A Gay Year In Review
The 'Best of 2022' Awards
This is the Sunday Edition of Paging Dr. Lesbian. If you like this type of thing, subscribe, and share it with your friends.
We’ve almost reached the end of 2022! In order to commemorate the passage of time, I’m taking a look back at all the gay moments that made this year special. From delicious lesbian internet drama to prestige queer tv, there’s plenty to celebrate.
If you missed out on some of the events featured on this list, that might be a sign that you should sign up for a paid version of this newsletter, which will get you weekly news updates about the sapphic goings-on in the world. Even more importantly, upgrading to a paid subscription will help me continue to make a living as a freelance writer.
This will be my last newsletter of the year, but I will return in January with an AMA (Ask Me Anything) to commemorate two years of Paging Dr. Lesbian. If you’d like to ask me a question (about anything really, but especially lesbian pop culture stuff), you can leave a comment below or ask anonymously here. See you in 2023!
Best real-life sapphics
We’ve got to pour one out this year for Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentín, aka Miss Argentina and Miss Puerto Rico, who got married to each other earlier in the year. Truly iconic. Queer actress and singer Reneé Rapp has been killing it this year, starring in The Sex Lives of College Girls and embarking on her own music career. Rebel Wilson and Ramona Agruma shocked us all this year by announcing their relationship and getting engaged. (Rebel also had a baby via surrogate.)
Amy Schneider had the second-longest-ever winning streak on Jeopardy! and used every opportunity she got to talk about her wife and advocate for trans rights. Abbi Jacobson and Jodi Balfour got engaged; made us all scream. Drew Barrymore’s reaction to the news was all of us. Shay Mitchell sat on her green velvet couch. Kristen Stewart and fiancee Dylan Myer kissed at the Oscars and made our year.
Best sapphic characters
Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) from The White Lotus was serving mean (but secretly insecure) lesbian in a suit, and we loved her for it. Peppa pig! Cate Blanchett’s Lydia Tár was an even meaner lesbian who terrified children and adults alike. Velma was a gay mess on Scooby-Doo. The lesbian moms from Peppa Pig slayed. Max (Chanté Adams) from A League of Their Own showed us the kind of stories that are often overlooked. Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) became an even more complicated figure in Season 2 of Gentleman Jack. Hélène (Camille Cottin) from Killing Eve did some light BDSM with our titular character and was a boss-ass bitch until the very end. Keke Palmer’s character in Nope, Emerald, was a sapphic player who looked incredibly cool riding a motorcycle.
Best should-have-been-lesbians
Everyone, including Jenna Ortega herself, thinks Wednesday Addams should have gotten together with Enid. They made Tara Lewis on Criminal Minds queer but we all know the truth: Emily Prentiss is a huge lesbian. I might be the only one who has watched this show but the two leads on Big Sky should absolutely be a couple and it has been haunting me all year. Supergirl ended without Kara and Lena finally confessing their love to one another, which was unsurprising but disappointing. That’s what we have fanfic for.
Best queer shows
Tegan and Sara’s autobiographical series High School was one of my favorite shows of the year – I could have watched 100 episodes of it. Yellowjackets served cannibal realness and lesbian love. You need to watch the HBO Max series Somebody Somewhere. The lead character (Bridget Everett) isn't queer but all her friends are, and it’s a wonderful and unique show. For All Mankind was heart-stoppingly brilliant. I had to pace around my apartment for several minutes after finishing the Season 3 finale. Jodi Balfour plays a lesbian astronaut/politician with a decades-long lesbian love affair, and that’s not even the most exciting part of the show.
Heartstopper was adorable and made us all wish it came out when we were in high school. A League of Their Own was uneven but rectified the omissions of the 1992 film. Gentleman Jack asked a lot from the viewers in Season 2 and was brilliantly complex. In my opinion, the best show of the year was Station Eleven. The fact that Mackenzie Davis’ character is presumably bisexual is not especially important to the plot, but it is one of the most hopeful shows I’ve seen in a long time despite the fact that it takes place following a global pandemic. In many ways, it illustrates the possibilities of an expansive – one might say queer – way of living when all the trappings of so-called modern life fall away. An honorable mention goes to Season 3 of Evil. There are no gay people in this show but the straight protagonists fall into the category that I once called “exceptional heterosexuals.”
Best queer movies
Bodies Bodies Bodies was a hilarious horror romp that featured a mildly deranged lesbian couple. TÁR was a haunting mediation on power and manipulation with a lesbian protagonist. Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All was a cannibal love story that was not queer in the literal sense, but was queer in every other way. Benedetta was an unhinged story of a lesbian nun and featured the most inventive use of a Virgin Mary figurine that we’ve ever seen. Anaïs in Love followed a woman who falls in love with the wife of the older man she’s been having an affair with.
You Can Live Forever was a ‘90s lesbian story set in a religious community. Benediction told a beautiful, tragic story about gay poet Siegfried Sassoon. Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers was a stunning story about family history and generational trauma featuring Penélope Cruz in a queer role. Girl Picture was a Finnish film about teen girls struggling to grow up. Everything Everywhere All at Once was a stunning, expansive look at the complicated relationship between a mother and her queer daughter.
The lesbian shows we lost this year
Earlier in the year, I asked Is Lesbian TV Dying? The jury’s still out on that question, but it’s an indisputable fact that a lot of lesbian or lesbian-adjacent shows have gone the way of the dinosaurs this year. Those shows include Killing Eve, which died in more ways than one, Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, Gentleman Jack, which spurred a fan campaign, Motherland: Fort Salem, which also had a fan campaign, The Owl House, The Wilds, Paper Girls, and First Kill, which sparked a lot of discourse. Just this month Netflix canceled Warrior Nun, a show beloved by sapphic fans who were desperate to see it continue. RIP to the ones we’ve lost.
Best lesbian drama
Hands down the best lesbian drama of the year was the whole Fletcher/Becky/Shannon debacle. In case you missed it, Fletcher released a song called “Becky’s So Hot” which she explicitly said was about her ex’s – YouTuber Shannon Beveridge – new gf Becky, and how she saw a picture of her on Instagram wearing one of Shannon’s shirts. Shannon took to Tik Tok to explain that she was not in on the joke, and then she and Becky sold T-shirts in reference to the song (and Fletcher bought one). Fletcher then released a video for the song where she made out with Bella Thorne on a motorcycle. Did you follow all that?
JoJo Siwa started dating Avery Cyrus after her second breakup with Kylie Prew, a piece of information we found out from a mukbang video, of all things. A Negroni Sbagliato With Prosecco In It made us all lose several brain cells. A lesbian film critic wrote a silly review of Bodies Bodies Bodies and got into a beef with Amandla Stenberg. Ellen finally retired. Hayley Kiyoko and Becca Tilley revealed their years-long relationship on Instagram. Kehlani and 070 Shake had a messy breakup. Jennifer Beals announced her decision to leave The L Word: Generation Q and Bette and Tina finally got back together.
Best sapphic couples
Eve and Villanelle from Killing Eve finally had their long-awaited first kiss before that horrible ending. Kate and Lucy from NCIS: Hawaii started working on their communication skills and were adorable work girlfriends. Ava and Beatrice from Warrior Nun finally kissed and sent sapphics into a tailspin. Harley and Ivy from Harley Quinn were wholesome girlfriends in a fucked up world. Carson and Greta from A League of Their Own made legions of thirsty queers weep (and brought back our obsession with height differences). Andi and Emilia from Rebelde were serving popular girl and troublemaker realness. Astronaut Ellen still loved poet Pam after 20 years on For All Mankind, earning them the ship name #Spacepoet.
Most unhinged sapphics
This category goes out to all the things that were not “the best” but that were certainly something. Carla Gugino starred in a show called Leopard Skin which involved her being an unethical dominatrix and forcing a young woman to do things such as lick the mud off her boots and drink milk out of a bowl on the floor. The Brazilian web series Stupid Wife followed a woman who woke up one morning with amnesia and forgot she was married to a hot woman. A horny lesbian telenovela thriller for the ages.
Every character on The L Word: Gen Q has continued to make terrible decisions and stress me out. Bette stayed screaming. The ITV series The Confessions of Frannie Langton was about the aftermath of slavery, 18th-century British racism, drug addiction, sex work, and also had a mistress/servant love story at its center. And that was over the course of only four episodes.
Cara Delevigne was a party girl who was off her rocker. G Flip and Chrishell from Selling Sunset got together; Chrishell gave G Flip a tattoo.
Best sapphic anthems
“Silk Chiffon” by MUNA. An endlessly screamable chorus and an immediately iconic verse from Phoebe Bridgers. Honorable mention goes to “Kind of Girl,” which was my most listened-to song of the year, apparently. “Let Us Die” by King Princess, a thrilling emo breakup song filled with gay angst. St. Vincent covering Sleater-Kinney’s “Dig Me Out” on their excellent covers album. Tegan and Sara’s cravable indie hit “Yellow.” Angel Olsen’s “Big Time,” from her old-school, country-inspired album of the same name. “Thoroughfare” by Ethel Cain, an epic song from her visionary concept album. The sweet and sexy song “Melt” by Kehlani. The smooth jam “Fast Car” by Syd. “Persephone” by Allison Russell, a warm, sultry song about first love that makes you want to slow dance in the kitchen.
Best sapphic books
We Do What We Do In The Dark by Michelle Hart. A strange, beautiful, moving exploration of loneliness. The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monáe & co. A hopeful look at a dystopian America through a black, queer lens. Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake. I’m only kind of joking when I say that this lesbian romance novel inspired my most recent tattoo. Girls Can Kiss Now by Jill Gutowitz. A funny, unexpectedly moving look at lesbian pop culture from a highly personal perspective. The essay anthology It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror. A really great collection of works relating to horror and queerness. Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield. Extremely odd, haunting, mysterious, and romantic. Made me gasp out loud. If you’re not familiar with Julia Armfield, check out her stunning essay, “Guts.”
Bye for now!
Checked out the exceptional heterosexuals article via this piece and I can’t believe you mentioned Peter and Olivia …. so true so right. I too felt my life was over when I finished Fringe as a teenager 😂