10 best LGBT films that don’t bury their gays
You know how it goes—gay people in the movies don’t often make it to the credits. It’s an unfortunate trope that became so overabundant in media that people came up with a name for it “bury your gays.”
With all the politicians actually trying to bury the gays in America these days, I need some stories where the gays come out on top—or at least alive. So here they are, 1o best LGBTQ films where queer people have the last laugh.
10. Desert Hearts
Inspired by that hallmark of sapphic fiction Desert of the Heart and loving made on a shoestring budget, Donna Deitch’s Desert Hearts is simply one of the best lesbian romance stories ever told. It’s about a middle aged professor named Vivian who flees to Reno from the east in order to get a quick divorce from her failing married.
In the high desert she meets the 25 year old Cay, a free-spirted casino worker and artist. Despite some ups and downs caused by life, past relationship issues and Carol-esque age gap, the pair are able (spoiler alert) end up together. It’s a historic film because it’s one of the first ever sapphic stories that doesn’t make you want you cry your heart out. Seriously, sad lesbian flicks were a whole filmmaking trend before Desert Hearts, and this movie buried it – for the better.
9. But I’m A Cheerleader
Jamie Babbit’s But I’m A Cheerleader stars off with a bummer of a premise: high school cheerleader Megan gets sent to a conversion therapy camp. But I SWEAR it gets better from there. While at a camp designed to make her less gay, she meets a bunch of other gay teens, and they all blessedly become even gayer.
While at camp, Megan comes out to herself after falling in love with fellow attendee Graham. The pair woo each other with grand romantic gestures, form queer friendships with fellow campers, and stick it to the (straight) man by (spoiler) finally running away together. The conversion therapy people really didn’t think that one through when designing the camp, did they?
8.The Handmaiden
Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden is set in 1930’s Korea under Japanese control, which as you can guess was a TERRIBLE time for gay people. While you may think that the film’s dark setting could spell nothing tragedy for its queer heroines, you’d be wrong. Japanese heiress Lady Hideko meets pickpocket Sook-hee hired to steal her fortune, the sparks fly. The pair fall in love and hatch a plan to outwit Sook-hee’s criminal handlers and the oppressive regime that they find themselves living under. Spoiler alert: they succeed – much the viewer’s surprise and delight.
7. Bound
Two lesbians rob the mob? Sign me up. From the minds of Lana and Lilly Wachowski comes Bound, an erotic thriller about two women who are attempting to fleece $2 million from an organized syndicate. One of the first ever queer heist films, this film’s official tagline might as well be “be gay, do crime.” It will get your blood racing in all the right ways. It’s thrilling. It’s sexy. And yes, it ends with the girls securing the bag. In the words of Lucille Bluth, “good for her.” Both of her.
6. God’s Own Country
Oh god, emotionally stunted farmers? Grey and rainy skies? Yorkshire? God’s Own Country seems like a triple shot of depresso, but Francis Lee’s rural romance film is anything but. The story concerns the young Johnny, a Yorkshire farmer who lives a lonely life raising livestock, binge drinking, and having DL encounters with men. Everything changes when his father hires Gheorghe, a Romanian migrant worker, to help out during lambing season. The pair get off to a toxically masculine start, but their tempestuous relationship soon becomes as soft and tender as the little lambs they raise in their strong, burly arms – and it stays that way.
5. Moonlight
Barry Jenkins’ 2017 Oscar Winner Moonlight is a tough watch, and the film pummels its young protagonist with the ever present threats of poverty, addiction and violence in the gritty Miami neighborhood he calls home.
The teenaged Chiron’s budding homosexuality only compounds upon the drama, and his emerging identity creates tension between himself and the one person who is supposed to support him the most: his own mother. Moonlight is the story of a world that is doing its damndest to bury a young gay man, and the strength and perseverance that young man shows in order to survive. And with quiet triumph, Chiron does survive it. Against all odds, Chiron’s ending is a happy one.
4. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Stephan Elliott’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert tell the story of two drag queens and a trans woman who are hired to perform a gig at a club on the other side of Australia’s Outback. Rather than fly like commoners, the trio decide to cross the desert in the campiest way possible – in a bus full of drag costumes that they name Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. And so begins a queer odyssey across the Aussie badlands – where the trio runs afoul of rednecks, break downs in the road, and makes unexpected friends with the aboriginal community. Despite the best efforts of the desert sands they’re lost in, these gays remain unburied.
3. I Saw The TV Glow
I Saw The TV Glow features the greatest subversion of the “bury your gays” trope in the history of media. Jane Schoenbrun’s film is about teenage loners Owen and Maddy who bond with each other over their mutual love of a spooky late night TV show called The Pink Opaque. Owen and Maddy lose touch after the latter runs away from home, but reconnect when Maddy mysteriously shows up in town and tells Owen that their favorite show was more than just TV: it was real life.
Maddy claims that their current reality is a lie created by the show’s antagonist, and that there’s only one way to escape it: by burying themselves alive. While the film’s ending initially feels like a massive downer, I Saw The TV Glow has since been embraced as a hopeful parable about gender transition. The film never fails to remind its viewers “there is still time” to be who they truly are.
2. The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
With an uplifting title like The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love, how could the gays do anything BUT survive? Maria Maggenti’s story sure throws its two young lovers through the wringer, but they turn out on top. The film revolves around the wealthy Evie and the working class Randy, who despite coming from entirely different walks of life, and up walking hand in hand in the same direction. They meet at the gas station. They bond over Walt Whitman. They rollerblade. They cook. They get high. They kiss. When it comes to 1990’s romance, what more could you want?
1. Love Lies Bleeding
Okay so technically one gay gets buried in Love Lies Bleeding, but that gay was an asshole and had it coming. Rose Glass’ sapphic romance thriller centers around lonely Las Vegas gym owner Lou and body builder Jackie who has come to town in order to compete. The pair meet. They hook up. Lou gives Jackie steroids. They move in together.
They murder a mutual friend’s abusive husband. You know how it goes. Evading the law, the Vegas criminal underground, and one very messed up stalker, the pair punch, shoot and strangle their way towards the happy ending they deserve.
(Featured Image: New Line Cinema)
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