Happy End of 2014! We can't remember when we were happier to see a year end. 2014 will go down as one of grotesque ugliness and incomparable violence, from police brutality to pandemic sexual assaults of women (including lesbians and trans women) to climate-change disasters. And that was just in the U.S.
Abroad it was far worse, especially for our people. We began 2014 with the Russian government's assaults on LGBT people and Vladimir Putin's declaration that gays should stay home for the Olympics. In an exclusive interview with ABC news director George Stephanopoulos for GMA and This Week, Putin said, "We don't have a ban on non-traditional sexual relations. We have a ban on promoting homosexuality and pedophilia among minors." Continuing to spread the lie that all gay people are pedophiles, Putin added, "Leave the children in peace."
In Jan. and Feb. 2014, more laws were passed in several African nations making just being lesbian or gay a crime against the state, punishable by imprisonment and even death. Families were encouraged to turn in their lesbian and gay family members or risk arrest themselves. In 2014, it was illegal to be lesbian or gay in 38 African nations, and punishable by death in seven. This news was so egregious, it was actually on TV on every network – in part, we believe, because Pres. Obama spoke out on the issue.
What did not make the TV news was that gay men were being killed in the streets, set upon by mobs, one man burned alive in Nigeria, in response to the new laws. Except for BBC and Al-Jazeera, mainstream TV news also neglected to report Iran executing gay men throughout 2014 for the crime of "perversion," even though their former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, famously declared there were no gays or lesbians in Iran. Execution seems to be the way Iran keeps up the facade that no gays live there. TV networks in the U.S. should report it. In Gaza, gay men were hounded out of the country into gay-friendly Israel, a disturbing reality that was reported by CNN and BBC, but like most international gay news, has received no attention from mainstream U.S. media.
Lesbians were "correctively raped" and murdered at a phenomenal rate in South Africa and Jamaica, but again, while international news media reported these crimes, U.S. TV news did not. There was also no mainstream TV news reportage of the rape and murder of a Filipino trans woman by a U.S. Marine except by (wait for it) Fox News.
We ended the year with more news that wasn't reported by the TV networks: calls for the annihilation of lesbians and gay men for Christmas by an Arizona pastor. The declaration on Dec. 6 by Arizona pastor Steven Anderson, who "absolutely hates gays" and "will not allow any queers or homos in my church as long as I am alive," that executing all "homos" would rid the world of AIDS by Christmas, was met with no reportage on TV news networks. Anderson also said: "If you executed all of the homos like God recommended, you wouldn't have all this AIDS running rampant." Also, "All homos are pedophiles. There, I said it." Anderson and his Faithful Word Baptist Church were originally located in California, but moved to Tempe, AZ. Anderson and his "ministry" have been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
SPLC reports Anderson describes gays and lesbians as "sodomites" who "recruit through rape" and "recruit through molestation." SPLC put Anderson on their list because Anderson says lesbians and gay men should be killed. The group quotes Anderson: "The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers but not for homosexuals." Would TV news (the way most Americans over 30 get their news) ignore calls for the annihilation of any other group? When Florida pastor Terry Jones called for the burning of the Koran, it was a lead story on every TV network newscast. Honor killings and corrective rapes of lesbians, executions of gay men for "perversion," calls for total annihilation of our people: still not news in the straight world. Yet how is this different from ISIS (which also executed gay men and lesbians in 2014, not that anyone noticed other than Al Jazeera) beheading Western journalists and aid workers?
As we turn our backs on 2014, we set the DVRs for 2015. There are new shows, more limited series, the return of some of the best shows for a new season, and the beginning of the awards season. There is also, sadly, the end of Glee.
We began to fall out of love with Glee a few seasons ago, when our favorites graduated from McKinley High and made their way to NYC, but as is the gay way, we've remained in touch. We took time out to watch a re-run of the Glee Christmas episode on Boxing Day. The episode filled us with nostalgia for our gay youth that at its best Glee helped all of us to relive in a more meaningful and less bullied way. There was the living Nativity scene at McKinley High. There was Sue: almost human, which is how we like her. There were Kurt, Rachel and Santana as elves in New York. It was gay all the way, as always, because even the straight kids like Rachel have always felt a little gay to us. It felt like old times. It made us pull out our Glee Christmas CD.
The final season of Glee begins Jan. 9, on a new night, Friday, on Fox. We will watch, because Glee is our homo homie. We are pretty sure we will cry during every episode. We know it's time for Glee to go, but this is one of the shows that changed the TV landscape. It's one of the best things (if most unrealistic) that Ryan Murphy's creative genius has brought us. Murphy's American Horror Story: Freak Show returns Jan. 7. What better way to spend Greek and Russian Orthodox Christmas than watching Murphy's best season of the AHS franchise?
Everyone's favorite aristocrats return Jan. 4 to PBS as Downton Abbey begins its fifth season. We await what Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) brings. Last season was so crushing. Other faves we've barely had time to miss return Jan. 5, with back-to-back mid-season premieres: On Fox, Gotham (the cliffhanger left us with Barbara and Montoya in bed!) and Sleepy Hollow. Following those series is State of Affairs on NBC. The cliffhanger had Charli getting truth serum to find out what happened post-torture "over there." We're still a little up-in-the-air about SOA, but we like seeing a woman as the kick-ass CIA operative and Alfre Woodard as the President. We also find it compelling to see Courtney Vance in the role of First Husband. Vance is a powerhouse actor who almost never gets decent roles. We like him here in a role that has never existed in real life. He's making it his own, dealing with the sexism that is bound to follow discourse about the First Husband (First Laddie?) when that finally happens, hopefully in 2016.
ABC's endlessly tedious reality series The Bachelor returns Jan. 6. Every time we see the beginning of the promo trailer, we think this time it's going to be gay. Go to ABC and see if you think the real reason this guy is back for a re-boot is because he might just not be straight. Is there a show that is more unflattering to women? No, there is not.
Women fare much better in an old fave that returns for its final season on Jan. 8, when NBC's Parenthood begins. The Bravermans feel like our own family, we've been through so much with them. We'd love to see a few more members come out of the family closet before the series ends, but we'll be content to bid adieu sans more revelations.
On Jan. 4, ABC premieres its new limited series Galavant. Like most gays, we're a fool for a musical, and this one looks fantastic. Melding comedy, knights of yore and music, the series follows the adventures of Galavant (sexy Brit Joshua Sasse), a dashing hero determined to reclaim his reputation by going after the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson), who stole the love of Galavant's life, Madalena (Mallory Jansen). The episodes will chronicle Galavant's journeys through musical numbers composed and written by Oscar-Emmy-Tony-Golden Globe-Grammy winner Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. So we know the music will be brilliant in this new take on an old Arthurian theme.
Music is the over-arching theme in Fox's new drama series Empire, which debuts on Jan. 7. This show has so much star power we can't imagine it won't become a huge hit. It's on everyone's list of Most Highly Anticipated New Shows. Empire is exec-produced and written by out gay African-American director Lee Daniels, and stars three Oscar contenders: Terence Howard, Taraji P. Henson and Gabourey Sidibe. The L Word's Ilene Chaiken is also a writer on the show. The newly sober Courtney Love has been signed for several episodes. Fox promos for the show describe this: "Hip-hop artist and CEO of Empire Entertainment Luscious Lyon (Howard) has always ruled unchallenged, but a medical diagnosis predicts he will be incapacitated, which prompts the sharks to circle. He must decide which of his three sons will take over. His favorite, young Hakeem (Bryshere Gray), is a gifted musician but values fame over hard work. Middle son Jamal (Jussie Smollett) is talented and shy, but gay, embarrassing to Lyon. The oldest, Andre (Trai Byers), is business-minded but lacks charisma. The reappearance of Cookie (Henson), his ex-wife, complicates things; she says he owes her for taking the fall for the drug-running that financed his early career." Drama ensues. It's like a hip-hop Game of Thrones.
Another series bound for stardom is the new Marvel franchise limited series Agent Carter on ABC, debuting Jan. 6. Unlike Marvel's successful Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter is set in the 1940s and has the hyper-stylized noir feel established by Gotham. The show stars British actress Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, a role she has played on both TV and film, in the Captain America franchise. According to ABC, Carter must "balance the routine office work she does for the Strategic Scientific Reserve while secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to the top bidder. Carter is assisted by Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, to find those responsible and dispose of the weapons." So she's like a female James Bond and Miss Moneypenny.
Full of intrigue and lots of sexy young lesbians, ABC Family's Pretty Little Liars returns Jan. 6. This is the non-musical guilty pleasure of all lesbians everywhere, regardless of age. Allegedly this is the final season for the murderous mystery series, so gather ye Rosewoods while ye may. We will just sit back and see what Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell) brings us as the series draws to what we hope is an open-ended close.
Also premiering on Jan. 6 is our favorite cooking contest show ever, Fox's MasterChef Junior. This show previews pre-pubescent chefs as they cook their way to stardom, and trust us, these kids are stars. Their knowledge of food is extraordinary, and the dishes they prepare are breathtaking. The season that ended Dec. 11 blew us away with the brilliance of the chefs, who range in age from eight to 13. In our house, we refer to this show as The Littlest Chef or Young Gay Cooks, which tells you something about the show. Gordon Ramsay never curses at the children, unlike what he does to adults on Hell's Kitchen.
This is, pardon the pun, a far cry from the execrable child abuse fest that is Lifetime's horrible Child Genius series, which debuts Jan. 6, and which is train-wreck, car-crash, gawd-awful TV. It seems we get rid of one horror (Honey Boo Boo) and gain another. It's based on a series of the same name in the UK that caused quite the furor as contestants were reduced to tears by the competition. The network says the show "centers on America's most extraordinary and gifted children and their families as they prepare for a national intelligence competition. In cooperation with American Mensa, the competition takes place over eight weeks and tests the nation's brightest young minds on their knowledge of Math, Spelling, Geography, Memory, the Human Body, U.S. Presidents, Vocabulary, Current Events, Zoology, Astronomy and Space, Inventions, Literature and the Arts, Earth Science and Logic. Hosted by Leland Melvin, former NASA astronaut, the show features 20 boys and girls ages 8 to 12 from across the country, all competing for a $100,000 college fund and the title of Child Genius 2014." We can't think of a more despicable premise. Way to traumatize your child for life. And we thought Dance Moms and Toddlers and Tiaras were abusive.
HBO's Togetherness is much-hyped. We're not sure we want another HBO comedy, but we will watch anything Amanda Peet stars in, so we will give it a whirl. A creation of Jay and Mark Duplass, it stars Mark as Brett Pierson and Melanie Lynskey as his wife Michelle. They are a sedate yet somewhat cool married couple. But then Michelle's sister Tina Morris (Peet) moves in with them after being evicted, along with her out-of-control husband, Alex Pappas (Steve Zissis).
We love creepy, so we are waiting for the debut of SyFy's 12 Monkeys. If you saw the film (we did) and loved it (we did), then you are going to set your DVR now for this series that begins Jan. 16. The series is based on Terry Gilliam's brilliant film, which was itself based on Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetee. In 1995 when the film debuted, there was a lot of discourse about the film's relevance to and resonance for the AIDS epidemic. In the series, James Cole (Aaron Stanford) travels from the year 2043 to the present day in order to stop the release of a deadly virus by the enigmatic organization known as Army of the 12 Monkeys. In Cole's world, the virus killed 94% of the world population. Cole gets assistance from virologist Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull) and math genius with mental issues Jennifer Goines (Emily Hampshire), whom Cole meets in the mental institution where he lands because he keeps telling people he comes from the future. Dystopian is the new black, and Ebola is real, so expect this series to be a hit.
Finally, The Americans returns to F/X Jan. 28. This is the best spy series since Person of Interest, so put it on your list. As Lily Tomlin said, "No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up."
So for the possibility our gay lives might matter enough to make the news, for new debuts and returning favorites, and for being able to learn about fabulous foodie-ism from gay-ish 10-year-olds, you really must stay tuned.