LGBT READING &
WATCHLIST
LGBT people are one of the few minorities that do not share that
minority with their parents. As such, a lot of people struggle to
come to terms with their identity because they have no firm
understanding of their history or people to relate to. It is my
firm belief that for us to understand ourselves better we need to
understand our past and our culture.
This list a compilation of LGBT, with particular focus on the G,
works that you can watch, read, listen to and, ultimately learn
from so that you can further understand the past, the struggle of
our LGBT brothers and sisters for the rights and privileges we all
enjoy now and some people to relate to. Whether they be real or
fictitious.
This list is NOT extensive. There are hundreds of films, series,
books, plays and documentaries as well as podcasts and media
online that you can watch.
Listed in this booklet are a few of the more popular and highly
applauded works. Some you will like, some you won’t. That’s ok.
There is no right or wrong. This list, as well as the entire
Geducation section of the lab is to empower you, to educate and
most of all, show you that you are not alone and you are part of
a diverse, gifted and extremely special community.
PLAYS
*Angels in America
Focuses on the stories of two troubled couples, one gay and one
straight. A complex and metaphorical examination of AIDS and
homosexuality.
*Boys in the band
Revolving around a group of gay men who gather for a birthday
party in New York City.
Everybody’s talking about Jamie
Following a 16 year old teenager as he overcomes prejudice and
beats the bullies when he steps out of the darkness to become a
drag queen.
Bare: A pop opera
Following a group of teens as they wrestle with their identities,
sexuality and religion at a co-ed catholic boarding school.
The normal heart
Focusing on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City
between 1981 and 1984.
Rent
Following the ups and downs of a year in the life of a group of
impoverished, artistic friends living in Manhattan’s East village.
READING (FICTION)
Call me by your name
A blossoming romantic relationship between an intellectually precocious and
curious 17 year old American—Italian Jewish boy and a 24-year-old American Jewish
scholar in 1980s Italy.
Tales of the city
Focusing on the people who live in a boarding house turned apartment complex
owned by Anna Madrigal at 28 Barbary Lane, all of whom quickly become part of a
‘logical family’. It is no longer a secret that Mrs Madrigal is transgender.
The line of beauty
Exploring tensions between Nick’s intimate relationship with the Fedden family,
whose parties and holidays he participates in. The realities of his sexuality and gay
life are accepted by the Feddens’ only if he never mentions it.
A single man
Set in 1962, just after the Cuban missile crisis. Describing the last day in the life of
George Falconer, a 58-year-old expat Englishman who is living in Santa Monica
and teaching at a university in LA.
The city and the pillar
The story of a young man who is coming of age and discovers his own
homosexuality. (The first post-world-war ll novel whose gay protagonist is
portrayed in a sympathetic manner and not killed off).
Giovanni’s room
Focusing on the events of an American man living in Paris. His feelings and
frustrations with his relationship with other men in his life, particularly an Italian
bartender named Giovanni.
City of night
Based in part of his own experiences as an itinerant male prostitute in the late
1950s. A powerful evocation of a nameless narrator’s journey through the
underside of America’s urban wasteland.
On being different
What it means to be a homosexual – an essay to the writer Merle Miller published in
the New York times magazine two years after the Stonewall riots.
Boy erased
A memoir by Garrard Conley recounting his childhood in a fundamentalist
Arkansas family that enrolled him in conversion therapy.
Maurice
A tale of homosexual love in early 20th century England, following Maurice from
his schooldays through university and beyond
READING (NON FICTION)
*Velvet rage
Drawing on contemporary research, psychologist Alan Downs own struggle with
shame and anger with stories from his patients. It passionately describes the
stages of a gay man’s journey.
*Straight jacket
A revolutionary clarion call for gay men and the wider LGBT community. Part
memoir and part ground-breaking polemic looking beneath the shiny façade of
contemporary gay culture.
We are everywhere
Combining exhaustively researched narrative with meticulously curated
photographs. The book traces queer activism from its roots in late nineteenth
century Europe, before the Stonewall riots.
How to survive a plague
The untold story of the efforts that turned AIDS into a mostly manageable
condition and the improbable group of young men and women who, with no
scientific training infiltrated government agencies and the pharmaceutical
industry, helping to identify promising new compounds.
*Good as you
A story of Britain’s brothers, cousins and sons. Sometimes fathers and husbands.
Public outrage and personal loss, the not always legal highs and desperate lows.
The Stonewall reader
A collection of first accounts, diaries, periodic literature and articles from LGBT
magazines/newspapers that documented the years leading up to the riots.
Queer intentions
Join Amelia Abraham crying at the first same sex marriage in Britain, losing herself
in the world’s biggest drag convention, marching at Pride and understanding the
extremes of trans life today.
How we fight for our lives
A stunning coming of age memoir. A young, black gay man from the south fighting
to carve a place for himself within his family, his country and his own hopes, desires
and fears.
*Gypsy boy
Born into a Romany Gypsy family and little being known about their way of life.
After centuries of persecution, Gypsies are wary of outsiders and if you choose to
leave you can never come back.
TV SERIES
*Queer as Folk (UK version)
Follow the lives of three gay men living in Manchester’s gay village around Canal
Street.
Pose
While New York witnesses the evolution of the ball culture and the rise of the
Trump-era and LGBT ball fixture, Bianca starts her own house and turns from
mother to a gifted dancer and sex worker.
Cucumber
Delving into the 21st century gay life of Henry and boyfriend Lance.
Banana
An anthology that focuses on the lives of eight LGBT couples living in Manchester.
*It’s a sin
Richie, Colin and Roscoe leave home at 18 to begin new lives in 1981 London and
find themselves tested by a virus most of the world ignores.
*Angels in America (HBO series)
Adapted from the play about social, sexual and religious issues facing 1980s
America as the AIDS crisis gains momentum.
Glee
An optimistic high-school teacher tried to transform the school’s new choir club by
roping in a group of ‘misfit’ students to participate.
Will and Grace
A gay lawyer allows his best friend - an interior designer - to stay in his house for a
temporary period after her marriage falls apart, but she ends up being his
permanent room mate.
*Schitt’s Creek
A married couple suddenly go bankrupt and the only remaining asset they have is
an ugly small-town named Schitt’s Creek.
*Special
A gay man with cerebral palsy who decides to do away with his identity as an
accident victim and go after a life that he wants.
Queer eye
A fab five set out to Atlanta to help some of the city’s people refine their
wardrobes, grooming, diet, cultural pursuits and home décor.
DOCUMENTARIES
*Paris is burning
Drag queens living in New York City and their ‘house’ culture, providing a sense of
community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers.
*In bed with Madonna
Chronicles Madonna’s controversial 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. Behind the
scenes looks at relationships with dancers, crew, her then boyfriend, friends and
family.
How to survive a plague
About the early years of the AIDS epidemic and the efforts of activist groups ACT
UP and TAG.
Gay chorus deep south
The San Francisco gey men’s chorus embarks on a tour of America’s deep south.
Gaycation
Ellen Page heads out with best friend Ian on a journey to explore various LGBT
cultures around the world.
Gay and under attack
How young, black and Asian gays and transexuals meet hostility from their own
communities.
*Welcome to Chechnya: The gay purge
Laying bare the Russian federation republic’s war against gay citizens. Countless
killed and hundreds missing. The LGBT community living in fear and secrecy.
MOVIES
An early frost
A successful lawyer is gay, but he has always hidden this part of his life from his
family. All that changes when he goes home to tell his family he has AIDS.
The normal heart
Focusing on the rise of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City between 1981 and 1984.
Soft lad
A young man involved in a love affair that will change his life forever. Wrestling with
demons and coming to terms with sexuality which leaves lives destroyed in the
wake.
*Pride
Realising they share common foes in Margaret Thatcher, the police and the
conservative press, London based gay and lesbian activists lend their support to
striking miners in 1984 Wales.
Get real
Steven spends his school days longing for all-star-athlete John. John has a
gorgeous girlfriend and Steven is still in the closet about being gay.
*Beautiful thing
Shy Jamie and athletic Ste are teen boys who live near each other in the London
projects. Both boys think they could be gay and finally explore their feelings after
an incident leads Ste to stay at Jamie’s place.
Gods own country
A young farmer numbs his frustrations with drinking and casual sex until a
Romanian migrant worker sets him on a new path.
Brokeback mountain
Enns and Jack are two shepherds who develop a sexual and emotional
relationship. Their relationship becomes complicated when both get married to
their respective girlfriends.
Trick
It is lust at first sight when Gabriel, a song writer with Broadway ambitions runs into
Mark - a hot go-go dancer at a local gay club. They head to Gabriel’s place to seal
the deal but are thwarted when Gabriel’s roommate Rich arrives with opposing
plans.
MOVIES
My beautiful launderette
During a street fight Omar bumps into his former lover Johnny. The two rekindle the
romance between them and manage Omar’s uncle’s laundrette, but various social
issues stand in their way of success.
In from the side
Two men in a gay rugby men’s club must conceal an adulterous affair they
unwittingly fall into before it leads to the collapse of the delicate social and political
fabric of the club.
*Milk
An American activist, faces several difficulties while fighting for gay rights and
becomes California’s first openly gay official to be elected to public office.
Birdcage
Armand and Albert have built their perfect life for themselves tending to their
gaudy Miami nightclub. Their pastel harmony is shaken when Armand’s son
decides to marry Senator Keele’s daughter.
*Moonlight
Chiron, a young African American boy, finds guidance in Juan, a drug dealer who
teaches him to carve his own path. As he grows up in Miami, Juan’s advice leaves a
lasting impression on him.
Call me by your name
Summer of 1983 and a precocious 17-year-old Elio is spending the days with his
family at their 17th century villa in Lombardy. He soon meets Oliver,
a handsome doctoral student working as an intern for Elio’s father. They discover
the heady beauty of awakening desire that alters their life forever.
