Hulu has created a hub for LGBTQ+ films and series that lists films and videos starring LGBTQ+ individuals and featuring LGBTQ+ stories. You need to have a Hulu subscription to view the page and to watch videos. Trailers for a few of these films are highlighted below.
After splitting with her long-term girlfriend, Leila is forced to move in with stranger and has-been novelist Gabe. Their worlds collide in deeply awkward and revealing ways as he becomes her unlikely wingman, helping her to navigate her new life dating men as well as women. (Synopsis from Hulu)
What makes a voice "gay?" This witty, entertaining look at a controversial topic features candid interviews with Dan Savage, David Sedaris, George Takei, and Margaret Cho. (Synopsis from Hulu)
Ellen Page and her best friend, Ian Daniel, set off on a personal journey to explore LGBTQ cultures around the world. From Japan to Brazil, Jamaica and here in America, Ellen and Ian discover the multiplicity of LGBTQ experiences, meeting amazing people and hearing their deeply moving stories of struggle and triumph. (Synopsis from Hulu)
25 years after 'Paris Is Burning' introduced the art of voguing to the world, Kiki revisits New York City's thriving underground ballroom scene. It's a larger-than-life world in which LGBTQ youths of color are empowered by staging elaborate dance competitions that showcase their dynamic choreography, fabulous costumes, and fierce attitude. It's also a safe haven for struggling, at-risk teens who find acceptance, support, and friendship within the Kiki community. Granted intimate access to the scene, filmmaker Sara Jordenö introduces viewers to some of Kiki culture's most prominent personalities, going beyond the glamour of the balls to highlight the serious challenges facing queer black and Latino young people. Bringing together heartrending personal stories with incredible displays of creative expression, Kiki is 'exhilarating…an indelible, must-see ode to gay New York' (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times).
Gender identification is changing rapidly, causing heated division between the left and the right. Transgender Nation lifts the veil on the world of the Transgender and explore the secrets of a world most misunderstand. (Synopsis from Hulu)
Other Hulu videos featuring LGBTQ+ creators, actors, and stories include:
Netflix offers many movies and shows with LGBTQ+ creators, actors, topics, and themes. A few are highlighted below. Viewing Newithtflix videos requires an account.
Bingeworthy! Silly and sweet comedy; starring RuPaul, Izzy G., Michael-Leon Wooley, Josh Segarra, Tia Carrere, and many graduates of RuPaul's Drag Race featured in cameos. "Robert, a down-on-his-luck drag queen who performs as Ruby Red, prepares for a new adventure, heading out on a journey in a van across America. Joining Robert on the trip is tough-talking 10-year-old stowaway AJ. Ruby gets a chance to step back into the spotlight along the way, and AJ comes up with a crafty plan to earn some extra cash. The tour hits a snag as the vehicle rolls into Texas, and it comes to an end when Ruby competes in the Miss Drag USA pageant." (Synopsis from Netflix)
Bingeworthy! Feel-good reality drama-comedy; starring Alyssa Edwards. This Netflix reality series follows endearing drag queen Alyssa Edwards, also known in their offstage life as Justin, a talented dancer choreographer who runs a dance studio in suburban Mesquite, Texas. Justin struggles to deal patiently and professionally with out of control stage mothers while preparing their troupe of dance students for challenging competitions. Outside of work, Justin seeks healing with their estranged birth family while Alyssa Edwards pursues her own successful drag career.
Bingeworthy! Exuberant and gripping historic drama; starring MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Billy Porter, Dominique Jackson, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Angel Bismarck Curiel, and a huge acting ensemble. "In 1987 New York, LGBTQ ball fixture Blanca starts her own house, soon becoming mother to a gifted dancer and a sex worker in love with a yuppie client. In 2019, Billy Porter won the Emmy for lead actor in a drama series, and the show earned an AFI Award for TV Program of the Year." (Synopsis from Netflix) Note: Season 2 of Pose will be available on Netflix on June 11!
Bingeworthy! Feel-good reality show featuring positive, sweet and supportive self-help. "More than a decade after the original series went off the air, Netflix reboots the "Queer Eye" franchise with a new Fab Five and a new setting, trading in the concrete jungle of New York City for communities in and around Atlanta, Kansas City, and Tokyo. The style experts forge relationships with men and women who often have different beliefs from them, leading to moments of social commentary interspersed with style advice. Advising people in need of lifestyle makeovers are food and wine specialist Antoni Porowski, interior designer Bobby Berk, grooming consultant Jonathan Van Ness, fashion designer Tan France and culture expert Karamo Brown, who reality TV fans may recognize as one of the housemates on "The Real World: Philadelphia." David Collins, who created the original show, is on board as an executive producer." (Synoposis from Netflix) Note: The new season of Queer Eye is available on Netflix on June 5!
"This moving Netflix documentary dives into a truly great love story, one for the ages: the 72-year partnership between Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, a couple of Canadian girls who fell in love in the late 1940s and kept their relationship a secret for decades." The film also addresses issues of lesbian histories, immigration, aging and marriage equality, women's baseball leagues, and women's gender roles in sports and families. (Main synopsis from Netflix)
Other Netflix LGBTQ+ films and shows include:
Other shows with LGBTQ+ creators, actors, stories & themes include:
ISU Library subscribes to Films on Demand, a streaming video collection of hundreds of educational documentaries, television news programs, and more from the well-known Films for the Humanities & Sciences distribution group. Here are a few of their LGBTQ+ documentaries; films include closed captions.
"Following filmmaker Amy Bohigian and her partner as they adopt 15-month-old twins, this program highlights the legal, social, and personal difficulties that accompany the rewards of parenthood when gays and lesbians start families through adoption. Required to live with the twins’ foster parents for two weeks to help the children transition, Bohigian and the other adults are forced to work out their different attitudes towards same-sex parenting, with surprising results. Also profiled: long-term partners fighting to both be legitimized as legal parents, a birth family with second thoughts about giving their child to a same-sex couple, lesbian foster parents grappling with the return of a baby to her native community, and two men daunted by the cost of surrogacy." (Synopsis from Films on Demand) Duration: 50 minutes
"From Tom of Finland to Bugs Bunny in a dress, animation has long been a place where artists can unleash and explore their sexuality. In this documentary, Andy Cheng and Cara Connors dive into the pages of comic books, animated series, films, and even video games to discover the LGBTQ characters portrayed, and to answer questions such as, how did these artists get their start; how did the genre develop; are these portrayals taken seriously in the mainstream?" (Synopsis from Films on Demand) Duration: 40 minutes
"This documentary challenges the viewer to question their notions of what it means to be male or female. By taking us on a journey through the eyes that see the world differently, it explores the diversity that exists within the transgender community, as well as the depth of the transgender experience in day-to-day living." (Synopsis from Films on Demand) Duration: 96 min.
Note: Films on Demand indicates Viewer Discretion for this film due to "mature themes and nudity." Potential viewers will want to take this into consideration before deciding to view.
"This documentary sits at the intersection of two important and timely topics of social justice: conditions in the US prison system and the injustices that befall transgender people encountering the law. The film explores why so many transgender people encounter the police, how those encounters often lead to discriminatory treatment, and the inhumane conditions that transgender people all too frequently experience. Through interviews with transgender inmates and experts, and narrated by the Tony award winning stage, screen, and TV actor, Brian Stokes Mitchell, the film casts light on one of the most hidden social injustices in the United States." (Synopsis from Films on Demand) Duration: 50 minutes.
Note: Films on Demand indicates Viewer Discretion on this title for reasons of "language and mature themes." Potential viewers may want to take this into consideration before deciding to view.
"On June 27, 1969, a police raid on a Greenwich Village gay bar called the Stonewall took a surprising turn when patrons decided to fight back. A new era in the Gay Rights Movement was born and 23-year-old film student Vito Russo was among the crowd. Over the next twenty years until his death from AIDS in 1990, Vito would go on to become one of the most outspoken and inspiring activists in the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights. He was a pivotal part of three well-known organizations during their formative years: GAA (Gay Activists Alliance); GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation); and ACT UP (AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power). His seminal book “The Celluloid Closet” explored the ways in which gays and lesbians were portrayed on film, what lessons those characters taught gay and straight audiences, and how those negative images were at the root of society’s homophobia. He continued writing, lecturing, speaking out and acting up until just months before his death." (Synopsis from Films on Demand) Duration: 93 minutes.
ISU Library subscribes to Filmakers Library Online, a streaming video collection that provides more than 1000 award-winning documentaries in the social sciences, humanities, & sciences. Here are a few of their LGBTQ+ documentaries; films include closed captions and searchable transcripts.
This groundbreaking film introduces viewers to men and women who have never experienced sexual attraction. In 2000, David Jay came out as asexual to his parents, a quality he accepts about himself. And David is not alone; studies show that as much as one percent of the population may be asexual. Living in a society obsessed with sex, how does one deal with life as an outsider? In (A)Sexual, people describe firsthand the challenges of acknowledging to themselves—and others—their asexuality
On November 20, 2013, Bayard Rustin was posthumously awarded the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Who was this man? He was there at most of the important events of the Civil Rights Movement - but always in the background. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin asks "Why?" It presents a vivid drama, intermingling the personal and the political, about one of the most enigmatic figures in 20th-century American history. One of the first "freedom riders," an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and A. Philip Randolph, organizer of the march on Washington, intelligent, gregarious and charismatic, Bayard Rustin was denied his place in the limelight for one reason - he was gay. Rustin was born in 1912 into a Pennsylvania Quaker family steeped in ideas of social justice and non-violence. He moved to Harlem during the socially and culturally tumultuous 1930s and, after a brief flirtation with the Communist Party found a more congenial home in A.J. Muste's pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. While there, he served prison terms for resisting the draft during World War II and later for integrating interstate buses. When A. Philip Randolph, aging head of the Black labor movement, turned to the fellowship for tactical help, Rustin worked closely with him and developed a belief that the labor movement offered the best hope for Black advancement. Then in 1953, Rustin was arrested during a casual homosexual encounter. A.J. Muste forced him out of the fellowship. When the Montgomery bus boycott was launched, he went to Alabama in 1956 and became a mentor in non-violence to the 26-year-old Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Though Rustin would advise the younger civil rights leader until his assassination in 1968, King broke publicly with Rustin in 1960, when Representative Adam Clayton Powell threatened King over the issue of Rustin's homosexuality. But when the 1963 march on Washington was proposed, the civil rights leadership recognized there was only one man who could organize it - Bayard Rustin. After the march's overwhelming success Rustin forged the fragile alliance between the labor unions, the Civil Rights Movement and the Democratic Party which was responsible for much of the landmark civil rights legislation of the 1960's. Later on, Rustin angered former colleagues by not speaking out against the war in Vietnam, and by taking controversial stands against Black Nationalism and affirmative action. In the 1970s and 1980s, he returned to his early interest in international affairs and human rights, working on behalf of refugees around the world. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin contributes a fascinating new chapter to our understanding of both progressive movements and gay life in 20th-century America.
Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric. Katie Couric sets out to explore the rapidly evolving complexities of gender identity.
Snow Queen explores the rich 'herstory' of drag and its transformation of 'low culture' into an art form.
Humorous, tender, and generous in spirit, this affectionate biography of Janie Spahr and her family is laid out against the background of our deep cultural prejudices. It proves that acceptance and love trump alienation and intolerance any day. This honest portrait of a family’s journey of acceptance and love will deepen anyone’s understanding of homosexuality. We watch the Reverend Jane Adams Spahr gradually come to embrace a part of herself that she had disowned for years. We hear from her twin sister, her parents, her husband and her children; and we witness their struggle as the reality of her homosexuality and its implications begins to dawn on them.
ISU Library subscribes to Kanopy, a vast and eclectic collection of documentaries and feature films. Strong focus on educational resources, social, political, and cultural issues, and numerous international film classics. Films include closed captions.
"This is the first documentary to deeply explore the lives of gay and lesbian people in non-western cultures. Traveling to five different continents, we hear the heartbreaking and triumphant stories of gays and lesbians from Egypt, Honduras, Kenya, Thailand and elsewhere, where most occurrences of oppression receive no media coverage at all. By sharing the personal stories coming out of developing nations, DANGEROUS LIVING sheds light on an emerging global movement striving to end discrimination and violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people." Duration: 59 min.
"This film is about an inspiring young man whose story is exceptional, although not unique. When Moises Serrano was just a baby, his parents risked everything to flee Mexico in search of the American dream. Forbidden to live and love as an undocumented gay man in the country he calls home, Serrano saw only one option: to fight for justice. Serrano is like the thousands of other young people growing up in the United States with steadfast dreams but all the cards stacked against them. The film chronicles Serrano's work as an activist traveling across his home state of North Carolina as a voice for his community, all while trying to forge a path for his own future." Duration: 83 min.
"Against the backdrop of political and social issues affecting the LGBT community, such as gay marriage and AIDS, FURTHER OFF THE STRAIGHT & ARROW takes a close look at sitcoms, reality shows, and premium cable programming as it explores how representations of LGBT characters have become more complex and varied in recent years." Duration: 62 min.
"Oscar-winner for Best Picture, MOONLIGHT is a moving and transcendent look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places." Rated R. Duration: 111 minutes
"From out lesbian director Celine Sciamma (Water Lilies), Tomboy tells the story of 10-year-old Laure who moves to the suburbs and decides to pass as a boy amongst the pack of neighborhood kids. As "Mikael" she catches the attention of leader of the pack Lisa, who becomes smitten with her. At home with her parents and younger sister Jeanne, she is Laure; while hanging out with her new pals and girlfriend, she is Mikael. Finding resourceful ways to hide her true self, Laure takes advantage of her new identity, as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret." Duration: 82 min.
Pride Month is celebrated in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall uprising that marked the beginning of the organized Gay Rights movement. Here are a few additional films that provide insights into the Stonewall riots and this important history and achievements of LGBTQ+ rights advocacy movements. Films include closed captions.
Available via ISU Library's subscription to Kanopy: Before Stonewall, there was Compton's. "This Emmy award-winning documentary tells the little-known story of the first known act of collective, violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States - a 1966 riot in San Francisco's impoverished Tenderloin neighborhood, three years before the famous gay riot at New York's Stonewall Inn. Screaming Queens introduces viewers to street queens, cops and activist civil rights ministers who recall the riot and paint a vivid portrait of the wild transgender scene in 1960s San Francisco. Integrating the riot's story into the broader fabric of American life, the documentary connects the event to urban renewal, anti-war activism, civil rights and sexual liberation. With enticing archival footage and period music, this unknown story is dramatically brought back to life. Screaming Queens is a production of Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker produced in association with ITVS and KQED, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting." (Synopsis from Kanopy)
Click the video image here to watch this Kanopy film in its entirety. (Requires ISU login)
Available via ISU Library's subscription to Kanopy: "In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's gay community. With this outpouring of courage and unity the Gay Liberation Movement had begun. This documentary pries open the closet door--setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s. ...Experience the fascinating and unforgettable, decade-by-decade history of homosexuality in America through eye-opening historical footage and amazing interviews with those who lived through an often brutal closeted history." Narrated by Rita Mae Brown. (Synopsis from Kanopy)
Click the video image here to watch this Kanopy film in its entirety. (Requires ISU login)
Available via ISU Library's subscription to Kanopy: "After Stonewall, the sequel to Before Stonewall, chronicles the history of lesbian and gay life from the riots at Stonewall to the end of the century. It captures the hard work, struggles, tragic defeats and exciting victories experienced since them. It explores how AIDS literally changed the direction of the movement. The two films, Before & After, tell the remarkable tale of how homosexuals, a heretofore hidden and despised group, became a vibrant and integral part of America's family, and, indeed, the world community." Narrated by Melissa Etheridge. (Synopsis from Kanopy)
Click the video image here to watch this Kanopy film in its entirety. (Requires ISU login)
Available via Netflix: The role of people of color and transgender people in the Stonewall uprisings and subsequent early Gay Rights movement is often obscured. This film investigates the unsolved murder of Marsha P. Johnson, a Stonewall veteran and beloved Black transgender gay rights activist and Greenwich Village personality. "The film uses archival interviews with Johnson, and new interviews with Johnson's family, friends and fellow activists, including NYC Puerto Rican-Venezuelan trans rights activist Sylvia Rivera. When Johnson turned up dead shortly after Gay Pride in 1992, it was the latest in a series of murders, gay bashings, and "mysterious" deaths in the local gay community. Johnson is seen in footage at a political march shortly before this, at an action trying to draw attention to these hate crimes. Tragically, Johnson then becomes the next victim. Like the other suspicious deaths, Johnson's death is quickly dismissed as a "suicide", even though there is no evidence that Johnson was suicidal, and significant evidence that Johnson was harassed and stalked on that very night. Demonstrations are held to protest the lack of police investigation, but it is not until decades later that transgender rights advocate Victoria Cruz succeeds in getting some answers." (Synopsis adapted from IMDb)
You will need to visit Netflix and have a Netflix account to watch this film in its entirety.
Available via ISU Library's subscription to Films on Demand: "Stonewall Uprising explores the dramatic events that launched a worldwide civil rights movement. When police raided a Mafia-run gay bar in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969, gay men and women did something they had not done before—they fought back. As the streets of New York erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations, the collective anger announced that the gay rights movement had arrived."
From American Experience, PBS: "When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay male bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world." This multi-part documentary includes numerous interviews with Stonewall veterans. Yvonne Ritter is one of only three women, and the only trans woman, included in the interviews. Trans youth and women played a very active role in the Stonewall uprising. In part 1 of the interview, Ritter explains that she was an important eye witness who was present at the Stonewall on the night of the raid, celebrating her 18th birthday there and wearing her mother's cocktail dress. In part 2 she discusses her own identity as a trans woman and states the uprising felt like "the beginning of the end of oppression" against gays, lesbians, and transgender people.
The entire collection of 48 interviews is available for viewing on the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) website.
You may watch interviews full-screen by visiting the Stonewall Uprising Interviews site of the AAPB.
Video and transcripts, part 1 (via LGBT Studies in Video; requires ISU login)
Video and transcripts, part 2 (via LGBT Studies in Video; requires ISU login)
Note that the links to the right of the embedded Yvonne Ritter interviews below do not work; this entire block of content (of video on the left and dead links on the right) is embedded from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB). The AAPB is the only site we have discovered that allows embedding of the full video content, which unfortunately includes these dead links that we cannot update.
