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It’s been months since I posted an installment of New Gay Heroes. I’ve had a couple of posts for the series in mind for quite some time, but just haven’t gotten around to actually writing and posting them. This weekend, though, I saw a little snippet on the Huffington Post that lit a fire under me to get going. So without further ado…
Portia de Rossi
It’s true that when we think of famous lesbians, the first blonde to come to mind might be her wife, but Portia de Rossi is surely a New Gay Hero in her own right.
She and wife Ellen do wonderful things for lesbian visibility by being out, being themselves and sharing their lives with the public. Whether they are beaming in the glow of their engagement on the red carpet…
Sharing their wedding photos in People magazine…
Playing the Newlywed Game and speaking candidly about their life and love on Ellen’s talk show…
Or talking about equal marriage rights on Oprah…
Ellen and Portia are, together, such a wonderful positive representation for lesbians and same-sex marriage.
But on her own, Portia has this habit of appearing on talk shows and effortlessly and eloquently speaking about marriage equality. Just last week, she quite calmly fielded the (at times bizarre) questions of the ladies at The View with poise:
The very same day she also stopped by Good Morning America, where she again spoke about her marriage to Ellen and equal rights (that starts at about three minutes in):
I just love the way Portia speaks about equal marriage rights with such grace and ease. She makes it sound just as simple as it should – if we don’t have marriage, we don’t have equal rights. Plain and simple. Portia always manages to explain that marriage is different from being “partnered” or “unioned” or whatever other nonsense opponents of our rights try to sell us – and she always does it without breaking a sweat.
Portia de Rossi is a New Gay Hero for sure.
Rachel Maddow
Oh, Rachel. Rachel, Rachel, Rachel. What can I say? I have an enormous crush on Rachel Maddow. Now, I don’t want my giant crush to color my characterization of Rachel as a New Gay Hero, so let’s just get it out of the way at the start, and then move on, okay? Rachel Maddow is hot. She is only made hotter by how incredibly smart she is. And I am still in total disbelief that I get to tune into a super hot, self-proclaimed butch dyke talk about politics and current events on tv every night. Hot. Hot. Hot. Okay – Ahem! Now that that’s out of my system…
Rachel Maddow is a New Gay Hero for being herself on television. Sure, she takes off the glasses (they do cover a lot of her face – no television producer would let a tv host, male or female, butch or femme, wear them on-air), and puts on a suit and some make-up, but you’d never mistake her for a girly-girl, and her look is still undeniably lesbian-ish. And when she appears on talk shows, she’s 100% Rachel – glasses, sneakers, and her decidedly butch clothes.
In our culture, butch women are so often vilified, and Rachel is such a great shining example to combat all the negativity.
Rachel is not just a New Hay Hero for her looks, of course, she is truly a New Gay Hero for what she says. When Barack Obama won the election in November, there was a lot of buzz about what the liberals would have to talk about now – Rachel has given us that answer. She covers the Obama administration’s every move, applauding that which she thinks is worthy of praise, and examining in depth that which makes her uneasy. Very recently, Rachel has been all over Obama’s lack of action on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:
And DOMA:
As an entertaining tv personality, a positive representation for butch (and all) lesbians, and a watchdog for LGBT rights issues, Rachel Maddow is surely a New Gay Hero.
When I saw the movie Milk, I cried all through the credits, and all the way back to the car. I cried for the loss of Harvey Milk and all that he could have accomplished, and also for my community’s lack of a leader, a leader with Harvey’s vision, drive, and ability to inspire. When we think of the face of gay rights today, who do we think of? I really don’t know the answer to that. There isn’t one person in particular who comes to mind. But in the months since I saw Milk, a few gay public figures have inspired me, in ways great and small. And so I have decided to start a little feature here on the blog called New Gay Heroes.
New Gay Heroes will feature members of the LGBT community in the public eye that inspire, educate, or entertain in a way that I think is beneficial to our community. New Gay Heroes are people that I am proud to see represent my community, and give me hope for our future.
So without further ado, my first New Gay Hero is:
Wanda Sykes
In November 2008, Wanda Sykes made her official coming out at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas. She was moved by the passing of Prop 8 to go public. In her speech at the rally, she said:
“We took a huge leap forward and then got dragged 12 feet back. I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked. Now, I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.
They pissed off the wrong group of people. They have galvanized a community. We are so together now and we all want the same thing and we shouldn’t have to settle for less. Instead of having gay marriage in California, no, we’re gonna have gay marriage across the country.”
Wanda isn’t a New Gay Hero just because of her empowering statements at that November rally, but also for her brilliant use of comedy as a way to share her life with the public – educating through laughter.
In May, Wanda was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. NBC won’t let me embed the video, but you can watch here (once the page loads you can click “Select Chapter” to watch Wanda’s two segments – which are totally worth sitting through a couple of ads, I promise!). In her segments with Jay, Wanda talks about she and her wife Alex being new moms to twins. She shared some hilarious tidbits about the twins’ birth by c-section, such as, “If the doctor tells you ‘Don’t look there,’ don’t look there!“ And when Jay commented that he prefers to be there for the conception rather than delivery, she responded ”I wasn’t even there for that!,” after which they and the audience erupted into laughter.
Wanda had a couple of great bits about parenting, which demonstrated (without spelling it out) that life isn’t that different for two moms as opposed to a mom and a dad. On separation of baby duties, Wanda explained that since Alex is breastfeeding “She handles everything that goes in, and I handle everything that comes out.” And on the difficulty of caring for multiples, she said ”I told my wife, if you ever find me in bed with another woman, you know I’m just there for a nap! I’m just trying to get some shut-eye!”
As an activist and a comedian, Wanda Sykes is such a positive figure for us to have on our side. Seeing her on Jay Leno, talking about her wife and children just like any straight guest would, may not seem incredibly significant, but it is. Sharing our stories helps people to understand us, and making them laugh in the process just makes it that much easier for them to relate. And that’s what makes Wanda Sykes a New Gay Hero to me.
Last night, The Accountant and I curled up on the couch to watch a DVR’d episode of Ellen. I’d been waiting for weeks, and the day had arrived – Portia was going to be a guest on Ellen!
Ellen started the show as she always does, walking out to her theme song and loud cheers, before gleefully announcing, “My wife is here today!”
It’s funny because it seems like a small thing, Ellen having Portia as a guest on her show, but it felt huge to me. As someone who has struggled in every day life with using the very appropriate word, “wife,” to refer to my spouse, it seemed revolutionary to see Ellen say it with such ease on television. I can’t tell you how many times I have used the word “wife,” only to be looked at like I’m an extraterrestrial with three heads and a horn growing out of my forehead. And now, here’s the most famous lesbian in the country, saying it on tv to enthusiastic cheers from the audience!
Of course there was some dancing
The interview was very sweet, with Portia talking about how married life is great, but she had to get used to Ellen being so famous and getting recognized everywhere they go.
My favorite part though, was right at the start, when Ellen took Portia’s shoe off and made her show the audience that she is not taller than her without the heels! So adorable!
Thanks for the picture, Dorothy Snarker!
They also played The Newlywed Game against a straight couple from the audience and won!
Seriously, look at the way they are looking at each other!
The winning question: What’s the best gift your spouse has ever given you? Both Portia and Ellen answered “her heart.” Awwww…
And then of course, Portia sang with Ellen in the bathroom (if you don’t watch Ellen – this is a recurring segment with guests). Their song? “I Got You Babe.”
If you missed the show, you can catch the full bathroom singing segment on Ellen’s site, and the interview and Newlywed Game on Dorothy Surrenders and AfterEllen.
All pictures (except the shoe one) from Ellen’s website.
Rachel Maddow was on The View this week. Generally, I avoid that show with its shout-y, maddening, roundtable discussions, but this, is worth watching:
I was kind of surprised by how much they focused on Rachel’s sexuality. I guess I just find it funny that at 30something years old, she’s still telling her coming out story, but on the flip side, I thought the View ladies presented all the gay questions pretty well.
And how about Whoopi? Did you catch the “That door’s been open for years,” comment? My, my! As far as I’ve seen, no one in the media is harping on that one. Have we just accepted Whoopi as an out-but-not-out-but-probably-definitely-gay celebrity (you know, kind of like our favorite silver-haired news anchor…)? Does Whoopi’s sexuality being a non-issue mean a step forward for all of us? Or am I totally off base – AfterEllen seems to think she’s straight (or perhaps open-minded, see Sarah Warn’s comment). Who knows . Love to Whoopi either way!
It’s too bad they had such little time with Rachel – you could tell they were rushing from topic to topic to get it all in, and by the time they got into some real politics, the show was over.
I think it’s great for lesbians that Rachel appeared on The View, which is my grandma’s favorite show. She came across as charming and intelligent as always, and her “gay Desperate Housewives” comment hit the perfect note for the audience.
Now please excuse me while I go daydream about Rachel Maddow showing up on my doorstep to clear my yard…
Say goodbye to the Callie/Erica storyline on Grey’s Anatomy, because after this week, it’s gone. That’s right: gone.
Brook Smith, the actress who plays Erica Hahn, has been fired from the show, and THIS THURSDAY NIGHT will be her final episode. (Full story HERE.) According to Smith, she’s not even properly written out of the show:
“My final scene is just me heading to my car. I honestly don’t know what happens in the next episode.”
Apparently, things were getting a little too gay for ABC. Smith being fired isn’t the only change – AfterEllen reports that ABC is also going to de-gay a new character named Sadie who was originally slated to be a bisexual intern with some sort of history with Meredith.
This doesn’t even make any sense! This is ABC we’re talking about, home of Ugly Betty – aka Possibly The Gayest Show in History! I guess gay characters are okay until they start having like, real emotions and relationships, like, you know, human beings?
I’m so disappointed. I was really looking forward to watching the Callie and Erica romance unfold – not to mention the fact that lesbian or no, Erica Hahn was a such a great, strong female character.
Feel free to contact ABC and tell them what you think of this.
This:
is Rachel Maddow. Air America radio host, political commentator, Rhodes Scholar, Standford and Oxford University grad, super hot lesbian, and my standing date for 9:00pm every weeknight beginning on Monday, September 9th.
That’s right, Rachel Maddow is getting her very own show on MSNBC. And lefty, politically minded lezzies everywhere rejoice!
If you’re not familiar with Rachel Maddow, check out this clip of her in action, doing what she does best - kicking ass:
Ah, Rachel Maddow – she’s hot, she’s smart (again - Standford, Oxford, Rhodes Scholar, oh my!), and she’s coming into my living room.
For those of you keeping score, we will now have TWO daily television shows starring out lesbians. This is TWICE the amount we had before (hey, small victories…)!
Hooray!
Okay, so I know a wedding is a private matter and celebrities are perfectly justified in keeping everything secret if that’s what they want, but I am so so so happy that Ellen and Portia let a magazine (any magazine! I’m not picky!) take pictures for us all to see! It’s such a thrill to see a lesbian wedding as the cover story of a mainstream magazine.
Hi. I’m Portia DeRossi, and I’m freakin’ gorgeous
So far these are the only picture up on People’s website. To see the rest (how can I resist??), we’ll have to wait until the issue hits news stands on Friday.
Allow me to begin by stating that Ellen DeGeneres is not a celebrity crush of mine. However…
This look really does it for me. H – O – T. This is how you rock a menswear look. Well tailored, just rumpled enough with the loose tie and popped collar, and of course, a beautiful lady on your arm. Me-yow.
Speaking of Ellen and Portia, they have set a date! Of course they will not share the details of where or when, but Ellen did hint at the impending nuptuals being a star-studded event when she said that “incredible people” will sing at the ceremony. She also said that she will share a little bit of the wedding on her show. Thank goodness we have DVR!
I can’t wait – a glamorous celebrity lesbian wedding! Here’s hoping Ellen rocks a delicious ensemble like this one for the big day – but maybe minus the sneakers…? We’ll see!
