http://www.lesbiannews.com/Pages/feature/feature.html
By Lori Medigovich
For six log years, lesbians around the nation looked for any clue that theirs was a lesbian relationship. They teased us when they
gazed lovingly, even longingly into each other's eyes. They teased us when they gently and tenderly embraced. They teased us
when they talked so devotedly about each other. When we thought we could finally prove that, yes, they were lesbians, we ran
to the Internet to pore over the latest evidence with similarly devoted fans.
Finally, as our heroines shared one last, dripping kiss, we thought that certainly they had just proven their lesbian love on national
television for the world to see. And yet, when Xena, the Warrior Princess and her comrade, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor), ended
their reign on the small screen, we still weren't completely sure about the full nature of their relationship. Until now.
Because now, Lucy Lawless, the actress we loved to watch while dressed up in that amazing Xena chest plate, short skirt and
other revealing accoutrements, has outed her former alter ego. When asked during a recent exclusive telephone interview from
her home in New Zealand how she would characterize the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle, Lawless is quick and simple
in her reply to Lesbian News: "Gay. Gay," she says. "Definitely."
Lawless admits that even she wasn't sure about Xena's sexual orientation until the last episode. But once Gabrielle had to revive
Xena by passing water into her mouth, Lawless says it was clear that these two characters were more than just close friends.
"There was always a 'Well, she might be or she might not be,' but when there was that drip of water passing between their lips in
the very final scene, that cemented it for me," she says in her thick New Zealander accent. "Now it wasn't just that Xena was
bisexual and kinda liked her gal pal and they kind of fooled around sometimes, it was, 'Nope, they're married, man.'"
During a follow-up telephone conversation with the Lesbian News (while Lawless was in Los Angeles scoping out her next
project), she more fully explored Xena's sexuality and her past loves. During the final episode of the series, we are introduced to
Akemi, who needs Xena's help in slaying a spirit-gobbling ghost. Akemi and Xena met years earlier, when Xena was still an evil
Warrior Princess. Lawless says it was Akemi who turned Xena around, in more ways than one.
"Akemi was Xena's first love, her coming out relationship," Lawless says. "She was the one who turned her on to her true
sexuality. I don't know what she [Xena] was doing with all those guys in the first season."
When Xena introduces Gabrielle as her soulmate to Akemi in that final episode, Lawless says it almost made her feel like she had
lied about the nature of her characters' relationship while doing numerous press interviews throughout the years. "People would
ask me and I would hedge because she'd had all these boyfriends and I would say, 'I don't know, whatever they do on their own
time is nobody's business,'" Lawless explains. "Had I known about Akemi before the last episode of the sixth season, I would
have gone, 'Yeah, I think she is, I absolutely think she is.' But not until then would I say that."
If the woman who played the character herself wasn?t completely sure about the relationship, no wonder it kept so many of us
guessing and so intrigued. But Lawless says that the more she?s thought about it, the more she realizes that Xena changed for
only two people, Akemi and Gabrielle. ?The change for Akemi was she redeemed herself ultimately,? Lawless explains. ?She
was making amends. I think she came out of the closet for Akemi. The change she made for Gabrielle was she became a much
fuller, better human being.?
While it might seem over the top to talk about a television character as if she were real, there are some lesbians who were
heartbroken at the way the series ended. In a bloody, yet emotional, final show, Xena?s body was decapitated and the Warrior
Princess was left as a ghost to travel the world at Gabrielle?s side. Whether it was the decapitation itself or Xena?s death that
was most upsetting to her viewers is unclear, but Lawless seems genuinely sorry that some fans came away from the final
episode so angry. Lawless admits to never taking the characters seriously and to simply enjoying the acting, the people she
worked with and the fun of the project. Yet once she realized that the ending upset some fans, she began to reconsider her
stance.
