Frontier
14 Feb - March 99 pages 20 - 24
Here is a snippet from the article - the publishers have asked me to link to their site
for the full article....
THE SUBTEXT
It is near impossible to mention Xena: Warrior Princess in conversation without someone bringing up the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle. Even though both have had male love interests, frequent discussion regarding the character's sexual orientation have arisen. In fact, the show has a strong lesbian following. The suggestions of such a relationship however are not unintended. In an interview (Denver Post, 1996) Lucy Lawless stated: "We are aware and we're not afraid of (the lesbian element). This is a love story between two people. What they do in their own time is none of our business." In addition, executive producer Robert Tapert has added fuel to the debate by saying that the relationship is "whatever you want it to be."
It is obvious that the writers and staff of Xena take every opportunity to work over the relationship between the main character and her sidekick, either drawing them closer or developing a story arc, in particular one which carried over most of season three that nearly tears them apart (known among fans as "The Rift"). Very carefully, and most interestingly, the creators have allowed the audience to draw their own conclusions from the stories.
*Many thanks to Kim for the transcript and the cover photo..."
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