Lea DeLaria Wants a Lesbian Rom-Com and SO DO WE!

“Of course we have laughter and humor and love in our lives, like everybody else.”

Lea DeLariaPhoto by Leslie Van Stelten

For the fabulous month of June, known as Pride Month to us fabulous gays, FilmStruck will be curating five collections of films about LGBTQ experience and artists. This curation will be star-studded with some of Hollywood’s Finest Homosexuals.

According to our friends at The Advocate, on June 22 your favorite butch and mine, Lea DeLaria, will offer insight into the importance of lesbian cinema by examining seven films including The Watermelon Woman, the first feature film directed by a Black lesbian, as well as Desert Hearts and Blue Is the Warmest Color. DeLaria opened up to The Advocate about what those films meant to her.

“I loved that we were telling our stories for the first time,” DeLaria tells The Advocate about seeing The Watermelon Woman. “When I saw the change that was happening, that we were starting to tell our own stories, that was like, fuck yeah! This was not The Killing of Sister George, you know what I mean? This was The Watermelon Woman. And the fact that it was about Black lesbians was just like, fuck yeah! So good. So cool.”

“I’d love to make a lesbian rom-com,” she adds. “That’s just something I’ve never seen. Of course we have laughter and humor and love in our lives, like everybody else. That’s the best part when I saw The Watermelon Woman — I saw us talking about us.”

Ummmmm, yes please, lesbian rom-com!!!

DeLaria went on to tell The Advocate how important it is to tell real stories, particularly for butch lesbians.

“I think it’s very important for me to be visible as butch because butch is not the same as any other lesbian,” she says. “When we start to forget that there are other kinds of us out there, that’s not a good thing… I need people to recognize, yes, I’m a lesbian, but I’m a butch.”

Classics of Lesbian Cinema streams June 22, featuring DeLaria as she examines seven lesbian films, including the first feature film directed by a black lesbian, The Watermelon Woman (1996); Desert Hearts, an adaptation of Jane Rule’s novel (1986); and Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color (2013).


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