For Russia, With Hope

How do we solve a problem like Russia’s treatment of gays? The recent wave of political and physical violence against LGBT rights and people simply cannot be ignored. At a time when many other parts of the world are starting to finally embrace us fully as equal and worthy, Russia is going backwards with angry fists flying.

- Gay Pride parade banned in Russia for 100 years.
- Law against foreign LGBT couples adopting Russian children.
- Law against spreading “gay propaganda” to minors, effectively making it illegal to call same-sex and straight relationships equal.
- Anti-gay violence and attacks on the rise, including the targeting, torture and humiliation of gays online via social media.

Over the summer almost every attempt to hold peaceful Pride Parades or rallies have ended in violence, arrests and blood. It’s not pretty and it’s very real.

So now the question become, how does the LGBT community and its allies best protest these atrocities? How do we get this to stop? It’s not an easy question and there are no easy answers. It will all come to a head this winter when the Olympic Games come to Sochi, Russia. LGBT athletes and spectators will show up in a country that decidedly does not want them there. And us fans at home must decide how watching them in a backdrop filled with such hate.

So far, response has been varied. Some say boycott the Sochi Olympics. Others say don’t boycott the Sochi Olympics. Some say boycott Russian vodka. Others say don’t boycott Russian vodka. And Lady Gaga tweeted. Boycotts, backlashes and Gaga, oh my.

The truth is, there’s no one right way to make change. Boycotting the Olympics hurts the athletes who train a lifetime for their chance at glory. Boycotting Stoli hurts a company that has been incredibly LGBT friendly over its history. Not boycotting either sends a message of passive acceptance. Perhaps letting the Olympics proceed, but reporting on its human rights violations is the answer. Or drinking Stoli, yet pressuring its owners to put pressure on its mother country is the answer. More likely, all kinds of combinations of all kinds of responses, while always pressing for change, is the ultimate answer. What I know is we can’t stop talking about it, we can’t stop exposing it for what it is, we can’t stop supporting the brave LGBT people and allies in Russia who are facing jail, beatings and even death fighting for their rights. So I guess the only answer that isn’t an option is to close our eyes.

That’s Out Raven

I am of the age that remembers Raven-Symoné more as little Olivia on the Cosby show as the eponymous Raven of “That’s So Raven.” Now be quiet and fetch me my slippers, honey, my stories are on. But old age jokes aside, the former Disney star’s coming out on Friday mattered. It mattered for all the reasons coming out normally matters. Visibility, openness, acceptance, etc. Also, how great is it to have another famous out woman of color? So great. But it also mattered in the way that it happened, not to mention the medium.

Coming out casually is all the rage. The afterthought outing via a short mention in a larger profile in a classy publication (à la Parsons and Quinto) has been the preferred modus operandi of saying “Yep, I’m Gay” in the media for a while now. Recently, more anti-cover story ways of getting your toaster over have also been en vogue. There was the aside in a press release route that Sarah Huffman (a.k.a. Abby Wambach’s, uh, frequent red carpet date). And then yesterday there was Raven coming out via, of all things, Twitter. What do we call that? A twouting? No, that sounds like a strange lesbian fish.

I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you

— Raven-Symonè (@MissRavenSymone) August 2, 2013

She been out, momma just didn't have time for bullshit. and I LIVVVEEE "@_BeatrixKiddoo: You better come out sis. @MissRavenSymone"

— Golden Oreo. (@H8teTheeSquares) August 2, 2013

I particularly like that she clarified her coming out tweet with a yes, really, this means she’s actually out, retweet.

To be honest, Twitter as a coming out medium makes a lot of sense. Short, sweet, direct - type 140, hit send, be happy. And it is the epitome of the no-big-deal, still-a-big-deal nature of coming out for today’s celebrities. Also, I think we can all agree that from here on out, “That’s So Raven” is the new “Yep, I’m Gay.”

p.s. Yeah, I know Raven was so about a month late in commenting. But, hey, better late than continually oblivious I guess.

Please Hold

Greetings kittens,

A quick note to let you know why I am running a wee behind today on this weekend's My Weekend Crush. It is because I am working on Your Weekend Crush, that is, completing the Weekend Crushes of you fine folks who donated at that perk level. Stupidly belated, I know. But I am getting through them all because a promise is a promise. Expect them to begin posting through the weekend next weekend.

In the meantime, here is a gentle reminder that there are plenty of other daily ways to get your Snarker fix, if you're in to that kind of thing.

Find me on AfterEllen.
Find me on Twitter.
Find me on Tumblr.
Find me on Instagram.

Ugh, great, now I'm sick of me. Thanks so much for coming to my little corner of the series of tubes and for your patience. Also, you're pretty.

Everybody Dance Now

Thursday dance break, y’all. So, I’ll admit, “Rizzoli & Isles” recap season takes a lot of my brain power and funnels it into me, staring at a lit screen in the middle of the night and thinking, “What’s another way to say, ‘These two would totally be fucking in the real world?’” (p.s. You can read those recaps here, by the way. This week’s recap should post a little later today. Please and thank you for the clicks/comments.)

So today I just need to shake it out. Like get up and move the body. Or, you know, watch other people get up and move their bodies. Vicarious dancing is a thing, people. A thing. And because “Orphan Black” and “Orange Is the New Black” are my two favorite pop culture addictions at the moment, please enjoy these totally unsolicited, but totally irresistible dance breaks.

Helena from “Orphan Black”

This is exactly how you’d think Helena would dance.

Alison from “Orphan Black”
This is not how you’d except Alison to dance. Daaaayum.

Taystee from “Orange Is the New Black”

I am so excited that Danielle Brooks got promoted to a series regular. Mo Taystee, mo better.

Big Boo from “Orange Is the New Black”

With an assist from Crazy Eyes. Man, I could write an essay about my love to Crazy Eyes. You’ve been warned.

Got some favorite dance breaks? Sharing is caring, ladies.

Open Season

Aww, man. Am I going to have to start watching another Ryan Murphy show? Anna Torv and Jennifer Jason Leigh have signed on to play a couple in the Murphy’s new pilot for the HBO series “Open.” Anna Torv playing gay, again? Must…resist….must…oh, fuck it…resistance is futile.

The new “provocative” HBO show is about sex and relationships – make that open relationships. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Torv will play a yoga instructor named Windsor who is in a long-term relationship with Holly (Jennifer), but then meets another woman named Grace and feels an “instant connection.” Grace has not been cast yet, but she’ll be a previously married and straight gynecologist and – duuuude – these jokes just write themselves. Jennifer will play an actress who is “intensely committed to her career.” Read: self-involved.

“Open” will feature multiple characters and explore sexuality, monogamy and, clearly, non-monogamy. “Dexter” executive producer Lauren Gussis co-wrote the pilot with Murphy. Previously Mr. Glee has described it as “an adult show that is very frank in its depiction of sex.” Read: Naked naked naked. I mean, it is HBO, after all.

I’ve always been a fan of Anna, she’s got a that certain something something. That sexy air of capability about her is pretty damn irresistible. Plus Jennifer, well she was in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” and “Single White Female,” so her cult status is unquestionable.

Also, we all remember how delicious it was the last time Anna played gay for the original British series “Mistresses,” right?



And, um, this is what she looks like almost naked.

So…yeah, guess I might be watching another Ryan Murphy show. Damn you, TV gods, for making me want what I hate.

Gravity of the Situation

It’s not too often I get excited about a movie that I’m almost certain will fail the Bechdel Test. But in the new space thriller “Gravity,” I just might be. It’s been another predictable summer of dudes blowing up shit at the box office. Superheroes, soldiers and spectacularly stupid stuff have crammed the theaters. The two movies I was most interested in seeing (“The Bling Ring,” “The Heat”) I missed because I’d rather spend my weekends supporting shows with amazing female casts (“Orange Is the New Black,” “Orphan Black,” “The Fosters”) that are the rule, not the exception. Don’t worry, I’ll catch those movies on Red Box of Netflix or whatever some lazy Sunday afternoon in the future. p.s. I did see “The Conjuring” in the theater which was quite good with an amazing cast and did pass Bechdel’s Test because talking with another woman about a demonic ghost totally counts.

But for now only one trailer has me most mesmerized and ready to perhaps head back into the theater. It’s “Gravity” a lost-in-space drama about two astronauts literally adrift. If you check out the on-screen cast it’s only Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Like, no kidding, those are the only two characters in this piece. The film is from director Alfonso Cuarón, the man behind “A Little Princess,” “Y Tu Mamá También,” “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and “Children of Men.” And fucking hell trailer makes it look like your worst nightmare. If it’s possible to feel claustrophobic in the endless expanse of space, these clips do it.





At Comic-Con, Cuarón told the press he got predictably sexist pushback from the industry about having a female lead. Like, why do we even need one? This is a movie about space, chicks don’t need to be in space. A report from Women in Hollywood quotes him as saying:

When I finished the script, there were voices that were saying, 'well, we should change it to a male lead.' Obviously they were not powerful enough voices, because we got away with it. But the sad thing is that there is still that tendency.

You know, of all the genres, women have actually done quite well for themselves in science fiction. Think Ripley in the “Alien” franchise, think Sarah Connor in “Terminator” franchise, think Dana Scully in “The X-Files,” hell, Princess fucking Leia!

So while this movie more than likely will fail Bechdel’s golden rule about having two named female characters who take to one another about something other than a man, I think it will still advance our presence on that final frontier.

Quarterback Rock Star

Anyone here old enough to remember the movie “Quarterback Princess?” Helen Hunt, high school football and big-league sexism. Having not seen it in 30 years, I’m naturally rather fuzzy on the details. But from what I recall from watching it as a kid was it was pretty damn cool. Yes, yes – I know, they had to tack on the “princess” part. Yet 30 years later, the “quarterback” part is still pretty damn rare. But the good news is even though quarterback princesses continue to be the exception instead of the rule when it comes to people’s perfection of football, there are plenty more Tami Maida’s today who can’t wait to put on the pads and hit someone – hard.

Take, for example, Sami Grisafe. She is the quarterback of the world champion USA All-Star Team for the International Federation of American Football. That’s tackle football, people, women’s tackle football. Team USA beat Team Canada to take home the 2013 Women’s IFAF championships earlier this month. This is the second time the women have competed for the championship, the first time was in 2010 when Team USA won the inaugural event (it’s played every three years).

Before the game,QB Grisafe busted out the National Anthem. And before you roll your eyes, she was good – really good. It helps that she also sings professionally. And did I mention she’s an out lesbian lady? Great arm and a great voice and a great big gay? Better bring a helmet, ladies, there could be some pushing and shoving in line to buy her a drink.



p.s. For more on the USA All-Star Team, visit their documentary site The Tackle Girls.