For Pride Month 2021, we've decided to do a deep dive into the history of gay scenes in film and television. The history is too vast and wide to cover in one article, so we're focusing in on the really earth shattering gay moments in mainstream(-ish) film and television over the last (nearly) 100 years, with some other landmark moments thrown in for good measure!
Wings
The very first Best Picture winner is this 1927 war film with some of the most ridiculously overt gay subtext ever put on film, such as this intertitle...
While the film is perhaps best known for its same sex kiss, the kiss wasn't actually sexual but rather the proverbial kiss before dying between two men who started as bitter rivals, competing for the same jobs and the same woman's affection. They eventually became best friends and brothers in arms, though the one did technically murder the other when he mistook him for a German soldier. Still, it's more of a "sorry I killed you buddy" kiss than an, "I always loved you" kiss...
Not long after this film, the Hays Code would be instituted, putting the sight of two men locking lips on film on ice for four decades. If you have more interest in this period, it was covered in extensive detail in the terrific doc The Celluloid Closet.
****
The Boys in the Band (1970)
Director William Friedkin, who would win the Oscar the next year for The French Connection, made his feature film debut with this 1970 film based on Mart Crowley's play of the same name. The film was a good step forward for gay representation on film, though they cast straight actor Cliff Gorman in the role of the most flamboyant character, interior decorator Emory, almost instantly dating the film. Still, there's something amazing about Frederick Combs' vintage tan lines that get us going!
****
Boys in the Sand
Gay icon Wakefield Poole's hardcore answer to Crowley's seminal work is this 1971 film featuring not a whole lot more than a bunch of hot young gay men having sex in and around a private beach house. It's biggest problem was that it debuted a year prior to Deep Throat, which really cranked up acceptance for pornography among mainstream audiences. Nevertheless, it remains a landmark film in mainstream-ish depiction of gay men and its numerous hookups between Peter Fisk and Casey Donovan are still on heavy rotation in many a spank bank!
****
Taxi Zum Klo: The line between fact and fiction is blurred early and often in this 1980 West German film set in and around the underground gay scene in the city at the time. Featuring numerous gay men playing themselves—or thinly veiled versions of themselves—the film was a landmark for its depiction of a specific time and place in gay culture just prior to the AIDS crisis.
Querelle: One of the late prolific German director Rainer Werner Fassbender's most personal works was this adaptation of French queer icon Jean Genet's 1947 novel about a young sailor (Brad Davis) exploring his own rage and anger, all of which is rooted in his suppressed queerness.
My Beautiful Laundrette: Director Stephen Frears' 1985 film about the plight of a young gay immigrant (Gordon Warnecke) working at his uncle's laundry in England, who falls for out gay punk Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). This was another important step in humanizing gay characters on film without moralizing to the portion of the audience who could benefit most from its message.
****
Paris is Burning
This 1991 film was the second major documentary—after 1968's The Queen—to tackle the world of ball culture and how it evolved from a high class drag competitions into full on celebrations of the many queer identities across a wide and fluid spectrum. The most important lessons that can be taken from the film are how it depicted gay culture as always being a step ahead of mainstream culture. From "throwing shade" and serving up "realness" to the first filmed depictions of what Madonna would later commodify with "Vogue," this is a film ahead of its own time and destined to perpetually ahead of mainstream culture.
****
****
Poison: Queer director Todd Haynes made his feature debut, following his short Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story starring Barbie dolls, with this 1991 anthology film also based on the writings of Jean Genet. All of Haynes' films—especially this, Velvet Goldmine, and Carol—are essential films in queer cinema.
****
My Own Private Idaho: Out director Gus van Sant brought this tale of two young hustlers, played by River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, who claim they are strictly "gay for pay" while wrestling with their own identities. One of the first major examples of marquee young matinee idols taking on roles that people at the time told them were career killers.
****
The Crying Game
Best Picture nominees like Dog Day Afternoon and Kiss of the Spider Woman all danced around gay themes or featured gay characters in substantial roles, while Best Picture winners like Midnight Cowboy and Silence of the Lambs substantially marginalized their gay characters. This 1992 film was among the first to really try and humanize an LGBTQ+ character—in this case, one who is transgender—rather than use them as a means to the lead character's end. Jaye Davidson's Dil was an active participant in the events of the film and drove the story forward, sometimes when lead character Fergus couldn't or wouldn't.
****
Philadelphia
Jonathan Demme sought to rectify the grossly unsympathetic depiction of LGTBQ+ people through Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill by making a film that brought gay characters and the AIDS crisis right into America's living rooms. Tom Hanks was a beloved leading man when he played the lead role in this film and while nowadays that would hardly be cause for celebration, he did help to soften the blow for mainstream audiences in helping them to accept gay characters as sympathetic leads in Hollywood productions.
****
Hustler White: Bruce La Bruce's breakthrough 1996 film marked him as the first major artistic talent in the world of gay pornography since Wakefield Poole. This quasi-mockumentary was also one of the first to blend farcical comedy and gay sex.
****
Love! Valour! Compassion!: With the notable exception of Jason Alexander—replacing the piece's Broadway star Nathan Lane in the lead role—the all-out cast of this film started with the original Broadway production and climaxes with al the characters skinny dipping!
****
Bent: 1997 film based on the 1979 play of the same name, first major pop culture piece to tackle the persecution of gay men during the Holocaust. Lots and lots of nudity from Clive Owen and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
****
Happy Together: Acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Wong Kar-wai brings us this heart-wrenching tale of longtime gay partners who move from Hong Kong to Argentina and watch their relationship fall apart. A landmark in queer representation for Asia in general and China in particular.
****
Will and Grace
Around this time, most gay film content moves into the increasingly experimental but still less influential world of indie film and TV picks up the ball and runs with it. Two out and proud leading characters, one of whom was actually played by a gay actor, in a primetime network sitcom the same year Seinfeld went off the air was a pretty big step forward for on-screen representation. In fact, Joe Biden said on Meet the Press in 2012, “I think Will and Grace probably did more to educate the American public than almost anybody’s ever done so far." Among the many groundbreaking moments on the show is this lip lock in front of Al Roker between stars Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes in season 2!
****
Dawson's Creek: Kerr Smith's character Jack McPhee had a two-part coming out episode in the show's second season and was later part of the first man-on-man kiss on network television in the United States with recurring character.
****
Queer as Folk
The next evolution in gay characters on television came with the two shows bearing this same name. The original UK version—which ran for two series from 1999-2000) was substantially more explicit than the American remake—which ran from 2000-2004—but both versions certainly did a lot for queer representation on television, even if half of the actors playing gay characters were straight in real life (2 out of 3 leads in the original and 2 out of 5 leads in the remake). The difference between the two can be seen below as the UK version found Aidan Gillen eating Charlie Hunnam's ass, while the most risqué the American version got was a fairly realistic sex scene between Randy Harrison and Gale Harold!
****
Y tu mamá también: Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna's stars were born in this road trip flick that explores love and lust in its many forms, culminating in a threesome from which the woman eventually excuses herself, letting its main male characters finally give in to the sexual chemistry between them.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch: John Cameron Mitchell's first film is an adaptation of his kick-ass rock/glam musical that he poured his heart, soul, and queerness into, centering the story around a trans character with a horrific backstory.
The Dreamers: Bernardo Bertolucci's penultimate film is a journey through sexual fluidity set against the backdrop of the 1968 Parisian student riots. Also one of the very few films to be released theatrically in North America with an NC-17 rating.
****
Angels in America
After becoming a Broadway sensation in the 90s, Mike Nichols' epic two-part adaptation of Tony Kushner's work was another huge step forward for television, a precursor to television's renaissance which was right around the corner. Same old problems in terms of casting straight actors in queer roles, but all of the performances—yes, even Al Pacino—are excellent and do not distract from the ultimate message of the piece. Plus, Patrick Wilson gives us some amazing backsac and backdong when stripping nude at the beach!
****
Brokeback Mountain
We jump back to the big screen for an instantly iconic film that didn't feel like such a sure thing at the time it was released. Ang Lee's 2005 tale of love between two cowhands has only grown in stature since its release. Losing Best Picture is probably what helped grow the legend around the film, and much like The Crying Game before it, brought sympathetic gay characters to mainstream audiences. That film walked so Brokeback could run. Casting straight actors isn't such a stretch in this instance since their characters are closeted and it's also nice to know that Heath Ledger went out of his way to ensure that he would never poke fun at his participation in the film or let it played for a cheap laugh.
****
Shortbus
John Cameron Mitchell's outrageous celebration of sex and sexuality in all its many shapes and forms was released theatrically in 2006, shocking art house audiences with its explicit depictions of real sex. Hardcore sex in mainstream theaters was still a relatively novel conceit in 2006, but this film blew those doors off by opening with a man trying to suck his own dick! The highlight of the film is a patriotic threesome between Jay Brannan, PJ DeBoy, and Paul Dawson that we covered in detail in our Anatomy of a Scene's Manatomy series and which you can get a taste of below...
****
One Life to Live: In 2009, out actor Scott Evans—brother of Chris—made headlines when his character Oliver Fish began his own coming out journey in 2009, including the first gay scene in daytime television history!
Stranger by the Lake: Hardcore gay sex in a critically acclaimed mystery film seems almost like the plot of a fake movie within a movie but this one lands with audiences of all stripes because of both its excellent plot and hot gay sex.
****
Moonlight
This 2016 film became the first Best Picture winner to focus exclusively on a gay lead character, an honest look at how hard it is growing up in America if you're not only gay but a gay minority. That Oscar voters picked this over La La Land, the obvious Oscar bait that year, was a sign of some true progress at the Academy—all of which went out the window when they gave the pandering Green Book the same award two years later. While there's nothing here beyond some rather chaste kissing between teenage Chiron (Ashton Sanders) and teenage Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), it's undeniable that Brokeback Mountain ran so Moonlight could fly...
****
Call Me By Your Name
Another Oscar winning film, adapted for the screen by out writer James Ivory and directed by an out filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, this 2017 film brought a sumptuous gay love story to mainstream art house audiences. Avid Oscar viewers—many of whom are also senior citizens—were treated to a film in which several characters engage in queer behavior without ever mentioning any kind of queer identities, not to mention the infamous peach scene! For all the steamy action in the film, though, the hottest scene might just be the one where Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer make out in a field...
****
Pose
Walking through the doors kicked down by RuPaul's Drag Race, this series brought 80s ball culture and the early days of the AIDS crisis to a mainstream audience, even reviving interest in docs like Paris is Burning in the bargain. Billy Porter, who recently revealed he's been living with HIV for over a decade, was the first openly gay black male to win an Emmy Award for Best Actor, and his first season sex scene with Dyllón Burnside remains one of the show's major highlights!
****
Rocketman: Claims to be the "first studio film with gay sex," and while that seems like a dubious claim, it's also probably true. What's more important is that it came out just six months after the toothless biopic Bohemian Rhapsodypussyfooted around its lead character's sexual identity—to the tune of $900 million worldwide.
****
The Boys in the Band (2020)
We come full circle, this time, with an all out production—as in the entire cast and major production team are all openly gay—in a bid to reclaim this essential piece of queer pop culture fifty years later. That it was released directly into Americans' homes via Netflix, meaning virtually every household in America had access to it immediately, seems almost absurd to think about, but it does show the progress that's been made in the 50 years since the first filmed version of Mart Crowley's play. It's best that we send you out on a high note with out actors Andrew Rannells and Matt Bomer's hot hookup from the new version. It pairs well with Louis Armstrong's version of "What a Wonderful World," if you're so inclined...
