trans awareness week and other queer dispatches

It is Trans Awareness Week which means it is a time to honor those trans people we have lost and to advocate for a world in which trans people are no longer targets for hate. Trans Awareness Week leads into Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was founded by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor Rita Hester, a black transgender woman (pictured below) who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence that year and began the world-wide observance that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. To learn more about Rita Hester's life and legacy check out this article.

Gay TV you can munch on. The HBO Max cooking competition The Big Brunch premiered last week, and it’s delightful. It’s hosted by Dan Levy and features several queer contestants, and we give it a big gay thumbs up. It’s very wholesome and everyone has a lot of feelings.

Also, Carla Gugino plays a sapphic character in the upcoming thriller series Leopard Skin. Amelia Eve, who you might know from Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, (she actually played the younger version of Gugino in that show), also stars. Speaking of lesbian torturer Mike Flanagan, the writer/director made a TikTok that featured a bucket of “lesbian tears,” and people are feeling called out.

Lesbian love is in the air. We’re thrilled to report that Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín, aka the Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico winners who got married earlier this month, are now on their honeymoon together. The pictures, which you can look at here, are so cute we kind of want to scream. Also, queer singer Torres got married to her partner, painter Jenna Gribbon, this weekend.

Don’t play with sapphic hearts like this. Jessica Chastain accidentally gave thousands of sapphics a heart attack when she hinted at an exciting announcement, presumably regarding an upcoming role. Her replies and comments were flooded with people hoping that she was going to announce that she will be playing Celia St. James in the upcoming Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo adaptation, but, alas, that was not the case. The actual announcement is that will be starring in an upcoming Broadway play. The cast of the film remains unconfirmed, though people have been fan-casting it for months.

Other dispatches from the little gay people inside of the internet:

• Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has opened up about the kind of conditions Brittney Griner can expect in a Russian penal colony, where she is currently headed.

• Zolita has a new music video out, and it looks like it’s the first installment in another music video series.

• Read about queer Great British Bake Off star Ruby Tandoh’s new cookbook.

• Discover the work of the Mama Bears, a group of mothers with LGBTQ kids who are fighting for change.

• Transmascs on TikTok are loving this new horny anthem created by a group of old white British men.

• Candace Cameron Bure left Hallmark because it got too gay, apparently, and her new network, Great American Family, won’t feature gay couples, thank you very much.

• This video of JoJo Siwa wearing fake abs is giving people trans feelings.

• Queer writer Aurielle Marie got an Out 100 award and asked Lizzo to send her Grammys dress for her to wear on the red carpet, and she actually sent it.

• Thank you Heather Hogan at Autostraddle for breaking the news that the notoriously homophobic Hobby Lobby accidentally made a lesbian Christmas rom-com. "It seems like they thought they were making a commercial about the glories of free market capitalism, but nope! That is not what they made at all!"

• Read these important NYT Opinion letters on the article "Using the Word ‘Queer’ Instead of ‘Gay"

Also! We are collaborating with the artist @rejka & Framebridge for a giveaway in honor of trans awareness week. To win a framed piece by rejka all you have to do is refer one friend to this newsletter using the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Winners will be contacted via email.

Aritst Bio: Andreas is a transmasc artist from the Czech Republic. His artwork celebrates trans identity and love through a variety of different media including lino prints, paintings, comics and zines. You can find his work on instagram as @rejka

Until next time,

A sapphic seeing how many rings she can fit on her fingers