Hay, Monáe! Reid Gets Read by PFLAG, and Other Tales of the City

No longer on a “Tightrope,” hip-hop and R&B songstress Janelle Monáe joins the Out and Proud club. Plus, a commentator gets read by PFLAG and … More Tales of the City?

Robo No Mo’

After years of keeping her identity well under wraps, soulful chanteuse Janelle Monáe has come out in a landmark Rolling Stone piece. In fact, it’s the kind of in-depth personality profile that got many hooked on reading the music journal to begin with — as John Lennon, Mick Jagger and Elton John have all given career-defining interviews to the music bible.

No longer is Monáe the “ArchAndroid” of her 2010 debut. In the exclusive, she tells reporter Brittany Spanos that “being a queer black woman in America — someone who has been in relationships with both men and women – I consider myself to be a free-ass m*therfu$ker.” Although she once embraced the possibility she might be bisexual, she later “read about pansexuality and was like, ‘Oh, these are things that I identify with too.’ I’m open to learning more about who I am.”

Rather than parse the story — which makes a fascinating read — we recommend it as an example of what happens when a talented reporter encounters a subject who’s willing to self-examine. self-reveal, and self-discover.

Reid Got Read

Damn those pesky records.

Service organization PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) has rescinded an award they intended to present MSNBC pundit Joy Reid after they were alerted to some straight-up homophobic commentary posted on her defunct blog.

She’ll no longer be this year’s recipient of the Straight for Equality in the Media award, the group says, now that they’ve learned her former blog contained numerous homophobic jibes — in particular, a series of snarky comments about former Florida governor Charlie Crist. who spent much of his political life as a gay man on the Down Low.

According to comments discovered by a Twitter user last year, Reid referred to Crist derisively in a series of posts between 2007-2009 which made reference to presumed “gay politicians,” including a jibe at Crist as “Miss Charlie.”

In another post, she’s quoted as writing, “What wouldn’t Charlie Crist do to become John McCain’s running mate? Cross ‘marry an actual woman’ off the list.’”

On the one hand, Reid apologized for the “tone-deaf” nature of the posts. On the other, MSNBC is defending a claim that her now-dead blog was hacked and more inflammatory rhetoric was inserted without her knowledge or approval. Investigators were brought in, they say.

What they’d don’t say is that the investigation showed no signs of tampering. Bye, Felicia.

Of Heads and Tales

The studio execs at Netflix are falling more in love with its LGBT audience every day. And the feeling is apparently mutual.

The streaming service has just made public news that it intends to revive Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City.

The original Tales, adapted from Maupin’s series of books detailing LGBT San Francisco life, aired as a miniseries in the ’90s, and according to Netflix officials, will return sometime next year. Both Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney are expected to reprise their roles along with others— and Ellen Page has been cast as well.

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