“SNL” Casts First Out Black Lesbian
Punkie Johnson joins Bowen Yang, Kate McKinnon
BY MATT TRACY
Comedian Punkie Johnson
has been added to
“Saturday Night Live” for
the upcoming season,
representing the fi rst out Black lesbian
member to join the late-night
comedy show.
Johnson has made a career as
a comedian while also starring in
TV shows including “Space Force,”
“A Black Lady Sketch Show,” “Corporate,”
and “Adam Ruins Everything.”
Johnson has not shied away
from discussing her own sexuality.
During stand-up comedy events
she has opened up about her longterm
relationship with her wife and
joked about the ways in which the
couple has utilized role-playing to
maintain a spark in their love life.
Johnson is joining the show as
part of a wave of new additions announced
on September 16, including
Lauren Holt, who has starred
in a Los Angeles-based LGBTQ
web series called “The Filth,” and
Andrew Dismukes, who has spent
➤ TRANS ATHLETES, from p.8
“Connecticut law is clear and
students who identify as female are
to be recognized as female for all
purposes — including high school
sports,” the CIAC spokesperson
said on May 28. “To do otherwise
would not only be discriminatory
but would deprive high school students
of the meaningful opportunity
to participate in educational
activities, including inter-scholastic
sports, based on sex-stereotyping
and prejudice sought to be prevented
by Title IX and Connecticut
state law.”
The state of Connecticut would
seem to have the stronger legal
argument here, since the US Supreme
Court in June ruled that
the sex discrimination protections
provided by the employment provisions
of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act’s Title VII outlaw discrimination
based on gender identity and
Comedian Punkie Johnson has also starred in shows such as “Space Force” and “A Black Lady Sketch
Show.”
the last several seasons as an
“SNL” staff writer. Actor Jim Carrey
will take on the role of Democratic
presidential nominee Joe Biden in
the upcoming season.
While Johnson is becoming
the fi rst out Black lesbian on the
show’s staff, Danitra Vance was a
Black lesbian woman who starred
sexual orientation. Interpretations
of other federal nondiscrimination
laws, such as Title IX, typically
track precedents established under
Title VII, so that discrimination
against transgender students
would be deemed sex discrimination
outlawed by Title IX.
It is not the fi rst time DeVos has
used transgender students as a
weapon in the administration’s
all-out assault on trans Americans.
Early in her tenure with the
Trump administration, she oversaw
the rescinding of Obama-era
rules requiring schools receiving
federal funds to allow trasngender
students to use the bathroom that
aligns with their gender identity.
The administration’s threats,
which would impact the plight of
both transgender students and
students of color, follow two disturbing
patterns: The president’s
longstanding and comprehensive
opposition to transgender rights
FACEBOOK/ PUNKIE JOHNSON
on “SNL” in the mid-1980s. However,
she was not publicly out before
she died of breast cancer in 1994.
The show has had a mixed record
on LGBTQ issues over the
years due to anti-LGBTQ jokes and
the hiring of cast members with
records of homophobia. In September
of last year, Bowen Yang
and his explicit pandering to racist
white voters in suburban America.
Just as the administration issued
the new threats in Connecticut,
Trump delivered a dark speech on
September 17 when he blasted the
New York Times’ 1619 Project —
which spotlights truths about the
earliest days of America’s history
of slavery — and unveiled his outlandish
plans to counter that project
with an executive order forming
TELEVISION
became the fi rst Asian person and
fi rst gay Asian person to join the
show, but that announcement coincided
with the news that comedian
Shane Gillis would be joining
the show just months after he used
homophobic and racist slurs. The
show quickly backpedaled on that
move, fi ring Gillis just days later.
At the same time, some out cast
members have become mainstays
in the show. Out lesbian cast member
Kate McKinnon has starred on
the show since joining the cast in
2012, drawing acclaim for her portrayal
of a wide range of characters
including former Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, Senator Elizabeth
Warren of Massachusetts, former
Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
and others.
Other out LGBTQ cast members
have included Terry Sweeney, who
became the fi rst out gay man on the
show in the mid-1980s, and John
Milhiser, who was a cast member
for the 2013-2014 season.
The new season will launch with
fi ve straight shows on Saturdaya
in October, including Halloween.
a “1776 Commission” aimed
at creating a “patriotic education”
mandate for the nation’s youth.
The Alliance Defending Freedom
has taken its attacks on transgender
student-athletes nationwide
with a lobbying effort geared toward
convincing Republicans to
advance pieces of legislation intended
to prevent transgender
student-athletes from playing in
sports.
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