Welcome, GO readers, to our weekly roundup of the biggest lesbian, bisexual, queer, and transgender women’s news and entertainment stories!
The Bold Type Features A Queer Muslim Woman
Are you watching The Bold Type? After this, you’ll want to. The Freeform channel show about women working at a magazine features the character Adena El Amin, a “proud Muslim lesbian,” who’s caught in a romantic back and forth with her co-worker, Kat. The pair had yet to make it official, until this week’s episode. The pair not only show an interracial same-sex romance, but Adena’s character is all the more important because she is a queer Muslim, a group that has been erased and vilified in the wake of the the Orlando attack, according to Blair Imani, founder & Executive Director of Equality for HER.
“For anybody who’s struggling with their faith and sexual orientation, seeing a character where that’s an element of their story, it says ‘hey it’s okay to exist,’” Imani told GO. For Imani, who came out publicly as a black queer Muslim earlier this summer on Fox News, Adena’s character encourages “self-empowerment” for young queer people of color who often don’t get to see themselves on screen. Viewers who aren’t familiar with lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans women or Muslims can even look to Adena’s character for a “frame of reference” for when they encounter someone with an experience different from their own, Imani added. Be sure to check out Imani’s piece discussing the show on GLAAD’s website — plus, there’s a clip from the show that will make your queer heart burst with joy.
Pink and Young M.A. Gave Us Everything We Wanted At The VMAs
From the red carpet to the Video Music Awards stage, Pink reminded us that she’s never been afraid to be authentic. While Pink doesn’t identify as LGBTQ, she’s spoken about experimenting with her sexuality and has served as an ally to the community. It’s easy to see why she resonates with the community: Pink, her husband and daughter wore matching suits to the MTV awards. Then, when she received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award (from Ellen DeGeneres, natch) she told a story about teaching her daughter to embrace being androgynous. “Baby girl, we don’t change. We take the gravel and the shell and we make a pearl. And we help other people to change so that they can see more kind of beauty,” she said. Meanwhile, out-lesbian hip hop artist Young M.A. was nominated for a Best New Artist Award. She didn’t win, but she gave us some serious stud-femme vibes with her date, host Tori Brixx. Young M.A.’s star has been rising since her 2016 single “OOOUUU” came out.
President Trump Moves Forward With The Trans Military Ban
Back in July, President Donald Trump tweeted that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military. Since you can’t actually legislate through Twitter, the administration has now moved forward to institute the ban with a directive. In the directive, President Trump instructs the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to stop recruiting transgender people and to stop funding gender affirming medical care. On Tuesday evening, Defense Secretary James Mattis temporarily halted the ban, allowing trans troops to serve pending further study by experts. Since Trump first announced the policy change on Twitter, trans soldiers and lawmakers have condemned it as unnecessary and disruptive. The VMAs get more kudos on this front. On Sunday evening, six trans soldiers walked the red carpet.
How To Help LGBTQ People In Houston
For nearly a week, tropical storm Harvey has caused flooding and displacement in Houston, Texas, with few signs of slowing down. As hundreds of thousands of residents face evacuation orders, there are LGBTQ organizations in the area raising funds specifically to serve the queer community. The Montrose Center, Houston’s LGBTQ center, has a relief fund for queer people displaced by the storm. For Texas trans folks, the Transgender Foundation of America has a fund to help this underserved community. If you have a little extra coin, throw it their way.
Meet The Lesbians Behind A Halloween Empire
It’s sad to summer go, but all the more reason to start looking forward to Halloween. This week, the website Broadly profiled two lesbians, formerly a couple, who turned their Halloween decorating hobby in a multi-million dollar empire. After Melissa Carbone and her ex-wife Alyson Richards saw people staring at their spooky decorations, which included fog, animatronics and even actors, they made their passion for Halloween professional. Today, their business, Ten Thirty One Productions, runs one of the biggest hayrides in Los Angeles — Mark Cuban even recently invested $2 million into it. Get it, queens.
Honorable Mentions
Can’t get enough of queer women making news? Here are a couple more stories to check out:
Chile Is Taking Up Same-Sex Marriage
The First Egyptian Lesbian To Come Out Publicly
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