American Sapphic

Breaking News! Shane has a show! We love the future!

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Kate Moennig has been cast in CBS’s transplant surgery pilot Three Rivers with Danny Henny and Alex O’Laughlin. The pilot will be filming in Pittsburgh, but if picked up the show will move to L.A.  Moennig will play a self-destructive lung/heart transplant fellow.


1. Ellen & Portia Change The World Day Four [sidenote: does anyone else remember when her show first started, how her contract barred her from discussing her sexuality? It was in her contract. There was a sudden noted change when that was lifted. I’m super curious about how that happened, and if it was public knowledge.]

2. The first ever comprehensive study of its kind, GLSEN’s Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools reveals that levels of harassment, assault and abuse experienced by transgender students is significantly higher than even their non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual peers. In fact, it’s out of f*cking control:

  • Almost half of all transgender students reported skipping a class at least once in the past month (47%) and missing at least one day of school in the past month (46%) because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable.
  • Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened) in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (87%). [@glsen]

3. On Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and West Point’s newly formed gay group for alums (@huffpo)

4. FOA [Friend of Autostraddle] Alexi’s Closet #21: Spring Style & What to Wear to Dinah? (@afterellen)

5. Lindsay & Sam as American Sapphic, in L.A. based artists Ben Tegal’s new exhibit. (@queerty)

6. Vermont considers same-sex marriage bill: ” Marcia Merrill, chair of the Vermont Commission on Women, testified that “as women, we are no strangers to discrimination. We know the injustice of inequality. We know what it is like to be considered second-class citizens [allowing same-sex marriage] is just the right thing to do.” (@feminist newswire)

Today in Douchebaggery:

Extremist anti-gay bill proposed in Tennessee that would ban teachers in public elementary and middle schools from acknowledging any type of sexuality other than heterosexuality (@the examiner)

Gay marriage opponents in Minnesota propose amendment banning gay marriage in response to recent proposal for gender neutral marriage bill (@365gay)

[thanks as always to Intern Vashti]

team-picks-new

crystal-iconfrom Crystal:
The Melbourne Queer Film Festival began this week, featuring the best queer cinema from Australia and around the world. If you’re a film buff then the program guide is definitely worth a look. My personal pick is Were the World Mine, described as “an original and invigorating mix of the musical and teen flick, all set against the magical backdrop of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

alex-iconfrom Alex:
A ridiculous list of 99 Essential Twitter Tools And Applications. Some I’ll be checking out cause they look supercool: twitzu, group tweet, and twittearth. Oh and def tweetbeep.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3179 articles for us.

10 Comments

  1. 1. Portia is so cute and casual when she’s changing the world. Love it.
    2. The transgender harassment stuff is f-ing heartbreaking but, unfortunately, not surprising. All the ignorance and hate make ME not want to go outside.
    3. I wish the future would hurry up and get here.

  2. I wondered, re: 2, if those same levels of harassment would be reported by overweight kids. I feel like that’s the only other group of people that somehow in a school environment it’s still totally acceptable to bash. And yeah, even though it was weird to see it on paper/screen … not surprising.

    I want the future where it’s not raining outside to come STAT.

  3. i heard about the anti-gay ban in TN about a month ago (i’m from MS and close enough that we get TN news) and i still can’t believe that this is real. apparently the state is completely unaware of anything else going on in the world if someone seriously has time to write a bill on an action that is such a rarity in the south to begin with (it really doesn’t happen as often as they want you to think). and my mom wonders why i don’t want to stay in the south. go figure!

    oh, and the twitter apps page from Alex is awesome. i would never have know most of those existed. i’m kinda excited about some of them…

  4. go ellen, go portia!
    i love them…no, at the moment i’m obsessed.
    the douchbaggery news are horrible. i can’t believe this is happening. i mean…really? is there any protest? anything that can be done? i’m from far away, so this is not on my daily newsflash. but thank god: there is autostraddle.

    i love the future. PLUS: i do love autostraddle! have i mentioned that before?

    • I just wanted to say thankssss daniiiiiii for the good lovin’. You know, the compliments and etc.

      We love autostraddle too. And we love it when you love it. I hope you can handle all that love.

  5. This is the best fix so far, girls. I am so proud of you and so proud to have this on the interwebs. YAY!

  6. i’m sorry, i love that LiLo/SamRo pic. no wait, i’m not sorry at all. did you see the article from O Magazine? i have so so many feelings about this:

    http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/200904-omag-women-leaving-men/1
    +++
    also, sorry about TN being full of ignorant a**holes :(
    i’m convinced it’s because all of the progressives flee the state asap, instead of sticking around to make it a better place. which is a pity, b/c it really is pretty there.

    • thanks for sharing that link, grrrrrreen. I hadn’t seen that before, which’s weird cause my Mom reads ‘O’ Magazine like its her bible.

  7. “WERE THE WORLD MINE

    There are no sessions available for your selected film.”

    :( :( :(

Comments are closed.