The Cannes film festival may be closing up shop in a few days, but there's one movie that looks to be one of the breakout hits. La Vie D'Adele Capitres 1 et 2 (or as it's known in English, Blue is the Warmest Color) is not only receiving rave reviews for its touching screenplay and cinematography, but also because it features tons of hardcore lesbian sex scenes. Like, ten minutes straight lesbian sex.

Though many entered Blue Is the Warmest Color out of perverse curiosity (I certainly did), what's surprising about the film beyond its frank eroticism is just how much weight it gives to the messy reality of relationships and sexual identity. Adèle never definitively chooses women over men; she chooses Léa over all others. Their relationship falls apart because of subtle differences in social class and ambition, but their intense chemistry, as in so many failed relationships, lingers awkwardly in the air every time they interact; they can no more deny the forces that pulled them together than they can deny that they're destined not to work out. The film's subtitle, Chapitres 1 et 2, suggests that this is only the beginning of Adèle's journey. It seemed clear by the end that nearly everyone in that audience hoped there would be more chapters to come. [SOURCE]

So it's essentially a little bit of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a little bit of Brokeback Mountain, all topped off with a sprinkling of sapphism? I will totally Netflix this movie when it comes out. Or possibly see it at the Carlton Cinema on a Tuesday. I'm legitimately curious about this now. Every review I've read thus far seems to indicate that it treats its central couple in a humane and dignified fashion, even during the aforementioned sex scene. That's a quality date night movie.

For those of you not paying attention or who just don't care, both the PlayStation 4 as well as the misleadingly named Xbox One have been announced within the past week. Not only does that mean new-generation technology and gaming, but apparently they can also help kids deal with anti-LGBT bullying at school.

While it's not uncommon to find homophobic bullying in online gaming forums too, studies have proven that video games actually help kids alleviate stress. And considering that a growing number of gamers have begun self-identifying as LGBT, it's safe to say that kids who experience anti-LGBT bullying are among those using games as a way to cope.

"I have been bullied quite a bit up until I reached the end of high school," says Matt Conn, co-founder of Gaymer X, an LGBT gaming conference happening this August in San Francisco. "I wished I could have just been myself and honest about being a queer geek… Games were my only escape for me. They allowed me to live in another world… having a team with me as we stormed Booster's Castle in Super Mario RPG or defeating the evil Porky in Earthbound… really was magical." [SOURCE]

Of course video games help kids deal with bullying; it's a lot easier to let go of the petty, vindictive bullshit people throw at you when you have something more important to hold on to. If kids can find solace in playing Bioshock Infinite or playing against friends on Mario Kart, it'll do a lot more to help their psyche than it would for them to dwell on it. 

[Image via Gamespot] 

Meet Michael Kinsley. He is the current editor-at-large of The New Republic, a former host of Crossfire and has been a political commentator since the 1970s. He also believes that he invented the concept of gay marriage and that opposing it doesn't necessarily make you a homophobe.

In a new piece on The New Republic, Kinsley surmises that opposing gay marriage doesn't necessarily make someone a homophobe, because some people just don't know better. The answer is simply to create positive public representations of sexual minorities and use logical, rational arguments to -- oh, wait, apparently the answer is to wait it out and let hindsight validate our positions for us.

The first known mention of gay marriage is an article (“Here Comes the Groom” by Andrew Sullivan) commissioned by me and published in this magazine in 1989. And I would bet that there is no one born before 1989, gay or straight, who didn’t, when he or she first heard the idea, go, whaaa? Many on reflection got used to the idea, and a majority of Americans now support it. The day will come, probably next Tuesday at the rate things are going, when previous opposition to the idea of same-sex marriage will seem bizarre and require explaining, like membership in the Ku Klux Klan in the youths of some old Southerners—are there any left?—on Capitol Hill. But we’re not quite there yet.

In all fairness, "Here Comes the Groom" is still considered a landmark print piece for its support of gay marriage, but the idea that gay marriage didn't really register on anyone's minds until he commissioned it . . . I don't think that's how that works. Especially when you consider that Denmark became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage that same year.

But back to the main point here. I get the basic gist of what he's trying to say here: we have to show an appropriate measure of compassion even to those we don't necessarily agree with. That being said, letting it slide because "they don't know any better" is something of an overcorrection. At this point, people SHOULD know better. People SHOULD be basing their opinions on scientific evidence. You don't make the world a better place by pretending nothing's wrong, or by refusing to correct something you know can be fixed. But Kinsley does make a point: you attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

Or as Wil Wheaton says, don't be a dick. 

[Image via dontbeadickday.com] 

Last year, Archie Comics debuted the series' first gay character, Kevin Keller, and One Million Moms shit their one million pants. (Note: Figures may have been adjusted to account for crazy.)

Turns out, One Million Moms is about as effective as its title is accurate. Not only has Kevin become a regular character with well-developed storylines, but a new issue of Archie Comics is taking a direct shot at OMO's contrived outrage.

According to the AP, Archie Comics will feature Kevin Keller kissing his boyfriend, Devon, in the No. 10 issue released this Aug. 7. The kiss will supposedly draw the attention of one disapproving Riverdale mom, who begins to throw a fit. Dan Parent, who writes and draws the upcoming issue, explains, “Kevin is kind of used to that, but Veronica records the whole thing and of course uploads it to the Riverdale equivalent of YouTube and that starts a bit of a debate.” [SOURCE]

Here's the hilarious thing about all of this: it's not like One Million Moms started a fight with a politically charged comic, like Doonesbury or Mallard Fillmore. They tried to start shit with Archie, the most G-rated, inoffensive, wholesome comic in the world. Starting a fight with friggin' Archie Comics is like trying to spark a feud with the kindly old neighbour lady who bakes cookies for everyone and puts up foster children in her home: you lost before you even started. 

Also, Kevin Keller is friends with Captain Sulu. YOU'RE TAKING ON SULU, DUMBASS. 

Have you ever read something that you loved so much, you wish you could take it out to brunch and feed it a plate of delicious waffles? . . . No? Too specific? Okay then.

Writer Vivian Taylor recently wrote a post for Autostraddle about being a trans woman and how she deals with other people's pre-conceived notions. It's funny, introspective and well written, and did I mention the thing about how I want to give her a plate of waffles? Just checking.

But I'm done with it. You can be trans or cis. You can be super femme, you can be ultra butch. You can be straight or queer. You can have people saying you're a transcendent beauty who just stepped off a Renaissance canvas, you can have people saying you're a stomach turning monster. You can be a light in the world who every person you meet loves and devotes themselves to, you can be an awkward storm cloud who drives everyone away.

I don't care. Sun shines and rain falls on the just and unjust alike. I don't want to know who the Real Good Ones and the Real Bad Ones are. We're all people. We all deserve to be treated as valued members of humanity. That's all. 

If you have a few minutes, you should really go read the piece in full. But if nothing else, just remember that there's really no such thing as a correct way to be a human being, and you don't need to fit a certain mould to be treated with the same dignity and respect as others.

[Pic via Imgur]