Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

You’ve probably seen it or heard about it since it’s all over the news: the reported 63% to 34% victory by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked turmoil and rioting within Iran. Personally, I was surprised by the big difference as I had expected both candidates to get about half of all the votes, and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared himself the winner nonetheless. The latter happened. I don’t know if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really got the majority (whatever the actual majority of votes is) but if young people went out of their way to vote for reformist opponent, Mirhossein Mousavi, and are now crying fraud on the outcome of the elections (risking severe beatings by the police), it makes me wonder. Supporters of defeated moderate Mirhossein Mousavi are being arrested. That makes me wonder even more. Hearing that It’s obvious the younger generation want change, and I hope for them it’s gonna come soon.

Talking about elections; it seemed the majority of Europeans voted right. Whether it’s due to the economic crisis or something else, I don’t think it’s alright. (I voted left.) Read about the Dutch elections from a Canadian point of view.

A Catholic woman is suing a gay couple after her son got placed into their care when she was unfit to take care of him herself. The reason for suing couldn’t be lamer than that; if the couple was deemed unfit, I don’t think her kid would be placed in their care in the first place.

Floating belly up in the Pacific, this is the body of a giant blue whale - killed by a passing ship. (How on earth could you NOT notice running over or bumping into something large as that?!)

The body was found by researchers from Oregon State University in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California. How sad is that?

Chastity Bono, the 40-year-old daughter of Cher and the late Sonny Bono announced her decision earlier this week to undergo a sex change. Chastity will be known as “Chaz” from now on.

Bono’s publicist said, “Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did nearly 20 years ago.”

Read the entire statement on GLAAD.

Kudos to Chaz for coming out as trans; it takes courage to do that. I’m sure he’ll be turned into a spokesperson because he’s famous. (But I think he already knows that.) The good thing is that it might pave the way for other trans people.

A women’s prison in Virginia is - apparently - separating lesbian inmates from straight inmates. Based on appearance. How dumb is that?

The Ausiello Files reported that Stephanie March is staying a little longer on SVU - woo-hoo! While the length of her commitment has yet to be finalized, March’s Alex Cabot will assume ADA duties for only part of the season, as producers have cast a wide net to search for other ADA types as well. NBC had no comment. I’m stoked!

The school censoring a sixth-grade student’s presentation of gay rights activist Harvey Milk has been forced to apologise. Right on!

Towleroad.com offers two views from the High Line Park I blogged about earlier this week. Check them out here.

The ever gracious Terry Moore talked to Publishers Weekly about Echo, his up and coming Strangers in Paradise omnibus, and other works. Read about it here.

I read this on AfterEllen.com:

I read the breaking news that Mariska Hargitay would be MIA from Law and Order: SVU due to her recent lung-problem relapse. Uh… What?

The story is on EW’s Ausiello Files and reading it I realized she’ll only miss a couple of weeks of work, which basically translates to just one episode. Seriously. The Emmy-winning actress just underwent a second surgery relating to the collapsed lung she suffered in January, and will only be missing from one episode, yet it’s basically the most horrible, shocking news in television.

I sort of feel bad for Ice-T. It seems like he misses at least every other episode, and yet there are never any news reports about his absence. While there’s clearly no competing with Mariska, it’ll actually be his chance to shine in her missed episode, “Baggage,” as he’s supposed to “step in for her.” We’ll see about that. However, Stephanie March will be there as well, as that will coincide with Alex Cabot’s six-episode return (which starts tonight, by the way).She’ll do…

As read on AfterEllen.com:

A few weeks ago in an Ask AfterEllen.com column, I answered a reader’s question about whether there was any possibility of a romance between Mariska Hargitay’s character Olivia Benson and Stephanie March’s character ADA Alexandra Cabot on Law & Order: SVU, now that March is reprising her role for six episodes on the hit NBC crime drama beginning March 10.

My answer at the time? No. (OK, I suppose nothing can ever be completely ruled out, but in my Professional Lesbian opinion, that has about as much chance of happening as Max getting a decent storyline on The L Word.)

Now Stephanie March is trying to make me look bad.

In a press call today attended by one of our freelance reporters, Jim Halterman (who relayed the info to me), Stephanie answered similar questions — and was much more encouraging about the possibility of an Alex/Olivia relationship than I was.

First, when asked whether Alex Cabot is returning in a relationship or not, she said, “She’s on the prowl. She’s not tied to too many people.”

On whether she’s going to be prowling strictly for men, March replied, “I think we haven’t determined all of it yet. I think some of it’s still a mystery.”

Finally, when asked whether Alex and Olivia are in love and just not realizing it yet, March answered, “I’m not saying we’re not…I’m not saying we’re not in love.”

What’s that noise, you ask? It’s the sound of a million Alex/Olivia shippers having a heart attack at the same time.

Executive Producer Neal Baer acknowledged on the call that he and the writers are very aware of the lesbian following for March and Hargitay, and March added that the Alex/Olivia shipping doesn’t bother her in the least. “I would make the vote on Prop 8 that would make your readers happy,” she said. 

Mariska Hargitay and Stephanie March at a fundraiser in May 2008

To be clear, I still don’t think there’s any real chance the writers are going to develop a romantic relationship between Olivia and Alex.

But even a few years ago, questions about a romantic development between two ostensibly straight characters on a popular mainstream TV show wouldn’t have even been asked in a mainstream press conference, let alone answered in a way that seeks to encourage viewers to read between the lines.

So it feels like a little bit of progress off-screen, if not on-screen.

Then this article reveals how Cabot’s return the SVU will give fans an explanation of what exactly happened to her character.

Last night’s Law & Order: SVU was originally supposed to feature the return of Stephanie March’s ADA Alex Cabot for a six-episode stint.

Uh-huh.

But instead of seeing Stephanie, we were treated to an episode involving transgender issues (remember “Fallacy”?) and even featured a couple of real-life lesbians with cameos. Both Daniela Sea and Leah Delaria appeared in the episode

The plot involved a 13-year-old girl, Hailey, whose father couldn’t accept that she isn’t his son Henry anymore and is found beaten nearly to death.

Daniela plays a leader of a trans group that steals hormones from pharmaceutical companies and gives them to transitioning members of the community who could not ordinarily afford them.

I also wish the assailant of the girl’s father didn’t turn out to be the secretly transgender guidance counselor. Even though she came off entirely emphatically, it’s still another name to add to the seemingly never-ending master list of LGBT homicidal characters. But, overall the episode seemed to portray the issue with a great deal of tact and understanding.

Ok, now back to Stephanie March.

In honor of Stephanie March’s upcoming return to “Law & Order: SVU” as ADA Alex Cabot, I give you a brawl for her affections between Mariska Hargitay and Tina Fey. Both women launched a thousands ’ships with their gay subtext (or maintext in the case of “30 Rock”) involving Stephanie. And both women look awfully pretty standing next to her. So, who takes it, ladies and discerning gentlemen?

Olivia Benson & Alex Cabot

Liz Lemon & Gretchen Thomas

So, who should Stephanie end up with? Hmmm…

Remember when you used to turn on the TV and see this?

ADA Alex Cabot, played by Stephanie March, was once a regular character on Law & Order: SVU, and boy was I happy. Then, in a two-episode arc, a drug dealer shot her and she disappeared into the Witness Protection Program — to be seen only once more* when she came back to testify against her alleged assassin (in an episode called “Ghost”), and I was sad. (*Yes, I realize she reappeared in the show Conviction, but I prefer to pretend the show never existed. The real Alex Cabot would never have had sex on her desk at the office… Unless, and there’s plenty of fanfic out there, it was with Det. Olivia Benson  )

Clearly I’m not the only one who’s missed Alex. There are people who care a lot more about this than I do writing blogs and signing petitions.

But now, happiness for many is just a few weeks away. Beginning Feb. 17, March will reprise her role on SVU for six episodes.

That’s right. Alex is back! 

This could be the best thing that’s happened to Law & Order:SVU in a long time. The show has strained credulity for years. (Olivia and Elliot are so frequently out of control that I’ve begun to suspect there’s a writer specifically tasked with drawing new lines for them to cross.) This past season has actually been a little better than the last few — if you ignore that Casey is gone and that the new ADA sounds like she learned how to deliver dialogue on a porn set. But now, with Alex temporarily back, almost all could be right in the SVU universe.

As great as it may be to have the character of Alex back, it’s also wonderful to get to see Stephanie March for a bunch of weeks in a row. Not only was she the best ADA on SVU (with all due respect to Casey Novak fans), but she played one of the best — if not the best — lesbian characters in the history of broadcast television: Gretchen Thomas on 30 Rock.

Is anyone else as excited about this as I am? Now, if you’ll excuse me: I’m off to enjoy a huge chunk of chocolate