AfterEllen.com
Commentary (in chronological order, with latest articles at
the top)
ER's
Dr. Weaver Comes Out Again The NBC
drama's lesbian doctor finally meets her birth mother,
and has yet another closet door to open.
ER's
Resident
Lesbian Loses Her Lover and Gains a Child-Custody Battle
The
sudden introduction of Sandy’s homophobic family,
who insists on taking Kerry and Sandy’s baby away
from Kerry, is more than unfortunate and cliched—it’s
the final nail in the coffin of ER's lesbian
storyline, which is now going to be reduced to "the
child custody storyline."
ER
Delivers Another Bad Lesbian Storylinein
Season 10
When we last saw ER's lesbian couple almost
a year ago, they appeared to be on the verge of breaking
up over Sandy's refusal to carry a child. Now suddenly
Sandy's in labor, and it's cliches, inconsistencies,
and bad storytelling that are delivered.
Premiere
Week 2003 Network
TV is looking pretty grim for lesbian and bisexual women
this season. Gone are the days of multi-faceted lesbian
characters on dramas like Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Dark Angel, and Once and Again; instead
we've got one-dimensional sitcom characters, desexualized
lesbians, and more lesbian criminals.
ER's
Lesbian Relationship Dies a Long, Slow Death in Season
9 Coming
off the eighth season, in which ER had featured
a sexy, interesting, morally complicated storyline about
Dr. Kerry Weaver falling in love with Sandy Lopez and
coming out, we couldn't help but be optimistic about the
ninth season. Then, somehow, somewhere, it all
went so horribly, horribly wrong.
Maggie
Doyle and the Lesbian-Feminist ConnectionLesbianism
on televisionisalmost
always divorced from feminism in order to make it as palatable
as possible to the general public. This is what makes
ER's lesbian-feminist, vegetarian, gun-toting
Dr. Maggie Doyle so revolutionary.
TV's
Lesbian Baby BoomAlthough television
has always been about finding a good idea and then beating
it to death, the lesbian-as-mother trend has lasted longer
than most because it is rooted in deep-seated stereotypes
about women and lesbians.
ER
Revives Hope For Lesbian Visibility on TVWhat
is unique about the relationship between Kerry and Sandy
is that it is depicted with the same sexual attraction
and passion as the heterosexual relationships on the show.
Lesbian
and Bisexual Women of Color on TVOf the
primary and secondary lesbian characters currently on
television, onlythree are women of color--which,
sadly, actually represents progress.
