Contents:
- ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK MA TV—AND ME—GAY
- HOW ‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ HELPED ME REALIZE I WAS GAY (COLUMN)
- ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, WHE, STRAIGHT, GAY, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN
- 'ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK' WRER LREN MORELLI OUT AS GAY
- 13 FUN PHOTOS! THE 'ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK' CAST CELEBRAT GAY PRI
- DO ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK FALL INTO THE ‘BURY YOUR GAYS’ TROPE?
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK MA TV—AND ME—GAY
Lren Morelli, a former Orange is the New Black wrer and -executive producer, wrote an op-ed 2014 tailg her g-out journey, tled “While Wrg for Orange is the New Black, I Realized I Was Gay.
Most notably, the terveng years, gay marriage was legalized. As the first season gaed massive and mastream populary, I watched iends embrace gay culture and the unfiltered reprentatn of whout battg an eyelash. The years of anxiety I felt about beg gay melted away mut.
Case pot: In October, The CW will break ground wh Batwoman, the first live-actn drama seri revolvg entirely around a lbian superhero who also is played by an openly gay actrs (hello aga, Ruby Rose).
HOW ‘ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK’ HELPED ME REALIZE I WAS GAY (COLUMN)
Not only is Orange is the New Black highly addictg— was released on Netflix all at once, so many viewers bge-watched all 13 episos—but on top of that, tackl several ntroversial issu like sexualy, homophobia, patriarchy, class, and race, often simultaneoly.
Intersectnaly is the ia that thgs like racism, sexism, homophobia, and other typ of bigotry, do not act penntly of one another; stead, the forms of opprsn terrelate. The on-screen drama "Orange Is the New Black" helped one of the show's wrers e to a realizatn about her own Lren Morelli me out as gay after examg issu of sexualy the procs of wrg the Netflix h, she says an say for PolicyMic.
(Jsi Migl for Netflix)"I realized I was gay fall 2012, one of my first days on the set, " Morelli wrote. Netflix Releas 'Orange Is the New Black' Season 2 TrailerOn Sunday, a few of the stars of the Netflix show - cludg Danielle Brooks (Taystee), Samira Wiley (Posey), Dascha Polan (Dayanara), Yael Stone (Morello), Matt McGorry (Bent) -attend the Gay Pri Para New York Cy. Meanwhile, at the other end of the untry Lea DeLaria, or Boo, attend the Gay Pri ftivi San Francis.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK, WHE, STRAIGHT, GAY, AND EVERYTHG BETWEEN
But more poted, and more troublg this se, is that Posey Washgton’s sexual orientatn mak her one on a ightengly long list of gay characters who don’t get to survive their own TV narrativ.
'ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK' WRER LREN MORELLI OUT AS GAY
For a sense of how wispread and furiatg this trend has been, browse through Autostraddle’s list of 160 ad gay and lbian characters on TV, nsir the ongog reverberatns of Lexa’s ath on The 100, read more about why that particular ath mattered, or jt scroll down the “Bury Your Gays” entry TV Trop.
OITNB, nversely, Posey’s ath to illtrate exactly the issue that “Bury Your Gays” seeks to highlight. Lchfield is full of gay and bisexual mat — Bayley uld’ve leaned too hard on Nicky’s back and killed her stead.
13 FUN PHOTOS! THE 'ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK' CAST CELEBRAT GAY PRI
The plotle is meant to draw parallels to the Black Liv Matter movement, and Posey is a gay, black woman, who has been almost unfailgly sympathetic on a seri where most characters are pated wh more nuanced moral flts. But ’s a ttament to the re and gutss of Orange Is the New Black’s storytellg that she was only one of several proment gay characters on the show, and that her ath is a lite, trite terweavg of many cultural and narrative threads. It certaly don’t exce om thkg crilly about the history of gay and lbian portrayals media, and om lookg serly at who di on TV, and for what purpose.
Do OITNB Fall Into the ‘Bury Your Gays’ Trope?
DO ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK FALL INTO THE ‘BURY YOUR GAYS’ TROPE?
Lnsgate Publicy / NetflixThere is a longstandg myth that bisexualy is a phase, or an inty dividuals who are actually gay or lbian claim if they feel unfortable publicly intifyg as gay. "Beg bisexual do not mean someone will eventually bee gay or lbian.
"This ratnale is jt another way people try to value bisexualy as an inty, the same tactic ed to value homosexualy, or beg transgenr, etc., " Anna Pulley wrote AlterNet 2011. "In realy, bisexuals may m to a relatnship, " she add, or, "jt like any gay, lbian or straight person, a bisexual person may choose to not marry at all.