Christina Cox and Ramona Leiß have Something in Common

I guess, the situation is pretty much the same in the Netherlands (even though we can get married, of course).

I always look at it as a good thing that being gay is just not a big deal over here, therefore, it does not need to be mentioned all the time.

Of course, it is great to have an overview of every single gay or bi character on television, in books etc. but don't we have sites like eurOut for that? ;-)

In the United States it is all so over the top. The Blood Ties character might be bisexual, but they do not even do anything with that information in the series, so is it really worth mentioning?

I much prefer just watching a TV series and all of a sudden a lesbian couple pops up, which is a nice added bonus, rather than watching something purely for the gay content (i.e. Cashmere Mafia, GTST/GZSZ).

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-Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege.

I blog, therefore, I am

The AE article only discusses the premier episode of Blood Ties. - It would be interesting to know if the show managed to grow out some weeknesses, if the bisexual storyline became a notable part of the series and how popular it was in the US.

About Ramona Leis: I have read about her comming out somewhere in the web, but I didn't know the person before so the news wasn't quite exciting. Well, I will stay away from the telenovela but check out her talkshow.

Always look on the bright side of life *pfeifpfeif*

As much as i welcome the coming out of famous/popular persons, this sudden dispoportional coverage (by German mainstream media) of Ramona Leiss (sorry, no esszett on my keyboard) leaves a sour taste with me.

She had her big coming out story in Bild earlier this year, dragged an ex-lover (already dead) into the open and explained her closet-life by having feared the consequences for her and her child. But there were already rumours back then, and she always denied having or being in a relationship with a woman.

And now, suddenly, everything has changed, as if someone had turned a switch. The interviews she's giving nowadays are really strange, she's not even trying to be part of the lesbian community, communicates via Yellow Press and in the same time she's taking for granted that she'll be able to "marry" her partner (Germany has a registered partnership, which looks good from the outside but is a whole lot different form the hetero-marriage)

German press is twisted in its own ways, when they mention a lesbian or gay plot in a film or on tv, it's often a story line made for heterosexuals and voyeurs. When they stay put or "forget" to mention a lesbian character it's more often than not the more interesting story. At least in my eyes. Weird ;-)

As for Blood Ties? I don't like Vampire stories and not even Christina Cox will change my mind <g>

http://spoilmyself.blogspot.com/
http://strawberrysaffron.blogspot.com/

OMG, Ramona Leiß is a lesbian? How did I not know that? I should up my Bild intake a bit more! I read the wrong newspapers.

As I don't read regular newspapers or magazines anymore, I don't get updated on German lesbian or gay TV content. As an English professional I cannot stand the badly dubbed or even worse imitated Tv programmes that passes for German TV. I haven't seen an original German TV series worth spending an hour of my life on in years.

However, as I get my entertainment news through AE, my weekly news update through Die Zeit - a German weekly lefty broadsheet - and the rest of my info through various internet channels, I too live in some kind of bubble that is impenetrable to the heteronormalcy of this world.

It was the same for me in the last years. I really liked that there's no hype about gay stuff and as I said in the article I felt that Germany or other countries in Europe are just too advanced to mention things exclusively.

But doing this job here, changed my mind a lot. I do research every day and know things now, I never wanted to know. Like Maxime said, the coming out story of Ramona Leiß is horrible! I can tell you stories of her telling the yellow press that she figured with her therapist that she got abused when she was a baby. After that she tells how hard it was to come out and now she says everything is super-duper. Horrible! But a good picture of how Germany portrays lesbians and bisexual. They ignore you, or they tell horrible stories. Of course there are some exceptions, but they are rare.

I would like the fact, that there's no need to mention lesbian and bisexual characters because it is just "normal". But when you look at the German television programs you have the choice between a lesbian no one really remembers she is one, cause she deals with business and not women. Or you can watch a newly lesbian cry on GZSZ because her also newly lesbian girlfriend died in a fire.

80Million people in Germany and there 2 "gay character" on television, which actually suck. When eveything is equal and accepted and no one has a problem with anything, where are the gay characters in this huge country?

What about the people who don't know gays in person and have provison? How shall they get used to us? How shall they learn, that we're just like them. They need visible good role models to (re)build their opinions. (There is obvious less racism and discrimination against black americans, since they aren't only the criminals anymore but also doctors and stuff on national television since a few years.)

Or what about teenagers discovering their feelings for the same gender? With who shall they relate? Yes, of course they can go to a DVD rentel service or look for it online, just like you do it when you're looking for porns :) This painful feeling that what you're doing is not normal will linger.

What we need are lesbians and bisexuals on national television! Airing every day just like heterosexual characters.

And we need more out celebrities (another evidence that not everything is fine, when people are still afraid about their jobs) and when possible not like Ramona Leiß. A few Anne Wills would be good ;)

And we need them to talk about the nuisances. It's not true that everything is alright. And I think it's not healthy to smile into the camera, talking about the 21th century while not even thinking about the non excistent equality. Cause we learned to be thankful and we learned how progressiv everything is but we shouldn't stop here.

I stoped at this point. But after doing this here and talking to so many readers every day, hearing their stories...yeah, as I said. I lived somehow in an illusion created by myself.

We will have a "coming-out-week" on eurOut where editors share their stories with you in some kind of podcast-thing. And we want to hear, read and see from our readers, too. You will be able to send us videos, voicemails or messages and we share your stories with others, too. I think it will be a good opportunity for everone to see, how hard or funny it can be to discover you're gay. And maybe it makes more people think about what is still not ok in our wonderful countries.

I had to smile when I read your posts. I mean, I totally get your point. Lesbian invisibility or lesbian exploitation (it's ok to see a dyke on tv, but she has to be hot and sexy) are a token of discrimination.

But here in Italy yesterday two gay men were put on trial under the allegation of offense to the public decorum. The carabinieri (a group of police known for being very conservative) accused them of having sex in public. The two men, who were back from one of the most famous glbt bars in Rom, were at the Colosseum, at night. They say they were only kissing.

In the same place, two weeks ago, two other gay were mocked and attacked by a group of teenagers. Politicians hardly speak about hate crimes. They surely don't do anything to stop them. And almost all of them say that homosexuals don't have the right to start a family, because family is only something between a man and a woman. We don't have civil partnership. The Church (very powerful here) keep saying that we are sinner, our way of life is against natural law, and that we don't deserve anything.

Tv is a big help. But I can assure you that wen I shortly lived in Germany I felt free. Free to be myself. And that's so much more.

I like discussions and I am happy some are growing here :)

trebs and natazzz actually mentioned exactly what i meant with this uncomfortable feeling inside of me about myself. Maybe I change my mind tomorrow again, but right now I feel that this "Hey, be lucky you live there" and "Well, it happened a lot" is the problem, sometimes. Just because it is so easy to fall asleep in this comfort that already happened alot and elswhere the situation is worse.

I am thankful that I can walk free on the street with my girlfriend and that there are at least a few out celebrities. But we didn't walked the whole way, yet. And in the past I felt like we already did. That's what came up while writing the article.

It might be more than in italy or bulgaria, but this doesn't help the people here. We should use this good base to continue progress and not fall asleep. I slept and maybe I will again.

But yeah...at the moment, I don't want people and me to stop thinking.

[I blame you, Sarah Warn for making me so lesbian :p ]

...I didn't know about the bi lead character in Blood Ties, nor did I know about the obviously very happy queer life of Ramona Leiß (who the hell is she??? JK I kind of remember her...).

But I don't really get what Christina Cox and Mrs. Leiß (or should I say Ms.!?) are supposed to have in common? Where's the analogy? Is it RTL 2 silencing the fact that the show has a bi lead and the fact that Ramona Leiß needs to get out of the country in order to marry her woman??? ...in other words, that Germany suffers from an "acceptance of invisibility"...but then again: what does Christina Cox have to do with all this?