Morning Brew – Monday, May 21: Naya Rivera pole dances, Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska to romance each other in “Carol”

Hello, hello! Or I should say “Aloha” as I’ve been hearing all over Maui for the last week and a half. I’m back on the mainland now and oh my god, I’ve missed a lot of lesbian news in the last week. I’ve been catching up thanks to Heather Hogan’s taking over the Brew (thank you HH!) and the hard work of all the writers and HBIC Karman Kregloe. Mahalo to you all!

So basically I missed out on Raven Symone saying her sexuality is straight-up (or maybe not so straight) “None of Your Business” Salt-N-Peppa style, Kara Laricks winning Fashion Star (woo!) and a lesbian paramedic coming to the new show Chicago Fire. I’m particularly interested in this last bit and I’ll tell you why.

A few years ago I did a blog for the Chicago Tribune‘s social media site and profiled this lesbian firefighter/EMT who was one of the city’s “hot singles” in an annual issue of Chicago magazine. She was the only gay woman in it, out and proud. But a few weeks after I put up the story about her, she emailed me to say she was so sorry but could I please take it down – her supervisor had scolded her for the press, saying they didn’t want the firefighters to be associated with “that” and she should do everything she could to get rid of what was going around about her. She couldn’t take back what was printed in the magazine, but I could take down the blog post. I was pissed – not at her, but that her supervisor would think he could get away with that. Legally, actually, he couldn’t. She could stand up to him and report him for making her feel like she had to erase part of herself for her job. I told her she’d have my full support if she wanted to take action against him, but I would take it down for her, as she wished. She said thanks and that she loved her job, and I was disappointed in the entire situation. So I hope that things are different now, in real life, and for the pandemic coming to to Chicago Fire.

OK, storytime is over! Let’s get to some good news.

I know – how about this vintage clip of Naya Rivera getting naughty pre-Glee on a show called Wild World of Spike. It’s a little NSFW.

In the best news ever, The Price of Salt is being adapted into a film called Carol and the actresses in the leading roles are Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska. If you haven’t read this superb lesbian novel by Patricia Highsmith (originally published under the pen name Clare Morgan), I suggest you do so now and think about how rad this is going to be on screen. I highly approve of this casting!

Sarah Silverman’s pilot with NBC was not picked up, which means we won’t be seeing Tig Notaro on our TV screens either. Boo.

My dad is a huge Green Bay Packers fan, so I was super jazzed to read this! Former Packer Ahman Green talked with OutSports about homophobia in the game and his out brother and sister. A quote:

It’s no problem for me. If anything, I’ve got your back. For one, you’re my family. Number two, that’s who you are.

If only more pro athletes were like Ahman! Maybe I’ll send this piece to my dad.

Malawi’s new president Joyce Banda wants to put a stop to the persecution of gays in Africa. We wholeheartedly agree! And in other “yay gay!” news, the NAACP has endorsed same-sex marriage. I know because I saw that my mom “liked it” on Facebook. This is part of the Obama-effect; I just know it!

If you love Lip Service like I do (and I’m two episodes behind so it’s killing me), you might want to buy your tickets to go to Glasgow July 15 to be part of the big finale event. Show creator Harriet Braun and the cast will appear for a Q&A at the Glasgow Film Theatre from 12 — 3 p.m. with an after-party at Sloans Glasgow where you can get autographs, photos and pretend you’re at Rubies Bar for Tess’s Dykes Of Hazard birthday party. (I’m not kidding – this is really what is happening!)

I’m sure I missed a million things but I’m playing catch up all this week, which includes tackling my DVR. Daunting!

Today in Lesbianish TV: The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Talking Liberally with Stephanie Miller (Current 9 a.m.), *Will & Grace (Lifetime 10 a.m.), The Bold and the Beautiful (CBS 1:30 p.m.), The Talk (CBS 2 p.m.), The Hours (TMC Xtra 2 p.m.), Fried Green Tomatoes (5 MAX 3:15 p.m.), Saving Face (Starz Cinema 3:20 p.m.), House (Fox 8 p.m.), *Weeds (Showtime 8 p.m.), *Fashion Star (Style 8 p.m.), Iron Chef America (Cooking Channel 8 p.m.), The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC 9 p.m.), *Pretty Little Liars (ABC Family 9 p.m.), Degrassi (TeenNick 9:30 p.m.), *Girlfriends (Centric 9:30 p.m.) and Lost Girl (Syfy 10 p.m.) (Thanks Roni!)

*Denotes a rerun