I'll show you mine if you show me yours - Queer media playlists for Pride 🏳️‍🌈

so, every Pride, I have a Playlist of my top LGBTQ+ materials: tv series, films, and documentaries that focus on LGBTQ+ characters and/or issues. some are oldies and goldies, some are newer. Here are some of my highlights, what are yours?

TV

• Queer as Folk (UK) - the original groundbreaking, gritty, unrelenting BBC series that inspired others. It's a story of a group of Manchester gays and lesbians (and their cohorts) who blazed their rainbow road through an unsuspecting English city. It ran for 2 seasons. (1998-1999)
• Queer as Folk (US) - if the UK original was groundbreaking, this Showtime US version was Earth-fucking-shattering. Beyond anything the original could imagine (or anything ever seen on American television). Set in Pittsburg, PA, and running for five award-winning seasons, this series broke ground, pushed boundaries in homes and on television, and changed an entire nation's perception of the LGBTQ+ community for the better through its honest portrayal of the good - and the bad - of how people are people, love is love, and sex is sex. Often graphic, and always rude, this series - although a bit dated in its sensibilities today - served as a weekly sanctuary for countless people during the oppressive and hateful Bush Administration while actively urging its viewers to take political action to demand equal rights NOW-- and we did, and won them!. (2000-2005)
• Queer as Folk (US 2022) - neither a remake nor a reboot, but a spiritually-faithful continuation of a theme, this series is set in New Orleans, LA juuuuust post-pandemic. It tells a story of a group of friends making their way through a world beset by the backlash of LGBTQ+ acceptance of the previous generation, and beset by the terrorist actions present and which affect us all today-- and the aftermath, recovery, and how we can all survive and persevere. (2022)
• Tales of the City - a miniseries told in multiple parts: Tales of the City (1993), More Tales of the City (1998), Further Tales of the City (2001), and Tales of the City (2019), Armistead Maupin's serial stories come to life. A tale told over 50 years, from the 70s to today, of a group of friends, lovers, roommates, and neighbors of life and love in San Fransisco. Winner of multiple awards, namely for performances by Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis.
• It's a Sin (2021) - Russell T Davies, of Doctor Who fame, presents this 5-part miniseries set in London in 1981, as a group of friends navigate the ups and downs of the HIV/AIDS crisis. (2021)
• Looking/Looking A TV series and follow-up film, this series follows a group of friends in San Fransisco as they navigate the complexities and nuances of gay relationships in San Fransisco. Featuring Jonathan Groff and Russel Tovey (2014-2015, 2016)

these are just my favs, list yours in the comments below!

Film

• Beautiful Thing (1996) - a heartwarming tale of two working-class kids in a South London estate who find - through bullying, abuse, and social conflict - common ground, companionship, compassion, and love. And Mama Cass. This served as a seminal gay teen film for, at least, two generations. It's lovely.
• The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) - Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terence Stamp play 3 drag queens traveling by decrepit bus from Sydney across the Australian outback to a cabaret engagement, meeting adventures along the way. Featuring enough Abba to tide you over until next year's rewatch.
• Gods Own Country (2017) - Spring. Yorkshire. Young farmer Johnny Saxby numbs the pains of his doldrum life with binge drinking and casual sex until a hired Romanian farmhand ignites new passions and sets him on a new path that changes both of their lives forever. Featuring Josh O'Conner (The Crown) and his fantastic cock. He won a BAFTA for this. A fantastic film.
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) - based on the brilliant off-Broadway/Broadway show of the same name, this film tells the story of an East Berlin ex-pat who has to undergo a forced sex-reassignment to emigrate to the US, where she reinvents herself as a talented rock diva inhabiting a "beautiful gender of one". Featuring award-winning music and performances, including "The Origin of Love", this is a cornerstone of queer culture. (I saw this in 1996 off-broadway, and met John Cameron Mitchell then. Amazing person!) Neil Patric Harris played Hedwig in the Broadway re-visit in the mid-2010s and won a Tony. The soundtrack won a Grammy.
• The Imitation Game (2014) - You like computers? Thank Alan Turing, the gay man who invented modern computing to defeat the Nazis on behalf of England. and this is that story-- and the story of how England felt that defeating the fucking Nazis wasn't enough to forgive him for who he loved. Featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.
• Rent (2005) - 525,600 reason to watch this film, but it still will never compare to the Broadway show, which I saw first-run in 1995. still, it's incredible, the music is spectacular, and who doesn't want to see a bunch of struggling gays, hustlers, and junkies live their story in 1980s NYC Alphabet City fighting AIDS, The Man (and their shitbag landlord)?
• Free Fall/Frier Fallen (2013) - a German film about a German police officer in training, with a wife and baby on the way, who meets another trainee who sparks feelings he's never had before... feelings which lead to more... and the devastating consequences of his decisions for himself and those he loves. Basically, the German Brokeback Mountain*, but with a much more authentic and realistic feel. Featuring Hanno Koffler and Max Remmelt.
• Moonlight (206) - a young, gay black man is guided to adulthood in Miami by the kindness and love of his community and an unlikely father figure portrayed by Mahershala Ali in one of his best roles ever. Ali won an Ocasar for Best Supporting Acor, and the film won Best Picture in 2016.

There are soooo many more shows and films that are immutable classics, but this is just a basic list of my favs. Please, add your own!

edit: I'll do a separate post for documentaries and docu-series.