Happy Friday!
I’m ready for a weekend of LA Pride, including Dyke Day tomorrow. Hope to see you there!
If you’re celebrating Pride at home, you can check out the new film, “As Good As You,” which sounds emotional but with a touch of funny and a lot of heart.
Or, you might be binging “Orange is the New Black,” which is finally out today! Samira Wiley shared how strange it is to not be on this season. “I’m looking forward to watching the season and have no idea what is happening,” she says. “[I’m] honored that Poussey was such a huge influence on the show, and (she) has such a big resonance with people who are watching it. I think it will probably be a little weird, but I think it will also feel good to see that she doesn’t just go away, that hopefully, people will be talking about her for a long time in the show. And in the world, too.”
Vogue has an entire series about out singer Beth Ditto and in an interview, she shares some sweet sentiments about her wife, Kristin Ogata. “When people say they married their best friend, well, I really did it,” she says. “It is different, now that we’re married. There’s something that’s just solid, in a way that it was not solid before. Some people get scared, some don’t. Some feel more secured. For me, it was just very different, there was an air about it. It was like . . . the umami of feelings.”
Eurovision is super LGBTQ-friendly, which matters because it’s literally a worldwide event.
Las Vegas’s Neon Museum is celebrating Pride by highlighting signs from past LGBTQ bars and other spaces, including the Green Shack Bar from 1938, the El Cortez (from the 1950s) and super ’70s Silver Slipper.
“Fried Green Tomatoes” and “Rubyfruit Jungle” were two early super dykey novels that gave lesbians hope. Thanks Fannie Flagg and Rita Mae Brown! (p.s. if you’ve only seen the movie, you need to read the original “FGT” for the good gay shit.)
Gays for Trump have been denied entry into the Charlotte Pride parade. A rep for GFT said they had planned on a float that boasted “Make America Great Again” and feature a dancer dressed as Melania Trump. Charlotte Pride released a statement saying, they “reserve the right to decline participation at our events to groups or organizations which do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization.”
Tonight Dateline will feature the murder of a lesbian in Massachusetts in 2010. Cara Rintala was ultimately arrested and convicted of killing wife Annamarie Rintala. Yay Pride?
Vulture did a deep-dive with Halsey, who revealed that her label initially wanted her to sing her same-sex duet, “Strangers,” with Katy Perry. “I was like, I’m not putting an artist on this song unless they’re fucking gay,” Halsey said. “[The video] is not going to be me and Lauren half-naked in a bed making out with each other, which is exactly what everybody fucking wants.” Halsey and Lauren Jauregui performed the song on “The Today Show” this morning, and (spoiler!) they were not making out.
Speaking of bisexuality, one bi woman shares how Tinder actually helped her become more open about her identity. “Sure, it may encourage shallowness and sexual objectification, but it also reconnects queer folks like me with reality,” she writes. “After years of listening to all the reasons why it’s not okay to be gay, it feels freeing to be in a virtual space that encourages you to just listen to what’s happening in your pants. Once people get real about that, then they can find true love. As far as I’m concerned, that’s not bad for a free app.”
I’ll leave you with this new Pride-themed track from pansexual Miley Cyrus, which should keep you “Inspired.”
What Do You Think?