“The L Word” premiere party meets mixed reviews

 

HRC's logo, from HRC.org

The L Word premiere party at Adonis was exciting as well as infuriating. Overall I had a good time, but there were some low points. At least I had good company to bitch to.

First of all, much to my dismay, I discovered that this event was a Human Rights Campaign fundraiser when I received an e-mail from Impact Cincinnati promoting The L Word premiere party, with a $10 suggested donation. I am all about equality of all people, but HRC just fails. Not only are they assimilationist and corporate, they also abandoned transpeople when it looked like an all inclusive ENDA would not pass (ENDA is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that would protect LGBT people in the workplace. When it looked like this legislation wouldn’t pass, HRC dropped the BT from the proposed legislation, which still failed after the amending.). HRC also spearheaded the “No on Prop. 8” campaign, and yet again they failed. 

Once up to the register the man asked me for $10. I asked him if it went to HRC and when he confirmed, I explained that I don’t support HRC and I didn’t want to give them my money. He said “Well, it is $10 to get in.” I then explained that it shouldn’t be called a suggested donation if you have to pay it. I then handed over my raffle ticket that I was asked to fill out, hoping to at least win a prize.

Then we funneled into Adonis, lesbians as far as the eye can see. And that’s really saying something considering that Adonis is a sprawling night club. I mean, this place is huge. They have three separate bars and over 500 people attend this event annually, so you can imagine how large it is.

We walked past the spread of Subway and grabbed some sandwiches as we mingled. I literally saw just about every woman I have met on the queer scene at this event. Even prominent gay bar owners and bartenders were there. I am sure that every other gay bar in the city was closed because I saw all of their staffs at Adonis.

Local belly dancers dazzled the crowd by balancing candles on their heads as they danced.

Moving back to the main stage, we maneuvered some seating in the front row. Much to my surprise some tribal fusion belly dancers took to the stage with a tray of candles. They were amazing. The trio of women, called Folie a Trois, danced with the candles on their head. You really can’t imagine how impressed I was with these dancers. One did a traditional cane dance only performed by men, and at one point she balanced the cane on her head. Watch the videos at the to get a sample of this.

Then I saw the Black Mondays perform. They are by far the best professional drag troupe I have ever seen. I have only seen comparable performances at the International Drag King Extravaganza. Anyway, they did some numbers I had never seen as well as some new one, such as Saliva’s “Ladies and Gentleman” to open the show and a sexy final number complete with corsets and stockings. 

The Black Mondays also performed “Getting Away With Murder” by Papa Roach, where James Bondage masquerades as George W. Bush. He steals Florida, partners with the INS to deport people and rips America apart. This number saw it’s last performance that night, as Bush is soon to be out of office. For a little taste, see the videos at the end. 

Special K and the Black Mondays perform a sexy group number.

We later moved to the main dance floor that was transformed into a theater for the final premiere of The L Word. Of course, we could not view the show without a little HRC propaganda session. Most people were dozing off while an HRC representative explained what HRC does. I mostly dozed off, as she was explaining that similar events were going on in 35 other cities across the nation for HRC, and it wasn’t until the trivia contest that I got really fired up.

HRC’s local director grabbed the mic and started talking about her wife. They had recently married in California and were anxious about the state of their marriage. As soon as I laid eyes upon them I knew exactly why they worked with HRC: these two women were blondes, thin, feminine, normative- and professional-appearing; there couldn’t be better assimilationist poster-children. 

The trivia contest consisted of L Word facts with HRC gear as prizes, except two things: one was an L Word poster and the other was a free psychic reading, which I won.

Then, it was announced that our $10 “donation” at the door was our year-long membership pledge. Oh, and the raffle ticket we filled out at the door was actually a sign-up for our membership. Isn’t that great? Tricked into being a member of HRC, I was severely displeased.

Jenny from The L Word. Photo from Sho.com

Following the HRC briefing, the screening of The L Word commenced with a dead Jenny. That’s right, Jenny. The character that the show is built around has been killed off for the final season of The L Word. The rest of the episode was all flashback, seemingly leading up to the explanation of Jenny’s death later in the season.

The highlight of the premiere was when Jenny told Niki off. After a little revenge sex for sleeping with Shane, Jenny told Niki that it in fact was not she who broke her heart, leading us all to believe that it was Shane that Jenny really loved. And although this wasn’t the best episode ever, it was still exciting to see the show that I waited months to see.

The screening was a unique experience for me. I had never been among hundreds of L Word fans while watching an episode of the show, and hearing the crowd’s reactions just reinforced how epic this show is for lesbians. Laughs, cheers and claps punctuated the highlights of the show; I was overwhelmed by the feeling of solidarity I experienced that night.

After The L Word I redeemed my psychic reading, which was very intriguing. She was actually pretty accurate with her reading. She accurately told me of the burn I received on my hand when I was a child (there is no visible scar anymore), that I my grandfather kept birds and that I just started a new job. She also advised me to play the lottery in March.

Overall, the evening was entertaining and spent in good company, but it would have been better without HRC being rammed down my throat. I would say that there is always next year, but seeing as this is the final season, I can only hope for a spin off.

The belly dancers perform while balancing candles on their heads.

A belly dancer performs the cane dance.

James Bondage and the Black Mondays present a special tribute to Bush.

The Black Mondays perform “We Both Reached for the Gun” from Chicago.