Gay film characters
20 LGBTQ movie characters who were played by LGBTQ actors
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- Because of increased LGBTQ visibility in recent years, queer and trans actors are getting more opportunities in Hollywood.
- These performances can be found in films spanning many genres.
- Movies on this list add comedies like "Tangerine" and "The Watermelon Woman" as well as dramas like "Looking" and "The Normal Heart."
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Increased LGBTQ visibility has led to more queer and trans characters in film, as well as more actors openly identifying within the LGBTQ community.
Openly LGBTQ actors have been qualified to portray queer characters in films spanning many genres, from Cheryl Dunye in the idealistic comedy "The Watermelon Woman" to Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor in the crime dramedy "Tangerine" to Ian McKellen in the biographical drama "Gods and Monster
12 Movie Characters Who Became LGBTQ+ Icons
LGBTQ+ representation in film has always been quite complicated. Whether that be through complete erasure entirely, using gay characters for laughs, or making them villains (via Stacker). And because of the Hays Code, an industry-set guideline that forbids the depiction of queerness in Hollywood films, characters were often coded to be queer without explicitly saying so. For decades, that was all the representation granted to queer and trans people in the early film era until the 70s, which saw a rising popularity in queer camp because of films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
But you'd assume now, at a noun when gay marriage is legalized nationwide, things would've been drastically different. Even as queerness and gender expression became a small more tolerated in the 70s and beyond, major Hollywood studios rarely budged. Although they might've finally been depicting gay characters out and proud — usually in supporting roles — it almost always ended with them being killed, a trope now coined, "bury y
Still Looking
ByMark Harrisin the November-December Issue
It was the briefest of moments in a summer studio franchise movie—and, had it not been teased, heralded, and chewed on all over the Internet for weeks in advance, it would have been one of the most surprising. In Justin Lin’s Star Trek Beyond, we absorb, from a photograph, that Captain Sulu (John Cho) has apparently left a young daughter behind in order to participate in the Enterprise’s five-year mission. When he’s reunited with her, she’s in the care of an attractively daddish man about Sulu’s age. As the three of them walk off together, Sulu puts his arm on the guy’s back and gives it a little rub—just enough to tell us that he’s not his brother. Later in the movie, at the Starfleet equivalent of the office Christmas party, the guy—who isn’t given a name but is listed in the credits as “Ben”—shows up again. He is clearly meant to be Sulu’s romantic partner—an idea confirmed by the film’s creative team.
In , that pair of glimpses—let’s be generous and call it 15 seconds of a minute movie—is what passes for gay conte
15 Unforgettable LGBTQ Movie and TV Characters
David Rose - 'Schitt's Creek'
In the fish-out-of-water cult comedy series, creator and star Daniel Levy's character, David gives the perfect analogy regarding his pansexuality. "I do drink red wine. But I also drink white wine. And I’ve been known to sample the occasional rosé. And a couple summers back I tried a merlot that used to be a chardonnay." Even better? The show has managed to craft a world that is seemingly accepting of David's sexuality, with the topic going nearly unquestioned.
Simon - 'Love, Simon'
Love, Simon is notable as the first major studio film to center around a gay teenage romance. Simon's (Nick Robinson) experiences provide the social media generation with a relatable coming-out and coming-of-age tale.
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Rayon - 'Dallas Buyer's Club'
Set in the mids during the height of the AIDS crisis, Rayon (Jared Leto) struggles with both the challenges of being HIV positive, along with identifying as a transgender gal. Leto's Academy Awar