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Lez Dish it Out: July

Legally blonde almost ended in a same-sex relationship

The NY Times recently published an oral history of the making of Legally Blonde and, subsequently, gave us massive FOMO for the ending Elle Woods didn’t get, but definitely deserved. So did we. No, it was never going to be a jump-in-arms at the airport sort of romantic ending straight people get, but even a subtly sapphic ending would have been better than Elle Woods downsizing to a man. 

“The first ending was Elle and Vivian in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands. The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically.” – The NY Times

Legally Blonde ended with Elle dating Emmett, who plans to propose to her after her graduation speech. Kicking Warner to the curb and forming a friendship with Vivian was cool, sure, but imagine cultivating a happy ending for Elle that didn’t rely on an engagement to a man at all, and, better yet, implied she’s now shacking up with a woman!

Wentworth’s final season air-date announced

Wentworth, the Australian television drama about female prisoners that is laden with lesbian activity, returns for its final season on the 24th of August 2021. Wentworth is Foxtel’s highest rating show, unsurprising, due to its magnificent cast, including performance veterans Pamela Rabe and Sigrid Thornton. 

The show’s 90 episodes have been screened in 173 countries, including France, the USA, Finland, Japan, United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, and Israel. 

Wentworth has “amassed an impressive catalogue of awards and nominations locally and internationally, with both the Most Popular and Most Outstanding Drama at the TV Week Logie Awards in 2018 – the first time an Australian drama has taken out both accolades in the same years. In 2019, it claimed Most Outstanding Drama for the fourth time,” stated by the Herald Sun

*Spoiler alert for the rest of this news piece*

This will be the last season. While it’s sad – this television show has been a part of my life for a long time – it feels like the right time. I’m glad they brought Joan “the Freak” Ferguson – played by Pamela Rabe – back from the grave (but not death!) to see us out. Nobody can perform like Pamela Rabe. Quote me!

Pamela Rabe understands the drive to expect things from Wentworth, but believes it’s fruitless. “We can expect it, but Wentworth is so good at giving you the inevitable unexpected,” she said. “A story woven in at the start of season eight really comes home at the end of next season, which will be our 100th and final episode.”

Killing off the main character, Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack), in season four, was horrible to watch. Especially because it happened straight after the Wentworth team got us invested in her beautiful same-sex relationship with Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson), which was a relief after the years of abuse Bea was subjected to by her husband.  She was in prison for trying to kill him or, as she puts it, “attempted murd-ah!”

Bea’s death served a purpose. It informed us that the writers of Wentworth are capable of anything. It kept us on our toes. Killing off Joan Ferguson would have been a step too far, because we know that as long as she’s a part of the show, then absolutely anything could happen. Keeping her around is a tragedy (to some), just like the end of Bea Smith. Tragedy is Wentworth’s forte. Who doesn’t love a complicated female villain? I sure do.

The first out lesbian has been nominated to an ambassador-level post by Joe Biden

Chantale Wong has been nominated by Joe Biden to an ambassador-level position, potentially becoming the first out lesbian to take on the role in U.S. history. 

“Chantale Wong has been appointed U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank, which works to foster economic growth in the Asia-Pacific Region. If approved by the Senate, she will be the first LGBTQ person of color as well as the first gay woman with the rank of ambassador,” according to NBC News

Chantale Wong was appointed to the bank’s board of directors by Bill Clinton and has worked as the budget director at NASA. She wrote on Facebook, “If I am confirmed by the US Senate, I will serve with humility and with [the] purpose of advancing US interest at the Asian Development Bank and the region on behalf of my fellow Americans.”

“I am truly humbled and honored to be nominated by President Joseph P. Biden to serve as the US Director and Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank,” she wrote. “Thank you to my family – my Mom, my sister and my daughter and to all my friends for your endless support. I am thinking of my mentor Alice Rivlin who has taught me about doing good and doing it right and of John Lewis who taught me about making good trouble but necessary trouble.”

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