Published on October 10, 2013
Updated January 17, 2016

Premise

Based on the true story of Piper Kerman, Orange is the New Black is an original series of Internet-streaming service Netflix, recounting the story of Piper Chapman and her time as an inmate at Litchfield Correctional Facility ("LCF"). Piper, living a WASPish existence in NYC with her fiancé Larry, has her life completely upended when she is sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison for her participation in an international drug ring that occurred a decade prior. As she enters LCF, Piper is exposed to a world characterized by difference - of race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, economic background, and, of course, just life circumstances in general. Unsurprisingly, this 
culture shock starts to break down everything Piper believes about herself and the world around her. The show also focuses in on the lives and stories of the other inhabitants of LCF - from other inmates to the guards and administration of the prison. The show is a rarity in many regards: one of the first major television programs to air originally online; a show where the large majority of the cast is female; a show with an unusually diverse cast (diverse as in race, body types, age, etc.); and a show where the large majority of the show's writers and crew are also female. Outside of just breaking statistical barriers, Orange is the New Black is unique in its refreshingly open and candid telling of women's stories, particularly in the context of the U.S. criminal justice system. The endings are not always happy; the stories do not always make the audience comfortable; and the messages that the stories convey, if they convey any at all, may not be ones that people want to hear. But that is not the point of Orange is the New Black. Instead, it is there to provide a glimpse into the lives of a group of women whose paths and backgrounds, no matter how different, have all intersected in one common experience.
Orange is the New Black Season 3 Trailer

Table of Contents

This page
Premise
Register of Gay
Lesbian Lineup of Orange is the New Black
OITNB Cast on Instagram and Twitter
Orange is the New Black Pages
Orange is the New Black Episodes/Recaps
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Natasha Lyonne: Can play gay in her sleep
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Prison: Where the wild lesbians are
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01/13/13 Tweet from Laverne Cox

Register of Gay

  • Vauseman - the canon lesbian relationship between Piper Chapman and Alex Vause (see below for both characters). Vauseman is arguably the biggest romantic relationship on the show and filled with history and drama of epic proportions. A standalone page for Vauseman is here: Vauseman, along with the Vauseman Gallery of Passion.
  • Piper Chapman - a canonically bisexual character who is the protagonist of the show. A standalone page for this character is here: Piper Chapman. A page for Taylor Schilling, the actress who plays Piper Chapman is here: Taylor Schilling page.
  • Alex Vause - a lesbian drug-dealer and ex of Piper Chapman who ends up doing time in the same facility as Piper. The standalone page for her is here: Alex Vause, along with the Alex Vause Gallery of Sexy.
  • A gaggle of gays - Outside of just Piper and Alex, Orange is the New Black is still chock full of queer women. I mean, yes, it is prison, but the percentage of the inmate population who is open to some lady-lady interactions is delightfully high. A more in-depth rundown of these particular women is below.
  • Jodie Foster - Yes, the out Jodie Foster directed episode 1.03: Lesbian Request Denied, which spotlighted the transgender storyline of character Sophia Burset, as well as the Piper and Vauseman-centric episode, 2.01: Thirsty Bird. How super gay is that! 
  • Laverne Cox - a transgender actress and advocate for the LGBT community who plays the character of Sophia Burset, a transgender lesbian inmate. Cox is one of a very small group of transgender actresses with a regularly appearing role on television, and as a woman of color, her visibility is all the more important. Cox has spoken out and been an active member of the LGBT community for years, inspiring and enlightening those around her to issues facing the trans community. Never before has she had such a platform as Orange is the New Black is providing her, and she's taking the opportunity by the horns, opening eyes and changing minds on how the mainstream media and the broader public understands the trans community.
  • Natasha Lyonne - a straight actress with a ridiculously high amount of gay street cred due to a career full of homo-related projects. Lyonne plays the lesbian inmate Nicky Nichols who will be discussed below. She was the star of the wonderfully campy and classic "But I'm a Cheerleader," where she played budding lesbian Megan, opposite Clea DuVall. Lyonne also played gay in the HBO movie "If These Walls Could Talk," where she played Jeanne in the 1972 segment of the film, which focused primarily on the issues of lesbians through the decades. She played teenage prostitute Crystal "White Girl" Van Meter in the film Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby, where her character has sex with a female serial killer. Hmmm...She also guest-starred on Will & Grace as Gillian, an intern for Grace who becomes a mini-Karen Walker in "Girl Trouble." More recently, she played Ms. Hoegel, a teacher who heads a Gay-Straight Alliance, in the teen comedy G.B.F. (Gay Best Friend).
  • Laura Prepon - the actress who plays 1/2 of Vauseman: Alex Vause. A standalone page for her is linked here: Laura Prepon
  • Lea DeLaria - an out lesbian singer, comedian, and actress who plays Big Boo, a lesbian inmate who will be described below. DeLaria's career is filled with numerous LGBT-related projects and/or roles, including Will & Grace, Edge of Seventeen, Homo Heights, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Rescuing Desire.
  • Kate Mulgrew - as discussed on the Warehouse 13 page, Mulgrew is most famously known for her role as Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, one half of the legendary crack ship formed with Seven of Nine. She also played Jane Lattimer, who had a butch sensibility to her, on Warehouse 13, which features the unendingly angsty coupling - Bering and Wells.
  • Taryn Manning - an actress, singer, and fashion designer who plays the frighteningly deranged Pennsatucky. Manning has a lady-lady moment in the horror film The Devil's Tomb, where her character Doc becomes possessed and, as a result, acts on her secret desire to seduce and kiss another female character Yoshi. Pennsatucky would not approve.
  • Executive Producers Jenji Kohan and Liz Friedman - Kohan, a co-creator of the OITNB and a strong believer in the Kinsey scale, also is the creator of Weeds, which features Mary-Louise Parker as the drug-dealing mother Nancy Botwin that the show is centered around. In season 7 of that show, Botwin engages in a lesbian relationship of sorts with Zoya Ravitch (played by Olga Sosnovska), a woman she meets up with while in prison (hey, that sounds familiar!). Interestingly, both actresses who were involved in that relationship have played queer ladies before (Parker in the film Fried Green Tomatoes and Sosnovska in U.S. soap opera All My Children). Friedman, meanwhile, has written and produced episodes of the foundational lesbian show Xena: Warrior Princess, as well as House M.D. (see Sarah Hess below), which features the canonically bisexual character Thirteen, played by the stunning Olivia Wilde.
  • Regina Spektor - the ultra-talented pianist and singer-songwriter who wrote the theme song for Orange is the New Black "You've Got Time." Spektor composed it specifically for the show at the request of the OITNB co-creator Jenji Kohan. Spektor, while straight, has been an active supporter of LGBT rights - repeatedly speaking out in support of gay rights (or just "rights" as she calls them) and donating her song "Fidelity" to an anti-Prop 8 video, among various other measures of support.
  • Rachel Brosnahan - the actress who plays Allie in 1.10: Bora Bora Bora, the friend of Tricia Miller pre-prison, also plays the role of Rachel Posner in another original Netflix series, House of Cards, where her character becomes involved in a lesbian relationship in season 2 of the series.
  • Ashleigh Sumner - the openly gay actress who plays Alex Vause's ex, Sylvia, in episode 2.10: Little Mustachioed Shit, has an explosion of gay all around her. She played the role of Lola in the lesbian comedy/drama, "And Then Came Lola"; she starred in the pro-gay comedy, "I Want to Get Married"; she starred in the outsider film "Bruno & Earlene Go to Vegas," which has a large GLBTQ current running through it; and she appeared in "I Do," a film about a gay man who marries his lesbian best friend to obtain citizenship in the United States. Way to go, Ms. Sumner!
  • Lauren Morelli - the openly gay writer who has written multiple episodes of Orange is the New Black and who discovered she was gay, months after she was married to a man, by writing for the show. Her story of discovery is detailed in her personal essay: "While Writing for 'Orange is the New Black', I Realized I Am Gay."

Lesbian Lineup of Orange is the New Black

Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Schilling) - is explored in depth on the character's own page: Piper Chapman. The Piper Chapman Gallery of Emotion link is here: Piper Chapman Gallery of Emotion.

Alex Vause (played by Laura Prepon) - is explored in depth on the character's own page: Alex Vause. The Alex Vause Gallery of Sexy is here: Alex Vause Gallery of Sexy.

Sophia Burset (played by Laverne Cox) - a transgender bisexual/lesbian woman imprisoned for illegally funding her MTF surgeries through credit card fraud. She is played by Laverne Cox (see above), who is a transgender woman in real life. Sophia is the best hairdresser in LCF (pro tip: for God's sake, do not go to Denita) and is generally a very warm and accepting person. She has a wife Crystal and a son Michael that both struggle with Sophia's transition in their own ways. Episode 1.03: Lesbian Request Denied highlights Sophia's backstory and also sheds a spotlight on the very real and very horrifying lack of care and understanding that the U.S. prison system has in regards to transgender inmates. By the end of the second season, Sophia is on her way to a better relationship with her wife, son, and herself. Go Sophia!
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Sophia: Does not give Denita good Yelp ratings
Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren (played by Uzo Aduba) - Oh Suzanne, how I love thee. Suzanne, or "Crazy Eyes" as some of her fellow inmates refer to her, is well...unique, but mainly lovely. She is a hopeless romantic, as shown by her intense, but ultimately unsuccessful courtship of Piper. She's tired of wasting time with "silly bitches" and even though she is a bit disappointed by Piper's rejection (i.e., she pees all over the floor next to Piper's bed), she valiantly carries on in search of true love. So far, we are not aware of why Suzanne is in prison, but we do know she is adopted - as her parents, two nice white people, came and visited her one episode (1.09: Fucksgiving). Some of her backstory is revealed in the Suzanne-centric episode, 2.03: Hugs Can Be Deceiving. Ultimately, Suzanne has a sweet, childlike innocence to her that, while edged with a somewhat hair-trigger temper and not-fully-stable mental state, makes her one of the more vulnerable and sensitive inmates in LCF. Also, her Shakespeare is killer. Bless Suzanne Warren!
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Suzanne: Drinks plenty of fluids
Nicky Nichols (played by Natasha Lyonne) - a wise-cracking
smartass inmate at LCF who has sex with a lot of ladies, including fellow prisoners, Lorna Morello and Alex Vause. Nichols comes from an upper-class background with a mother who was hardly present. She got into drugs, which landed her in LCF and also with a large scar due to open-heart surgery. In LCF, she met Red, who has taken Nichols under her wing and helped her battle her drug addiction. Throughout the series, her relationship with Morello has always been more than just sex, but where the two of them will end up is anybody's guess. While she also had a one-time dalliance with Vause, they seem less likely to ever be anything more than friends with benefits. Pro tip: ask Nichols to do an Alex Vause impersonation à la 2.10: Little Mustachioed Shit. By the end of season 2, Nichols is teetering on the edge of getting back on the heroin wagon and her decision remains to be seen.
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Nichols: Makes seducing women in sweatsuits look easy
Tricia Miller (played by Madeline Brewer) - a young kid with a good heart who ends up succumbing to her drug addiction. Tricia grew up (at least in her teens) on the streets and talks like she's a rapper from the late 1990s. She steals to survive, but keeps a running log of all the people and things she has stolen, promising to repay them eventually so that she doesn't owe anyone anything. At LCF, she meets another inmate Mercy and the two of them get together, but once Mercy is released, insecurity sets in for Tricia. Sadly, by 1:10: Bora Bora Bora, when holding drugs to sell for Pornstache, the temptation is too much and Tricia is found dead of an overdose alone in a janitorial closet. Tricia's story is tragic, but not all that uncommon. She has a kind soul and in the right circumstances and with the right people around her, her life could have been very different. Instead, she is like a lost puppy that just can't find a way to pull herself out of the hole she was placed in. R.I.P.
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Tricia: Poor baby gay

Carrie "Big Boo" Black (played by Lea DeLaria) - a sarcastic butch inmate who is always on the lookout for a Mrs. Boo. So far, she's had at least three Mrs. Boos since Red has known her. In season one, her current Mrs. Boo - Mercy - leaves her for Tricia Miller and since then, Big Boo has been wife-less. She does not say things that make the lesbian community or feminists look good, and I would avoid allowing dogs, afghan blankets, and screwdrivers near her, unless you never want to see them again. After turning on some of her friends in season two, she's left hanging by the end, without a lot of allies on her side. What's next for Big Boo? Unsure, but I pray she finds a nice Mrs. Boo who is able to soften the edges.
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Big Boo: Advised not to share tools with her

Lorna Morello (played by Yael Stone) - a cheerful inmate with a very Boston accent (though the actress who plays her is Australian) who has...some issues. In season one, her entire focus is on planning her impending nuptials to her fiancé Christopher, but she also engages in a sexual relationship with fellow inmate Nicky Nichols during that time. In episode 2.04: A Whole Other Hole, we learn a lot more about the reason she's behind bars (either credit card fraud or harassment of Christopher and his fiancée) and discover her relationship with Christopher never really existed past one simple coffee date. She then turned into...well, a stalker, to be honest and even ends up taking a detour to Christopher's house while driving the prison van. Fortunately, she was not discovered and it seems like by the end of season 2, she's trying to pull herself out of that mess and work on herself. At her heart, Morello is a good, loving person and despite some of the crazy (and also racism), she does her best to be a nice inmate and friend. I'm rooting for her!
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Morello: Governor of the state of Denial
Poussey Washington (played by Samira Wiley) - a lovable inmate who has an epic brotp with fellow inmate Taystee Jefferson and is just trying to be happy. It is still unknown what landed Poussey in prison, but we do know that she is a lover of books, is a deeply loyal friend, and has a kickass dad. We are witness to her (presumably) first love, Franziska, in 2.06: You Also Have a Pizza, but also discover how horribly wrong it goes due to Franziska's disapproving father. Throughout season one and the beginning of season two, she and Taystee are together all the time and delightfully in sync, but then Vee appears, creating a wedge between them, as well as between Poussey and a lot of her other friends - e.g., Watson and Black Cindy. Poussey, doing the "right" thing, fought against Vee's influence and plans, and this leads to her being isolated and even being beat down in the bathroom. By the end of season two, she and Taystee reunite and all is well in the world again. Now, all we need is for Poussey to finally find the love she deserves.
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Poussey Washington -speaker of the language of love: German

OITNB Cast on Instagram and Twitter

Instagram
Adrienne C. Moore (Black Cindy)
Alysia Reiner (Fig)
Danielle Brooks (Taystee Jefferson)
Dascha Polanco (Daya Diaz)
Diane Guerrero (Maritza)
Emma Myles (Leanne Taylor)
Jackie Cruz (Flaca)
Jessica Pimentel (Maria Ruiz)
Matt McGorry (John Bennett)
Natasha Lyonne (Nicky Nichols)
Samira Wiley (Poussey Washington)
Taryn Manning (Pennsatucky)
Taylor Schilling (Piper Chapman)
Uzo Aduba (Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren)
Twitter
Abigail Savage (Gina Murphy)
Adrienne C. Moore (Black Cindy)
Alysia Reiner (Fig)
Catherine Curtin (Wanda Bell)
Danielle Brooks (Taystee Jefferson)
Dascha Polanco (Daya Diaz)
Diane Guerrero (Maritza)
Emma Myles (Leanne Taylor)
Jackie Cruz (Flaca)
Jason Biggs (Larry Bloom)
Jessica Pimentel (Maria Ruiz)
Joel Marsh Garland (S. O'Neill)
Laura Gómez (Bianca Flores)
Laura Prepon (Alex Vause)
Lauren Lapkus (Susan Fischer)
Laverne Cox (Sophia Burset)
Twitter (cont'd)
Lea DeLaria (Carrie "Big Boo" Black)
Lolita Foster (Eliqua Maxwell)
Madeline Brewer (Tricia Miller)
Matt McGorry (John Bennett)
Matt Peters (Joel Luschek)
Michael Harney (Sam Healy)
Natasha Lyonne (Nicky Nichols)
Pablo Schreiber (Pornstache)
Nick Stevenson (Pete Harper)
Samira Wiley (Poussey Washington)
Selenis Leyva (Gloria Mendoza)
Tanya Wright (Crystal)
Taryn Manning (Pennsatucky)
Taylor Schilling (Piper Chapman)
Uzo Aduba (Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren)
Vicky Jeudy (Janae Watson)
Yael Stone (Lorna Morello)
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