The Best LGBTQ Movies of All Time

Out of the way, losers. The gays are coming through.

We’re sick of being the butt of jokes. The side characters. The ones who die first. The ones who die offscreen. The ones who don’t even get the chance to die because we weren’t even in the movies in the first place. We want to be the stars of the movies, and we wanna confuse the hell out of Mike Pence while we do it.

It’s coming. A new day is dawning. A glorious gay sun is rising in the east. The future is now, and thank fuck we’re doing it. We’re getting there. We’re clawing our way into the mainstream and someday we will sit atop the mountain of pop culture, laughing and weeping at how far we’ve come. There shall come a day when I don’t have to write “Best LGBTQ+ Movies” articles because we’ll be in every movie. Pride month will be every month. And people will be allowed to love who they want to love and be who they want to be in a glorious LGBTQ utopia that shall usher in a new era of peace and gay prosperity.

And no, I’m not being facetious. I actually do believe that this will happen someday. Not in my lifetime, but sooner than I think.

To celebrate the upcoming Rainbow Age of Cinema, I’m making a list of all the best LGBTQ movies that walked so the future of gay film could fly.

Let the Right One In

Let the Right One In is one of the finest queer horror stories in existence. Billed as a “romantic horror” movie, the story centers on a shy 12-year-old boy named Oskar who forms a relationship with an adolescent vampire of indeterminate gender named Eli. The boy and his vampire paramour do all sorts of romantic things together, like killing people! Well, Eli kills people. Oskar isn’t really a fan, but defends Eli from the people who are trying to hunt her down. The film is a gorgeous portrayal of friendship and first love, and features one of the sweetest and simultaneously horrifying endings in cinematic history.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

My god, the female gaze is piping hot in this film. Portrait of a Lady on Fire is set in the 18th century and follows a young painter named Marianne (Noémie Merlant) who is commissioned to paint a noblewoman named Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) before the latter is married off to some schmuck. As Marianne starts painting Héloïse, the two begin to develop feelings for each other. And lord, the painting sequences before they actually get together are kind of the best part? They spend all day gazing at each other, painter and subject, observer and observed. They get to know each other so well that they know exactly how the other is feeling based on the minute movements of their face. It’s witheringly romantic.

In a world where the emotions of women are ignored and denigrated, watching these two women find solace, comfort, and understanding in each other is beautiful to behold. It’s also deeply erotic. Go outside and stare at someone for five minutes without breaking eye contact. If they don’t run away screaming, odds are they’re probably going to fall madly in love with you. One could argue that prolonged observation of another person while they observe you is more intimate than sex itself. In the bedroom, you can always close your eyes and turn the lights out. In the cold light of day, someone looking straight into your soul through your eyeballs makes you more naked than you ever thought you could be.

Paris Is Burning

This documentary is an invaluable exploration of the Golden Age of ball culture that was pioneered by Black and Latinx LGBTQ communities in New York City in the 1980s. Paris Is Burning features interviews with many of the most influential performers of the time, who offer insight into their lives, relationships, and struggles to succeed in what they describe as a “rich, white world.” The film explores how members of the ball community deal with homophobia, racism, the AIDS epidemic, homelessness, and poverty. While Paris Is Burning doesn’t pull punches in showing the grim reality of the world of its subjects, it is also a testament to their strength, tenacity, and sense of humor in the face of hardship.

Angels in America

Angels in America is a movie in the way that The Irishman is a movie: it’s over four hours long. It’s technically a miniseries, but technically the word “technically” is something that only douchebags use to disqualify things. Adapted from the Tony Award-winning stage play by Tony Kushner, the story is a self-described “Gay Fantasia on National Themes” that were prevalent in the late 1980s and early 1990s. With an all-star cast including Al Pacino and Meryl Streep, Angels in America explores the AIDS epidemic, the fraught relationship between left wing and right wing politics, capitalism, and organized religion. The film also features an angel with eight vaginas that bursts through the ceiling of the main character’s room and tells him that he’s a prophet. You know, typical Tuesday night kind of shit.

It is one of the best written pieces of dramatic literature of all time, and features some stellar performances from its cast, among them Justin Kirk, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright, Emma Thompson, and James Cromwell. It’s one of my personal favorite films of all time, and the source material might just be the greatest play of the 20th century.

Brokeback Mountain

The early ’00s were an ugly time for LGBTQ representation in cinema. Don’t even get me fucking started on the travesty that is the ending of Ace Ventura. Even though “gay” was the butt of every joke at the time, somehow this movie managed to make it through to the mainstream in what I consider to be a cultural miracle. Brokeback Mountain is one of the few early mainstream queer films that attempted to portray a gay relationship with a shred of dignity. The story is about gay cowboys, plain and simple. Directed by Ang Lee, the film stars hotties Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two tough-as-nails Wyoming cowhands in the early 1960s who end up falling in love with one another. The problem is, they can’t square the love they have for each other with the rest their lives. Be prepared, this movie will make you cry.

Carol

What would this list be without the film that inspired the iconic “Harold, they’re lesbians” meme? Directed by Todd Haynes, Carol is set in the 1950s and focuses on an aspiring photographer named Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) who works at a department store. One day, she meets the elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) while the latter is shopping for her daughter, and the two instantly form a connection. Carol later invites Therese to her house, and their relationship deepens. If you’re a fan of stolen glances, yearning looks, and ridiculous amounts of sexual tension, this is the film for you. It also features one of cinema’s very best “I love you” confessions of all time. You cannot miss this one.

Moonlight

Perhaps the most beautifully shot film on this list, Moonlight is a tender and painful portrayal of the struggles of queer men of color. Barry Jenkins’ film follows the life of Chiron from boyhood to adulthood, centering on key moments throughout his life. Chiron is played by three different actors—Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes—in each of the vignettes, which range from achingly beautiful to horrifically violent. We experience Chiron’s first kiss, his fights with his homophobic mother, and his journey toward self-acceptance. Moonlight is regarded as one of the finest pieces of cinema of the 21st century. It was the first LGBTQ film and the first film with an entirely Black cast to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Boys Don’t Cry

Boys Don’t Cry is a story inspired by the life and death of a trans man named Brandon Teena. The real-life Brandon Teena was raped by two men after they discovered he was transgender, and they later murdered him and one of his friends while his girlfriend Lana begged them for mercy. Yes, the film is brutal. However, it is also a gorgeous portrayal of queer romance. Brandon (Hilary Swank) and Lana (Chloë Sevigny)’s relationship is sweet, tender, and ultimately tragic. While some viewers may find the subject matter hard to stomach, Kimberly Peirce’s film remains a groundbreaking piece of queer cinema. It is worth a watch, even through tears.

Tangerine

Tangerine is a film about a transgender sex worker named Sin-Dee Rella who is hunting down her pimp’s girlfriend on Christmas Eve. And it’s delightful. Director Sean Baker shot this indie comedy entirely on an iPhone camera, which is impressive in its own right. However, it is the performances of Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor that carry Tangerine to cinematic glory. Their performances as Sin-Dee and her best friend Mya are charming, hilarious, and unbelievably tender. The film isn’t afraid to portray the cruel realities that transgender women of color face living in America, but doesn’t over-emphasize it either. Tangerine is primarily about the loving relationship these two women have for each other. If you’re looking for a queer Christmas movie, look no further.

The Matrix

Hot take incoming! While on the surface the 1999 sci-fi blockbuster The Matrix doesn’t seem like a queer film, it totally is. The directors of the film, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, have formally stated that The Matrix is a transgender allegory. And it checks out. As a transgender person myself, I get it. The cisnormative world is essentially a “matrix.” It is a flimsy representation of reality where everyone fits into a neat little package marked “boy” or “girl” that is decided by chromosomes and genitalia. HOWEVER, there are people in this “matrix” who know that something doesn’t quite add up. When one discovers they are transgender, it is not unlike taking the “red pill” and seeing that this cisnormative matrix is not “natural” or “real,” but was actually carefully designed by those in power (the machines, in the case of the film). The Wachowski siblings knew that the culture of the late 1990s was nowhere near ready for an idea like this, so they cleverly packaged it in a film that audiences were ready for: one about a straight white man fighting robots. Genius.

Ammonite

Nothing gets my gay heart pumping like thought of some old, dead mollusks. Ammonite is about a renowned paleontologist named Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) and her budding sapphic relationship with a young woman woman named Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan). Set in the 1840s along the dreary English coastline, Ammonite achieves the impossible feat of making the gray and rocky beaches look romantic. After Charlotte chances upon Mary collecting fossil specimens, the young woman asks if she can apprentice the older scientist. On the rough English beaches they make a home away from home, spurning the societal pressures of Victorian England and instead choosing to let their love blossom among the fossils.

Pariah

Pariah is a coming-of-age drama about a young Black woman named Alike (Adepero Oduye) who is coming to grips with her lesbian identity. While her father attempts to accept and understand his daughter’s sexuality, Alike’s mother chooses to remain in denial, leading to strife inside their home. As Alike dives into the queer scene in New York City, she begins to more openly express her identity, leading to an explosive confrontation with her conservative parents. Dee Rees’ feature directorial debut is a tough watch, but also a beautiful exploration of the resilience of queer people in the face of societal, religious, and familial pressure.

God’s Own County

God’s Own Country is another queer film that succeeds in making the gray and blasted heaths of England look romantic. In the remote countryside of Yorkshire, England, a young farmer named Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Connor) is struggling with his repressed queer identity. He works grueling hours in isolation while caring for his ailing father, but his shell is broken after his father hires a handsome migrant worker named Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) to help during lambing season. While their relationship is rocky at first (mostly due to belligerent sexual tension), Gheorghe is eventually able to break down Johnny’s emotional walls, allowing ROMANCE to be the thing that grows the tallest on this farm.

A Fantastic Woman

A Fantastic Woman is set in Chile and centers on a transgender woman named Marina (Daniela Vega) whose world is turned upside down after the sudden death of her partner, Orlando. Now alone in the world, the aspiring singer must navigate discrimination and prejudice from both Orlando’s family and society at large. Marina fights for her right to grieve her lover, as Orlando’s family attempt to cut Marina out of Orlando’s life and legacy in this moving film from Sebastián Lelio.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Inspired by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s musical of the same name, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a modern cult classic. Mitchell reprises his role as Hedwig, a musician who attempts to escape her life in East Berlin by transitioning and marrying an American soldier. After receiving a botched bottom surgery operation that leaves her with an “angry inch” as a reminder of the sacrifice she made for love, Hedwig moves to the United States to pursue a career in music. Her relationship with the soldier soon falls apart, and she meets and nurtures aspiring musician Tommy Gnosis (Michael Pitt). As she travels across the country with her rock band, Hedwig recounts her life story and her doomed romances—all set to a killer soundtrack of original songs.

(featured image: New Line Cinema / Janus Films / Sony Pictures Classics / A24 / Illustration by Britt Hayes)