A Weekend of L Word Magic

Somewhere I belong — my first fan convention

I would be going to a convention dedicated to my favorite show — The L Word. Most importantly, I would meet some of the stars, people who had a huge impact on my life through their work. It would be three days of events, including Q&A sessions with the stars, signings in which we could speak to them (very briefly) one-to-one, and a chance to get our photos taken with them. Ten minutes earlier, I hadn’t known that conventions for fans of The L Word even existed, I thought they were reserved for sci-fi and fantasy shows. It was only when I read a post on a forum dedicated to the show that I learned about them. At that moment, I knew I had to be there.

If you haven’t seen it, Showtime’s The L Word ran from 2004 to 2009 with six seasons about love, lives, and drama of a group of West Hollywood friends. Think Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, but super gay. Although aspects of it are a little problematic looking back, at the time it was ground-breaking and had a devoted fanbase.

I’d only been a fan of The L Word for a few months, but I was already one of the biggest fans. Growing up in the era of Willow and Tara of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Helen and Nikki of Bad Girls and…no other lesbian representation at all, a show all about lesbian characters was a life-changer. The TV trailers for the upcoming third season had drawn me in with the arty shots of women kissing passionately. Though I was very much out to my family, letting my parents know I would be watching it didn’t cross my mind. Luckily it aired late enough that I could ‘go to bed’ and stay up an extra hour to watch. In many ways it was a typical drama series, yet I felt like I was participating in something that should be clandestine.

In the months between that first night of curling up in my duvet and discovering a new TV favorite, and booking a convention ticket, I worked my way through a series of milestones. Letting my parents know I was watching, and loving, a new show by casually mentioning it. (I’ve since come to realize how much I suck at being casual so I doubt it came off the way I thought.) Buying the first two seasons on DVD, which entailed asking a member of…

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