‘It’s radical to release a film called Girls Like Girls in this climate’: hitmaker turned director Hayley Kiyoko on sexuality, safety and becoming ‘Lesbian Jesus’ — SkimNews
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- Hayley Kiyoko co-wrote and directed her feature debut 'Girls Like Girls,' an extended version of her 2015 breakthrough single, opening in cinemas October 2 after a decade-long path that included a 2023 YA novel adaptation to help get the film greenlit
- Kiyoko frames the release as politically defiant, telling the Guardian it's 'radical' to put a film titled 'Girls Like Girls' in cinemas now, citing the ACLU's tracking of more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills considered in 2026 alone
- Kiyoko got engaged to former 'Bachelor' contestant Becca Tilley earlier this summer after meeting in 2018 when Tilley tried to set her up with her younger sister, describing promoting the film as 'healing' and 'celebrating this traumatic moment of my teens'
- The film stars Canadian actor Maya da Costa (of Vietnamese heritage) as Coley and Bangkok-born Myra Molloy as Sonya, with Kiyoko emphasizing she wanted a queer love story that reflected her mixed-race Asian identity
- Kiyoko will headline the 35th Dinah, the famed lesbian music festival, next month, saying lesbian spaces are not 'very accessible or available to people' right now
- Kiyoko says she has 'no idea' if she'll continue releasing new albums or touring, calling directing 'my home' and saying music will 'always support my storytelling'
Why it matters: Kiyoko explicitly positions the film's release as resistance: 500+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills tracked by the ACLU in 2026 frame a climate where she says even pride events are fighting for funding, and she's pivoting from depicting queer violence (her 2016 'One Bad Night' video) to prioritizing 'queer joy.' For LGBTQ+ audiences, a studio-scale queer romance by a queer Asian filmmaker landing in cinemas becomes a deliberate counter-programming statement, not just a release.
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