For All The Gay Sharks

So I wrote a little something about Naya Rivera’s enduring legacy for The Hollywood Reporter today. This one goes out to all of the #gaysharks and every fan who boarded the S.S. Brittana. Her tragic death was confirmed yesterday, and the sadness set in all over again. As Santana Lopez, Naya touched so many lives. And this moment, when she is outed before she is ready and then performs what I believe the single best mashup ever done on “Glee,” is powerful beyond words. Cory and Naya are forever intertwined because of it, and now for such unspeakably somber reasons as well. But take heart that Naya will be inspiring young and not-so-young queer women and fans forever. The woman may be gone, and we mourn her so, but make no mistake she will continue to change the world.

Read my THR guest column here: How Naya Rivera Became an Icon for the LGBTQ Community