When I learned The L Word was set for a reboot, unlike many queer folks, I felt nothing. Hear me out: the first season is not well developed–even the biggest of The L Word stans couldn’t and still can’t make it through season one. There were not enough storylines engaging Black queer experiences, and in my teen years I happened to find queer community on Tumblr and representation on YouTube shows like Studville that provided me more onscreen examples of same-gender loving folks. Call me an uneducated queer if you must, but The L Word was never a necessary viewing for me. It wasn’t, that is, until this year, when my friends would not stop talking about the reboot.
As more shows center stories on women-loving-women characters, from Netflix’s Easy to ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder, there seems to be no progress in that realm. More often than not, the couples are two white-identified people or an interracial couple, like Generation Q’s Sophie and Danie. And while those reflect some experiences, I can’t help but notice the many other intraracial relationships between folks of color that don’t get screen time.
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