We’re right at the midpoint of Pride Month, and for the last two weeks, the LGBTQ+ community, queer activists and allies have been marching peacefully all over the country. It’s a great time to read up on the history of Pride, why the queer community and their allies march, and, for film lovers, to dig into some of the best writing from LGBTQ+ film critics.
Education comes in all forms, however. Not just reading, but also watching, listening, and absorbing. Media that explores and explains the queer experience is abundant, and we’ve never had a greater array to choose from than we do now. To help, we’ve rounded up a list of the best books, movies, TV, and podcast recommendations from LGBTQ+ writers, historians and activists, and informed allies.
Movies
Keely Weiss & Daniel Taroy – 30 Of The Best LGBT Films Of All Time
Queer films and subversive themes aren’t a new phenomenon in cinema, having been a part of movies since as long as there have been movies. But the most bold and direct explorations of the queer experience in film have for the most part come within the last 30 years, and this list focuses on a sweeping range of LGBTQ+ movies from 1990 on.
Tracy E. Gilchrist & Daniel Reynolds – The 30 Best LGBTQ Films Of The Decade
Even beyond the last 30 years, the last decade has really found queer cinema coming into its own. 2016 was the year Moonlight became the first gay pic to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Some of the most powerful stories we have about the lived experience of not just white gay men, but also lesbians, Black gay men, transgender people, and the entire queer spectrum were explored in the 2010s and this list is worth a watch to see how far we’ve come – and how far we still have to go.
Guy Lodge – The 10 Best Queer Films You Probably Haven’t Seen
Queer films tend to be more indie than most, but still, some break through the noise like the aforementioned Moonlight, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, or Call Me By Your Name, for example. But just because a queer film hasn’t earned an Oscar nom doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. Some of the best films about the LGBTQ+ experience can be found in hidden gems of movies that might not be on your radar.
Queer In The World Staff – The Best Transgender Movies You Should Have Seen By Now
Being on the LGBTQ+ spectrum can be a challenge, even in 2020 America, but being transgender or nonbinary has its own special set of challenges, obstacles and realities. As such, movies that specifically deal with the transgender experience are vital to learn about the fullness of the queer spectrum.
TV & Streaming
Jourdain Searles – 16 Great LGBTQ Movies To Stream
Now, there might be some overlap with the lists above, but streaming platforms hold a wealth of great LGBTQ movies to watch, conveniently in one place rather than you having to go on a hunt. This list conveniently organizes them by streaming category.
Hilary Weaver & Justin Kirkland – 17 Best LGBTQ Movies To Stream On Netflix Right Now
Rather than looking at all platforms, this list looks specifically at Netflix. It’s not just dramatic narrative films included in their list, however, but everything from eye-opening documentaries to sweet rom-coms.
Stephan Kyriacou & Cara Buchanan via PinkNews – The Best Transgender Movies To Watch On Streaming
Netflix can be a great place to find small, indie films and ones that cater to a more niche audience. Pink News asked a transgender guest and a nonbinary guest to give their recommendations for the best films on Netflix that tackle the themes of gender identity and change.
Sam K. MacKinnon – 15 Queer TV Shows To Lift Your Spirits During Quarantine
There’s a tendency in Hollywood that if a movie is gay, it needs to be a drama, and, more than that, a tragedy. It’s still learning how to grow away from the struggle part of the queer experience and into the joy. But television, as it usually is, is ahead of film when it comes to storytelling. Some of the most heartwarming series on TV and streaming are LGBTQ+ shows and we could all do with something uplifting right now.
Autostraddle TV Team – 82 Queer TV Shows To Stream On Netflix
Talk about a comprehensive list. The TV writers at Autostraddle put together a monster guide of every single series on Netflix that has an openly-acknowledged lesbian, bisexual or queer female character. Conveniently, they broke down the list according to how that queerness is centered, like whether or not the story centers on an LGBTQ+ character, if there are supporting characters, etc. so you can really dig down if you want.
Books
Brown University’s LGBT Center – Queer Theory Reading List
This is more academic than the rest on this list, but for those of you looking to dive into a more scholarly approach to queer literature and theory, or perhaps how to do a more effective queer reading of your own, this is an excellent resource from Brown University.
Michelle Hart – Over 100 LGBTQ Authors Share the Books that Changed Their Lives
Sexuality and gender exist on a spectrum and, as with any spectrum, the gradations in it can be incredibly nuanced. It’s not as black and white as, well, having black or white skin, or other scenarios where there is a clear binary between two states. As such, it’s often hard for a queer person to identify exactly what it is they feel and who they are until they’ve read it in someone else’s words, and those words put into focus what it is they themselves are feeling. This is a fantastic list from LGBTQ writers of the books that helped shape who they were and reaffirmed their identities.
Sarah Neilson – 15 Queer Books You Might Have Missed This Year
Reading books about the queer experience is necessary to understand it, but LGBTQ+ writers have a unique perspective on a vast array of topics, not simply the state of queerness. 2019 saw a great crop of books from LGBTQ+ authors, from poignant memoirs to excellent sports journalism to compelling works of fiction and they’re all worth a read.
Laura Sackton – 40 Of The Best Queer Books
Sackton dives into the books that personally changed her life and reflected her experiences back to her while opening her eyes to new ones. I really appreciate this list as it breaks down the books by genre, such as adult fiction, YA fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc. If you have a penchant for liking one type of literature more than another, this list is a great starting point.
Bookriot Community – 14 Of The Best Queer Books: A Pride Reading List
This is a fun and thoughtful list. The participants aren’t necessarily professional writers or activists, but from Bookriot’s queer community. Their responses range from funny memoirs, to sweet coming-of-age novels to YA sci-fi. The diverse responses alone warrant a look at their list.
Podcasts
Jeffrey Masters – 12 LGBTQ Podcasts You Should Be Listening To
Like I mentioned above, content about LGBTQ+ people for so long revolved solely around AIDS, coming out, and tragedy. But we’re in the golden age of podcasting right now and that means there is a plethora of great queer podcasts to choose from, whether about the LGBTQ+ community or simply from queer hosts and creators.
Sofia Colosimo – 11 LGBTQ Podcasts To Subscribe To This Pride Month
A caveat: This list is a few years old, but the podcast recommendations on this list are top-notch. Plus, it’s from GLAAD, so you know they’ve been vetted by the queer community for quality. An excellent place to start if you’re not sure where to begin with in world of queer podcasters.
Jamie Wareham – 12 LGBTI Podcasts You Should Download And Listen To Right Now
Last year for Pride, Gay Star News put together their Gay Star News Digital Pride month. The theme last year was loneliness and isolation in the queer community, and considering what we’ve all been tackling with the coronavirus and shutdowns around the globe, it’s perhaps an even more fitting theme for this year. These podcasts dive deep and explore a topic of queerness that isn’t discussed nearly enough.
If you liked these recommendations, consider donating to The Trevor Project, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning people under the age of 25. It’s an incredible organization.
