The Dish: Pulse Survivor Jahqui Sevilla Dies in Car Crash, Vogue on “L Word” Fashion

It’s already Wednesday! Can you believe it? Covfefe?

“Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni” is “a weaponized-lesbian action game” that will be available for PC on June 20th, just in time for Pride!

If you’re not into opera, you might be after you see Francesco Cavalli‘s “La Calisto,” which promises “Sapphic virgins,” among other things. BroadwayWorld reports: “First performed in Venice in 1651, ‘La Calisto’ retells Book II of Ovid’s Metamorphoses: an ancient myth that dives deep into matters of gender, homosexual love, and infidelity. This whimsical mythological drama was not among Cavalli’s most popular operas during his lifetime and can even seem edgy in today’s theaters.” New Yorkers can check it out as part of the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s UNTAMED! Opera Festival on August 12th at the La MaMa Theatre downtown.

Tel Aviv Pride is being hit with a wave of cancellations from filmmakers whose work is being shown at their film fest, citing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel who many feel is guilty of pinkwashing (or promoting the country’s gay friendliness in order to “distract from and normalize Israeli occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid.”)

If you’re in LA on Friday, I hope to see you at the opening night of Lesbians to Watch Out For: 90s Queer LA Activism at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. Running throughout the month of June, the exhibit will include The Lesbian Avengers 25th Anniversary Exhibit,  tales of LA queer women (from ACT UP LA, Queer Nation LA & the LA Dyke March),  untold histories of local lesbian, bisexual, and transgender groups like United Lesbians of African Heritage (ULOAH), Los Angeles Asian Pacific Islander Sisters (LAAPIS), Lesbianas Unidas (LU), Bi-Net and Transgender Menace, and MORE!

Logan, Utah teens had the chance to attend an LGBTQ prom at their local youth center, and 70 kids showed up dressed to impress in a safe space that also encouraged them to be themselves. If only all LGBTQ youngins were so lucky!

It’s that time of year where students give their teachers evaluations, and one prof shared how frustrating it can be to receive this kind of feedback. Assistant professor of interdisciplinary studies at Bemidji State University Season Ellison told The Chronicle of Higher Education that she included one play by a lesbian playwright in her course that featured 17 other plays throughout the school year, but she received a comment from a student saying “The focus on lesbian playwrights was too much. Don’t teach as many lesbian plays.” Someone take that kid to see “Indecent” on Broadway, stat!

British Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening is the first openly gay woman to serve in a Conservative cabinet down under, and she publicly made her support of PM Theresa May known at an event organised by Stonewall, Pink News, and Pride in London on Tuesday, citing May’s support for LGBTQs while in office. However, Liberal Democrat Lord Brian Paddick disputed these claims, saying Greening was giving May too much credit for other people’s hard-fought victories. The United Kingdom general election will take place on June 8th, with May facing off against three others for her seat, including liberal Democrat Tim Farron. “All I would say to you is look at Theresa May’s voting record on LGBT issues, look at Tim Farron’s voting record on LGBT issues and you will see who is the true champion of LGBT issues of the party leaders,” Paddick said. Greening, of course, disagreed.

Aussie tennis legend Margaret Court is just so obsessed with lesbians! She was on a Christian talk show recently, expanding on recent homophobic comments she made about another player who happened to have a female partner. “When I was playing there was only a couple [of lesbians],” Court said. “But those couple that led took young ones into parties and things. What you get at the top is often what you’ll get right through that sport.” WHERE WAS MY INVITE, MARTINA? BILLIE JEAN? DANA FAIRBANKS?

Evan Rachel Wood interviewing “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown is so adorable.

In some tragic news, Pulse survivor Jahqui Sevilla died in a car crash over the weekend after losing control of her vehicle and killing another driver, 53-year-old Soroya Matias-Roth, in Orlando. Jahqui’s father said she’d begun getting her life back together after dealing with PTSD and survivor’s guilt, that she was going back to school and was a part of the Orlando’s Anarchy Women’s Football Team. Rest in power, Jahqui.

Vogue is trolling us so hard. They imagined what “The L Word” characters would be wearing today, and I think I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with most of their choices because clearly that show wasn’t super fashion-forward.

Speaking of fashion, plus-size babes share why masculine and androgynous fashion empowers them. A choice quote from Massculine Fashion blogger Julia McCrossin: “Discovering that I could find clothing in my size, and even at thrift store prices,  allowed me to focus on details and accouterments that turned the daily shirt and pants routine into an outfit. Wearing the things I dreamed about growing up, and seeing that masculine image as my own, has been one of the most liberating things I’ve ever done.”

Out musician Stevie Parker penned a great piece about female androgyny and feminism for NME. An excerpt: “When I think of my own androgynous ways, I view it more as a refusal of limitations, as opposed to an affinity with maleness/a dismissal of the archetypal feminine. I don’t particularly prioritise my more masculine traits – visual, emotional or otherwise – I just don’t believe that my gender has any bearing over the decisions I make, or how I should be perceived, treated, or how I emote. It’s not so much an adoption of gender specific traits that oppose what you’re born with – I feel as though it’s a disregarding of all gender, but in a more creative sense, resulting in a unique and often other-worldly freedom of expression, that inevitably expands into decision making, fashion and all other areas of life.” OK, but is she single? JK! (Kind of.)

In case you want a whole playlist of girls singing songs about girls, this one gives a few options from the last few years. However, dig a little deeper if you want to back into the time of womyn’s music and find that OG shit, like “Lavender Jane Loves Women.”

Indian feminist and publisher Urvashi Butalia wants queer and trans women to be an accepted part of the women’s movement in India, and makes a strong case for it in The Guardian. She details how “poverty, marginalisation, human relations, friendship and class” are “issues that lie at the heart of feminism.” SNAP SNAP, Urvashi, SNAP SNAP!

See you on Thursday, bb.