Pop Culture Fix: Lightyear’s Lesbian Kiss Had Ted Cruz Checking Out Doll Genitals

If anyone has any idea why I wrote the word “booooo!!!” in my planner on this date, I would love to know. ‘Cause it seems like something’s happening today I don’t want! But I don’t remember what it is! In the meantime, I made you a Pop Culture Fix!


+ Killing Eve‘s Eve Polastri was almost played by Maya Rudolph??? What a wildly different show that would have been!

+ Lightyear hit theaters this weekend, complete with the restored lesbian kiss. Producers are saying Disney always supported the couple, just not the kiss? Either way these space homos have sent Ted Cruz over the edge; last time he checked out doll genitals (????), they didn’t exist? Chris Evans thinks that makes Ted Cruz an idiot. However, IMDB thinks a little animated lesbian peck deserves a severe sex/nudity warning??? I hope IMDB never stumbled onto Tumblr.

+ 21 actors who came out as queer after playing queer.

+ Bowen Yang and Cynthia Nixon have teamed up for a Variety Actors on Actors interview, and you know Che Diaz came up.

+ May I offer you a Westworld season four trailer?

+ Vico Ortiz is reclaiming their identity and the sparkly fairy they used to be.

+ Retired British track superstar/Olympic gold medalist Kelly Holmes has come out! V. cool!

+ Enjoy this vampire-themed ASMR with the First Kill cast.

+ Collider thinks you should watch DEBS for Pride this year, and I agree. You should always be watching DEBS.

+ Well, and here’s the trailer for Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

+ St. Vincent covered “Sweet Dreams Are Made of These” at the Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony.

+ Tofu happily flips the script for the trans community.

+ Hacks has been renewed for a third season.

+ Lzzy Hale reflects on the journey to being “unapologetically bisexual.” 

+ TIME magazine’s got a big ol’ profile of Megan Rapinoe, in which she comes out swinging hard for trans athletes. Here’s just a part of her answer about trans inclusion in sports.

Frankly, I think what a lot of people know is versions of the right’s talking points because they’re very loud. They’re very consistent, and they’re relentless… I’m sorry, your kid’s high school volleyball team just isn’t that important. It’s not more important than any one kid’s life.

Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.

So, we need to really kind of take a step back and get a grip on what we’re really talking about here because people’s lives are at risk. Kids’ lives are at risk with the rates of suicide, the rates of depression and negative mental health and drug abuse. We’re putting everything through God forbid a trans person be successful in sports. Get a grip on reality and take a step back.

+ Looks like Ellie Barone will play Jackie’s new girlfriend on Hightown.

+ Raveena on the reality of being queer and South Asian — and the transcendent power of fantasy.

+ The Vampire Diaries cinematic universe will continue beyond Legacies.

+ Finally! Some good news!

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

8 Comments

  1. Love Lzzy Hale. I remember stumbling upon a raw Halestorm in their very early days when I lived in PA. I knew they would make it and Lzzy one day would be an icon in so many ways.

  2. After seeing Lightyear, it’s hard to imagine the producers could have not been supportive of the queer relationship itself. *Possible spoilers for anyone really invested*

    It’s not a small or throwaway part of the movie. The climax hinges on Buzz deciding Alisha meeting her wife is more important than his primary objective for the entire movie, the lost years of his life, any possible better alternative path. He sacrifices everything for their love story and for the multi-generational positive impact of their love story. I was gobsmacked at how hard it swings not just for gay people being tolerable in “family-friendly” settings, but for gay people creating amazing families themselves.

    Conceivably there could be another cut where “wife” is replaced with “husband” in the dialogue and Keiko is replaced with a man, but given the high cost of animation I find it hard to believe Disney ever considered cutting the queer relationship entirely after production really got underway.

    • I felt the same way! I expected a very cuttable scene (a la Frozen with the nordic gays in the sauna) and instead we get a beautiful, lifetime lesbian love story? I loved it. I especially loved when Alisha said “I met someone” and Buzz went “I’d love to meet her.” An OUT lesbian!!!

  3. WHAT ABOUT Maya Rudolph as Villanelle??????????? Or Caroline. Remake time. Can they just rotate these roles around like a art house theater experiment? I wanna seeeeeeeee ittttttt.

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