Lez Hang Out | A Lesbian Podcast

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is in its Wachowski Sisters Era. This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) talk about the 1996 crime thriller Bound for this Lez-ssentials episode, a recurring segment on the essential movies and TV shows in the lesbian canon. Even though this film is from the 90s, it still has some of the best lesbian representation, including a sex scene that doesn’t just cut away to crashing waves and a happy ending a la Thelma and Louise where our lesbians escape together while making out in a pickup truck. If you haven’t seen Bound, it is a really fun thriller about recently freed ex-con Corky (Gina Gershon) and high femme sex worker Violet (Jennifer Tilly). The two end up in the same apartment elevator and as soon as their eyes meet the game is on. Violet and her mob boyfriend Caesar live in the apartment directly next to the unit that Corky is currently working on, so Corky can hear everything that goes on. In a move taken right out of a porno, Violet ‘loses’ her earring down the sink and Corky shows up to save the day with her strong muscles and super gay arm tats. Corky does not make any immediate moves, wrongly assuming that Violet must be just a straight girl up for a little experimenting.Luckily for Corky, Violet is not shy about making her wants known and after boldly pointing out that she knows what the labras on Corky’s arm signifies, she shows off her own tattoo which happens to be like a centimeter away from her nipple. We all know where this is going and it would have gone a lot farther if not for freaking Caesar who shows up and is so homophobic that he doesn’t even realize his girlfriend was getting railed by the plumber. Things escalate quickly after this, with Violet zeroing in on Corky as her perfect partner for planning her escape from Caesar and the mob (but not without stealing 2 million dollars first). They have sex all of one time and in true lesbian fashion, Corky is ready to risk it all, all over again. Bound holds up as a Lez-ssential after all these years, because it is so openly and unapologetically queer, especially for 1996. Both main characters are established queer women who are secure in their sexual identities, the story doesn’t revolve around them coming out or conflict specifically due to them being gay, there is a scene in a lesbian bar, and we get a happy ending. All the boxes are checked off and we genuinely can’t think of anything we would change. At the end of the episode, stick around to hear our original song based on Bound, also titled “Bound”, written by Leigh Holmes Foster and produced by Ellie Brigida. Join us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon for instant access to mp3 downloads of all our original songs or find us on Bandcamp to purchase songs individually.Follow along on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay at the end of every episode. Leigh Holmes Foster (@lshfoster) and Ellie Brigida (@elliebrigida). You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow along on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod).You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of perks like access to our exclusive Discord community, monthly full-length bonus episodes, weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by checking out our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that just wants everyone to, “Remember, remember, the Fifth of November, the Gunpowder Treason and Plot.”This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out to talk about why the 2005 cult classic film V for Vendetta Should’ve Been Gay. This film is based on a graphic novel and is set in a dystopian British society that is overrun by fascism. While it certainly made a splash in 2005, it really hits different watching it now after experiencing the tumultuous political environment of the past few years.Whether you’ve seen V for Vendetta or not, you’re likely familiar with the character of V. V is incredibly recognizable with a flamboyant black cape, top hat, and Guy Fawkes mask. This super queer freedom fighter is honestly a gay icon that we are sure many drag troupes have replicated. In the film, V is basically a theater kid turned murderer fighting back against the tyrannical government that performed illegal experiments on him and countless others who didn’t fit within their standards of an ideal citizen. V was captured and kept in a top-secret government testing facility that was essentially a concentration camp. Thanks to being inexplicably immune to the toxic chemical being used, V was able to escape by setting the whole place on fire. He somehow survives the fire and comes out stronger than ever, which honestly is a pretty gay allegory. After this experience, he sets about his goal of destroying everyone who had been involved in the secret facility and bringing down the fascist government. During V’s attempt to overthrow the government, he encounters Evey, played by Natalie Portman. He somehow manages to recognize that she also stands on the fringes of society (ie. she’s gay af) and they both become a bit fascinated by one another. He is so excited to show her his own secret bunker full of banned objects (like homoerotic art, books, and music). Unfortunately for Evey, V’s time in the government facility twisted him quite a lot and his version of love ends up a bit toxic. He captures Evey and sets up these tests for her, making it seem like she’d been captured by the government the way he and her own parents had been in the past. He puts her through similar things to what he was subjected to including shaving her head so that she really looks like the lesbian she is inside. While trapped in what she thinks is a government cell, Evey discovers letters written by Valerie, a lesbian who had been captured previously and learns about her love story and everything that she endured just for loving who she did. This lesbian letter fills her with the strength to fight back and escape captivity. Although there is some gay content in the film with Valerie and her backstory, we wish there had been more! V and Evey both have transformative queer journeys and yet it is never really discussed. We know one thing for sure, V for Vendetta Should’ve Been Gay. Follow us on Twitter: (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full-length bonus episodes (which there are already 19 of ready for you to listen to!), weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is absolutely not down for any Mr. Linguini erasure, thank you very much. This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Sam (@conscious.altruism) and Aussie (@aussie_has_fomo), the Keep It Saussie (@keepitsaussie) duo best known for their appearance on The Ultimatum: Queer Love to talk about why the 2023 comedy Quiz Lady Should’ve Been Gay. We kick off the pod by taking a little walk down memory lane to revisit Sam and Aussie’s Ultimatum experience and congratulate them on being the last couple standing. Then, it’s time to dive right into one of the best direct-to-streaming comedies we have seen in awhile. For those of you unfamiliar with Hulu’s Quiz Lady, the movie follows queer-coded sisters Jenny (Sandra Oh) and Anne (Awkwafina) as they attempt to win a game show in order to save their beloved pug Mr. Linguini from dognappers (and pay off their mother’s gambling debt). Additionally, it stars Holland Taylor as grumpy neighbor Francine. From the cast alone, the movie is already off to a pretty gay start. Even though neither sister is ever explicitly stated to be part of the alphabet mafia, every single thing about them screams gay. Jenny is a classically chaotic bisexual with a Subaru and blue hair. She runs on nothing but pure 80s music video vibes and iced coffee. Younger sister Anne is a homebody gay with social anxiety, a game show hyperfixation, and an incredibly close connection with her emotional support dog Mr. Linguini. There is just no way at all to read these two as straight characters. We talk about ways to make the movie even gayer, like turning Mr. Linguini into a cat and shipping Jenny with Francine in a classic Holland Taylor age-gap relationship. We know one thing for sure, Quiz Lady Should’ve Been Gay. Follow us on Twitter: (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full length bonus episodes, weekly ad free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is a little concerned about what the queer community’s obsession with ‘forbidden romance’ says about us. This week Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out to talk about the trope that has historically overwhelmingly dominated queer media- forbidden love. The allure of forbidden love makes it a popular trope across all media, not just queer media, and dates all the way back to Romeo and Juliet. However, forbidden love is so overrepresented in queer media that it is difficult to even name a story where it isn’t the dominant trope. Sure there are the obvious examples, the period pieces like Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Ammonite, but it goes much deeper than that. Everyone’s favorite romcom Imagine Me and You? Forbidden love. Campy classics D.E.B.S. and But I’m A Cheerleader? Forbidden love. It’s the one thing that nearly all queer stories in our media have in common with very few outliers. When considering why forbidden love is so pervasive within queer stories, it is impossible to ignore the very real consequences of gay relationships throughout history. For example, ignoring the forbiddenness of a queer relationship for an American film set in the years between DOMA and Obergefell would be historically inaccurate. Because of this all gay stories were technically stories about forbidden love up until quite recently. The interesting thing is that even after ‘gay’ no longer immediately equaled ‘forbidden’, queer stories continued to find ways to incorporate the trope. There is something too appealing about forbidden love to leave it in the past. Now there are just extra steps included for why the relationship is forbidden such as an affair (Imagine Me and You), a concerning age gap (Carol), or unhealthy power dynamics like the ever popular student/teacher relationship (Loving Annabelle). One of our favorite unique twists on the forbidden love trope is actually the short-lived Netflix series First Kill, which flipped the genre on its head by making the forbidden aspect be that one of the girls was a vampire and the other a monster hunter. Whether we should all be in therapy for our penchant for forbidden love remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, we aren’t going to stop eating these stories up anytime soon! Follow us on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full length bonus episodes, weekly ad free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that is healing religious trauma through humor. This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Filipina filmmaker, actor, and writer Giovannie Espiritu (@giospirit2) to talk about why 2004 dramedy Saved! Should’ve Been Gay. We do not think it is possible for there to be a more perfect guest for this episode than Giovannie who actually escaped from a biblical doomsday cult as a teenager. She had just recently left the cult when Saved! came out and helped her to process her religious trauma through super relatable humor (and a huge crush on Jena Malone). For those of you who are unfamiliar with the movie, Saved! follows the story of Mary (Jena Malone) as she navigates the consequences of getting pregnant in her senior year of high school after sleeping with her boyfriend Dean in an attempt to “save” him from his homosexuality. Mary goes from being a poster child for walking with Jesus to a social pariah whose old friends try to exorcize the devil out of her for daring to have sex before marriage. Her best friend and American Eagle High’s answer to Regina George, Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), kicks Mary out of their girl band The Christian Jewels, and she loses the support of nearly the entire school. Luckily for Mary, the other outsiders, a Jewish girl named Cassandra and Hilary Faye’s disabled older brother Roland, take her under their wing and help her to survive senior year. Although this movie does technically have gay representation in Mary’s ex-boyfriend Dean, we really do not see much of his experience once he is sent off to Mercy House to be de-gayed. We want to see how he revolutionized the other students at Mercy House, how he and his current “life partner” got together, and how he managed to get everyone to the prom. Basically, they need to give us a parallel movie to this one a la But I’m A Cheerleader that fills in the gaps of what happened after Dean got taken away. Personally we think Saved! could be a lot gayer. Mary is giving off really queer vibes the entire film, kicking the movie off by literally praying for God to give her the strength to sleep with her boyfriend (obviously a super straight thing to do). Then there’s Hilary Faye whose name doesn’t rhyme with ‘gay’ for no reason. There is simply zero heterosexual explanation for that haircut. We know one thing for sure, Saved! Should’ve Been Gay. Follow us on Twitter: (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). Support your favorite little lesbian podcast while unlocking perks like access to our exclusive Discord community, monthly full length bonus episodes, weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support Lez Hang Out by checking out our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that wants you to draw us like one of your gay French girls.This week Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with figurative artist Halie Torris (@halietorris) to talk about the sapphic gaze in art and what differentiates it from the all too familiar male gaze. If you spend any time on lesbian TikTok you are likely familiar with Halie Torris’ paintings. The videos of her music-inspired paintings set to songs like Fletcher’s Cherry and Taylor Swift’s Maroon have gone viral multiple times, demonstrating just how feral we all are for art that doesn’t speak to the male gaze. The entire history of art has mostly been portrayed through the male gaze, a perspective that tends to objectify and oversexualize women. Sapphic art, in contrast, is much more subtle, focusing on the little things that men don’t typically appreciate. Halie describes her paintings as capturing the moment right before the climax of the action, that moment right before the wine splashes, the hook of a finger in a belt loop, the hand lightly grazing a thigh. Her paintings showcase the beauty and intricacies of sapphic relationships by sharing these more secretive moments that mainstream art often fails to recognize. There is a big focus on body language in Halie’s paintings and a tendency to intentionally obscure the subjects’ face from view. With the faces hidden, it is easier for people to connect their own narratives to the paintings. Halie views music as a prompt for creating her visual art, fueling the narratives that already reside within her. Alongside Halie’s music-inspired series, she has been hard at work on her newest series of paintings, the situationship series. These paintings focus on the turbulent emotions experienced before, during and after a situationship. We talk with Halie about her artistic journey, how her paintings going viral has impacted her, and of course, the gaylor of it all. Whether you are a Swiftie or not, there is no denying Taylor is a musical mastermind, painting pictures with her words through incredibly descriptive lyrics. Illustrative songs like Ivy and iconic stage performances like Taylor’s Vigilante Shit chair dance have inspired Halie to create gorgeous figurative paintings from the sapphic gaze. Taylor’s frequently queer-coded lyrics with a focus on secret relationships and yearning speak to sapphic listeners in a different way than their straight peers, in much the same way Halie’s art does. The beauty lies in the subtlety, a feature missing from figurative art created with the male gaze in mind. Even in 2024 Halie can practically count on one hand how many figurative artists she knows of who have made art for and from a female gaze let alone a sapphic one. While we of course wish that sapphic art was not so difficult to come by, we are thrilled that artists like Halie are working hard to change that. Follow us on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full length bonus episodes (including our brand new one on The Kids Are Alright), weekly ad free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that does a great Jack Black impression. This week, Leigh (@lshfoster) hangs out solo with Gabby and Emily Cohen of The Butch Boudoir Project to talk about why the 2006 romcom The Holiday Should’ve Been Gay. When Gabby realized there was a disappointing lack of butch representation in boudoir photoshoots (and in media in general), she decided right then to change that. This idea grew into the Butch Boudoir Project, an ongoing movement to empower #Butch & #Masculine people across different gender identities, celebrating their #identity, #sexuality, and #visibility. It is so rare for media to show butches in a positive and attractive light and The Butch Boudoir Project aims to change that. The project showcases butch people going about their regular lives, providing affirmation for not only butches but also for the people who are attracted to them.And honestly, what more could a butch lover ask for than a super dykey early aughts Jude Law? There is so little butch representation in movies to this day, but we won’t let that stop us from creating our own. The Holiday follows the story of Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Iris (Kate Winslet), two tragic-in-love women trapped in their heteronormative lives who decide to shake things up by switching homes. Instead of doing what we all want (ie. falling in love with one another), Amanda and Iris find the absolute dykiest men to fall for. Neither of these women has ever managed to have a successful relationship with a man and we 100% know why. We make our own gay version of the movie by simply gender swapping the male love interests, although we ideally still want to ship Amanda with Iris. We know one thing for sure, The Holiday Should’ve Been Gay. Follow us on Twitter: (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of perks like access to our exclusive Discord community, monthly full length bonus episodes, weekly ad-free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by checking out our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Lez Hang Out, the podcast that will literally never shut up about queer pirates. This week Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida) hang out with Adam Korenman (@officermankorn), Seth Bowser (@sethypoo88), Nat Leykam (@natleykam), and Jaime Rockafellow (@warriorcatprincess) to talk about their currently in-production queer pirate musical, The Great Age of Sail (@the_great_age_of_sail). Unless you are brand new to Lez Hang Out (which, if you are, welcome!), you are likely very familiar with our love of queer pirates, queer musicals, and queer pirate musicals. So in love in fact that we have spent the past 3 years working on one of our own. So, when we found out about The Great Age of Sail, we could not resist getting together with the creative team to talk about our mutual love of pirates, musical theater and all things gay. In 2020, the TikTok sea shanty craze hit and Adam was hooked instantly. He began writing his own shanties, but they were not enough to scratch the itch. The more shanties he wrote, the more a story began to emerge and Adam realized there was a perfect opportunity to develop it into a musical. He shared his shanties with Nat, who saw their potential and brought Seth on board as a composer. From there, they developed enough of a musical to do a small stage reading where they met theatrical Swiss Army Knife Jaime who turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle they needed to shape the musical into what it would become today. Musical theater is a magical space for both self-exploration and self-expression, which is probably why so many queer people find themselves drawn to it. We talked with Adam and co about what each step of the creative process has been like over the last 4 years since writing that first sea shanty, why queerness is a central element to any good pirate story, and what goals they have for the show. After an overwhelmingly successful crowdfunding campaign and well-received small stage reading, The Great Age of Sail is in the workshop stage of production with a more advanced stage reading planned for this summer. We personally cannot wait to hear it!Follow us on Twitter: Lez Hang Out (@lezhangoutpod) and answer our Q & Gay questions at the end of every episode. You can also join us on Facebook.com/lezhangoutpod and follow on Instagram (@lezhangoutpod). Find us individually on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok at Leigh (@lshfoster) and Ellie (@elliebrigida). You can support Lez Hang Out while unlocking a bunch of awesome perks like access to our exclusive Discord, monthly full length bonus episodes, weekly ad free episodes, and more by joining us on Patreon at bit.ly/lezpatreon. You can also support the podcast by buying our original merch at bit.ly/lezshop and purchasing our original Lez-ssentials songs for as little as $1 each on Bandcamp! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lez Hang Out will be back in your ears next week with a brand new episode. Until then, we are delighted to share with you the podcast musical that we have been working on for nearly 3 years over at Dollar Bean Productions. We hope you will love Journey to the Heart as much as we do and cannot wait to hear your thoughts!---------------------------------------------------------------------In a seafaring world, the gods granted humans the gifts of soulmarks: a unique tattoo you share with your soulmate that appears when you turn of age. Our three heroes each have their own thoughts and questions about these marks. Albina (Zehra Fazal), never received a soulmark. Babette (Valerie Rose Lohman), is a hopeless romantic who can’t seem to find her soulmate despite years of searching. And Charlie (Ellie Brigida), covered up her tattoo the day it appeared, and now spends most of her time adventuring at sea.When Charlie returns with a mysterious parchment, the three girls embark on an adventure to find the answers they each need from the gods, and to decide what love really means to them in this exciting new musical adventure from the team behind The Flame!Journey to the Heart will be a 6 episode limited series, featuring some of the brightest talents across Film, TV, and voiceover! The series is produced by Ellie Brigida (Scoring and Music Producer), Leigh Holmes Foster (Composer and Music Director), Valerie Rose Lohman (Executive Producer and Director), and Caitlyn Clear (Book and Director). Join us as the story develops to vote on what happens at key points in the show!Listen to the rest of Journey to the Heart here: https://link.chtbl.com/ILsLOndYFor full credits and transcripts, visit https://www.dollarbeanproductions.com/journeytotheheartThis is an original radio play produced by Dollar Bean Productions.Journey to the Heart was made possible by listeners like you! Join them on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/dollarbeanprod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leigh and Ellie discuss the 2023 instant cult classic Bottoms, a wildly queer and campy teen movie that flips stereotypes on their heads. They explore the characters' crazy decisions, the shocking twists in the film, and the need for more indie gay teen films. They also touch on the pressure for perfection in portraying gay characters and the lack of new gay movies.