When “L Word” debuted in January 2004 at Showtime, gay and lesbians were unable to serve publicly in the military, employees could be fired in most parts of the country, and there is no state yet to start issuing same-sex marriage licenses. It was an understatement to say a series about charming and successful LA lesbians, then-grounded.
The show’s revolutionary nature is in part why it has been culturally relevant and iconic for twenty years since its premiere. This in turn, which is why its two biggest stars, Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig, decided to release their shared memoir "So Gay" on Tuesday.
Hailey told NBC News in an interview with Moennig before the book was released.
Hailey, 53, and Moennig, 47, both had some success before the "l word", but neither wanted to go to their careers until they were asked to audition for the show. In fact, Hailey worked at a sunglasses store in Los Angeles at the time, while Moennig had a bartending job in New York.
The two met on the 14th floor of a Los Angeles company office in 2002 to demonstrate as Shane McCutcheon's role was described as "feminine continuous monogamy." Less than two weeks later, Moennig got the part.
“I will never forget to answer the phone and hear my manager and agent. The relief was washed away by me: Not only did I have a job, but I actually wanted one. I always felt like my job was a holiday and trying to get a job was a job.
However, this is not the end of Hailey. Shane was asked to return to read another part after auditioning: Alice Pieszecki was known as "Bubble" and "comic relief characters."
"I really wanted the character - Alice felt right. It was the closest Cinderella I might feel; this was the perfect shoe."
However, Haley does show that she initially rejected the role, as it means putting her band, The Mute, on the drug dealer. But she soon began to sense and accepted it.
"L Word" debuted four weeks before the "Sex and City" series finale, leading to a clever marketing slogan: "Same Sex, Different City". The media also had a happy coverage of the new show of “Vampire”, titled “Lesbians Not Mothers” and “tizzy of to lozzies”.
The series focuses on a group of eight friends, mainly lesbians living, loving and working in Los Angeles. Jennifer Beals, who plays Power lesbian Bette Porter, is the only household name among the main cast, and Hailey is the only lesbian. According to Showtime, 1 million viewers have adjusted the series premiere.
“Not doing that, it’s a whole bunch of lesbians, you live every day,” Haley said.
Moennig added that the show provides listeners with a more nuanced understanding of the lesbian experience, which goes beyond the Butch-Femme binary.
“It reorganizes what the lesbian community is considered to be, and it gives these characters life, not just their sexuality is their only identity mark or their upcoming story,” she said.
Hailey said even as a lesbian, she received education about the community at the time.
“I’ve never met a bunch of lesbians like we were playing…I also learned that we could have more than I thought. It made me so big,” Haley said. “The audience on the show had the same experiences as we did in different ways.”
Over the six seasons, "L Word" talks about many, if not most, topics and storylines that are unfamiliar with the audience. These include same-sex parenting, gender transition, and closed service members and athletes.
The audience was also introduced to the interconnectedness of lesbian dating scenes in Los Angeles through “charts”. The New York Times reported that the chart became so phenomenon that the creators of the show decided to split it into their own advertiser-supported lesbian social networks.
Haley revealed in “For Your Gays” that the charts are derived from “real charts drawn in the writer’s room to illustrate people who all lesbians in a geographic area have or may sleep together.”
Apart from the highlights of the show, Hayley and Monigg also talked about some of the criticisms the series has faced over the years.
"It's a sign of the era we're in. The show never initially had a feeling of hurting anyone or belittled anyone. That's exactly what people knew at the time, so it's a time capsule like this," Moennig said.
In his memoir, Hayley reviews “Lisa the Lesbian Man,” a character Alice who dates. Hailey revealed that Lisa was designated as a male at birth and identified as a lesbian, based on a real person. But, Haley said, looking back, some of these scenes with Lisa “stupid me.”
She wrote: “Lisa is not confused about her identity, but this nervous-progressive group of friends is. “I like my character has a relationship with her, but I wish I could go back in time and do Lisa justice.” ”
Moennig and Hailey said shooting the "l word" was pleasant and intense, sometimes even outright. They said one crew member even called the scene a "gay camp" which was especially suitable since Moennig, Hailey and co-star Mia Kirschner played Jenny, who were all living together while performing.
"We will have one night of living time, and the next we will fall into pain with an emotional, dramatic argument that will shame the opera of the sixteenth century."
At about this time, she added, Kirchner gave Hayley and Monigg a long-term nickname: Pants.
"You're like a pair of pants - without another leg, you can't have one leg."
After six seasons, the "L Word" series finale aired in March 2009. It's the end of the era for dedicated fans of the show and its stars.
Moennig compared it to "snoozing into an ice bath."
“We just live in this creative utopian gay bubble, from which we think that the world has evolved with us to achieve ‘oh, actually not.”
But their friendship and queer “finding family” continue to maintain them as they adapt to the “L-word” life. The duo said they found the community in the Los Angeles softball team, Buzzsox, and set up a lesbian clubhouse at the Hailey home in the San Fernando Valley, where they set up an open policy for their friends.
“My friends are my lifeline and I also think when you’re queer, you just connect with each other in different ways because you understand the ups and downs we all have been going through,” Haley said. “I’ll call Kate at the worst times and the best times.”
Moennig said she and Hailey shared a "universal language".
“I just became,” she said of their two decade-long friendship. “It’s really comforting that we don’t have to live all the time and not always explain ourselves.”
Hailey and Moennig have also been busy with professional projects as the series was packaged 16 years ago. The duo started their own podcast "Pants with Kate and Leisha" in 2020 in "L Word: Generation Q" running from 2019 to 2023.
Now, with “For Your Gay,” long-time friends can add “author” to their long resumes.