2023 LGBTQ+ Month

In the 1981 book, “The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies,” film historian Vito Russo traces the history of queer representation in the movies. The book was adapted into a documentary of the same name in 1995 by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and was shown extensively on HBO.

At the beginning of the film, the situation looks perfect. An affectionate and good-looking couple lives in a beautifully styled home and shares a quick kiss.

The career start of this four-time Golden Globe nominee? He got the part of Toto in a school production of The Wizard of Oz when he was nine and became famous at 16 with the title role of Doogie Howser, MD. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on June 15, 1973, his comedy skills are wide-ranging, and the actor has had a solidly successful run his entire life.

When Lisa France stumbled across the romance film Meet Joe Black (1998) shooting a few blocks from where she lived in her New York neighborhood, right there the former professional basketball player and scholar made up her mind that she was going to pursue filmmaking. She was 29 years old.

The documentary Art and Pep, directed by Mercedes Kane, received its world premiere during the 40th anniversary Outfest LGBTQIA+ film festival. At the heart of this film are Art Johnston and José Pepe Peña, two Chicagoans who have been involved in the city’s gay community and found themselves crucial figures in the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement, leading their local community in both activism and celebration for nearly fifty years.

The British film Blue Jean premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022, winning the People’s Choice Award; it was released in the US in June 2023. First time writer-director Georgia Oakley (born on July 31, 1988) explores the inner conflict of Jean (Rosie McEwen), a young PE (Physical Education) teacher in Tyneside, Northern England, who hides her homosexuality when in her school environment and with her family, while hanging out at night in a different neighborhood with her butch girlfriend Viv (Kerrie Hayes) and their group of lesbian activists.

June’s Pride Month is in full swing with various pride events, parades, and protests happening everywhere. Most streaming platforms and TV channels will participate in the LGBTQIA+ celebrations with a selection of queer films and TV series.

It was only on September 6, 2018, that homosexuality was finally decriminalized in India with the Supreme Court overturning the British Colonial-era Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and calling the law “irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary” in its ruling. (The law still exists in some British colonies, but Singapore is another country that has overturned it.

We take a look at some movies that show how the western is also a place for "queer" stories. "In no other western film have we seen two men making a bed," said Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar when talking about Strange Way of Life, his new short film and the first western in his filmography.

To celebrate Pride Month, the newly branded Max (formerly HBO Max) is celebrating LGBTQ+ stories centered around queer joy, love, community and authentic storytelling under their initiative titled, “Human by Orientation”. The initiative not only celebrates and amplifies queer voices and stories through year-round programming, but also creates cultural moments including exclusive music performances, comedy specials and custom video series featuring queer creators.