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A history of LGBTQ+ representation in film


Fox 2000 Pictures

A history of LGBTQ+ representation in film



Edison Manufacturing Company

1894: ‘The Dickson Experimental Sound Film’ as first gay film



The Essanay Film Manufacturing Company

1915: Charlie Chaplin is ‘A Woman’



Lone Star Corporation

1916: ‘Behind the Curtain’ employs the first gay gag



UCLA Film & Television Archive

1919: ‘Anders als die Anderen’ advocates for LGBTQ+ acceptance



Paramount Pictures

1922: ‘Manslaughter’ includes film’s first ‘erotic’ gay kiss



Nazimova Productions

1922: Gay collaboration during the filming of ‘Salome’



Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation

1927: Two soldiers kiss in the first Best Picture winner



Nero-Film AG

1929: ‘Pandora’s Box’ features cinema’s first lesbian character



Donaldson Collection // Getty Images

1930: In ‘Morocco,’ the leading lady kisses another woman



Deutsche Film-Gemeinschaft

1931: ‘Mädchen in Uniform’ tells an explicitly lesbian story



Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

1933: ‘Queen Christina’ includes hints of its subject’s lesbianism



Kurt Hutton // Getty Images

1934: Hollywood’s Hays Code is strictly enforced



RKO Radio Pictures

1938: ‘Bringing Up Baby’ uses ‘gay’ in a queer context



Warner Bros.

1941: A newly queer-coded villain in ‘The Maltese Falcon’



Warner Bros.

1948: Gayness and murder collide in Hitchock’s ‘Rope’



Filmsonor

1950s: ‘Pit of Loneliness’ broaches 1950s lesbianism



Warner Bros.

1955: ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ features the ‘first onscreen gay teenager’



Allied Film Makers (AFM)

1961: ‘Victim’ criticizes British homophobia



The Mirisch Corporation

1961: ‘The Children’s Hour’ portrays sympathetic yet tragic lesbianism



Shirley Clarke Productions

1967: ‘Portrait of Jason’ explores ’60s Black gay identity



Palomar Pictures (I)

1968: ‘The Killing of Sister George’



Evening Standard/Hulton Archive // Getty Images

1968: The Hays Code is officially lifted



Art Theatre Guild (ATG)

1969: ‘Funeral Parade of Roses’ explores Tokyo’s gay scene



Cinema Center Films

1970: ‘The Boys in the Band’ centers on a gay friend group



Dreamland

1972: ‘Pink Flamingos’ cements John Waters as the ‘Pope of Trash’



Warner Bros.

1975: ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ brings a real-life gay crime to the Oscars



Twentieth Century Fox

1975: The pinnacle of queer camp



Barbara Alper // Getty Images

1978: ‘Word Is Out’ highlights 26 queer documentary subjects



Lorimar Film Entertainment

1980: ‘Cruising’ inspires backlash



IndieProd Company Productions

1982: ‘Making Love’ sets out to produce gay role models



Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

1983: ‘The Hunger’ becomes a queer cult classic



Desert Hearts Productions

1985: ‘Desert Hearts’ gives lesbians a happy ending



Rondo Productions

1986: ‘Parting Glances’ deals with the AIDS crisis



Art Matters Inc.

1990: ‘Paris Is Burning’ spotlights New York ballroom culture



Fred Hayes // Getty Images

1992: B. Ruby Rich coins ’New Queer Cinema‘



TriStar Pictures

1993: Tom Hanks and ‘Philadelphia’ break down barriers



ARTE

1995: ‘The Celluloid Closet’ chronicles LGBTQ+ film history



Universal Pictures

1995: ‘To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar’ makes drag mainstream



Dancing Girl

1996: ‘The Watermelon Woman’ becomes first film by Black lesbian



Fox Searchlight Pictures

1999: Hilary Swank plays a trans teenager in ‘Boys Don’t Cry’



HECTOR MATA // Getty Images

1999: Pedro Almodóvar wins big for ‘All About My Mother’



Focus Features

2005: Audiences can’t quit ‘Brokeback Mountain’



Bryan Bedder // Getty Images

2010: ‘The Kids Are All Right,’ and they got a Best Picture nomination



Chicken And Egg Pictures

2011: ‘Pariah’ announces an exciting new lesbian filmmaker



Daniele Venturelli // Getty Images

2013: ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ wins the Palme d’Or



Duplass Brothers Productions

2015: Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor star in ‘Tangerine’



Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal // Getty Images

2017: ‘Moonlight’ wins Best Picture



Kevin Winter // Getty Images

2018: ‘A Fantastic Woman’ wins Best Foreign Language Film



Scott Ehler // Getty Images

2018: ‘Love, Simon’ tells a gay high school love story



Pascal Le Segretain // Getty Images

2018: ‘Rafiki’ becomes the first Kenyan film at Cannes



Neon

2019: A record year for representation, with notable asterisks



Netflix

2021: ‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ brings LGBTQ+ character into mainstream children’s entertainment


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