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There’s often not enough LGBTQ+ representation on screen and when there is, a lot of the time the characters just play into tropes and aren’t fully fleshed out and real.
But there are films where LGBTQ+ characters do actually get more airtime and are treated like real people. Here’s a list if you don’t believe us:
Hurricane Bianca
In a modern day Mrs Doubtfire-esque plot, Richard Ramirez goes to a new high school to teach, but finds himself in a challenging situation and gets fired. Then he starts teaching as Bianca Del Rio and things start looking up, but they come with crazy antics! If you’re a fan of Rupaul’s Drag Race you’ll already know Bianca as a self-titled “hate queen”, but you’ll love her even more for this movie.
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Imagine Me and You
Rachel and Luce meet on Rachel’s wedding day (to a man no less) and almost instantly fall in love. Rachel still marries Hector, but this movie is the story of how sometimes love happens unexpectedly and you’re powerless to avoid it. Rachel and Luce go on a journey of falling in love with each other and it’s a poignant thing to watch.
Moonlight
This one won the Oscar for Best Picture for a reason. It’s beautifully filmed as it follows the heartbreaking story of a man’s struggle to find himself from the time he is a child right up into adulthood. It’s about the pain and beauty of falling in love while also struggling with your sexuality, but it also highlights his struggle as a black man growing up in a world that doesn’t always give a disadvantaged black child the space to figure out who he is.
The 10 Year Plan
Myles and Brody are unhappy with their love lives, so they make a pact that if in 10 years they’re both still single, they’ll get together. Cut to 10 years later and they’re both still single and have two months to find each other boyfriends before they end up as each other’s last resort. It’s the typical romantic comedy trope that usually involves straight couples, but this time involves two gay men. It’s a funny, fun movie that’ll help you take your mind off your own love life and just enjoy the mess of someone else’s.
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Weekend
After attending a house party with his straight friends, Russell eventually leaves early and goes to a gay bar on the prowl for a hookup. Then he meets Glen, an artist, who next morning records Russell’s experience of the previous night on a voice recorder for an art project he is doing. Long story short, they end up spending a lot of the weekend together and discover some really beautiful things about each other and themselves but this can’t last long as Glen is due to leave on a train for a two-year art course on Sunday afternoon. It’s a great story of how love can happen in a very short amount of time and how it can surprise you.
The Birdcage
A classic ‘90s film that paved the way for a lot of LGBTQ+ films today, The Birdcage is about being pushed back into the closet you’ve already come out of and why it’s better to be true to yourself. Armand is the owner of a drag club called The Birdcage and lives with his flamboyant partner Albert above the club. Armand’s son comes to his father and tells him that he’s going to get married, but his fiancée’s parents are ultraconservative with her father being a senator. The family has to pretend to be something they’re not with hilarious results.
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Free fall (Freir Fall in German)
This is the story of police officer Marc who lives with his pregnant girlfriend, but meets a fellow police officer, Kay, while on training, and the two fall in love. Marc is then torn between the love he has for his girlfriend and his newfound feelings for Kay. Marc realises he cannot meet the high expectation of his friends and family when he feels like his life is going into “free fall” after Kay disappears for a while. This film has been compared to Brokeback Mountain and is a touching story of how sometimes love comes up unexpectedly.
But I’m a Cheerleader
Megan thinks she’s a typical American teenage girl. She does well at school, she’s a cheerleader and she even has a boyfriend (who she isn’t really that crazy about). But then her parents think she’s gay and decide to send her to True Directions, a boot camp meant to put her on the, for lack of a better phrase, straight and narrow. While there she meets Graham, who is unashamed about her sexuality. Megan begins to realise that she has feelings for Graham even though she’s still confused. A very funny film about first coming out, it addresses a lot of unfair biases there still are about the LGBTQ+ community.
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