Also.Also.Also: “I Never Felt Straight Enough; I Never Felt Gay Enough” Says Keke Palmer, That’s Relatable

Feature Image of Keke Palmer by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week to all my lesbians out there, I don’t know a better group of people. ❤️🧡🤍💜💗

Queer as in F*ck You

“I’ve always been my own person, and sexuality and identity, for me, it’s always been confusion. I never felt straight enough; I never felt gay enough; I never felt woman enough; I never felt man enough. I always felt like I was a little bit of everything.”

Usually one of my favorite things about getting to write about Keke Palmer in a link round up is when people leave comments going “omg I didn’t know Keke Palmer was queer!” — which is going to feel ironic right at this moment. Because last weekend, while being honored at the Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala, the famous funny girl got deeply serious while talking about judgements and assumptions people have made about her sexuality and gender.

I think quite possibly every single bisexual person I’ve known — especially (though not only!) those with cis male partners, like Palmer — has expressed something similar to me in my lifetime. Hell, I think almost all of us have felt the pang, the echo of “still not queer enough, still not enough.”  Keke Palmer Says Sexuality and Identity Have “Always Been Confusion” For Her: “I Always Felt Like I Was a Little Bit of Everything”

Two Artists on the Sacred Sisterhood of Trans Women. “Tourmaline and Xoài Phạm talk about time travel, the importance of pleasure and how the young can mentor, too.” Yes as in Autostraddle former Trans Subject Editor Xoài Phạm!!!

Bud Light Marketing Exec Behind Dylan Mulvaney Campaign Takes ‘Leave of Absence.’ Well, that sucks.

These are your instructions. Read this excerpt from Tre’vell Anderson’s new book We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film and then pre-order a copy of Tre’vell Anderson’s new book We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film. In that order! Trans Resilience Shining Through a Glass Darkly

This broke my heart. Sending the family of Rasheeda Williams so, so much love. Trans Woman Featured In Hit Sundance Documentary ‘Kokomo City’ Shot And Killed In Atlanta

Saw This, Thought of You

Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It’s Not Even Close.

Sorry, Sluts: It’s Still a Crime for Unmarried Couples to Live Together in Michigan. I share a lot of happy news about my home state! We were due a little roasting, for a balance.

I’m including this for no other reason than it made me laugh over the weekend, and I have not stopped laughing since: A Thread of Which Yellowjackets Are the Best to Get High With and Why

Political Snacks

“Biden is using executive power to allow hundreds of thousands into the U.S. on humanitarian parole programs. It could become the largest expansion of legal immigration in decades, and many employers are ecstatic.” Biden Opens a New Back Door on Immigration

Also, in case you missed it. He’s officially running again: Biden Announces 2024 Reelection Bid

And One More Thing

I don’t know how else to say this but ugh… for Lesbian Visibility Week, they invited Jennifer Beals to the White House??

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (2nd R) embraces actress Leisha Hailey (R) as the creator of the show "The L Word", Ilene Chaiken, (C) delivers remarks during the daily briefing at the White House with other members of the show's cast April 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. The cast of the show appeared at the briefing to mark Lesbian Visibility Week. Also pictured (L-R) are actresses Jennifer Beals, and Katherine Moennig.

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Karine Jean-Pierre Hosts The L Word Cast & Creator at White House Press Briefing. Jean-Pierre, the first lesbian press secretary, hosted Ilene Chaiken, Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig, and Leisha Hailey at Tuesday’s briefing. Make of that what you will. You can watch the whole thing here.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

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Carmen Phillips

Carmen Phillips is Autostraddle's former editor in chief. She began at Autostraddle in 2017 as a freelance team writer and worked her way up through the company, eventually becoming the EIC from 2021-2024. A Black Puerto Rican feminist writer with a PhD in American Studies from New York University, Carmen specializes in writing about Blackness, race, queerness, politics, culture, and the many ways we find community and connection with each other.  During her time at Autostraddle, Carmen focused on pop culture, TV and film reviews, criticism, interviews, and news analysis. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. And there were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin’s “Fire Next Time” under her pillow. To reach out, you can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram, or her website.

Carmen has written 716 articles for us.

21 Comments

  3. I grew up in Michigan and I HAD NO IDEA about that law. Michigan is so weird.

    Anyone else read Ask A Manager? I was pretty thrilled to read a question about Autostraddle there yesterday (question #3). A little less thrilled by some of the responses in the comments,but still I love it when my favorite sites have crossover content. And I hope AS got a traffic boost from it.

    https://www.askamanager.org/2023/04/interviewing-with-a-service-dog-in-my-lap-i-called-out-on-4-20-and-more.html

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  6. I genuinely don’t care they invited Jennifer to the White House and this is a weird take. They focused on Ilene and Leisha who are out lesbians at the event and it was clear this happened bc KJP came to Bette and Tina’s wedding. Jennifer played an important lesbian and was an EP of the show – it’s natural she would be invited too. Disappointed we can’t just be happy about it.

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  7. Hold on here. I recall for as long as I can remember LGBTQ wanting to be included for equal rights, so to want to exclude(!) someone, who’s advocated for those rights for almost 20 plus years, because she’s straight(!?) is flat out absurd/ignorant! Shame on you.

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  8. I don’t understand the choice that the editor-in-chief (of all people) made by shading Jennifer Beals in this article. You could’ve just reported the facts without the snarky commentary toward an ally who has spent the bulk of her career advocating for lesbians and making sure their stories were told and seen. Hot takes like this make me re-evaluate whether my financial contributions to the last few fundraisers are deserved, because this kind of queer content that rolls their eyes at important allies is certainly not for me, nor is it the kind of content I want to continue supporting.

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  9. We are lucky to have Jennifer Beals as an ally. We need more famous to stand by us. I’m so happy she went to the White House with Ilene Kate & leisha. Jennifer is a pivotal part of our community. Autostraddle, you f …ing criticize them way to much. I would t give you a penny

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  10. The disrespect and snarky remark towards Jennifer Beals was uncalled for. This woman has been an ally for as long as I can remember. This woman has shown up in ways so many others have failed. She belonged up there just like everybody else.

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  11. So you delete the tweet sharing this article because you were facing backlash? But don’t edit the article or take it down? Come on, it’s clear the final comments are out of line

    Reply to This Comment

  13. What’s with the shade towards Jennifer? She is an active ally and played one of the most influential lesbians on tv. Also, she didn’t even speak at the briefing?? Smh

    Reply to This Comment

  14. If you believe that lesbian visibility week is for those who have made lesbians visible, I think it would be hard to argue against the actress who made Bette Porter come to life and has been a tireless ally for gay causes. I think I get your point, but nah.

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