This past Sunday Be Yr Own Queero hosted yet another absurdly entertaining episode of the L Word. We all gathered around for a pre-show potluck and made sure to check the stats on the Super Bowl before the highly anticipated third episode of the final season. Personally I enjoy the trash talking amongst us Queeros of the L Word characters and the food we share more than the L word itself! But there are some people out there checking out the L Word that have no clue our lives are not at all similar to the show. With that said, BYOQ wanted this episode to go down a little differently at the Rainbow Factory. We want awareness, we are not the L Word, in fact, I don’t know any lesbians that resemble a L Word character and their high statuses. Babe Useless put together a slide show of the advertisements that Showtime uses to promote their version of lesbian life, and had an open dialogue and discussion about how the show is portrayed to sell out the American ‘premium’ audience. And no we weren’t all naked in bed with each other, and we aren’t ever.

Here is what we thought, so Illene grab a pen and take notes, cause we heard you have plans of a spin-off or a movie, and I’m not going to watch it or support it if your awful representation of our community gets any worse. Maybe your movie will need a ‘treatment’ like Jenny’s, so this could be very valuable information. Showtime seems to be up to what everyone else in our society in the media world does, they use sex to sell, no big surprise. The portrayal of lesbians by the L Word is what is so disturbing, we laugh more than we relate, no offense to the actors. We noticed how feminine the only butch character Shane dresses, even wearing makeup! We also noticed how ‘white’ Kit Porter has become over the years, remember when she used to have an ethnic appearance and natural hair? I can barely remember either. Apparently lesbians that do have families with kids have the means available to send their children away for a trendy hiatus, because we sure can’t seem to find, Angelica (Bette and Tina’s baby) anywhere lately. So how does this happen, how do we have this great opportunity to showcase that lesbians are normal, that we have functional stable relationships, and live average lives like most others? One suggestion made by a Queero was that maybe what the L Word shows is what is going on out in hip and trendy L.A., I mean after all we are lesbians sandwiched in the middle of the conservative south and the mason dixon line, so maybe we just don’t know better. But while I was looking around the room, I saw the opposite. We are a group of lesbians that are struggling to make ends meet, finishing our education, working real jobs for hourly wages, and watch out: honoring our monogamous relationships! I know some of you thought we couldn’t do it, but we do. Some of us even co-habitat, successfully. We have values and respect for each other. We are activists and not just for queer issues. We spend our free time serving others through volunteering and fighting homophobia and discrimination in our community. The L Word really doesn’t seem to cover that.

The most profound part of the discussion and this weeks episode was Ms. Alice Pieszecki, also know as Liesha Hailley, who in fact is a real life lesbian, and that’s where the problems started for me, and the big shocker for episode three! Yes, I know the real shocker was that Shane and Jenny have sex, and the even bigger shocker is that they like it. Before we hit play, we talked about how Ms. Alice feels about her character and the entire shows’ representation. Since Leisha is a bona fide dyke should she not have issues with acting out a script that is so ridiculous and unrealistic? If she is a lesbian shouldn’t we be able to relate to her more, I know I can relate a lot better to my dyke friends than my straight ones. But her, I’m just so, uh not feeling it. So we Queeros, we were pretty disappointed in you, Ms. Hailey. That was until you made your bold move, and it almost seemed like a direct response to our discussion prior to the show. While filming her talk show Alice goes against the script and against her producers on live television. Alice received a letter in the mail from a viewer of her talk show in which the viewer asks Alice to share the letter with the L.A. audience. Alice goes boldly and shares the letter out loud in front of a live studio. She says, “I know I’ve justified outing in the past saying it’s a political act, and I certainly do believe that the world would be better if people felt free and safe enough to be who they are. But what I forgot is that some people choose to stay in the closet for other reasons. One of those reasons is that homophobia is alive and well, and often times in this country — can get you killed.” So thanks Alice (Ilene, Leisha Hailey)! We really appreciate you actually stepping out and bringing up relevant content to the L Word. Want to find out what is in store this week? Meet us at the Rainbow Factory today at 7:30 for a potluck and discussion and we’ll watch the show at 9! See you there!