Valerie Anne

Entertainment Journalism

I've written for Autostraddle for almost nine years now, writing anything and everything from TV recaps to movie reviews and a few random things in between. Here's a selection of pieces I published over the past few years.

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Meet the Women’s Hockey Players With an IRL ‘Heated Rivalry’ of Their Own

The steamy gay hockey romance Heated Rivalry on HBO Max has the internet abuzz, but have you heard of the real life hockey lesbians who went from rivals to wives? American Olympian Julie Chu and Canadian Olympian Caroline Ouellette were rival team captains — who both happened to have the same jersey number — and faced off for the gold in the 2002 Winter Olympics. A few years later, they reconnected at a hockey camp and eventually became partners, going on to play against each other in more Olymp...
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Tig Notaro Is Giving Us Some Hot Lesbian Action

Great news: Tig Notaro is making a lesbian action movie with Zack Snyder! She says she sold it to him by saying the tagline could be “hot lesbian action” and honestly, I am also sold on that as a concept. In earnest, the idea came after Tig’s role in Army of the Dead, which had people of all genders and persuasions telling her how hot she was in the role. If you may recall, Tig was a last-minute addition to that film, as she was called in to replace a sex pest and ended up having to film all of...
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30 Gifts for Gay Geeks

As a self-identified geek/nerd, I am here to help you shop for the lovable weirdos in your life who are so very passionate about something that it is basically their entire personality. I am chaos, so I actually fall into all of these categories, like a big nerdy smorgasbord, and have only selected things I either own or would want to own. The thing about geeks is, there’s usually an obvious option. You can buy a book nerd some books, a puzzler some puzzles, etc. Plus they’re the easiest people...
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Congrats to New Queer Parents Cameron Esposito and Katy Nishimoto!

feature image photo via Cameron Esposito’s Instagram Congrats to Cameron Esposito and her wife Katy Nishimoto on giving birth to baby Yumi Young Esposito Nishimoto! The itsy bitsy baby, Yumi Young Esposito Nishimoto, was born 5 lbs 5 oz, and the proud parents are reportedly “OVER THE MOON”, as they should be. The queer comedian being pregnant didn’t slow them down though, it seems: Cameron performed a show a literal WEEK before giving birth. She also has a show called Four Pills about her later-...
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Doechii Gave Ayo Edebiri a Lap Dance on a Desk (Yes, You Read That Right)

feature image photo by Katie Flores / Contributor via Getty Images Have you ever read a headline and had to blink and start again because surely the madlibs of words you just read was a fever dream and not actually what it said? That was my experience when I read that Doechii gave Ayo Edebiri a lap dance on stage at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival this weekend. B ut my eyes did not deceive me, and there are plenty of videos to prove it! It’s real, it really happened. During Doechii’s song “Crazy”, A...
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The Mighty Nein’s Lesbian Monk Is Just One Reason To Watch

The Mighty Nein weaves the tale of a group of strangers thrust together by circumstance; a chance meeting at crossed pathways that changes the course of all of their lives forever. It is a dark tale, full of traumatic backstories and dangerous dealings, but it’s also one of friendship, of found family, and of breaking free of the things in your past that are holding you back. Critical Role‘s latest animated series has some things in common with their first, The Legend of Vox Machina: similar ani...
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Ring the Alarm: A Firefighter Lesbian Christmas Movie Is Coming

Sound the alarm and break out the hoses — we’re getting a gay firefighter holiday movie! Just last week in this very Pop Culture Fix column, I bemoaned the fact that there weren’t a lot of new queer holiday movies when I told you about the queer character that would be in the otherwise-pretty-straight-looking Oh. What. Fun. I thought the Ali Liebert/Kat Barrell Hallmark movie was going to be the only one we got this season, but I am delighted to report that I was wrong. Kyana Teresa shared the p...
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'Hazbin Hotel' Delivers a Sexy Sapphic Duet for Charlie and Vaggie

Hazbin Hotel‘s season two keeps delivering, especially musical, and this week is no exception with the thing we’ve all been waiting for: a sexy sapphic duet between Charlie and Vaggie! Erika Henningsen and Stephanie Beatriz teased us about it on a red carpet with some hilarious hand motions, and the day has finally arrived. Of course, this isn’t the first duet between the two of them — they had a very lovely moment in season one during the “More Than Anything” reprise where they reminded us just...
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Chloë Grace Moretz Has Herself a Vegan Girlfriend in New Christmas Movie

It looks like we have a new LGBTQ+ character to add to the very short list of Christmas movie queers this year! In the trailer for the upcoming family comedy Oh. What. Fun., we learn a lot about the “Clauster” family. Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an overworked and underappreciated mother and grandmother trying to get ready for the holiday season. In the trailer, we see Chloë Grace Moretz’s character, Taylor, announce that her girlfriend is vegan, something she could have told her mother before...
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Yes, Zohran Mamdani Popped Up at Gay Bars and Parties Over Halloweekend

feature image photo by VIEW press / Contributor via Getty Images It seems the entire country is watching the NYC mayoral election, and everyone on MY side of the internet seems to be rooting for Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate and the only one on the ballot who appears to care about actual New Yorkers and who takes debates seriously and speaks to issues instead of spending the entire time bashing other candidates for things like *checks notes* having an affordable rent and calling some...
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Sophia Bush Is Back To Gay Up 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 22

When Sophia Bush swooped into last week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy and the episode ended with Teddy giving Dr. Cass Beckman a smooch, I worried it was a fluke. A one-time thing Teddy would regret and back away from, a cliffhanger to tease us. After all, they’ve been dispatching queer characters left and right lately — Helm seemed to have vanished into the parking lot of no return, Beltran died in Jules’ arms, Amelia went on sabbatical — so I thought poor Teddy would be trapped in her marriage t...
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Charlie and Vaggie Are Harmonizing in 'Hazbin Hotel' Season 2

Hazbin Hotel is back with its stunning animation, amazing music, killer voice acting, and of course, our favorite merry band of misfits, including but not limited to hell’s favorite girlfriends, Charlie and Vaggie. Two episodes of the second season have dropped so far, and they gleefully lead you into what will be one hell of a season (no pun intended). The stakes are higher than ever for Charlie and her gang to prove to sinners that redemption is possible, all while heaven reckons with the fact...
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Some Good News To Start Your Week: Chappell Roan Started a Fund for Queer and Trans Youth

Looking for some GOOD news this week? Chappell Roan has started a fund for trans youth and LGBTQ+ communities called the Midwest Princess Project. She took to Instagram, saying the project already raised over $400k at her pop-up shows, and that they are committed to donating every dollar possible to organizations who need it most. So far, according to the official website, those organizations include two LGBTQ+ centers in NYC, two trans centers in LA, and two LGBTQ+ centers in her home state of...
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'Gen V' Episode 208 Recap: How it Ends for Marie and Friends

This recap will contain spoilers for Prime Video’s Gen V, Season 2, Episode 8: Trojan. Hello and WELCOME to the final Gen V recap of the season, where tensions and stakes are high for our intrepid heroes. I thought this was a pretty solid finale, but I’ll get into my overall thoughts on the episode and the season at the end. Until then, let’s crack on into the episode! Previously on Gen V, Marie & Co. learned about the Odessa Project which involved trying to make super-supe babies, the only succ...
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Reneé Rapp Is Giving the Gays Everything They Want (Jennifer Beals)

Reneé Rapp’s Bite Me tour has been taking the internet by storm, whether it’s because people are losing their minds about her insane vocals (valid), roasting her outfits (less valid, but to each their own), or getting hype for the special guests that pop up at her shows. And this weekend was no exception. Now, for the uninitiated, Reneé Rapp has a song on her new album called “At Least I’m Hot,” during which her real-life girlfriend Towa Bird has an exchange with her where she asks how Reneé is...
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Aubrey Plaza Should Guest Star in 'The Hunting Wives' Season 2

In case you have somehow missed it, I’m here to make sure you’ve seen this: Aubrey Plaza joined Amy Poehler for an SNL sketch about The Hunting Wives, and it’s very horny and hilarious. The sketch is a fake trailer for the upcoming second season of the show. In it, they gently mock the wigs, the copious amount of drinking, the insane storylines, and how all the women are all over each other at all times. It amps up the touching and the canoodling and plays into how easily peer pressured Brittany...
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'Gen V' Episode 207 Recap: The Truth About Cipher

This recap will contain spoilers for Prime”s Gen V Season 2, Episode 7, “Hell Week.” Hello and welcome to this recap of the penultimate episode of Gen V Season 2! I know it’s partially because the first three episodes dropped at once, but this season flew by. It could also be because I’m enjoying it so much. There is hardly time to catch your breath, each episode action-packed and rocketing toward what is sure to be an explosive end. Let’s jump in, shall we? Previously on Gen V, Cipher was takin...
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'Gen V' Episode 206 Recap: What's the Plan, Stan?

This recap will contain spoilers for Gen V Season 2 Episode 6, “Cooking Lessons.” Welcome back! This week, some theories were confirmed, others were spawned, and emotions were high. So let’s dive into it. Previously on Gen V, Cate’s powers were glitchy, Cipher was trying to push Marie to be the best blood bender she can be, Marie, Jordan, and Emma tried to break Cate out of Elmira but ended up getting caught again themselves, and Marie’s sister Annabeth died BUT Marie used her powers to bring he...
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Are You Ready for the Return of Grey's Anatomy?

feature image photo by Disney/Anne Marie Fox Grey’s Anatomy returns to us soon, and we’ll finally know how many of our queer beloveds survived the explosion that rocked Seattle Grace Mercy West Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital for the Disaster Prone at the end of Season 21. When we last left the hospital of chaos, Piper Perabo’s character went Coyote Ugly and forced bisexual badass Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) to perform brain surgery on her sick daughter, and then accidentally set off an exp...
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'Gen V' Episode 205 Recap: Sister, Sister

This recap will have spoilers for Prime Video’s Gen V Season 2 Episode 5, “The Kids Are Not All Right.” Welcome to another recap of Gen V, a show that has me holding my breath at every turn because goodness knows they are not afraid to kill anyone at any moment in the most horrific ways possible. This episode officially pushes us past the halfway point in the season so let’s waste no time and jump right into it. Previously on Gen V, Cate and Jordan found out that Cipher was keeping a man in a hy...
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