October 2023 – OutWrite

A Netflix poster for "XO, Kitty." Besides the title, it reads, "From Jenny Han, a new 'To All the Boys I've Loved Before' story begins..." and "Only on Netflix | May 18." Five young people stand in front of a city with blooming cherry blossom trees. From left to right, there is a young man with light skin and dark hair in a jean jacket, a young man with light brown skin and dark curls wearing a dark gray shirt, a young woman with light skin and brown hair in a white tanktop, a young woman with light skin and black hair wearing pink, a young man with light skin and black hair wearing a mint jacket.

Commitments to Queerness: A Review of Netflix’s “XO, Kitty”

“XO, Kitty,” the spinoff of Netflix’s “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” was released in May of this year with decent ratings; with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% and an audience score of 58%, the show has started off on the right foot. That being said, with all the good aspects of the show, there are also bad ones. Let’s start with the good.

A slanted polaroid collage of queer media posters, album and book covers. From left to right, top to bottom: Shygirl's "Nymph," "Happy Together," Tinashe's "Songs for You," Ashnikko's "Demidevil," The Dead Texan's "The Dead Texan," "Good Omens," "Heartstopper," All Time Low's "Tell Me I'm Alive," "Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse," "Bottoms," "Gideon the Ninth," and "Nana."

Arts & Entertainment

Queer Summer 2023 Favorites

Our OutWrite staff loves queer media! Here are some of our favorites from this summer:

A digital illustration of two people, one with light brown skin and shoulder-length dark brown hair in a gray suit and one in a blue hoodie with light skin and bob-length blond hair. They stand under an orange umbrella in a green hazy forest.

Creative Writing

The Umbrella

Lea was already late, running down the sidewalk like a marathon sprinter in the last leg of a race. She dodged around screaming babies in strollers, men in ironed suits in the midst of an argument, and bright yellow fire hydrants. She yelled a quick “Sorry!” or an “Excuse me!” as she weaved her way through the crowds of people hustling to enter the sanctity of their cars after work. Los Angeles at five in the afternoon was not a friendly place.

The "Bottoms" poster which includes PJ, a white girl in green making a muscle, and Josie, a black woman in teal making a muscle. Clinging to each of them is a young white woman and a young Wasian woman both wearing pink clothing items. Two football players lounge beneath them, another white woman and a Black man.

Film

Gay Wrongs, and Why I Support Them — On “Bottoms” and Queer Irreverence

Lesbians have never looked as hot as when they are covered in the blood of football jocks like the characters of “Bottoms,” the instant classic lesbian rom-com movie of the year. “Bottoms” — directed by Emma Seligman — follows Josie (Ayo Edebiri) and PJ’s (Rachel Sennott) attempt to woo their respective love interests, Isabel (Havana Rose Liu) and Brittany (Kaia Gerber), with a faux all-women’s self-defense fight club. The film screams of a dark humor and irreverence rarely seen in LGBTQ+ media — a refreshing new take that presents audiences with queer, gray morality, or what I lovingly call ‘Gay Wrongs’.

Formal group photograph of the Supreme Court as it was been comprised on June 30, 2022 after Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the Court. The Justices are posed in front of red velvet drapes and arranged by seniority, with five seated and four standing. Seated from left are Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., and Justices Samuel A. Alito and Elena Kagan. Standing from left are Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Politics & News

The Supreme Court on Queer Rights: A Checkered Future

In June 2023, six out of nine Supreme Court justices ruled in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis that a Colorado graphic designer could legally discriminate against same-sex couples by refusing to make websites for their weddings. The case expands the narrower precedent of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a 2018 decision which ruled that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission could not compel a bakery to sell a wedding cake to a same-sex couple. Both rulings used the First Amendment’s provision for religious freedom as a bludgeon against the LGBTQ+ community’s right to access to public life.

Community

How to Be a Trans Ally 101

Has someone in your life recently come out as transgender? Are you wondering how to support them but don’t know where to start? While there’s a plethora of resources about transness available online, the sheer volume of information can be overwhelming