LGBTea You Missed Last Week
Howdy y’all!
If you’ve been with us for a while, you may have noticed that I have taken a long break from writing the tea. When I started this in the winter, I didn’t expect for the news to take such a dark turn. As a news junkie, the Coronavirus introduced me to doomscrolling, and it took a toll on my ability to digest the news and put a positive/fun spin on things.
Just when I felt I was able to hop back on the horse, the tragic killings of the black community at the hands of police took over the national conversation. Again, I felt paralyzed. As someone who isn’t part of the black community, I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, and unfortunately that led me to not saying anything at all. We’re not a big organization with lots of followers that we could “pass the mic” to, and I felt so overwhelmed with rage and sadness that I got stuck in the mud.
I’m sure that if you are reading this post you already know about the tragedies happening to the black community in America, but if you’re not I encourage you to do some reading and educate yourself. Here are a few links that may be helpful:
If you have any additional resources you’d like us to feature, please get in touch!
So without further ado, here’s some queer pop culture updates:
Naya Rivera performing as Santana Lopez on Glee. (Adam Rose/FOX)
1. Naya Rivera, best known for her role as Santana in Glee, passed away in a tragicfrom a boating accident. Whitnee did a great job writing about her impact on the LGBTQ communityit, so check that out to learn more here.
2. Scotland became the first country in the whole WORLD to require LGBTQ studies in school! The move introduces LGBTQ focused lessons as soon as 2021 to public school students in Scotland with emphasis on same-sex marraige/parenting, homo/trans and biphobia, and the HIV+ AIDS epidemic. Cheers, Scotland!
Halle Berry (Getty)
3. Oscar winning actress Halle Berry was set to play a trans character in an upcoming feature film until trans activists and allies rightfully called her out online. Amazing credit to Halle Berry for listening to these concerns and stepping away from the role, writing on twitter: “Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I’d like to apologize for those remarks. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.”
4. A shortage of lesbian focused community spaces continues to haunt the LGBTQ community. A recent article featured on eater.com dives into the problem at hand, describing an estimation that only 16 bars in America are lesbian owned. When it’s safe, remember to patronize queer spaces! Socially distanced and with a mask on, of course.
Dakota Johnson (Angela Weiss)
4. Quarantine has really brought out some gems. For some reason Dakota Johnson came out as bisexual like three years ago but no one seemed to notice or care… Until some enterprising queers doing deep dives found this out and it started trending on twitter. (Can you tell I get a lot of my news from twitter?) She hasn’t officially commented on it in 2020, but as you can see from the article itself it’s pretty clear. If she corrects us I’ll happily retract, because I think I’d die if I got hit with an “Ellen, that’s not true” Dakota Johnson trademark smirk.
The Last of Us 2 (Sony)
5. The Last of Us 2, the sequel to the game frequently hailed as the GOAT of video games, arrived! I won’t say much since I have a review in the making, but it’s lesbian as fuck.
Thanks for reading this week! Hopefully I’ll keep it up with some regularity, but another great resource for queer news is them.us. Till next time!
