Anne Heche: When Community Doesn't Show Up (Patreon)

Anne Heche: When Community Doesn't Show Up

Pride is an interesting time. More often than not, it is both a time for celebration and also, for over-thinkers like myself, a time to reflect on the realities of how experiences within the LGBTQIA community have changed. Or haven't. A little under a year ago, actress Anne Heche was declared brain-dead and taken off life support on August 15, 2022. If you don't know her name, you might remember her as the voice of Suyin Beifong in The Legend of Korra. She was on shows like Everwood, Ally McBeal, and All Rise and in the films I Know What You Did Last Summer and John Q. Hers is a name I’d heard in passing growing up. Still, I had no idea about the trauma and battles she faced throughout her life as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, sexual harassment, familial trauma, mental health issues, and extreme biphobia. And when I was working on an article about her passing back in 2022, her story resonated with me because as we have seen the attempts from Conservatives to criminalize our community—I think it is important to remember the damage that we also do to each other when we fail to back each other. So this video is a little bit of queer history, reflection, and a lot of trying to speak to why we need to re-access how to talk to each other. I promise to try and do something happier for the next Pride. Maybe. Content Warning: Discussion of childhood sexual abuse, biphobia, transphobia, sexual harassment, and addiction. Sources & Links: Links: Bisexual Stats: https://mashable.com/article/bisexual-people-sexual-violence; https://www.thetaskforce.org/news/bisexual-women-have-increased-risk-of-intimate-partner-violence-new-cdc-data-shows/ Jay Leno Quote Source: https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/anne-heche-mental-health-history-homophobia-1234751477/ Elliot Page Sweepstakes Quote (Warning has Deadname): https://www.gawker.com/361783/the-ellen-page-sexuality-sweepstakes NYT Magazine Quote: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02heche-t.html The Advocate 2001 Article: https://books.google.com/books?id=G2UEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false People Article about Breakup: https://people.com/archive/yep-its-over-vol-54-no-10/ Heche on building back familial bonds: https://web.archive.org/web/20120221011547/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8465999/Anne-Heche-There-was-no-joy-in-my-family.html