Gayjoy Digest #7

Good morning and welcome to another edition of the Gayjoy Digest. 

We’re here with your weekly dose of queer news, plus tons of events to keep your calendar booked with gay things all through the holiday season. 

And just as a reminder: we’d appreciate it if you’d take a sec to add this email to your favorites (and mark it as “not spam”) to make sure it continues to hit your inbox. 

Julia Lemigova is the first lesbian housewife

The Real Housewives of Miami is back after an eight-year hiatus and joining the cast is an actual lesbian! While other housewives have come out as queer during their time on the show, former Russian beauty queen Julia Lemigova is the first to be out from the beginning. 

The trailer doesn’t give away much, but we do see Julia’s pro tennis player wife, Martina Navratilova. 

Though the two have been married since 2014 and together since at least 2006, they seem to have kept fairly private about their relationship. But they have shared the story of how they met in a gay club in Paris, back in 2000. Navratilova said she noticed a “gorgeous woman standing at the bar” and looking at her, and Lemigova elaborated: 

I gave this kind of a Russian look to her. Really, it was more like, ‘Okay, you are coming to talk to me now.’ 

We love the confidence it takes to stare down a world renowned tennis pro 16 years your senior with a “you are coming to talk to me now” look, and we hope it serves her well on this season of RHOM. 

Coming Out Colton is the docuseries no one asked for

Colton Underwood’s docuseries, Coming Out Colton, is out on Netflix. We’re not sure why this was greenlit in the first place, but here we are. 

Colton, unfortunately not reflecting on how or why he got this show 

The show focuses on “Underwood living his life publicly as a gay man,” and touches on subjects like toxicity in sports culture and religious indoctrination. It also sort of touches on the fact that he stalked and harassed his ex-girlfriend. 

In a very bold move, the series ends with Colton explaining that “there have been people before me, who have helped me be able to sit in this chair right now … and there’s gonna be people after me that will continue to push and change people’s hearts.” This leads into a video montage of headlines about Stonewall, Marsha P. Johnson, Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk, and the AIDS epidemic. To this we say: what?????

Spotify says you’re gay

As if we needed any additional evidence that we’re gay, Spotify released its annual Wrapped reports last week. 

Are these results ever surprising? No. But are they a delight to scroll through? Absolutely. 

We decided to have a little fun by asking you all to share your results, and you really pulled through. MUNA seemed to top the queer charts this year, but lesbian icons like Tegan and Sara & Brandi Carlisle also unsurprisingly held strong. We also appreciated Spotify’s addition of auras, which confirmed that lesbians around the world are “yearning.” 

After reviewing our DMs, we sent a few bucks to three of our followers with the (subjectively) gayest Wrapped charts. Congrats to those three winners, who hopefully already enjoyed a drink on us this weekend. 

Queer briefs

• Trans UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas continued her record-breaking season over the weekend, setting several program records at an invitational in Ohio. We’ll be rooting for her even as critics try to dispute her wins, fuck the transphobes. 

• In an interview for Interview, Zendaya shared that she hopes to one day make “a simple love story about two Black girls.” We also hope that she one day makes this.

• Cara Delevigne has joined Season 2 of Only Murders in the Building as a series regular, which might explain those courtside shots with Selena Gomez.

• After previously stating that they were “California sober” (only drinking alcohol and smoking weed in moderation), Demi Lovato shared that they are now “sober sober.” We wish them all the best in their continued recovery.

• Laverne Cox has joined the cast of Netflix’s adaptation of Uglies. Her role hasn’t yet been disclosed, but we’ll be watching. 

• Benedetta, the movie about hot gay nuns, is out. Reviews are mixed, but Autostraddle’s Drew Gregory says there are “boobs groped through sheer curtains.” Sure! 

• Pretty Little Liars star Julian Morris publicly came out last week, in an Instagram post celebrating his *18th anniversary* with his boyfriend. We really cannot get enough of celebrities (i.e. Kal Penn, Elvira) revealing their long-term queer partners. Who’s next!?

Community Spotlight: Jess Petino!

Tell us about yourself: My name is Jess (she/her) and I’m a born and raised New Yorker. I’m from Staten Island but that’s embarrassing...so I’m now in Brooklyn!! By day I’m a manager/restoration artist/researcher at an antique textile gallery, and by night I’m this weird little artist making earrings, paintings, and other shit. I have two cats (Rembrandt and Rhea), I’m a Sagittarius, and I’m an absolute simp for Art Nouveau.

What are you building/making? I’m having a super cool queer market event at Ginger’s Bar on December 12th from 1-6 and I’d love to see you there. For info go to @heartdecobk on Insta. We gotta support queer spaces and artists! <3

How many of your exes do you talk to? OOF. Okay so my first ex-gf is one of my best friends and I’m on good terms with 2/3 of the other exes. My most recent ex was a Scorpio so yea.. HAHA.

First crush, real or imagined? CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO IN CADET KELLY. The big dyke energy? The sexual tension between her and Hillary Duff? Legendary.

Queer happenings in NYC

Dec 7: Dyke4dyke Figure Drawing, BYOB @ Wow Cafe Theater (7:30pm) 

Dec 8: Queer Social presents LEZ SWIM: a Pool Party for Female Presenting LGBTQ+ Folx @ Room Mate Grace Hotel (6:30-10pm)

Dec 9: Velly Sapphic Thursday @beaubklyn (9pm+)

Dec 12: Ginger's Holiday market hosted by @heartdecobk (1-6pm) Vendors! Sweets! Drag! Does it get any better than this?

Dec 17: The Sappho Society Presents an Evening of Merrymaking and Yuletide Gay (RSVP Only) 

Dec 17: Studio69 Presents: the hot girl holiday special, a comedy show featuring Dylan Adler, The Dragon Sisters, & Chanel Ali @ The Duplex (9pm)

Dec 18: Honeyburlesque LGBTQ Latin Night "Lez-Jingle" performances by Fifi Delmar 

Dec 31: Hot Rabbit TBD

Got something you’d like to share with our community? Send us an email! Whether you’re hosting an event, looking for queer talent, or are single and lookin’ for love, we’re here to help. 

Written by Becca Stickler with Nicole Ripka