New "SisterBlog" Announced

I want to start blogging again. I still may update here, but for the more serious and introspective side on the issues a MormonLesbian (now married to a man!) is facing and has faced as of late, I refer you to my new blog at mormonlesbian2.blogspot.com where I will discuss post-coming out, continually coming out at work and in dating, and why the hell I'm to a man.

It Gets Better, Part Deux

On the heels of panel discussion led by four LGBT students (all of whom I love) at BYU, but also unfortunately on the heels of another gay LDS suicide is this:


I almost wasn't in this. In the planning stages of the video, way back in October/November, I had an internal debate of whether I should be in it. After I filmed my portion in December, for months I debated whether or not I should email the amazing man in charge of compiling the video and making it beautiful, and tell him I just can't be in it. I seriously had a few sleepless nights over it where I thought, "ML, you ignorant slut! It doesn't get better!" And every time I would think, "No, this is a good thing." And I thought of my Twitter followers and my blog. Because it's one thing to anonymously spout things off about what I believe in and to say I care about an issue, but it's another to actually publicly stand up for what you believe in. And I do not like the relationship that my two communities (the LGBT community and the LDS community) often have. I mean, that's why I picked the name "MormonLesbian" for my blog/Twitter/etc. (well, I'm also uncreative). I wanted to help bridge these two communities and make at least one person think, "Not all Mormons are bad." or "Not all gay people are bad." So, to make a short story long, I decided to just be in the video. Even though I'm still a little nervous about who in my life sees it, not gonna lie.

And then I watched the video. And I immediately thought three things:
1. Why am I standing like that? It gives me a double chin...
2. I'm sure we are going to get flak from Mormon extremist jerks (Sons of Liberty, *cough*), but I really don't see how they can watch that video and not feel the Spirit and see that these are some really amazing and good people. I really do think they are the ones that need to pray more and read their scriptures, not us.
3. Well, it wasn't really a thought, but I was just really happy. And proud of all of my adorable friends in the video. Seriously, they are amazing.

Anywho, watch it again!


Also, I want to start blogging more regularly again. Any requests for future posts? :)

Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks--Part Deux

Months ago, I said I'd do a follow-up to my first Nerds, Geeks, and Dorks post. And you know I must be really procrastinating studying for finals/packing my life in boxes to do a post. Especially after months of being a loser and not posting...

This post is mostly my Firefly girls :)

I feel like Firefly is one of those fandoms that shows how dedicated and crazy fandoms can get. I mean, they got a movie three years after the series was cancelled during its first season.

Summer Glau

Summer Glau is all over the Whedonverse (like most people in the Whedonverse...) with Firefly, Angel, and Dollhouse.  

And I was super psyched to see her be a badass in my new favorite summer show, Alphas.

I totally shipped her and Nina (but how could you not? The episode was filled with lezzie subtext).

Gina Torres

Anyone else remember when she was Cleopatra on Xena?

Now Gina is on my other new favorite summer show, Suits.

Morena Baccarin

 Inara Serra on Firefly, Adria on Stargate, and Anna on V

Although, honestly, I just think of Chloe with the crazy eyes on How I Met Your Mother when I think of Morena Baccarin. And the fact that she has a really tiny head.

Jewel Staite

She was Kaylee Frye on Firefly and Pretty Boy's Cheating Whore Wife on Wonderfalls.  And she posed with her now out co-star from Firefly, Sean Maher, for NoH8.

And she was on Stargate Atlantis

Amanda Tapping

Reasons why I love Amanda Tapping: Sam Carter, Helen Magnus, and she's hot.

^ I ship it.


My last post, Allison Scagliotti (Claudia from Warehouse 13) was included, but I neglected to post about:

I have to thank Warehouse 13 for making me like Jaime Murray.  I just disliked her so much on Dexter--breaking up Dexter and Julie Benz, sticking her boobs in Debra's face, and being a crazy b.  I was so happy when she died.  But her H.G. Wells is so fantastic.  And the amount of subtext between her and Myka Bering is a shipper's dream come true.
Before her, I was happy enough looking at Claudia and Myka.

And shipping Myka and Pete (ridiculous, I know).
Jaime Murray Wearing This Hat:

My favorite part of the Bering & Wells ship is that Joanne Kelly and Jaime Murray thought up having a little eyesex/lezzie subtext on their own, and the writers liked it and built on it.

A Little Righteous Indignation

It's been three months since my last post and what is it about? It's not full of hot women. No, no. I had to go a little serious and a little angry and a little hurt.

The BYU school newspaper, The Daily Universe, printed some pretty horrifying Letters to the Editor. They were also posted on their website. It’s funny how they ended up editing them for content on the website (and eventually removing one completely), but didn't have the foresight to see how offensive these words were when publishing the paper. It caused quite the outrage amongst some members of the BYU community because of how insensitive, ignorant, and sometimes outright hateful they were. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of free speech and free press. But a university school paper is definitely not the place for hate speech. Especially at BYU, a private university, where students are required to edit their speech, behavior, and even dress.

Okay, I don't read The Daily Universe so I didn't read the opinion that these letters were responding to... But it can be gleaned from the letters that the opinion was about how gay couples would make perfectly adequate, if not good, parents. So, that is a small victory for BYU!

Three letters were printed in response. All varying in levels of homophobia.

One letter included these gems:

"You said: ‘We believe in Christ, but does that mean Buddhist parents are less capable of providing a suitable home?’
My response: Yes. If children were just as well off in a Buddhist home as an LDS home, why bother being LDS? I believe in the doctrines of the Church, and children are better off being raised in a righteous LDS home than any other environment. Without this view, why perform missionary work?"
I find this utterly appalling. What a culturally/religiously elitist snob!

You said: ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World also states parents should rear their children in love and righteousness, provide for their physical and spiritual needs… to think only heterosexual couples are capable of doing this is crazy talk.’
My response: How can a heterosexual couple raise a child ‘in righteousness,’ providing for ‘spiritual needs,’ when their living arrangement is fundamentally contrary to the commandments of God and prohibits them from having the Spirit in their home? Now, I do not believe homosexual people cannot have the Spirit, but choosing to live together violates the law of chastity in a most severe way and the Spirit cannot dwell in a home where chastity is disregarded.”
Ah, yes.  This was my favorite thing that my bishop told me this summer…  Apparently I am going to stop reading my scriptures and praying because I’ll stop having the desire if I’m “living in sin.”  You know, “just like a murderer” would.  First, comparing “living the gay lifestyle” to being a murderer? People really need to stop doing that.  Second, nothing infuriates me more than the message that gay people can’t be religious, spiritual, etc.  Why do you think there are “godless homosexuals”?  Because they’ve been told things like “God hates fags” and “You can’t have the Spirit if you’re living in sin.” 

In response to my bishop, I did metaphorically whip out my Bible and talk about how even though King David was told that he lost out on exaltation for having Uriah killed, not even he completely lost the Spirit.  And murder is worse than sexual sin.  Yet King David is regarded more highly than any homosexual probably ever will be in the LDS Church... To which my bishop said, “Well…”

Really, to say that the Spirit of God could not dwell in the home of a homosexual couple--a homosexual couple who are faithful to each other, loving, humble, and-despite the fact that they are homosexuals-are trying to become more like Christ--is ridiculous to me.

The second letter was no better.

As prophets have said for thousands of years, sodomy is a disgusting sin we can't accept.
Yeah... I remember those scriptures so clearly... “Sodomy is a disgusting sin.” ‘Disgusting’ is the most commonly used adjective in the King James Version of The Bible…. So, Leviticus says: "Thous shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination" (18:22). Biblical literalists will say that clearly shows that homosexuality is a sin. And we all know that everything in the Bible should be taken literally... Bible scholars will tell you that "abomination" meant that it was simply against tradition, or a social taboo. Like how Leviticus also says, "These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you" (11:9-10). I know a lot of very religious people who love the shellfish. Abomination! (For more on this, watch the film For the Bible Tells Me So. It's a really good watch about how the Religious Right demonizes the gay community and how that has terrible consequences. And it makes me cry.) 
On another note, I know some gay men and many lesbians who do not have anal sex... 

Apostles have said we must love the sinner and hate the sin.
With tolerance and love, we hope people with homosexual challenges will accept the Atonement of Christ and change for the better.
Actually, the LDS Church doesn't support reparative therapies so I don't know what this "change" is about. And "for the better"? Disagree. Becoming a sad, lifeless husk of a human that the "cool little Mormon trick" when you "turn it off like a light switch. Just go click!" produces is not okay!
But I will say, that I, as a person “with homosexual challenges” have “accept[ed] the Atonement of Christ” and I really have “change[d] for the better.” Because of the Atonement, Christ has surely “borne [my] griefs, and carried [my] sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Did I not mention that my “homosexual challenges” have come from society, Mormon culture, and ignorant people like the writers of this letter...

However, studies show living without either a mother or a father is detrimental to the probability of successful children later in life.
Some are successful anyway, but most aren’t.
All of the studies I’ve found have said that gay male/lesbian couples are either comparable to their heterosexual counterparts or better as parents… But I just read those in my Psych textbooks, the Journal of Marriage and Family, the Children and Youth Services Review, and Adoption Quarterly—among others. And we know that peer-reviewed journal articles are complete shenanigans!
Unless these studies are talking about single parent vs. two parent homes... Then that's a whole 'nother discussion. 

Just because it’s tremendously politically incorrect to state the truth doesn’t mean we don’t state it anyway: sexual sins, of which homosexuality is one, are not OK.
We must avoid, at all costs, letting children grow up in a home where horrible sins are modeled as acceptable.
“We must avoid, at all costs…” Extermination of order of the gays? Nah, too extreme. Let’s just continue our bullying of homosexuals until they resort to suicide. Society and religious zealots have been doing a great job of that for awhile... 

Just as if we wouldn’t want a child to grow up with a prostitute for a mother or a serial killer for a father, we shouldn’t accept a lesbian, gay or transgender parental model for young people.
Just like prostitutes and serial killers made choices to become prostitutes and serial killers, I actively made the choice to be gay. Prostitutes and SERIAL KILLERS are clearly on the same level as gay people... (I'm actually offended for prostitutes being grouped with serial killers...) But he’s right, LGBT parents, since they are the role models for their children, are statistically more likely than heterosexual parents to have/raise LGBT children. Oh, wait… Studies show that's false? Well, damn. 

Kids and teenagers have enough trouble with standards and morality when they have good parents. Take a stand and say no to homosexuality, a sin against nature and a sin against God.
“When they have good parents.” … Because homosexuals are inherently bad parents?
“A sin against nature.”
“A sin against God.”
...wow... 

So, the reason for outrage is clear. a. Ignorance being propagated is not good. b. There could be some young BYU student reading that, who is struggling with the fact that he or she is gay, and just see, “A sin against nature and a sin against God” and turn to some horrible and drastic conclusions.

In response, this was drafted (by some awesome people) and posted on the Facebook group, ShameOnYouDU:

The Other Great Commandment:
Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself

We of the BYU community who are sympathetic to our homosexual brothers and sisters were extremely hurt by the insensitive articles in the Daily Universe comparing homosexuals to prostitutes and serial killers. Gay students are in every classroom, every war, and every apartment complex at BYU, and we want to reach out in love to help you better understand
-Utah leads the nation in youth suicides and teen homelessness, a large number which are gay youth (Utah Suicide Stats Alarming, Salt Lake Tribune, 2007).
-Gay youth who are rejected by family or peers are 8 times more likely to commit suicide and 6 times as likely to be depressed (Ryan, Huebner, Diaz, & Sanchez. 2009. Pediatrics).
Attempts to “love the sinner and hate the sin” more often than not come across as rejection, hate, and hostility. The hostility directed towards anonymous populations instead spiritually wounds your brothers and sisters all around you. If you don’t think you know a gay person, you’re wrong. They just don’t trust you enough to tell you.
The attitude represented by these articles creates and reopens wounds that the Son of God Himself died to heal. Gay members of the Church struggle under the burden of self-loathing, believing they are not worthy of God’s love. Those wounds are healed through the mercy of Jesus Christ and it is not our place undo what He has done.
Some people believe that homosexuality is a sin, but what does that have to do with love? The task of religion is not to teach us whom we’re entitled to hate, but whom we’re required to love.
To our gay brothers and sisters at BYU, you are not alone. We love you. There is a place for you with us and with God.
For more information, see the Facebook group: ShameOnYouDU

I also hear a flier with a shortened version of this was distributed about campus, posted on lampposts, and put on windshields of cars...


On a lighter note, this is my new obsession:

I ship it.
Well... really, THIS is my new obsession:

Rizzoli & Isles: Booty Call

Dear Writers,
This is how you make your lezzie fanbase happy. I'll give you five LLBFF scenes for more of this awesome.
Love,
MormonLesbian

*Jane and Maura are watching the highlights from the previous night's baseball game (gay!)

I guess Maura convinced Jane the night before that sex is a better option than baseball.

And, of course, Maura can't help herself... "He is quite the male specimen." "I'd love to 'mega' him." (Well, I can't blame her. It is baseball.)

Jane's disapproval is about the 'bad language' Maura is using in front of her mother. Right, because 'mega'ing someone is very pornographic... (Seriously, it makes me feel really uncomfortable when Maura talks about non-Jane humans in a jump his/her bones sort of way. And then I have to keep reminding myself that they aren't really a couple. Or, you know, real people... But still. Not cool, Maura.)

But apparently Mama Rizzoli and Maura are always up at night painting each other's toenails and gushing about boys. Well, maybe 'gushing' isn't the word I want to use...
Angela: He's a hunk!

Jane: Okay, officially throwing up in my mouth.

(Side Note: Really, Rizzoli & Isles? Baseball. Ownership issues. Divorce. Kick me in the face, why don'tcha... Still a touchy subject for the Dodger fans)

But look who is out of prison these days!

Everyone's favorite oldest youngest brother: Tommy.
And Tommy has been doing some plumbing work for Maura.

Maura: Please let me pay you.
I know it's your first instinct these days, Maura, but please don't repay him with sexual favors.
But apparently there has already been some type of quid pro quo going on...
Jane: All you're doing for him?

Shoot, Jane knows that Maura's been ready to spread her legs for any Tom, Dick, or Harry this season...
Tom:

Dick:

Hairy Harry:

But Maura is just looking out for her girlfriend's brother, which is sweet. And that's all it better be... (I'm looking at you, Tamaro).
And after all the talk of letter writing to Tommy and whatnot, Jane finally calls Tommy a "screw-up" and a "felon," her voice dripping with disapproval. At least the R&I writers have an occasional brush-by with continuity (immediately followed by a "Do I know you?"...)
Maura: He's made some bad choices, but that doesn't make him a bad person.
Jane: Oh yeah, right. He did fix your flush valve.

Maura's Face: You know you're the only one that can even find my 'flush valve.' (Wait... That sounds gross.)

Maura gets a call that some dude has been found dead in the locker rooms at the baseball stadium. To Jane, this sounds like a great and cheap date idea.
And then Jane slaps Maura's ass.

(Which really isn't that lezzie to me because I slap the ass of every Peter, Paul, and Mary, but it's nonetheless awesome)

And finally it's Jane who is following Maura to places that aren't in her job description.
Chief: Go enjoy the game and I'll have Maura out by the bottom of the first.
Yeah, as if Jane would leave Maura alone with all those baseball players...

Jane: If it’s okay with you, I’m gonna wait here for Dr. Isles, alright?

Baseball Boy can't help but go chat up the hot detective.
Baseball Boy When He Finds Out Jane Actually Knows Who He Is: Impressive. Most women only know the superstar.

Um, well, she is a lez...
Baseball Boy: Call me. Wouldn’t mind being interrogated by you.
Thank Baby Jesus he didn’t hit on Maura. She would have replied with, “I wouldn’t mind polishing your bat.”

Jane: Heard that line. Like four million times.
Rejected.

Jane joins Maura in the showers (not like that) who is with the dead guy (probably to tell her about the loser that just gave her his number).
Maura finds the death to be suspicious, but Chief thinks nothing's wrong. And he yells at her that "It's just a slip-and-fall."

Jane's Face: Don't yell at my girlfriend. That's one...

Yeah, I don’t know why the broad from Parent Trap: Lindsay Lohan Edition can’t open her eyes all the way either...

Korsak: Rumor is Phil's trying to sell the team to Salt Lake City.

Jane: The Utah Pilgrims?
(And of course they'd change their names to the Utah Pioneers... With fireworks on the 24th of July. Yeah, I'm a little too excited about the fake sale.)

Maura: The murder weapon is a cylindrical, heavy, hard object.

You mean a dildo?

Team Homicide is getting jock blocked around every corner in the investigation.
Jane: Baseball Boy gave me his number. Maybe it's time I give him a call.
Frost: Yeah... a booty call.

Jane: Really? You do know I'm gay, right? (Okay, the last part didn't happen.)

Maura is also intrigued by this date and thinks it's booty call too.

Jane's Face: Really?
Maura does the logical thing in this situation... She starts to undress.

Jane's Face: Hey! That's my job.
Maura: Unzip me.

Jane (After Her and I Pick Our Jaws Up Off the Floor): Wha-Why?

Me: Don't ask questions! Do as the woman says!
Maura: Because you can’t go like that! We’ll trade clothes. (You know, since they are obviously the same size...)

Jane: Are you crazy? That dress wouldn't cover my... booty.

Me: And you'd need to do some bra stuffing too...

Maura wants to trade shoes, but Angie/Jane's terrifying toes won't fit.

Luckily, Maura is the MacGyver of fashion.

Maura: Peep toes!

Yeah, no one needs to be peepin' at her toes...
Maura: You look sexy.

Jane: You look like you’re wearing my clothes.
Yeah, she looks slammin'!

Jane and Maura have to stop by the vet's because Tommy took Jo Friday in and stirred up some brouhaha.
Vet: I called the police.
Jane: I am the police.

Vet: Vice?
And Jane gets all angryface at Maura for taking the vet's side that Jo Friday could be depressed.

Jane has her awkward date with Baseball Boy (who looks tiny in comparison to her... he needs to work on his posture)

However, Jane goes home with Maura.

Now that is a booty call.
Maura: Your suit is a real booty call magnet. I got hit on twice. By women.

And they were about to make it a third when some b-tard jacked Maura's TV!

Jane apologizes because Tommy is Suspect #1.

And Maura holds onto Jane for strength.

Jane and Frankie go confront Tommy to rough him up.

Meanwhile, Maura is adorable.

Jane wants a print from the inside of a latex glove that Frankie found in the trash at the stadium.

Maura: This is not CSI: Boston.
(Yeah, because CSI: Boston would probably be more realistic when it comes to the crime stuff...)
Maura pulls her version of withholding sex so that Jane will go apologize to Tommy when they find out it wasn't him who jacked her things.

Because she would give in too easily if she tried to withhold sex...

And Jane, I thought I told you this before. Do not go on dates with men because they are always murderers.

-Insert Adorable Banter Here About Maura and The Vet Being Wrong About Jo Friday-

Maura offers to reimburse Jane for the vet bill.
Maura: Check be okay, or would you feel safer with cash?

Oh, we all know how you'll be making it up to her...

(Also, this is my 100th Sasha Alexander post! I was going to post my Last Lullaby screencaps for the 100th, buuuut... that clearly didn't happen)