It’s good to be gay if it pays your way

There’s no doubt that The Real L Word was a manna from heaven for that bunch of girls who managed to make a profit out of being gay.
I must admit, I admire them, especially those who, like Romy, were able to make the most of their fleeting fame and obtained some TV appearances while also making profitable contacts with people such as Ilene Chaiken.
And look at her now, dressed like Waldo in Where’s Waldo?, mocking all that’s been said about her and about the lesbian stereotypes TRLW has contributed to construct and circulate (i.e. you’re all a bunch of haters; let’s have strap-on sex; the line of exes is better not to piss off, because, as Romy says, anyone is about to be your ex, and, last but not least,dreadlocks are the new black, baby) and making lots of money out of it!
As Geco has rightly pointed out, they should call the next piece I need I need I need and they’ll make a splash!
In comparison, we must admit, Whitney’s clubbing habits are just stuff for beginners.
(Whitney who is, by the way, the big absent in this video, where even Rachel makes an appearance, looking all happy and settled in L.A.)
Well, I may be naïve or overtly optimistic but I like the self-irony of it, and I wholeheartedly approve!

#4 Gia Carangi: A thing of beauty

Getting to know Gia, understand her somehow, is a long, painful and yet wonderful experience. It’s probably a cliché, but you don’t know a thing if you have just seen the movie (1998, HBO, with Angelina Jolie). She was something different, and the movie (and Angelina) haven’t show it at all. Maybe it was impossible, I don’t know.
Anyway, you should really read “A thing of beauty” by Stephen Fried, not only because of all the details about Gia’s life he could tell, but also because of the incredible portrait of the high fashion world of the early ’80s in New York that he gave. It was a crazy world where people lived too fast and die too soon, where drug use (and abuse) was anything but an exception.
It was probably nothing different than the music scene nowadays, or the cinema business, but I never really got interested in high fashion before so what I knew was close to nothing.

For those of you who don’t know who Gia was I can only say that she was an incredibly beautiful girl who had been a supermodel for part of her life (somebody says she was the first supermodel ever), an addict, a lesbian, a rocker (she never really played, but she definitely had the spirit) and, above all, a lost girl.
You can see some of her pictures here.

#3 Candy bar girls

Britons are subjects of the Queen, true, but when it comes to tv programmes, it looks like they don’t want to be second to anyone. While in LA they’re busy shooting The Real L Word, in London they’re putting together Candy Bar Girls. CBC is a reality show/documentary/who-knows-what-the-intensions-were, set -guess where?- but in a lesbian bar, namely Candy Bar.
Obviously Candy Bar it’s not just ANY bar, but THE bar, and women who go there are not just common lesbians, but THE lesbians; well dressed, tattooed, with the right arty/creative jobs, etc… (please welcome the new L stereotype!). Anyways… twelve girls, more or less pretty, who hang out/work in said bar, the same old lesbian drama (only, in a British accent. An adorable British accent) lots of alcohol (seriously, TONS of alcohol. If we gathered together Candy Bar Girls and characters from The Real L Word we could set up an anonymous alcoholic group), slower pace and duller stories than TRLW, the main goal being that of showing real lesbians, with real lives, and no clichés…just a little spicier, of course.
Here and here you can find what The Most Cake said about it.
Would anyone from London kindly confirm that The Candy Bar is currently THE place to be?

#2 – Gay June and full summer

That’s it. Gay June is over and after a Film Festival, two Pride parades and some shit at work, here I am, feeling blue and nostalgic. A month ago I was excited and thrilled by all the things to come, now all I can think about is that it’s too hot, too late and yet too soon. It’s still 6 months to Christmas and a whole year until the next Gay June, and though I’ve only been working for barely a month, I’m already bored and fed up. But, as my new mantra says: “I cannot change it, but time will”, so I keep looking forward, and also backward, sometimes.
So let’s talk about that great month that June has been.
The Mix Festival (GLBT film festival of Milan) was awesome. I’ve seen most of it thanks to my press pass (I would never be able to afford it otherwise) and most of it was worth seeing. I especially liked the short films (which were from all over the world and all really well made), but also the documentaries. If I had to recommend one only, it’d be “We were here”, of Dadiv Wiessman, an incredibly touching and really really good documentary about the spread of HIV virus in San Francisco during the Seventies and the Eighties.
The movies didn’t really touched me as much. I’ve seen and liked “The night watch” and “Gigola”, but I’ve also seen “Break my fall” and “Camminando verso”, and they were someway beyond ok.
I’ve been in Rome for the Europride parade and it was disappointing. I mean: Where was Europe in the Europride? Maybe my expectations were too high, but that’s how I felt. It was badly organized, everybody spoke italian, there were no political discussion and it all revolved around Gaga’s presence. Not good.
Milan Pride parade, on the contrary, was amazing. You really felt part of something, of a joyful community that is united and sometimes even powerful. People smiled and danced with you, exchanged beers and flags and fooled around. And a lot of straight people were walking with us or standing right outside the parade, dancing and supporting our cause.
Now it’s full summer, it’s too hot to think and, for some reasons, I cannot wait for September to come.
I can’t even find a good movie on the telly.

#1 – Introducing myself

Picture: Saint Morrissey.

Hallo there!
I’m 24, italian and gay. I live in Milan but I was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, by someone believed to be Atlantis. I’m in a four-year relationship with a girl who’s one year older than me and who’s from Milan, but we don’t (as you may think, as everybody thinks) live together. Not yet, at least.  just completed a Master’s degree in Italian linguistic and literature and am now looking for a job, which means I’ve a lot of time this days. Though I’m definitely both lazy and dyke, I’m not a lazy dyke as in the blog’s title. The expression, a quote from Morrissey’s song All the lazy dykes, refers to gay girls who do nothing to change the current situation,
as there are many in Italy nowadays.I don’t know how much you know about the gay situation in our country, but
it won’t take me long to explain it to you. Gay people have:
1. no marriage;
2. no civil partnership;
3. no rights, such
as the right to visit your partner in hospital, keep the house where you’ve lived together, etc…;
4. no right to adopt (nor have single parents)
5. no medically assisted procreation;
6. no aggravating circumstance for hate crimes (i.e. homophobia).
As you can see, the situation is pretty bad, especially  if you compare it to the rest of Europe. There are several reasons for that. Just to mention a few: Italian politicians, the Pope, and the widespread ignorance of people. And we, the gay community, must fight for ourselves, because nobody is going to stand up for us. And, as the subtitle says, it’s now or never (which is also a quote, from Elvis this time, but you probably know that already).
For three years, my girlfriend and I have been writing an Italian blog, (All the beauty you’ll ever need). It’s about lesbians, lesbian issues, Italian politics, and all the stuff we could think of in relation to that, but we started feeling slightly limited by the language, and thought that English would allow us to reach a wider audience. Here we are then, that’s pretty much all you have to know about us.

– S.