle that world of specificity and commonalities. Still, perhaps the burden of being The Lesbian Show would be lessened because of the increased representation elsewhere.

Another Teasers From Orange Is the New Black For You to Watch

Another teasers, curtesy of Entertainment Weekly of Orange Is the New Black.

Season one focused on our favourite bisexual-identified drug mule (Piper), as she learnt that prison was not all spice-based lotions, and homemade soaps, but season two is set to loosen the reigns. By enlisting new cast members and focusing on some of our quieter favourites, there’s plenty to learn about the upcoming batch of episodes.