Films/Movies

It is often a challenge to find people like us on the big screen; in particular, it can be difficult to find portrayals that do not perpetuate stereotypes and myths. The following is a list of films that are representative of our community alone with a brief section about the film. They are sorted by ratings; remember to check the film’s rating before viewing, as every film may not be appropriate for everyone. (All synopses taken from Netflix unless otherwise noted)

PG-13 (PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.)

• A World Unseen

In a world where boundaries are rigidly defined, two wildly different women tentatively cross them in this story that focuses on their budding romance in apartheid South Africa. One is a taxi-driving, café-owning rebel; the other is a devoted mother and wife.

• Big Eden

Successful but lonely New York artist Henry Hart returns to Big Eden to care for his ailing grandfather and winds up confronting his unrequited passion for his high school best friend and his feelings about being gay in a small town.

• D.E.B.S.

Encrypted within the SAT is a secret test that measures a girl’s potential for espionage. Amy, Janet, Dominique and Max score so high that they’re recruited to join the elite paramilitary group known as D.E.B.S. But when their mission to capture arch villainess Lucy Diamond gets complicated, even their spy skills might not be able to save them.

• Far From Heaven

When she finds her husband with another man, a Connecticut housewife finds herself dealing with infidelity and the racial tension that epitomized the late 1950s at the advent of the Civil Rights movement in America.

• Grey Matters

Sam and Gray are a devoted brother and sister who share a dwelling and a love of many things — ballroom dancing, 1940s movie musicals and, much to their surprise, strong feelings for an attractive woman. But Gray, who’s historically heterosexual, is confused by her strange new feelings.

• I Can’t Think Straight

When Tala and Leyla meet in London and begin to have feelings for each other, it’s a problem. Tala’s wealthy Middle Eastern family is currently planning her wedding, while Leyla is dating Tala’s male friend.

• Nina’s Heavenly Delights

Born into an Indian expatriate family and raised in Glasgow, Nina flees to London to avoid an arranged marriage. But when she returns home to run her family’s struggling restaurant after her father’s death, she discovers a new kind of love.

• Philadelphia

Philadelphia attorney Andrew Beckett launches a wrongful termination suit against the hand that feeds him when his law firm finds out about his HIV-positive status — and his homosexuality — and fires him.

• The Color Purple

Whoopi Goldberg stars as Celie, a Southern woman whose correspondence with her sister in Africa helps her escape an abusive husband and a life of bitter circumstance.

• To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

In this wacky comedy, three New York drag queens on their way to Hollywood for a beauty pageant get stranded in a small Midwestern town for the entire weekend when their car breaks down.

TV-14 (PARENTS STRONGLY CAUTIONED This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age.)

• Elephant in the Room

Discover the challenges and conflict experienced by gays and lesbians in the Republican Party in this eye-opening documentary from Logo, the first LGBT network. Focusing on three individuals, the program reveals the difficulty of being openly gay in a political party that traditionally takes a dim view of the gay lifestyle.

R (RESTRICTED Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.)

• A Home At the End Of the World

Boyhood pals Bobby and Jonathan both love the same woman, but in different ways. (For one thing, Jonathan is gay). Yet, undaunted, they all try to make a life together — and even have a baby — in 1980s New York.

• Albert Nobbs

Having for decades disguised herself as a man while working as a butler in a posh 19th-century Dublin hotel, a woman calling herself Albert Nobbs reconsiders her charade when a handsome painter arrives on the scene.

• All Over Me

Fifteen-year-olds Claude and Ellen are best friends growing up in tough New York City. But the violent homophobic murder of their friend threatens to tear them apart, with Ellen sucked into a destructive world of violence and drugs.

• Amour de Femme

Jeanne, a beautiful wife and mother, feels herself slipping further into loneliness and isolation every day. Her mainstream existence is crushing her, and her relationship with her husband becomes distant and strained.

• And the Band Played On

Based on journalist Randy Shilts’s controversial tome detailing the emergence of AIDS in America, this gripping, made-for-cable film follows doctors at the Centers for Disease Control as they search for a cure. But an ambivalent U.S. government, red tape and ego battles between French and American researchers thwart the CDC’s efforts.

• April’s Shower

Love, laughter and friendship take center stage in this touching comedy, in which accomplished chef Alex is consumed with the preparations for the bridal shower she’s throwing for her best friend, April . Although they’re close, the two are experiencing friction, the cause of which they have yet to reveal.

• Beautiful Thing

The iconoclastic, underachieving denizens of a southeast London apartment building get an emotional wake-up call when two teenage boys — next-door neighbors Jamie and Ste — unexpectedly fall in love.

• Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss

Billy is more passionate about his Polaroid camera than anything else, until a hunky — but straight — waiter named Gabriel comes along. He convinces Gabriel to participate in his latest photography project, an opus that involves homoerotic re-creations of classic movie moments.

• Boys Don’t Cry

Based on actual events, director Kimberly Peirce’s powerful, often harrowing drama stars Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena, a transgender young man searching for love and acceptance in a small Midwestern town.

• Brokeback Mountain

While working together near Wyoming’s Brokeback Mountain in 1963, sheepherders Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar begin an increasingly passionate affair. But keeping their relationship a secret from their wives proves agonizing and all-consuming.

• The Broken Hearts Club

The lives of a group of gay friends in West Hollywood revolve around the Broken Hearts, a restaurant run by the fatherly Jackb and the softball team he sponsors. The friends rely on each other for conversation and camaraderie as they search for love and mourn their many losses.

• But I’m a Cheerleader

In this hilarious satire, Megan Bloomfield lives a “”normal”" teen life as a cheerleader dating the captain of the football team. But her parents and friends suspect Megan is gay because of “”clues,”" such as her distaste for kissing her boyfriend.

• Desert Hearts

Uptight literature professor Vivian Bell heads to Reno, Nev., in 1959 for a quickie divorce. While staying with Frances Parker at her ranch to establish residency, Bell meets Parker’s adopted daughter, a casino worker 10 years her junior.

• Get Real

Steven is an average student at his middle-class high school, but he’s harboring a big secret: He’s gay. His only confidant is best friend Linda — until he meets John, the school’s star jock who’s seemingly straight and dating a model.

• Girl, Interupted

Diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, Susanna Kaysen gets sent to a mental institution for a short stay but spends the next year avoiding her fears, descending into the skewed world of people who truly belong on the inside.

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch

After a botched sex [realignment surgery], East German glam rocker Hansel becomes Hedwig and travels across the United States with a stage show, following her ex-boyfriend (and former band mate) and telling her life story.

• High Art

Magazine editor Syd is stuck in a dreary relationship with her boyfriend when she befriends her upstairs neighbor Lucy, a well-known photographer whose live-in actress girlfriend is struggling with a drug addiction.

• If These Walls Could Talk 2

Following the same premise as the first movie — focusing on three different women from three generations who’ve occupied the same house — this Emmy-winning follow-up trains its lens on three lesbian couples.

• Imagine Me & You

In this unconventional romantic comedy that gives new meaning to the term “cold feet,” bride-to-be Rachel is love-struck — not with her groom, but rather with another woman who’s a guest at their wedding.

• It’s My Party

This bittersweet film stars Eric Roberts as Nick, a gay man with AIDS who learns he’s contracted a terminal brain disease. Nick decides to throw himself a two-day farewell party, where friends and family gather to offer their good-byes — the most touching of which comes from Nick’s former mate, Brandon, who left Nick when he learned he contracted HIV.

• Jeffrey

In this comedy adapted from Paul Rudnick’s off-Broadway hit play, a young, gay actor/waiter finds “”Mr. Right”" after becoming celibate — a move inspired by his fear of AIDS.

• Kiss Me Guido

Aspiring actor Frankie is a macho, homophobic Italian-American from the Bronx. But when he finds out his brother has been sleeping with his girl, he hits the classifieds for a new place to live. Thinking that “”GWM”" means “”Guy With Money,”" Frankie moves in with, a gay actor.

• Kissing Jessica Stein

Jessica is a single, straight, successful New York journalist who, like most of her female friends, has had a history of dating (male) creeps. But when she answers an intriguing personal ad from Helen, Jessica finds herself intensely drawn to her.

• Longtime Companion

This ensemble piece centers on a group of gay men in 1980s New York City whose lives are changed by the puzzling new “gay cancer.” The first film to have AIDS as its main subject, Longtime Companion is a powerful mix of historical realism and bittersweet drama.

• Lost and Delirious

Mary doesn’t want to attend the posh boarding school her father and stepmother have selected, but once there she quickly befriends her new roommates: the sophisticated Paulie and the well-traveled

• Ma Vie En Rose (My Life In Pink)

Convinced he’s a girl trapped in a boy’s body, 7-year-old Ludovic expresses his true self by regularly donning girls’ clothing, putting a strain on his perplexed family — and, of course, sending shockwaves among his bigoted neighbors.

• Mambo Italiano

When Angelo announces he’s moving out, his old-fashioned, Italian immigrant parents, Maria and Gino, nearly have a fit. After all, dutiful sons are supposed to stay home until they’re married.

• Maurice

Set in pre- World War I England, this Merchant-Ivory drama (based on the controversial E.M. Forster novel written in 1914 is about the coming of age of two young college men who meet at Cambridge University and fall in love.

• Milk

Sean Penn (in an Oscar-winning role) stars in this fact-based drama about Harvey Milk, the openly gay activist and San Francisco politician who was murdered along with Mayor George Moscone (Victor Garber) by disgruntled city supervisor Dan White (Josh Brolin) in 1978. Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna co-star in director Gus Van Sant’s compelling biopic, which also earned Oscar nods for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Brolin).

• My Beautiful Laundrette

Omar, a Pakistani, and his old school chum Johnny use stolen drug money to renovate a laundrette in a squalid London neighborhood. But conflicting interests soon threaten their newfound success.

• My Summer of Love

Pawel Pawlikowski’s BAFTA award-winning film juxtaposes the secret longings of two very different young women: Mona, who’s bored and tired of poverty, and Tamsin, who’s long ceased to be impressed with her well-heeled lifestyle.

• Out of the Past

This star-studded film, featuring the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Ed Norton and directed by Jeff Dupre, documents the efforts of one girl, Kelli Peterson, to fight discrimination in deeply conservative Salt Lake City.

• Saving Face

Dutiful daughter Wil hides her sexual orientation from her traditional Chinese family; meanwhile, Wil’s widowed mother gets pregnant out of wedlock.

• Shelter

Zach sacrifices his dream of going to art school to support his ill father, sister and her young son in this moving drama. He finds happiness surfing with buddy Gabe.

• Soldier’s Girl

This powerful drama tells the true story of a young soldier, Pfc. Barry Winchell, who meets and falls for a beautiful transgendered nightclub performer while on a drunken outing with fellow soldiers.

• Pariah

Brooklyn teen Alike (Adepero Oduye) is a model child around her devoutly religious family, but she sheds the good-girl image to reveal a harder side during a nightclub excursion with butch pal Laura (Pernell Walker) in this coming-of-age tale of urban identity and sexual expression. With curfew looming and her parents none the wiser, Alike must catch the bus back home, where she faces the complex negotiation of her contradictory worlds.

• Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Invited to perform at a casino in remote Alice Springs, Australia, drag queens Mitzi and Felicia and transsexual Bernadette hit the road in a broken-down lavender bus named Priscilla in this campy comedy classic.

• The Birdcage

Longtime lovers Armand Goldman and Albert Goldman own a Miami drag club, but when Armand’s son announces his intent to marry the daughter of a stuffy U.S. Senator, Armand decides he has to fake a “”normal”" family. ”

• The Boys in the Band

From director William Friedkin comes this trailblazing 1970s drama about a close-knit group of gay friends’ reunion at their pal’s birthday party, where snippets from each person’s life are revealed throughout the evening.

• The Celluloid Closet

Narrated by Lily Tomlin, this acclaimed documentary takes its name from Vito Russo’s groundbreaking book. The filmmakers examine the subtext of more than 100 Hollywood movies — including Spartacus, Rope and Thelma and Louise — and chart the cinematic journey of lesbian and gay characters.

• The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love

While working part-time at her aunt’s gas station, defiant tomboy Randy Dean falls in love with Evie Roy, a rich, straight honor student who’s already in a relationship. The two girls navigate the magical and confusing world of young love.

• The Kids are Alright

Joni and Laser, the children of same-sex parents Nic and Jules, become curious about the identity of their sperm-donor dad and set out to make him part of their family unit, often with hilarious results.

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show

This notorious horror parody — a fast-paced potpourri of camp, sci-fi and rock ‘n’ roll, among other things — tracks the exploits of naïve couple Brad and Janet after they stumble upon the lair of transvestite Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

• The Wedding Banquet

This lyrical film by Ang Lee dares to expand the definition of love. Wei Tong is a successful Manhattan businessman enjoying a thriving relationship with his live-in lover, Simon. Life is perfect, except his parents don’t know he’s gay.

• Torch Song Trilogy

This film adaptation of Harvey Fierstein’s Tony Award-winning Broadway play traces three distinct episodes over a 10-year period in the life of middle-aged gay man Arnold Beckoff as he tries to find a lasting relationship.

• Transamerica

Bree gets the shock of her life a week before her final sex change surgery when she discovers a son she didn’t know she had. After bailing him out of jail, the two set out on a cross-country journey riddled with road bumps.

NC-17 (NO ONE 17 AND UNDER ADMITTED)

• Bent

A Berlin homosexual is caught up in the Nazi hysteria during World War II in this drama based on the play by Martin Sherman. After being forced to kill his lover, he’s placed in a concentration camp and lies to get himself classified as Jewish rather than gay.

UR (UNRATED This film has not been rated by the MPAA. Example: classic films, films whose DVD content differs from the original theatrical release)

• Gia

A young Angelina Jolie is mesmerizing in her breakout role as supermodel Gia Carangi, a cover girl who lived fast and died at age 26 from the ravages of AIDS, in this fact-based HBO biopic that won an Emmy and two Golden Globes. The film follows Gia from busing tables at her father’s diner to the glamorous world of high-fashion photography — and finally to her downward spiral into drugs and toxic relationships.

• Latter Days

This controversial film explores the consequences of a young Mormon missionary, Aaron, recognizing his homosexuality and falling in love with another man. Aaron’s first sexual encounter with a gay “”party boy”" leads to a passionate romance.

• The Bubble

When a young Israeli named Noam falls for a handsome Palestinian he meets while working at a checkpoint in Tel Aviv, he recruits his roommates Yelli and Lulu to help find a way for the two to stay together.

• Trembling Before G-D

Two hot-button issues — homosexuality and religion — are thrust together in this revealing documentary by Sandi Simcha Dubowski. Gay and lesbian Jews who have been cast off by their families and by religious figures are interviewed in major metropolitan areas across the globe.

• When Night is Falling

A professor at a Christian college, Camille enjoys a conventional life with her minister fiancé, Martin. But when reserved Camille meets free-spirited circus acrobat Petra, her conservative life takes a sensuous left turn.

NR (NOT RATED This film has not been rated by the MPAA. Example: programs originally aired on television)

• 29th & Gay

As he approaches the dreaded age of 30, James Sanchez — an out-of-work actor with thinning hair, a growing stack of bills and, worst of all, no boyfriend — is beginning to believe that life has passed him by.

• A Family Affair

Dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker Rachel moves to San Diego, where her parents now live, in search of a new life and a new love. When her mother, who’s adapted quite well to the laid-back California scene, wants to set Rachel up with a woman named Christine, Rachel refuses at first.

• A Jihad For Love

Documenting the quandary of gay Muslims via the perspective of subjects from countries such as India, Iran and Turkey, director Parvez Sharma chronicles their struggles to square their sexual orientation with their faith, which forbids homosexuality.

• Aimée & Jaguar

Based on the memoirs of Lilly Wust, this is the story of two women who fall in love in 1943 Berlin: Lilly, the wife of a Nazi officer, and Felice, a Jewish journalist. When the two women begin their affair, they rechristen themselves Aimée and Jaguar to help avoid detection.

• Almost Normal

At 40, single Brad Jenkins feels like a loser — till he’s magically transported back to high school, where nearly all the students are now homosexual. Brad dates the hot jock, but everything changes when Brad’s best pal arrives on the scene.

• And Then Came Summer

In this story of sexual discovery and the resulting fallout that can happen within a family, a reunion vacation becomes unforgettable when two teenage boys discover their feelings for each other, only to be found out by their friends and relatives.

• Angels in America

Starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep, the drama examines the first few years of the AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s, set against the moral absolutism and unresponsive backdrop of the Reagan Administration.

• Beautiful Boxer

Kickboxer Parinaya Charoemphol harbors an unusual secret: He’s transgender. Inspired by a famous Thai pugilist who lived two drastically different lives, this award-winning drama recounts Parinaya’s painful attempts to exist in paradoxical worlds.

• Before Stonewall

Life was very different before the 1969 Stonewall riots put the issue of gay rights front and center in America. Using archival films and interviews with gays and lesbians who were forced to hide their sexuality for fear of reprisals.

• Better Than Chocolate

Scant hours before her uptight mother and brother move in with her, Maggie meets the woman of her dreams. Though Mom is oblivious to her daughter’s sexual orientation, it’s a tough thing to hide in close quarters.

• Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story

U.S. diving sensation Greg Louganis gained worldwide fame at the 1988 Olympic Games, winning two gold medals after clunking his head on the platform during a difficult high dive. Not long after, Louganis “”came out”" to the public and announced he was HIV positive and gay.

• Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin

This Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee chronicles the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who, among many contributions to the cause, is best known for organizing the 1963 March on Washington, D.C., involving hundreds of thousands of people. But Rustin’s skin color wasn’t the only thing that reinforced the feeling that he was an outsider in America. He was also openly gay at a time when most gay men — particularly black men — remained in the closet.

• Brother to Brother

Opposites attract when an elderly homeless man named Richard, once a literary legend of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, befriends gay art student Perry in this sensitive, introspective drama.

• Chutney Popcorn

When Reena, in her feature film debut) learns that married sister Sarita can’t have a baby, she decides to play surrogate mother, but Reena’s girlfriend worries that three might be a crowd.

• Claria’s Summer

Clara and Zoe are excited to be off to summer camp for a week of adventure. Zo quickly hooks up with Sebastien and then is devastated to find he’s dating her just to impress his friends. Flighty Zoe then turns to Clara, telling her she loves her, but Clara rejects her advances.

• Come Undone

While on a family vacation at the French seaside, brooding 18-year-old Mathieu meets Cédric, an attractive carefree boy his own age, and is swept away by the first stirrings of homosexual passion.

• Coming Out Under Fire

In this documentary that examines the U.S. military’s history of discrimination against gays and lesbians, gay men and women relate stories of how they maintained a homosexual identity, although closeted, in the armed forces during World War II.

• Defying Gravity

Frat boy Griff, who works hard to keep his brothers in the dark about his intimate encounters with Pete, is forced to come to terms with his sexual identity in this touching drama. Pete, who left the frat house for a more liberating off-campus life, wants a real relationship, while Griff claims he only wants sex.

• Die, Mommie, Die!

The year is 1967, and Angela Arden is a washed-up pop singer who’s married to Sol but is involved with an unemployed actor named Tony. When Sol turns up dead, all fingers point to Angela.

• East Side Story

Dutiful grandson Diego Campos helps run the family restaurant, hides his gay relationships from his traditional Latino family and faces cultural changes to his ethnic enclave in this film festival favorite set in East Los Angeles.

• Edge of Seventeen

A 17-year-old rediscovers his sexuality in this 1980s story about coming out and its social consequences. Eric takes a job at an amusement park and meets Rod — but finds out too late that his crush just wants sex.

• Elena Undone

When openly gay writer Peyton and love-starved pastor’s wife Elena meet, they immediately form a strong bond. But the warmth of friendship soon erupts into a sizzling affair, forcing both women to confront their unexpected yet intense feelings.

• Finding North

After getting fired on her 30th birthday, bank teller Rhonda encounters Travis, whom she had previously seen trying to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge, and the pair set off on a life-changing journey together.

• Fingersmith

Dark deeds and intrigue abound when petty thief Sue Trinder helps con man Richard Rivers defraud a wealthy heiress, Maud Lilly, of her inheritance. But Trinder’s plans are thwarted when she falls in love with Lilly.

• Finn’s Girl

Following the untimely death of her partner, Nancy, Dr. Finn Jeffries struggles to single-handedly care for the couple’s angst-addled preteen daughter, Zelly, while taking on the responsibility of running the abortion clinic Nancy founded.

• Fire

Two Hindu women struggle with loveless, arranged marriages: Sita, who discovers that her husband has a mistress, and her sister-in-law, Radha, who cannot give birth. As the lukewarm coals of their long-term relationships fade, the women ignite passion in their lives by finding comfort in each other.

• Floored By Love

This comedy follows the dilemmas of two families living in the same apartment complex in Vancouver. After same-sex marriage is sanctioned, lesbian couple Cara and Janet consider tying the knot, which won’t sit well with Cara’s parents. Meanwhile, downstairs neighbor Jesse, a homosexual teen, is elated when his long-absent gay father returns … but Jesse’s stepdad isn’t.

• For the Bible Tells Me So

In this Sundance documentary, director Daniel Karslake goes to the Bible to examine the ways in which conservative Christian groups have used — and sometimes exploited — holy Scripture to deny human rights to gays and lesbians around the world.

• Fried Green Tomatoes

In this adaptation of Fanny Flagg’s novel, flashbacks reveal the remarkable and mysterious story of soul mates Idgie and Ruth Jamison, whose antics cause an uproar in their rural Southern town during the 1920s.

• Gay Republicans

This fascinating documentary scrutinizes a faction of the Republican Party that doesn’t often get face time in the media: the gay members of Log Cabin Republicans (a reference to Abraham Lincoln, the nation’s first Republican president).

• Girl Play

Director Gabriel sets the stage for a real-life drama when he casts lesbians Robin and Lacie in his latest play. Robin is in a long-term relationship, and Lacie isn’t ready to settle down, but as rehearsals continue the two seem to grow closer.

• Glue

Fifteen-year-old Lucas is dealing with the fallout from his parents’ breakup, the new feelings he’s having for his best friend, Nacho, and the band he’s trying to form. Together with awkward Andrea and armed with a bottle of glue, Lucas and Nacho confront the pains and pleasures of adolescence.

• God and Gays: Bridging the Gap

Luane Beck’s revelatory documentary probes the deep-rooted challenges facing gay men and women whose sexual orientation is in direct opposition to the laws and traditions of their faith.

• Goldfish Memory

In this comedy set in contemporary Dublin, Clara is stunned when she finds her boyfriend kissing someone else, setting in motion a string of romantic mishaps for the heartbroken woman and several other lovelorn characters.

• I Exist

Winner of the New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival’s Best Documentary award, Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir’s groundbreaking film gives a voice to gay and lesbian Middle Easterners who live in the United States.

• It’s In The Water

A new AIDS hospice sends a tiny Southern town into a hysterical homophobic frenzy, and the locals start heeding rumors that the facility has tainted the town’s water supply with something that “turns” people gay.

• Itty Bitty Titty Committee

Set in Los Angeles, this sardonic indie comedy helmed by Jamie Babbit follows the exploits of Anna, a lesbian and plastic surgeon’s receptionist who embarks on a wild ride when she joins a cadre of ultra radical feminists.

• Just A Question of Love

Cyrille Thouvenin stars in this bittersweet tale of a twenty something man reluctant to come out of the closet. Laurent keeps his homosexuality a secret, but things get complicated when he falls in love with Cedric.

• Love My Life

When university students Ichiko and Eri fall in love, each handles the lesbian relationship differently: Ichiko decides to come out to her father, while Eri feels she must maintain a conventional facade to make her difficult dad proud.

• Loving Annabelle

An esteemed young poetry teacher at a Catholic boarding school risks everything when she engages in a feverish affair with a female student in this controversial story of forbidden love.

• Out At The Wedding

When New Yorker Alex goes to South Carolina for her sister Jeannie’s wedding, she doesn’t want her bigoted family to know about her black, Jewish fiancé — so instead, they arrive at the conclusion that Alex is gay.

• Paragraph 175

Actor Rupert Everett narrates this disquieting documentary from filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman that exposes the Third Reich’s vicious persecution of male homosexuals during World War II.

• Pedro

Gaining fame on the third season of MTV’s “”The Real World”" in 1994, Pedro Zamora put a face on the growing crisis of AIDS. This moving drama tells the story of this courageous activist, who died the day after the show’s season finale aired.

• Portrait of Marriage

Renowned feminist writer Vita Sackville-West and husband Harold Nicolson shared an open marriage, indulging in same-sex encounters and other taboo practices in an era of strict societal mores.

• Prayers For Bobby

Sigourney Weaver stars in this heartbreaking TV drama inspired by the true story of gay rights advocate Mary Griffith. At odds with her gay son, Bobby, over his sexuality, Mary finds her once-unshakable faith on rocky ground when he commits suicide.

• Prom Queen

It’s prom time, and out-and-proud gay teenager Marc Hall plans to bring his boyfriend, Jason, to the big dance, but when the school board rules to prevent the couple from attending, the media home in on the issue, and Marc finds himself at the center of a national debate.

• Puccini For Beginners

In this love-crazed comedy, commitment-phobic lesbian Allegra is recovering from a breakup with her girlfriend when she starts to fall for a member of the opposite sex — and now she’s questioning her sexuality and her sanity.

• Ready? OK!

When 10-year-old Joshua decides to join the cheerleading squad at his Catholic school, he faces an uphill battle — and opposition from his single mom, Andy, who struggles to understand her Hollywood musical- and pom-pom-loving son.

• Save Me

When young gay man Mark hits rock bottom, the well-intentioned Gayle and her husband, Ted, welcome him to Genesis House, a Christian haven for men like Mark to seek shelter and get on the right path — the straight path.

• Scout’s Honor

This compelling documentary explores the national movement Scouting for All, beginning with its formation in the late 1990s when heterosexual teen Steven Cozza and his father, San Francisco social worker Scott Cozza, petitioned to allow gays to participate openly in the Boy Scouts of America.

• Show Me Love

Elin and Agnes are social opposites. While Elin is gorgeous, lively and wildly popular at school, Agnes is sullen, lonely and rejected as a nerdy lesbian. But when Agnes develops a crush on Elin, the exploration of love between them alleviates Elin’s perpetual boredom.

• Shut Up and Kiss Me

Actor, fitness coach and pinup guy Ronnie Kerr draws on all facets of his far-flung career for this charming autobiographical tale about 35-year-old Ben, who finally meets Mr. Right– and then discovers how much they don’t have in common.

• Sonja

Annoyed with her mother and bored by her boyfriend, 16-year-old Sonja finds her only comfort in the form of her carefree best friend, Julia. But as the summer progresses, Sonja realizes her feelings go far beyond simple friendship.

• Steam

The stories of three very different women — a widow finding a new love, a divorced mom in a relationship with a younger man, and an activist college student eager to come out — intersect in the steam room at the local gym.

• Stranger Inside

Treasure Lee is a bad girl on the move … out of “juvenile” and into the state penitentiary. There, she befriends Brownie, a lifer who deals drugs, using an extended family of loyal girls who swear their undying allegiance to the cell-block mama.

• The Aggressives

Director Daniel Peddle spent five years recording the lives of six “aggressives” — lesbians who strive to be as masculine as possible in lifestyle and appearance. The result is a portrait both enlightening and endearing as we watch each woman come up with her own inventive ways of expressing her identity.

• The Brandon Teena Story

Brandon Teena — a Nebraska woman who was born Teena Brandon but identified and dressed as a man — is the focus of this absorbing documentary that uses interviews, reenactments and news footage to tell the story.

• The Children’s Hour

In this daring drama, Karen and Martha are the headmistresses of an exclusive school for girls. When they discipline a malicious little girl, the vindictive child twists an overheard comment into slander and accuses her teachers of being lesbians.

• The Curiosity of Chance

Tired of dealing with the homophobic school bully, out-of-the-closet teen Chance Marquis enlists two disparate friends — a flashy drag queen and the hunky school jock — to help him crush his tormentor in this offbeat comedy set in the 1980s.

• The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye

The endearing, provocative wit of filmmaker Cheryl Dunye is on full display in this collection of early works that preceded her breakout first feature, Watermelon Woman.

• The Girl

Two Parisian women — “the Artist” and “the Girl” — are in the throes of a love affair. But the Girl is also a prostitute, and their volatile affair spins out of control when her pimp pressures the women to end their obsessive relationship.

• The Iron Ladies

Recounting how a volleyball team composed of transvestite gays and one transsexual competed in the 1996 national championships, this Thai comedy brings the issue of male effeminacy into a new light — even while entertaining us in the “old” one.

• The Journey: Sancharram

When she develops a physical attraction for her best friend, Delilah, the conflicted Kiran must keep her feelings secret for fear of ostracism from her traditional Indian village.

• The Laramie Project

An all-star cast delivers a compelling performance based on a theatrical portrayal of reactions to the Matthew Shepard story, a 1998 murder that took place in Laramie, Wyo., and became a lightning rod for rallies against homophobia and hate crimes.

• The Times of Harvey Milk

Harvey Fierstein narrates this documentary by Rob Epstein about San Francisco’s most colorful — and tragic — political figure: Harvey Milk, a staunch fighter for gay rights who helped forge a presence for the city’s gay community in city hall. Milk became the first openly gay member of San Francisco’s combative city council.

• The Truth About Jane

Janice is a typical mom — a little too protective, but loving nonetheless. Jane is a typical 15-year-old — a little confused about growing up, but a great kid at heart. They get along well, until Jane falls in love with the new girl at school

• Tipping the Velvet

An unusual love story told in three episodes charts the course of Nan, an ingénue who discovers a sexually charged world of male impersonators, actors and affluent women looking for female companionship in the usually controlled and corseted 1890s

• Tongues United

In this searing documentary, filmmaker Marlon Riggs uses his own and others’ stories to reveal the realities of being black and gay in America

• Transgeneration

This absorbing Sundance Channel documentary series captures a year in the life of four college students who have made the commitment to transition from their birth sex, despite the difficult consequences transgender individuals confront.

• Trevor

Knowing for certain that he’s gay doesn’t make it any easier for Trevor to accept it. So when his classmates find out that he has a crush on another boy, it pushes Trevor to the end of his rope in this Academy Award-winning live-action short

• Two-Spirit People

At age 16, transgender American Indian Fred Martinez became one of the youngest hate crime victims in modern history when he was beaten to death by a man who later bragged about the brutal crime. This documentary tells Martinez’s story.

• Tying the Knot

This documentary takes a concerted look at the heated and ongoing debate about same-sex marriage in the United States. Focusing on two gay couples who’ve become entangled in laws forbidding homosexual wedlock, the film puts a human face on the issue.

• Were The World Mine

When his drama teacher casts him as Puck in his school’s upcoming production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Timothy turns in an inspired performance, whipping up a fittingly Shakespearean love potion with the power to turn people gay.

• XXY

Inés Efron plays Alex, an intersexed 15-year-old, in this compelling tale. Though she’s living as a girl, Alex and her family begin to wonder whether she’s emotionally a boy when another teenager’s sexual advances bring the issue to a head.

• You’ll Get Over It

Gay teenager Vincent is comfortably in the closet — he’s popular, he’s a star athlete and he has a cute girlfriend who loves him. But he’s also been secretly hooking up with an older guy.

• A Marine Story

A decorated officer from a military family, Alex is unexpectedly discharged from duty. When she returns to her conservative hometown, the Marine struggles to readjust to civilian life, but agrees to mentor Saffron, a troubled teen who’s enlisting.

• The Gymnast

When an injury ends her career as a gymnast, Jane falls back into lackluster job and a passionless marriage. That is, until she begins work on an aerial act with another beautiful gymnast and feels the stirrings of unexpected love.

If you know of a film that is not on the list, please contact us.