Two weeks ago we asked you the question we’ve been debating amongst our TV Team for month, since the very first trailer for The L Word: Generation Q landed —could Bette Porter really win an election. To find out, we decided to hold an actual election and put her up against some of our other favorite fictional lesbian, bisexual, queer, and trans women.
One-by-one, they fell until three contestants remained: Bette, Elena Alvarez, and Emma Hernandez. I mentioned repeatedly in those final votes that Bette hadn’t actually won a single round yet. To be quite honest, we thought she was unbeatable before we started this thing. And I thought, for sure, with the new series getting closer and closer to premiering, and all that nostalgia ramping up, Bette would come on so strong in the final round. She did. And yet! The winner of the Bette Porter 2020 Mayoral Election (and also every single round of voting) is…
Carmen actually asked me after round four what we’d do if Bette lost. I said, “To Elena Alvarez? Well, I think we high five that the kids are all right!”
Here’s how it all went down:
Round 1 — 11/25 (Lost: Rhonda Johnson, black-ish)
Round 2 — 11/26 (Lost: Nancy Botwin, Weeds)
Round 3 — 11/27 (Lost: Dawn Denbo, The L Word)
Round 4 — 12/2 (Lost: Hen, 9-1-1)
Round 5 — 12/3 (Lost: Davina Rejennae, Transparent)
Round 6 — 12/4 (Lost: Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
The Final Election — 12/5 (Lost: Emma Hernandez, Vida; Bette Porter, The L Word)
Happy Generation Q Day! One Day at a Time season four premieres in March! In the meantime, please enjoy Carmen and Natalie’s brilliant list of the Top 100 Queer Women of Color TV Characters of All Time!
This is sweetly awesome and I hope the ODAAT showrunner sneaks this fabulous victory into the show. Wouldn’t that be something.
The young truly are our future.
Yaaaaay, my girl Elena won!😘
This was lots of fun! Can we please do more of these? 🥂
Ok Boomer? Ok Boomer!
Was Bette in second place?
Yaay! Elena stole my heart from the beginning. Bette Porter plotlines aside, I think she’s most representative of our Gen Q: the latest wave of queer young people who are so smart, empathetic, fierce and hopeful that I can’t help but be optimistic about their futures.
would just like to point out that I used to be an ACTUAL campaign manager and never lost a campaign so this continues my perfect record THANK U
Amazing
Hooray!!!
Now that’s a crossover episode I’d consider murder for
YASSS! A Bette Porter campaign event at Vida with a scrappy young campaign volunteer destined to win mayor-for-a-day and then the mayoral seat as the youngest mayor in the history of forever.
This makes me sad :(
No shade to Elena! But Bette is so kickass and accomplished, and experienced women should be treasured, not feared.