Only in recent years have schools begun to teach any kind of queer history in classes.
For those of us who have already passed our graduation date, that makes connecting with our history challenging. But where school fails, movies succeed, and without the homework. Since the 1980s filmmakers have used their cameras to uncover the hidden–or at times, lost–history: our struggles, our triumphs, our tragedies and, well, our awesomeness.
This Oscar season (or any other), anyone wishing to have a crash course in gay history might start with these 10 acclaimed films.
So, pour a glass of wine, get the Kleenex and start microwaving the popcorn. These movies strike a chord any season.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
1. The Times of Harvey Milk
The treasure trove of documentaries kicked off with this 1984 Oscar winner, which tells the story of Harvey Milk’s political career and legacy through accounts of his friends and associates. Narrated by Harvey Firestein, the film preserves Milk’s spirit and goals for future generations. It also finds the source of his drive: he was, pure and simple, a nice guy.
The Times of Harvey Milk streams on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and Vudu.
2. The Stonewall Uprising
PBS produced this documentary which tries to separate legend from fact when it comes to the Stonewall Riots, the protests which helped usher in the gay rights movement. Featuring eyewitness accounts, Stonewall Uprising re-characterizes the protests as a revolution, forever changing worldwide perceptions.
Stonewall Uprising streams on PBS.org.
3. How to Survive a Plague
Unfortunately, no list of docs on gay history can claim authority without including at least one entry on the tragedy of the AIDS crisis. We submit How to Survive a Plague, the harrowing film about the AIDS crisis, founding of activist groups like ACT UP!, and the utter indifference (and sometimes outright contempt) by the Reagan administration to abating the plague in any way, shape or form. Viewers will come out of the film devastated, furious, probably both.
How to Survive a Plague streams on YouTube, iTunes, Hulu and Vudu.
4. Paris is Burning
What more can we say about Paris is Burning, the seminal documentary on the drag ball scene and ways in which gay culture entered the pop culture after the AIDS era. With special emphasis placed on the role (and plight) of transgender characters, Paris is Burning plays as relevant now as when it debuted in 1990.
Paris is Burning streams on Netflix.
5. Broadway: The American Musical
The United States has only created a handful of true art forms: comic books, jazz, mystery stories and the Broadway musical among them.
Broadway: The American Musical takes a look at the evolution of the musical genre over the course of six hours–and how gay people became the driving force behind it. Narrated by Julie Andrews, and featuring interviews with key artists, including Harvey Fierstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Arthur Laurents and Tommy Tune, the film embraces the stereotype of the “Broadway Queen,” wearing it as a badge of honor.
Broadway: The American Musical is available on DVD.
Related: This amazing rediscovered documentary shows the vogue scene before “Paris Is Burning”
6. 8: The Mormon Proposition
The fight for marriage equality has played a vital role in the gay rights movement in recent decades. 8: The Mormon Proposition examines the struggle in the context of California Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage rights in the state, and how the Church of Latter-Day Saints helped fund the initiative. As much a film about religious money in politics as LGBT rights, 8 spotlights how the movement turned a corner, and how the threat of religious oppression still looms.
8: The Mormon Proposition is available on DVD.
7. The Celluloid Closet
History has an unfortunate way of erasing the existence of the oppressed. So do the movies. Based on the groundbreaking work of cinephile Vito Russo, The Celluloid Closet examines the history of how film has portrayed gay and transgender people. With interviews from stars like Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Shirley MacLaine, The Celluloid Closet seeks to rediscover what time forgot, and some hope for the future.
The Celluloid Closet streams on YouTube.
8. Bridegroom
Directed by legendary TV producer Linda Bloodworth-Thompson (creator of Designing Women and Evening Shade), Bridegroom features the story of Shane Crone, a man deprived of all spousal benefits after the death of his life partner—including attendance at his funeral. Another doc that helps explain the importance of marriage rights, Bridegroom memorializes the tragedy of a death and discrimination in hopes of avoiding others in the future.
Bridegroom streams on Netflix, YouTube, iTunes, Amazon and Vudu.
9. Silverlake Life
Told mostly through a series of home movies, Silverlake Life documents the final days of a the couple, Tom and Mark, as they lay dying from AIDS. Besides recording the horror of the AIDS crisis, the film also testifies to the power of love in the face of tragedy. Harrowing, raw and moving, this is one of the most emotional docs you will ever see.
Silverlake Life streams on YouTube.
10. Gay Sex in the 70s
On a lighter note, for those wishing to see a celebration of sex, look no further than Gay Sex in the 70s, director Joseph Lovett’s homage to the disco and debauchery of the eponymous decade. Long before Grindr and chat rooms, gay people only had one way to meet: in person. Gay Sex in the 70s records the dynamic of the community at the time, and how liberation led to broader sex-positivity for all people.
Gay Sex in the 70s streams on iTunes.
JaredMacBride
What does gay sex in the 70s have to do with the last three decades?
Kangol
It profoundly shaped what occurred for gay and bi men in the 1980s up through today!
tham
That’s the most Russian thing you could have said.
Danny595
The hyper-promiscuity of the 70s prevented a lot of gay people from seeing the last 3 decades.
EvonCook
I guess Danny is nested confortably and self-righteously in his litte suburban house with his wedding ring and hubby, wagging his finger at all those “hyper-promiscuity” gays who know what life and being gay is all about and what distinguishes us from stunted hetero-land. What a pathetic, smug and small minded faux heterosexual. By the way, it was a human disease, predominately heterosexual, which “prevented a lot of gay people from seeing the last three decades,” not their love and enjoyment of gayness. Only a real sick prig could try to rewrite history by internalizing the “gay plague” scenario.
Dymension
Have you been under a rock?
Brody
Ronald Reagan caused the AIDS virus in exactly NO ONE.
I really wish the militant gays would shirk the victim image. Personal responsibility is so much sexier, at least in real men.
Kangol
Did you ever fight for anything for gay people? Can you name conservatives who have ever actively pushed for LGBTQ rights, especially from 1969 through 2000? You can stand with the oppressors, but always remember, the “militant gays” are the ones who fought and continue to fight for you to be who you are, a supporter and defender of homophobes.
Vince
Brody is so deep in the closet that she can see narnia.
tham
He’s Russian…lives like 100 miles outside of Moscow
DCguy
Another post, another one of Mo Bro’s troll screenames comes in to either attack lgbts or to lie and defend anti-lgbt bigots.
Brody
Kangol –
No, I can’t name any pro-gay Republicans from yesteryear, no more than you can name any Democrats who aren’t tax-and-spend bureaucrats enslaving the poor with welfare.
tham –
Nyet, nyet, nyet.
I’m 100 miles from St. Petersburg, not Moscow . . . St. Pete Florida, that is, comrade.
Juanjo
I just love a good straw man argument. they go up in flames so easily.
1. The early days of the epidemic, no one knew exactly what was going on and by the time the virus was identified and the method of transmission was identified, those who were already infected were not going to get better by “taking personal responsibility” for anything. In fact, that is a phrase which means absolutely nothing.
2. Reagan is not responsible for the AIDS virus, that is a fake argument. He is responsible in no small amount, for the spread of the virus as it occurred. Hed he and his administration acted quickly to educate people concerning the issues of transmission of the virus, treatment [such as it existed], research into the virus,its transmission and effective and all the other things which have been used to cut back on new infections in the gay community since then, it could have made difference. Yet Reagan never even mentioned the word AIDS nor spoke out as thousands died and thousands more became infected. He said nothing as prejudice and lack of information meant thousands were ostracized and treated horribly in those early days.
3. You should take responsibility for the fact you do nothing but distort the facts and spin lies and fabrications – troll boy.
EvonCook
Brody, Reagan caused the AIDS plague to be a much bigger and deadlier mass killer by his typically narrow, mean-spirited and inhuman approach and lack of action to the plague, something he identified as different and alien to his sick, set-righteous and conservatism. He fell easily for the ignorant hysteria blaming AIDS on gays when it began with monkey-eating, heterosexual Africans. As a president and national leader, he fell far short of sensitivity, empathy and leadership, sounding a lot like yourself.
EvonCook
Brody must really, really love Trump, as not only do they begin to sound alike but they seem to think alike! Trump, the single greatest swamp thing that ever came to Washington bringing all his lying, cheating, stealing, swampy parasites with him. A bunch who would destroy our laws, honor and values and sell out our country to our greatest enemies for their own profit, power and position. Trump is succeeding in making the United States of America into the ultimate banana republic run by oligarchs, nepotism and corporations. The Fake News President actually is more illegal, scandal bound, unconsititutional and worse than Bush, Reagan and Nixon before him — all also Republicans, I might add.
Kangol
Really great list of films that open a window onto gay life over the last 6 decades or so. Silverlake Life is particularly devastating, but all of these fill in many historical gaps, and underline how LGBTQ had had to fight for our rights and equality, and how the fight continues today.
Kangol
“Have had to fight”
Vince
The times of harvey milk and how to survive a plague are probably the best.
I havn’t seen gay sex in the 70s, silverlake life, or the mormon proposition yet.
Danny595
Oddly missing from the Times of Harvey Milk is the letter Milk wrote in support of the Rev. Jim Jones calling him “a man of the highest character” just a few months before Jones murdered nearly 1000 people.
ChrisK
Actually Jones was doing some really great things before the crazy set in. The whole socialist utopia thing.
ChrisK
They not only survived it they made it better world for the succeeding generations and even the ungrateful shitheads like you.
Jaxton
There is no such thing as gay sex. Sex can only truly exist between a man and a woman.
Sure, there are same-sex attractions and relationships or experiences but these are not true sex.
Today we have an excess of identity politics with its rules and regulations. Cash grabs are everywhere as business people – many of whom aren’t even supportive of same-sex rights – attempt to exploit the pink dollar.
ChrisK
There are trolls and then there are the truly insane ones and I believe you fit the latter.
EvonCook
Jaxton, You are clearly part of a new breed of commentators on gay sites who, finding their own small worlds so dull, boring and empty that they come to harrass and taunt gay (and amuse!) people, who are so clearly superior in every way to your pathetic insignificance.
Jaxton
As for AIDS, it was a huge beat-up by the media. Yes, it happened but not because of homosexuality. It spread because highly promiscuous individuals with no boundaries were allowed to hijack sexuality
These people hijacked our sexuality in the name of their right to a few cheap orgasms..
EvonCook
Jaxton, You are at it again! AIDS, the human disease, spread because infected human beings, particularly at a time of scientific ignorance and medical helplessness, had intimate contact. That some of these human beings had greater appetities and more human contacts than you in no way “hijacked sexuality your sexuality” limited as it seems to be. Get over your illogic, your jealousy, your misplaced blame and your prudery.
radiooutmike
“They” did not “start” the plague in the first place. You’re getting very close to Black Flag AIDS-kills-fags-dead territory here.
Having more sex partners than heterosexuals put gay men at higher risk. But you are missing the context. How do you prevent STDs? Either have no sex or protected sex. But why would you bother to have protected sex when there is zero chance of pregnancy. It’s not like the training films/pamphlets of the US military from the 40s onward was trying to protect gay GIs.
Furthermore, at that point in time, most known STDs were curable. Your hindsight armchair epidemiology quarterbacking only makes sense once causes and avenues of transmissions are known. The only way one would know in real time what those might have, if, resources were given to research and the fight against HIV. But since it was a quaint cancer/pneumonia disease that only affected fags, who cares?
You think if it affected the general population as much as gay men that Reagan would have ignored it? How many lives could have been saved, if in 1981 or 1982 substantive resources were given? Maybe we would have anti-virals several years earlier. Anyone with a biology degree would be able to tell you that if a disease only affect a certain population, it’s only a matter time or mutation before it hits a larger population.
EvonCook
Danny, You are exhibiting such incredible ignorance of history and hate of gayness that I am beginning to think you must be one of those Russain bots that simply exists to agitate and create discord. There is absolutley nothing of fact or logic in what you have written here, so either your bot master better refine your grasp of humanity or expose you for the inhumane entity that you are. Even a straight, religious or sex phobic bigot couldn’t be this perverse in historical mis-comprehension and illogic hatred. Or, haven’t you been getting enough cock over the years to keep those jealous meanies from taking over your mind?