As a trauma-informed life coach and consultant, cultural anthropologist, writer, and cultural critic who can appreciate the artistic and sociological significance of The L Word as a veritable pop culture phenomenon, I am dismayed nonetheless by the painful, often racist and discriminatory perceptions revealed in the mishandling of its characters and storylines. Although identifying as heterosexual, being the adopted daughter of a lesbian birth mother, also having had profound emotional and intimate relationships with women in the past, I recognise my place in the collective of a triple marginalised vulnerable demographic (Black, Wom(b)en, and Queer/nonbinary). Of our collective, many of us have endured innumerable actual injustices at the hands of the insensitive and tone-deaf writers of The L Word and The L Word: Generation Q. The writers have disregarded and disrespected us throughout all seasons of both The L Word and Gen Q, having consistently shown complete insensitivity to our historical traumas to a deplorably offensive degree.

Throughout my experience watching The L Word, I would often feel a secret shame I couldn't find words to articulate, berating myself for even watching most episodes. The fact that I made it through The L Word and Generation Q is solely testament to the riveting emotional range and inspiring intellectual acumen and dignity with which Bette Porter was played by the incredible Jennifer Beals (of whom I had been a strong admirer since Devil in a Blue Dress and Anne Rice's Feast of All Saints, where she brilliantly subverted the historically racist "Tragic Mulatto" stereotype– shout out to writer and cultural critic Donald Bogle). When Generation Q somehow managed to annoy me even more than the first L Word, I was completely INVIGORATED by the Supernova that was Pippa Pascal, stunningly portrayed by Vanessa Estelle Williams! 

We need Season 3 to be the apology and actual redemption we deserve for The L Word's long list of offenses: from killing off Bette's sister (a "Sapphire/Mammy" caricature of Black women that was embarrassing) to the convenient killing of Angie's Father they never bothered to dignify with any scenes with her (which for me was ABSOLUTELY EVISCERATING, so triggering to me as the adopted child of a lesbian mother who never knew my father except having been held by him once in the hospital when I was born)....I could go on and on! 

Caucasian fans of The L Word will never realise how The L Word and Generation Q was so deeply traumatic for so many reasons, while the happily privileged Caucasian queers that undoubtedly make up the bulk of the fanbase were completely oblivious in this bubble of Hollywood glamour in which the non-Black/Brown characters were immersed. 

I'm still not over how they had the Caucasity (audacity) to be so bold and blatant way back at the beginning of The L Word Season 1 to have Tina so obviously annoyed by and adamantly against Angie's Father being a Black Man! And we just had to TAKE IT lying down! No MORE!

I am PLEADING on behalf of the Melanated supporters of The L Word to the writers, producers and cast of The L Word Generation Q to PLEASE give Black Women justice in recompense for the clear disdain of racists like the creator of the fan-page @JenniferBealsPage on Instagram, racists who bafflingly make fan pages for the character who is clearly BLACK genetically despite her fair appearance. Racist remarks made flagrantly and publicly by the creator of the @JenniferBealsPage fan-page are indicative of the mentality of possibly an appalling majority of The L Word fans and "TiBette" 'shippers. We need and deserve REAL, multifaceted and layered Black Women and GENUINE allies in the Writers Room, writing REAL dynamic Black characters instead of caricatures. We deserve Bette Porter to have the woman she TRULY deserves and it is clear that it is Pippa Pascal, of her own admission. Over every season of The Original L Word and these last two seasons of GenQ, we have settled for subtly racist, poorly written stereotypes and eaten the scraps of fleeting moments of lucidity (1 e. Bette and Angie having the colorism discussion) however we demand MORE catharsis for #GenerationQ #TheLWord #Season3 NOW! #NoJusticeNoPeace