The L Word premiere, Avalon, January 7, 2006
By MICAH BELLIEU | January 8, 2007
“Happy L Word!” the girls at the entrance to Avalon cheered at me on Sunday night. Their job: promoting the Showtime series The L Word, a lesbian drama set in Los Angeles about a group of gay women dealing with adoption rights, same-sex marriages, and everyday relationship problems. I thanked the girls at the door and tossed a donation in the Human Rights Campaign bowl.The HRC (a national organization created to promote “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality”) has been throwing this L Word bash in major cities for four years running, as a way both to promote the show and to raise money. The show itself is great, and so is philanthropy, but any good lesbian knows that these events are where skeletons always leap out of those musty closets we’ve all supposedly come out of. So you walk around just trying to see who’s with who, who’s making out in the corner, and who’s going to leave crying after a lovers’ spat while you wait to be blindsided by a scorned lover, a recent ex, or that girl you made out with at Toast last Friday.
By the time the premiere started, every inch of Avalon was filled. People were sitting cross-legged on the floor, or squished together on dancing blocks. Some stood on the sides near the bars, all in anticipation of Season Four.
Lynette Molnar, part of the steering committee for the New England HRC, gave a heartfelt introduction. “Even though it’s the fourth year, I still watch L Word with my jaw dropped open, because I can’t believe I’m living to see this on television.” We watched the show and cheered and booed in accordance with our favorite or most-hated characters. And of course the season kicked off with drama, drama, drama. On our way out, we were able to grab a complimentary DVD of the second episode — a nice touch.
Oh and, for the record, I saw two criers and, more important, more girls making out than you see on an average L Word episode. Good job, girls.
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