Some queer Hallmark Christmas movies are coming. Ho ho ho.
For a long time we were comfortable allowing straight people to have Hallmark Christmas movies. It seemed weirdly their thing and it was fine because everyone knows those movies are … not good. But then came last year’s miniature right-wing firestorm about a lesbian couple in a commercial that aired one (shocking!) time on the Hallmark Channel, and suddenly every member of the LGBTQIA+ community stood up together and demanded to be the focus of a movie about someone who returns to their hometown bakery at Christmas and finds lukewarm romance. Now that collective wish is coming true, as Hallmark has announced some inclusion, in the form of queer characters and story lines, coming for the 2020 Christmas movie season. Crown Media spokesperson George Zaralidis has been quoted as saying that the company wants the films to be a place “where everyone feels welcome,” which is nice. And since the channel’s Christmas programming starts in October before the Halloween candy is consumed, you won’t have long to wait.
CW casts a fresh lead for Batwoman: Javicia Leslie
Though she’s not yet a household name, you may remember Javicia Leslie as a regular on the two-season run of the very strange, Millennial-minded and ecumenically spiritual CBS drama God Friended Me. On that show she played a young lesbian bartender, and off camera Leslie is out, bisexual, and already has a new job: she’s Batwoman on the CW series of the same name. When actor Ruby Rose left Batwoman after one season, the assumption was that the show would simply recast the role; Batwoman’s normie name was Kate Kane and that seemed to be how things would stay locked in. But in a fascinating wrinkle, the series will be getting a new lead character named Ryan Wilder, played by Leslie. The character, according to the official casting call, will be “the most dangerous type of fighter: highly skilled and wildly undisciplined. An out lesbian. Athletic. Raw. Passionate. Fallible. And very much not your stereotypical All-American hero.” Now all that needs to happen is production starting up again, probably sometime in 2021, because more lesbian crime fighters dressed as bats are how we will keep coping.
Romeo San Vicente loves that Batwoman is coming back!
