My Weekend Crush

I like Tessa Thompson a lot. Like a lot a lot. I’ve seen her in “Thor: Ragnarok,” and “Westworld” and “Selma” and even an episode of “Rizzoli & Isles” among other things over the years. And one of her more remarkable abilities is to chameleon herself into her roles. Put Julia Roberts in any role and you’re always like, “OK, we get it, you’re Julia Roberts.” But with Tessa you watch her for a while and then go, “Oh yeah, that’s Tessa.” That’s a good quality to have for an actor. A very good quality.

She has been described as “an unapologetic, complex actress, who seeks out unapologetic, complex characters.” Nowhere is this more evident than in her personal life, where she had championed Time’s Up and other progressive, feminist movements. And, of course, there’s her veryclose relationships with Janelle Monae.

Last week Tessa took another big step and came out as bisexual in a cover story for the fashion magazine Net-a-Porter. She said:

“I can take things for granted because of my family – it’s so free and you can be anything that you want to be. I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home, [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion.”

And about her relationship with also recently out Janelle and her Vagina Pants she said:

“We love each other deeply. We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, that’s okay. It doesn’t bother me.”

Now, of course, folks ran with the “we love each other deeply” part as confirmation they’re in a relationship. But Tessa herself put on some brakes and tweeted:

Sometimes we cheer so loudly at someone speaking their truth, that we miss what they say. (Here’s looking at you media journalism). I didn’t say I was in a relationship. But I said lots of other things. All below. One thing I missed — Pride Has No End. x https://t.co/yEd0Ep6K17

— Tessa Thompson (@TessaThompson_x) June 29, 2018

Two things: 1) Good for her for coming out! And 2) Good for all of us for her coming out! Whenever a famous person comes out it makes us all feel a little less along. Those of us who, as Hannah Gadsby would say, exist in the margins, each person who steps up to speak her or his or their truth is another acknowledgment of our shared humanity. It’s that connection we crave.

So congratulations, Tessa. And thank you. Happy weekend, all.

ETA: It should go without saying that just as homophobia is not welcome here, neither is biphobia. But, alas, it seems it does need to be said. Biphobia is unacceptable. Nor, while we are at it, is transphobia. Making broad and hateful generalizations on an entire group of people based on stereotypes about their sexual orientation or gender identity is everything I stand against. If you cannot accept and embrace the entire spectrums of the LGBTQ community then please find another blog and/or planet to frequent. (Note: Blogger has stopped notifying when I receive new comments, so I do not see all of the posts as quickly as I used to, hence the delay in response. My apologies.)