LBQ+ YouTube Streaming Sensa5on OML To Launch OMLHQ.com
With nearly 1.2 million YouTube subscribers and 800 million channel views, the pioneering lesbian media brand is moving beyond the algorithm and expanding beyond video to create a new digital destination for sapphic entertainment, culture and community, connecting LBQ+ audiences, creators and queer-owned businesses.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA [November 10, 2026] – OML, the pioneering lesbian media brand founded by media entrepreneur Shirin Etessam, will launch OMLHQ.com on November 10, expanding beyond video to create an independent digital destination for sapphic entertainment, culture and community.
Since its founding in 2009, OML has built a global audience through online video and film distribution. Its YouTube channel now has nearly 1.2 million subscribers and close to 800 million views. With OMLHQ.com, the company is taking its mission beyond a single platform, bringing films, books, recommendations and cultural discovery together in one place.
“We built an audience on YouTube. Now we’re building that community a home on our own terms,” says Etessam. “OMLHQ.com is the next step: creating a place where lesbian and sapphic stories can live alongside the books, ideas, creators and culture that matter to our community.”
At launch, the site will feature the OML Screening Room, offering free films and shows, alongside curated film and book libraries, editorial recommendations and links to where selected titles can be streamed or purchased. Visitors will be able to browse by genre and mood. The platform will also expand The Frequency, OML’s established weekly newsletter featuring recommendations and updates from across sapphic culture.
The launch marks a strategic move toward greater independence from third-party platforms, where algorithms, policies and distribution decisions can shape which stories reach audiences. OMLHQ.com aims to make sapphic content easier to find while creating new opportunities for creators to connect with audiences. Future plans include music discovery and a directory of queer-owned businesses, particularly those founded by queer women.
The expansion comes amid continuing concerns about LGBTQ+ representation and access to inclusive storytelling. PEN America reported 11,982 instances of book bans in U.S. public schools during the 2025–2026 school year, its highest annual total since tracking began in 2021. Books featuring LGBTQ+ people and characters have been among those targeted.
Etessam’s career has focused on building platforms and projects around underrepresented stories and often well ahead of their time. Before founding OML, she co-wrote, co-produced and starred in Walls of Sand, the first feature film to stream online. She later founded SLAY Agency and published Free to Be: A Six-Week Guide to Reclaiming Your Soul in 2023.
“Too often, sapphic stories are treated as an afterthought, even in spaces meant to represent the LGBTQ+ community,” says Etessam. “The talent is there. The audiences are there. We want to bring them together and give these stories the space, attention and lasting connection they deserve.”
OML already shares YouTube advertising revenue with filmmakers whose work it licenses. Through OMLHQ.com, the company plans to build on that foundation by strengthening connections between creators and audiences and expanding how their work is discovered. Rooted in lesbian media, OML welcomes the broader sapphic community, including bisexual and pansexual people, trans lesbians and nonbinary people who connect with its stories and culture.
“We want OMLHQ.com to make exploring sapphic culture feel effortless and full of possibility,” says Ella Vinogradova, OML’s social media and YouTube manager. “Whether someone comes looking for a film, a book recommendation or a new creator to follow, we want them to find something that sparks their curiosity and keeps them coming back.”
The launch includes the November 12 relaunch of the lesbian classic film, Hannah Free, starring Sharon
Gless and Maureen Gallagher, on both OMLHQ.com and OML’s YouTube Channel. Following the relaunch of Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together on OML’s YouTube channel, Hannah Free is the second feature film in the initiative to bring significant lesbian films back into circulation for new and returning audiences.
OMLHQ.com launches November 10, 2026. Visitors can explore the platform and subscribe to The Frequency for updates and recommendations. Content creators, LBQ+ business owners and brands are invited to contact OML through the site to explore potential collaborations.
About OML
OML is a media platform for lesbian and sapphic stories and the people who create them. Founded in 2009 by Shirin Etessam and based in San Francisco, OML has built a YouTube channel (youtube.com/omltelevision) with nearly 1.2 million subscribers and nearly 800 million views, licenses independent films and shares ad revenue with their creators, and publishes The Frequency, a weekly newsletter of sapphic film, books and culture. Learn more at OMLHQ.com
About Shirin Etessam
Shirin Etessam is a media executive, founder, author and speaker who has spent three decades building what the rest of the culture catches up to later. She co-wrote, co-produced and starred in Walls of Sand, the first feature film to stream online. In 2009 she founded OML to give lesbian audiences one place to find their stories, years before the streaming boom made representation a business category. She founded SLAY Agency, a creative agency, in 2017, and wrote Free to Be: A Six-Week Guide to Reclaiming Your Soul (2023). Born in Tehran, Iran, she came to the United States at the age of nine. Shirin has two adult children and lives in Napa, California with her wife.
About Ella Vinogradova
Ella Vinogradova is a comedian, digital strategist, and small business owner with a commitment to center queer stories in both her artistic and professional work. With a background in Product Management and UI/UX, she left the tech world behind to launch her own queer-oriented tea brand (Tea for Tea) and to help other queer entrepreneurs and creators find the audiences they deserve. In her free time, she tells jokes about her life as a queer Russian immigrant and makes video essays about bizarre Soviet media.
Media Inquiries & Interview Requests
For interviews with OML founder Shirin Etessam or OML social media and YouTube manager Ella Vinogradova, additional information about OMLHQ.com, or press materials, please contact:
Mona Elyafi
Mona@ILDKMedia.com – (323)363-5333
