LGBT+ representation on screen
Films are a great way to experience, understand, and learn about the history of queer communities across the world. The films in this list also give positive representation to groups who have often been mis-characterised by the film and TV industry. We hope you will find something in this list for you.
This article was written by Emily Towler, Co-Chair of the University of Leeds’ LGBT+ Staff Network, and Ian Lamond, Chair of the Leeds Beckett Rainbow Rose Forum in support of Leeds Digital Pride Week.
Although LGBT+ History is woven through society since its very beginnings, building strength through generations with lively eras such as the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin, the Harlem Renaissance and the rich history of non-Western conceptions of gender and sexuality, often that past has been suppressed and denied, as described in the short films LGBT Seniors Tell Their Stories, and Growing Up Illegally Gay.
The first of our feature length films, Before Stonewall, picks up the thread of queer history from the early 20th century, celebrating the groups and individuals who found each other and began the activist communities that culminated in the Stonewall Inn riots of 1969, and ensured that LGBT+ history could not be buried again.
In response to this film, Rosie Garland selected three short films, Stonewall Forever and Who threw the first brick at Stonewall? and Stonewall at 50, and gave her thoughts on the reason she chose them:
“It’s interesting how they contrast and contradict each other. This raises interesting questions: about the importance of being in charge of recording our history — because no one else will do it, and the straight world has a vested interest in denying and ‘de-gaying’ it.
‘Who threw the first brick at Stonewall’ is also honest about the fact that our history is ‘messy’.
Also — both of them aim for diverse representation, rather than falling into the trap of the white focus of so much LGBTQ+ history.”
The period of the late 60s in some respects holds many similarities to the place in we find ourselves in today, with the struggle for equality represented by the Black Lives Matter movement. In this time, it’s important to acknowledge and extend solidarity, showing up, developing and learning from each other, as this Ted Talk shows.
Are You Proud? charts the influence of Stonewall on the development of the LGBT+ rights movement in the UK, bringing us up to the present with the strength and vibrancy of activism in the present day, including the fight for Trans rights, and the rights of LGBT+ migrants from around the world.
The battle for Trans rights is essential, especially in the context of ongoing violence and bigoted opinions that deny the autonomy of Trans and non-binary people. Being able to see more positive representation from Trans people in the mainstream media and through independent film making, with such films as Disclosure documenting Trans representation in the media, and Transgender Boy: Kai aged 14, will mean that more people will see themselves represented, and breakthroughs can be made in achieving equality, and legislation that fully takes Trans experiences into account.
“Having grown up and attended school during the years of Section 28, and being able to find little to no positive LGBT+ representation in the media, connecting to these histories in the years since has been so important to me — there’s so much to be proud of.
The films chosen show the joy and tenderness that existed and continues to exist in LGBT+ communities, the debt we owe to those who fight for a better world, and most importantly that rights are never given — they must be fought for.”
Emily, Staff LGBT+ Society Co-chair, University of Leeds
Any discussion of LGBT+ history cannot omit the horrors of the HIV/AIDS crisis, with the loss of so many, and the fight to acknowledge and treat the disease. 120BPM focusses on how a French chapter of the Act Up used direct action to bring about change. Pride picks up around the same time, highlighting the solidarity between LBGT+ people and the striking miners during the 1980s, and All Out! Dancing in Dulais is a set of interviews with the people involved from both the LGBT+ and mining communities.
Being part of a more interconnected world over recent years has meant that stories can be shared globally, with recent films such as A Fantastic Woman, Rafiki and Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan giving perspectives on LGBT+ lives across the world. The possibilities of creating media more democratically and freely have enabled short creative films such as Buddy, Identity, Femme and Masked, illuminating the diversity of the community, and highlighting common experiences. These are discussed further in a recent panel session drawing on expertise from staff and alumni of the universities.
The Hollywood production code (which existed explicitly between 1930 and 1968) barred any positive representation of same sex relationships. TV broadcasters in the US followed a similar set of guidelines, with their Code of Practice suggesting that same-sex relationships should always be a target, or portrayed as morally deficient, which was last applied, officially, in 1983.
“Our history is messy, it is peppered with apparent paradoxes and counter positions, but that is the history of a rainbow community, with difference, diversity and otherness at its core.”
In this discussion, we reflected on our own early experiences of finding queer identities within film and television. We acknowledged that whilst gay, lesbian, and to a lesser degree, trans representation may have been predominantly negative, it was at least a presence on screen. Whilst this was not positive, it was some form of representation, and better than a complete erasure of identity on the screen. What was lacking was any significant presentation of the richness of the diversity and intersectional make-up of the LGBT+ community.
It is through the short films, in particular, that diversity is really apparent. Films such as Femme, Kai and Identity make significant statements around the personal struggles people have in sharing their identity with the world around them. But it is not just how we articulate our identity that the films demonstrated as difficult, messy, and essentially problematic. Unsurprisingly, given Stonewall passed its 50th anniversary last year and the Christopher Street Parade (which would form the foundations of present day Pride celebration/protests) did the same this year, there were three films in the programme about the Stonewall Riots, each taking a different perspective on the events of that night in 1969. Our history is messy, it is peppered with apparent paradoxes and counter positions, but that is the history of a rainbow community, with difference, diversity and otherness at its core. It is important to own that ‘messiness’ and establish our own place within it.
To end this collection of films, we come closer to home, celebrating the wealth of LGBT+ feature and short films from West Yorkshire, including God’s Own Country, the sensitive portrayal of a gay farmer navigating his identity in rural Yorkshire, Nine Queer Objects (a series of short films created by participants in West Yorkshire Queer Stories), and The Alphabet Club, an independent film exploring gender and identity through dance and spoken word.
If you’re interested in more, Hyde Park Picture House, are also dedicating their weekly #HydeParkPicks to LGBT+ films, and you can read more about that here.
We hope you enjoy these films as much as we have and wish you a happy Pride!
