I’ve always enjoyed a good diet Pepsi but I usually find myself ordering Diet Coke out of habit.

I received an email the other day from the American Family Association that has made me into a complete + total Pepsi Evangelist.

The American Family Association is one of those wingnut conservative groups that spends a lot of money fighting gay marriage.  I signed up out of simple curiosity, and out of a desire to get to know, and try to understand, the opposition, and people that frown on me and my life.

So the latest thing that’s gotten their panties all in a wad is Pepsi.  Now the AFA seems to think that because Pepsi does the following things, they are the pinnacle of all evil and must be STOPPED:

1. Asks their employees to take diversity training courses
2. Advertises in magazines like OUT
3. Gives money to charities like the Human Rights Campaign
4. Is a sponsor of the NYC Gay Pride Parade

Now, the HILARIOUS thing about all of this, is the AFA is asking people to boycott Pepsi. But if the above is their criteria, I got some news for them. They can’t just stop at Pepsi. Here is a list of just a SAMPLING of the companies that not only received 100% on last year’s HRC Corporate Equality Index, all of whom fit the bill based on the bullet points above (except perhaps for the parade sponsorship), but were also rated a “Best Place to Work” for LGBT employees:

• Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. So Kiss your Budweiser goodbye!
• Campbell Soup Co. Too bad, they’re kinda helpful in tough economic times
• Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. NO SODA FOR YOU
• Coors Brewing Co. NO BEER FOR YOU
  
• PepsiCo Inc. (duh)
• Walgreen Co. NO DRUGS FOR YOU

And that’s just a partial list of the Food category!  They also can’t buy camera or develop film (Eastman Kodak Co.), own a computer (Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) , Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc.), have a good calculator (Texas Instruments Inc.), ever fly in a plane (Boeing Co.) or pretty much do anything, EVER.

So back to Pepsi for a moment.

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I continue to be perplexed by the extreme popularity of Rachel Maddow.  Yes, she is intelligent.  Yes, she is snarky and sarcastic.  Yes, she is funny.  Yes, she is bringing new visibility to the lesbian community, which is always wonderful for me in a deeply personal way.  But people seem to think that she is this unique voice that the world has never seen.  And even those in my beloved, dramatic community are fawning all over her.

But come on.  Really?  Rachel Maddow has all the ingredients of your typical, over-education, east coast lesbian.  The only novel thing about her is she’s on TV.   I think the problem is, while people know gay men, most people in this country just don’t know enough lesbians to see how completely typical Maddow is.  Let’s break it down

1.  Maddow is really, really into politics

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So one of my guilty pleasures is watching The L Word (on youtube, because I’m cheap and don’t have cable).

I’ve been struck by how predictable I find it.  So I figured I’d better make a public statement jst to see if I really could call it.  Here’s my thought:

Alice’s screenplay that Jenny stole involves

“A talk show host who’s really fantastic and is dating a cop who’s dark and broody, and they get caught up in a murder mystery.”

Now, what couple in the lesbian character universe do you naturally think of when you hear “dark and broody” plus an Alice-like persona (bubbly, somewhat annoying)?  To me, that sounds just like Xena and Gabrielle

We’ve already got the first half in the first episode, and OH! How convenient, she’s a cop.

Jenny isn’t dead. How could she be? Jenny IS Ilene Chaiken, who is no Faulkner and would never kill her little babies. We’re watching the opening scene of Alice’s screenplay, as Jenny imagines it. Of course, she’s made herself the center of attention. As usual.

But if Ilene gives me a Lucy Lawless/Renee O’Connor moment, all will be forgiven, now and forever, the end.