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Open the window and stick your head out — can you hear that? It’s the sound of a million lesbians screaming into the void. Today marks the final day of Lesbian Visibility Week, a time when lesbians celebrate themselves, each other, and raise awareness of issues facing the community. You may have seen folks posting about it online, but do you know anything about its history?

As far as we can tell, the first Lesbian Visibility Week in the United States took place in West Hollywood in 1990. Co-founded by the West Hollywood Lesbian Visibility Committee and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, the week was “a combination of cultural programming, workshops addressing current and impending needs, awards ceremonies, and social events.” Lesbian Visibility Week continued to be celebrated in Southern California for several years, but it didn’t gain national traction until the 2000s. (New Zealand and Canada supposedly held Lesbian Visibility Weeks as early as the 1980s.)

In 2008, activist Amy Ellis is said to have started the annual observation of Lesbian Visibility Day on April 26, though we have little evidence from this period. In its modern iteration, Lesbian Visibility Week was founded by Linda Riley, publisher of the UK’s DIVA magazine, in 2020. Riley came to the conclusion that lesbians needed more than a single day to celebrate and be visible. She was also concerned about the negative connotations surrounding the term ‘lesbian’ and assumptions about inclusivity. Speaking with The Advocate in 2022, Riley explained,

“I had noticed that more and more, the L in LGBTQ+ was becoming particularly marginalized. I am a proud cis lesbian and a proud trans ally. But many in the LGBTQ+ community were beginning to equate cis lesbians with transphobes, which is fundamentally untrue. I wanted to help create a narrative that shows once and for all that the vast majority of cis lesbians are inclusive. We are intersectional. We want to remove any negative connotations associated with that word. So this is why during Lesbian Visibility Week we celebrate and center all lesbians, both cis and trans, while also showing solidarity with all LGBTQ+ women and nonbinary people.”

In North America, Lesbian Visibility Week is sponsored by organizations like the Curve Foundation, an offshoot of Curve Magazine, as well as GLAAD. The theme for 2026 is Health and Wellbeing. “Our aims remain clear: to build public understanding of LGBTQIA+ women and non-binary people’s lives, to increase lesbian visibility and to create a legacy that benefits our community everywhere,” read the official Lesbian Visibility Week website.

Lesbian Visibility is celebrated in a myriad of ways. Curve Magazine publishes the Curve Power List, which honors influential lesbians in fields like STEM, entertainment, activism, and sports. In 2023, Lesbian Visibility Week made it to the White House, as The L Word stars Leisha Hailey, Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig, along with L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, joined press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for a special press briefing. Unsurprisingly, the White House has not acknowledged Lesbian Visibility Week this year.

Though you may be primarily aware of it via online posts, Lesbian Visibility Week sponsors virtual and in-person events across North America and the UK. Events include a Queer Women in Sports Day, a lesbian speaker series, flag-raising ceremonies, an Earth Day Salt Marsh walk in Provincetown, a queer women’s history walk in the Castro district, a sound bath in Lily Dale, NY, a lesbian arm wrestling competition in Portland, OR, and The Great Lesbian Pie Eating Contest in Winnipeg.

Of course, most lesbians celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week by posting about it on the internet. On X, one user uploaded an iconic clip from The L Word depicting Jenny and Alice’s argument about artistic license and Monet, among other things. “lets celebrate amazing lesbian writing on our visibility week,” they wrote. A number of folks took the opportunity to post photos of themselves and/or their girlfriends/spouses. Others bemoaned the tragedy of celebrating Lesbian Visibility Week without a girlfriend. MUNA’s Katie Gavin celebrated lesbian visibility by posting nudes on main. On Bluesky, many users posted NSFW artwork or furry-related content to promote visibility.

Considering the centrality of fandom on social media platforms like X, it’s not surprising that many users celebrated Lesbian Visibility Week by shouting out their favorite fictional characters or couples. “Happy lesbian visibility week to them” or “happy lesbian visibility week to her” were common refrains as fans posted their favorite lesbian or lesbian-coded media. Posts included characters from Pluribus, 9-1-1, Adventuretime, Arcane, Agatha All Along, The Pitt, and House of the Dragon, to name only a few. Others interpreted lesbian visibility differently, such as the fan who posted a series of photos of Taylor Swift wearing the colors of the lesbian flag or the fan who posted a photo of someone holding up a “Lesbians for Louis” flag in front of former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.

On Threads, a debate erupted about language. Some users posted lists of books to read for Lesbian Visibility Week, and others noted that some of these books — included under the broad umbrella of “sapphic book recs” — didn’t feature any lesbian main characters. Several users got annoyed about the concept of “sapphic book recommendations” during Lesbian Visibility Week because of how it contributed to lesbian erasure, while others took umbrage with lesbians not wanting to be called sapphic, claiming they were being exclusionary.

Clearly, queer language remains a hotly contested subject online, though one wonders if such debates would ever occur IRL, such as at a lesbian pie-eating contest, for example. Ironically, both the meaning and the origins of Lesbian Visibility Week lack visibility, though this isn’t surprising considering the myopic, often ahistorical nature of the internet. Being a lesbian means different things to different people, and visibility is a slippery subject. Watching gay movies or going on gay walks means being visible to some, while others stare longingly at their phones. It’s all equally lesbian.

How did you celebrate Lesbian Visibility Week? If you could plan any event for Lesbian Visibility Week, what would it be? Let me know in the comments.

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Forbidden Fruits is a film that wears its references on its sleeve. Directed by Meredith Alloway and based on a stage play by Lily Houghton, it follows four young women who work at a clothing store in a mall. Apple (Lili Reinhart), the ringleader of the group, runs Free Eden like she’s in the Navy alongside her two disciples, Cherry (Victoria Pedretti) and Fig (Alexandra Shipp). When a new girl, Pumpkin (Lola Tung), starts working at the store, they adopt her into their witchy cult.

The film, which Diablo Cody produced, was inspired by Jennifer’s Body, the queer cult classic that satirizes girlhood as a demonic hellscape. Mean Girls is another clear inspiration (Forbidden Fruits was actually filmed in the Mean Girls mall), with its cliquish attitudes and quotable catchphrases. The film’s witchy elements harken back to The Craft, in which magic is both a metaphor for power and an entry point for twisted sisterhood. Forbidden Fruits cleverly updates these references for the 2020s, creating a compelling visual and linguistic landscape that resonates on the big screen as much as it does in TikTok edits.

Reviews have been mixed, though trending positive. Chris Azzopardi of The New York Times decried its “vibes-only pastiche,” while Variety’s Owen Gleiberman called it an “agreeably sharp-witted black-as-midnight comedy.” In IndieWire, Alison Foreman looked at the film from another angle, questioning its marketing as an “instant cult classic.” She argues that the phrase is a “contradiction in terms,” because films only emerge as cult classics over time, after an initial period of misunderstanding or a lackluster box office performance. She also makes a salient point about expectations, noting that “When female-driven, queer-coded, or subculture-centered stories are immediately framed as ‘cult,’ it can also imply an invisible ceiling.”

We could discuss the meaning of a cult classic further, but we have more pressing matters to attend to. Namely, one very important question: Is the movie gay? After we saw the film, a friend sent me a TikTok that said “there is no scissoring in forbidden fruits i repeat there is NO scissoring in forbidden fruits” set to sad SpongeBob music. Commenters were dismayed, to say the least. “truly devastating news thank you for informing us.” “literally what do i do now.” “then what’s the point.” “will not be watching then, thanks!”

There is indeed no scissoring in Forbidden Fruits, and any explicit queerness is minimal. But fans’ hope that Forbidden Fruits would be queer didn’t come from nowhere. In fact, the film’s official Instagram account posted a video of Reinhart and Pedretti almost kissing, only for Pedretti to pull away and mouth to an audio clip saying “you’re gay.” “go see forbidden fruits this weekend for more of this,” the captain reads. Sadly, there is not much “more of this” in the film.

Initially, Forbidden Fruits seems to imply an undercurrent of queer flirtation between Fig and Pumpkin. Fig is immediately taken with Pumpkin, and the two share a sweet kinship. However, the flirtation goes nowhere, and Fig’s secret boyfriend becomes problematic. Apple and Cherry have their own unique dynamic. Apple keeps Cherry on a tight leash, maintaining her sobriety and admonishing her for her “main character” energy. Later in the film, Apple suddenly kisses Cherry, but Cherry pushes her away. We might assume that Apple has been harboring secret queer feelings for Cherry, but it’s never explored any further. (Later events indicate that Apple’s care for Cherry only goes so far.)

Let’s compare it to some of its references. In Jennifer’s Body, Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer’s (Megan Fox) friendship is clearly homoerotic. Lines like Jennifer’s “God, you’re butch,” and their sexually charged kiss illustrate a strong undercurrent of sexual tension that runs through the entire film. In this case, these protagonists’ “complicated female friendship” includes gay feelings. Forbidden Fruits, on the other hand, only briefly stokes this possibility. Reflecting the adolescent language of its era, in Mean Girls, being called a lesbian is an insult. The reboot tries to move past this high school prejudice, with mixed results. Meanwhile, in The Craft, queerness is reserved for outsiders and weirdos.

Despite the ambiguous, often toxic nature of their relationship, some sapphic viewers have latched on to the pairing between Apple and Cherry, creating shaky fancams of their most dramatic moments. Pedretti’s loyal queer following, thanks to her roles in projects like The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, certainly adds to the excitement. But while Apple (and perhaps Cherry) being queer is an intriguing angle, it doesn’t feel earned, and the kiss fails to leave a major impact. It feels more like these are bits of queerness sprinkled in for fun, rather than a part of the movie’s fabric.

In an interview with Variety, director Meredith Alloway argued that while Apple may seem like the antagonist, it was the patriarchy all along. “The villain is expectations of women,” she explained. “It’s capitalist systems. It’s quite literally the mall itself.” Her point is well-taken, but one wonders if this argument could have been strengthened if the film had deigned to critique the institution of heterosexuality as well, through a more explicit introduction of queerness. The film does a good job pulling its references into the 2020s, using Gen Z slang without it sounding cringe. But I’m left considering what it might have looked like had it included the concept of comphet (or compulsory heterosexuality), an internet-era expression of a Second Wave term. Putting queerness more squarely in the text could have pulled the film further into the future.

Still, though the aforementioned TikTok commenters might believe otherwise, the lack of scissoring in Forbidden Fruits doesn’t ruin the movie. It’s a good movie! The script is sharp and witty, the smart production design and costuming provide some amazing world-building, and the acting is top-notch. Reinhart and Pedretti are particularly impressive. Reinhart’s glacial gaze is deliciously cutting, and she pulls off the film’s biggest tonal swings. Pedretti makes her bimbo-esque character not only the funniest part of the film, but also gives her emotional depth. It’s a shame the film didn’t put queerness in the forefront (in a departure from its mostly queer-coded references), but an hour or two of laughs is worth a lot these days.

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Despite the homophobic and transphobic environments in which many of them were produced, the cross-dressing film is a mainstay of American cinema. She’s the Man, Yentil, Mulan, and Some Like It Hot are a few popular examples of the medium’s interest in the cross-dressing farce. Genre differences aside, these films tend to follow a similar plot, in which anomalies that arise due to gender-bending are smoothed over, and heterosexuality is affirmed (to varying degrees of believability). The 1935 film Sylvia Scarlett stands out not because it flouts these conventions, exactly, but because it tries to follow them – and fails. The film’s characters bring up questions that the film is unable or unwilling to answer. While this is true to some degree in most cross-dressing films, Sylvia Scarlett emerges as a particularly queer failure.

Sylvia Scarlett stars Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in their first of four collaborations. It was directed by George Cukor, one of ten movies he made with Hepburn (following the 1933 hit Little Women). Hepburn and Grant starred in the film before they had really become the stars we know them as today — Grant hadn’t yet perfected his Cary Grant persona, and Hepburn was just beginning to set the world on fire. Notably, Cukor was a gay man, and Grant and Hepburn have long been rumoured to be queer, which only adds to the film’s queer resonances. (The trio’s second collaboration, Holiday, is their best, and is also very queer.)

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Sylvia Scarlett starts with a prologue that was added after the fact. The film’s original screenwriter, John Collier, wanted to begin the film with Hepburn’s character already masquerading as a man, but studio execs balked at this radical idea, so Cukor added the shmaltzy prologue and inexplicable ending. We meet Sylvia (Hepburn) and her father, Henry (Edmund Gwenn), following the death of Sylvia’s mother. Henry has gambled away all of their money, and decides to travel from Marseilles to London, smuggling an expensive piece of lace in his suit. Sylvia insists on going with him, and resolves to pose as Henry’s imaginary son, Sylvester, so as not to arouse suspicion. She chops off her long braids, coifs her hair, dons a suit, and we’re off. Before we continue, know this: Katherine Hepburn looks very, very good dressed as a young man. She has an appealing Peter Pan air to her, and her floppy hair and boyish demeanor recall a young Leonardo DiCaprio, maybe even James Dean.

Despite the assistance of his new hot son, Henry’s plan goes awry when a charming conman with a cockney accent, Jimmy Monkley (Grant), tips off authorities. The trio work things out (after Sylvester punches Jimmy in the face, which he can do now, as a man) and begin working as scammers in London. Sylvester keeps messing up the scams, so when they meet Maudie (Dennie Moore), a maid with showbiz dreams, they decide to leave town and work as a traveling troupe of entertainers. The reasons for this are never really explained.

Even though it’s no longer necessary (was it ever?), Sylvester keeps up the farce, which leads to some awkward scenarios typical of the cross-dressing film. After drawing a mustache on Sylvester’s face with a pencil, Maudie plants a big kiss on his lips. Sylvester is very upset by this and flees at once. Moments later, Sylvester encounters Jimmy in his caravan and learns they’re meant to be bunking together. Jimmy takes off his shirt to reveal his very manly chest, and quips, “It’s a bit nippy tonight, you’ll make a proper hot water bottle.” Jimmy’s gay joke also freaks Sylvester out, and he vacates the caravan so fast he almost trips over his feet. It’s hard work being such a pretty boy — everyone wants you.

Meanwhile, a handsome painter named Michael Fane (Brian Aherne) invites the troupe to his party, and Sylvester is immediately taken with him. Michael experiences some queer feelings as well. Unfortunately, Michael’s conniving ex, Lily (Natalie Paley), some sort of Russian heiress, arrives in town and sows the seeds of chaos. But Michael and Sylvester still get to have their moment, as Sylvester literally climbs in through Michael’s window to visit him that night — very Romeo of him. Michael, still trying to work out why he’s having some gay rumblings in his tummy, proclaims, “I know what it is that gives me a queer feeling when I see you. There’s something in you to be painted.”

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Though the plot is quite rambling, it’s a delight to watch Hepburn perform as Sylvester, and the film crashes and burns once the ruse is up. When Sylvia visits Michael in a sundress and hat she stole from some poor woman at the beach, Michael is overcome with laughter. So he’s not gay, it was all a silly lark! He makes fun of her because she doesn’t know how to act like a girl — when he tries to kiss her, she hits him instead of demurely turning her head. Despite his overjoyed reaction to her “true” gender, Michael seems less interested in Sylvia as a girl. He quickly takes Lily back when she comes knocking, ignoring Sylvia’s brokenhearted reaction. Lily, however, thinks Sylvia makes an adorable girl, and kisses her on the cheek to show her affection.

At this point, the film has an identity crisis of its own. Michael Koresky, an expert on queer cinema of the golden age, describes the tonal whiplash like this: “the film begins as something like a prestige costume melodrama before sojourning in the realm of poetic realism then diving back into screwball comedy before submerging itself abruptly into tragedy and going back to farce.” Indeed, after Sylvia leaves Michael in tears, we’re plunged into a noir, wherein two characters die by or attempt suicide following romantic disasters. When Michael and Sylvia reunite, the screwball joviality returns.

The last twenty or thirty minutes of Sylvia Scarlett are nonsensical and majorly disappointing. In a review of the film, Time wrote that “Sylvia Scarlett reveals the interesting fact that Katharine Hepburn is better looking as a boy than as a woman,” which could easily be read as an insult. Of course, contemporary queer viewers are unlikely to view this fact as a negative, but it does, in part, account for the film’s failure.

Sylvia Scarlett was a flop, losing RKO thousands of dollars and tanking Hepburn’s career, at least temporarily. Audiences at the time were unable to deal with the film’s queer elements. According to TCM, during a test screening, “when the seductive maid kissed Hepburn, three quarters of the audience walked out.” To be fair to these viewers, it’s a very confusing movie, and it still doesn’t work today – just for different reasons.

To put it simply, Hepburn is a little too convincing as Sylvester. It’s clear that she — both the character of Sylvia and Hepburn herself — has a lot of fun behaving like a boy, jumping out of windows, doing somersaults, and embodying an acrobatic, lithe manner that actually feels a little Cary Grant-ish. The freewheeling nature of the film works during these portions because Sylvester’s vagabond attitude mirrors the plot.

When Sylvester becomes Sylvia again, her girlishness seems much more of a performance than her boyhood did. While some of this is written into the script, it’s impossible not to think of Hepburn’s famously androgynous persona here. In 1981, the trousers-loving actress told Barbara Walters, “I put on pants 50 years ago and declared a sort of middle road. I have not lived as a woman. I have lived as a man.” Hepburn’s performance as Sylvia, both at the beginning of the film and the end, is off-puttingly dainty. She puts on a soft, breathy voice and makes herself small. Sylvester also appears diminutive next to a much taller Grant, but his stature is endearingly boyish, in a twinky heartthrob sort of way. When Sylvester becomes Sylvia, we immediately mourn his loss.

Consider the similarities between Sylvia Scarlett and other cross-dressing movies. She’s The Man features the typical queer diversions, as Viola-as-Sebastian (Amanda Bynes) has a crush on Duke (Channing Tatum) when she’s a boy, while Olivia (Laura Ramsey) likes a boy who’s really a girl. It all works out in the end, of course, as Duke sees Viola for who she really is and we’re reminded that Viola never wanted to be a boy at all –she just wanted to play soccer.

Sylvia Scarlett probably has more in common with Mulan, in which the title character, who had a terrible time living as a woman, becomes increasingly comfortable living as a man, and the “outing” scene is legitimately upsetting. By the end, with her mid-length haircut, there’s something a little non-binary about Mulan, and she seems to have reconciled her two gendered selves better than some of her cross-dressing contemporaries.

Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot has the most radical ending out of any of these films, and is basically pro-trans. Out of the two protagonists, Jack Lemon’s Daphne appears most comfortable being a woman, celebrating her engagement to millionaire Osgood (Joe E. Brown) before realizing the predicament she’s in. In the very last moment of the film, Daphne takes off her wig and says, “I’m a man,” and Osgood responds, “Well, nobody’s perfect!” Daphne’s gender farce is only revealed to her paramour in the last 15 seconds of the film, and there is no real reversal or return to normal.

In Sylvia Scarlett, Katherine Hepburn’s Sylvester is too winsome for his own good. He doesn’t get to be a sports star like in She’s The Man, or save the nation as in Mulan — he’s just a boy who wants to be loved. When the film tries to reverse the queer course it’s been set on, everything falls apart. Confusingly, the film is both very queer and quite conventional, with the latter being a consequence of the former. The movie is unable to tie up the loose threads of Sylvia/Sylvester’s gender journey, and it was a mistake to try. You can’t put the boy back in the box.

Have you seen Sylvia Scarlett? What are your favorite – or least favorite – “cross-dressing” films? Let me know in the comments below.

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It’s all about casting news this week. First, and most excitingly, Kristen Stewart has been cast as Sally Ride in an upcoming Prime Video series. I loved the documentary Sally about the famous (lesbian) astronaut, and I think this is great casting — a lesbian icon playing a lesbian icon. Reneé Rapp is set to star in Season 5 of The Morning Show, the Apple TV+ series that has, as far as I can tell, increasingly gone off the rails. This is Rapp’s first role in two years, since she starred in Mean Girls and The Sex Lives of College Girls. Controversy has erupted following the news that The Last of Us has cast a cis girl to play the role of a trans boy in the upcoming season. The character in question is Lev, a 13-year-old trans boy and Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) main companion. If you have thoughts about this news, feel free to sound off in the comments below.

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The Oscars weren’t particularly gay this year, but the queers showed up on the red carpet and at choice moments throughout the ceremony. Two People Exchanging Saliva tied for Best Short Film, which is exciting because it’s a sapphic love story. (Luàna Bajrami from Portrait of a Lady on Fire is one of its stars.) One Battle After Another editor Andy Jurgensen won the Oscar and thanked his partner on stage, to the delight of queer viewers everywhere. Queer musician Brittany Howard performed with the cast of Sinners.

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Happy almost-spring! I’m here with another roundup of book recommendations for you. There is no particular theme to this list, and there is a broad range of genres represented here, so hopefully you can find something that appeals to you. Many of these books are queer in some way, which I’ve noted in the descriptions. Reading is good for you, and it makes your brain feel good! We should all be doing it as much as we can. Let me know if you’ve read any of these books in the comments below.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

(Literary fiction, horror, magical realism)

I received this book as a Christmas present, and it was a total delight (in a freaky sort of way). The novel follows parents Magos and Joseph as they grieve the loss of their son, Santiago. Unable to accept his absence, Magos removes a piece of Santiago’s lung and, following instructions from an old folk tale, feeds and cares for it until it becomes a sentient being. As this monster grows into a boy, and later a man, Magos, Joseph, and their best friend Lena, struggle to curb his monstrous impulses while still loving him as their child.

Monstrilio is a wildly original novel that borrows from classic Gothic literature like Frankenstein to create something brand new. An evocative meditation on the meaning of family and what it takes to be human, the book is at once heartbreaking and hopeful. Read if you like magical realism mixed with literary horror.

Is it gay? Yes, most of the main characters are queer.

Bog Queen by Anna North

(Fiction, mystery, ecology, history)

Anna North’s Bog Queen is a time-hopping story that tackles the tension between culture, identity, and land. Agnes is an American anthropologist doing her postdoc in England. When a body is discovered in a bog, Agnes learns that the woman lived over 2,000 years ago. The mossy bog has preserved her body and left evidence of how she lived.

The book follows two timelines: that of Agnes and her search for the truth about the mystery woman, and the bog queen herself, a Celtic druid confronting the influence of the Roman Empire. In the present day, Anges must contend with what her work means for the environment and the local community, as environmental activists work to protect the bog and its natural resources and developers make plans to destroy it.

Agnes — brilliant but naive, someone with good intentions who often struggles to connect with others — makes for a compelling protagonist, and her Celtic counterpart mirrors Agnes’ modern concerns in a profound way. A slow-burning mystery more concerned with personal epiphanies than definitive answers, Bog Queen is an invigorating read.

Is it gay? One of the side characters is queer.

The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

(Literary fiction, friendship)

The Wilderness is a big, bold, brilliant novel about friendship and growing up. It follows four black women as they muddle through their twenties in New York and Los Angeles and grow into middle age. Desiree has a fraught family history and tends to keep people at arm’s length. January feels bored by her relationship until a surprise pregnancy shakes things up. Monique goes from librarian to influencer after a viral moment, and Nakia is an aspiring restaurateur navigating familial and community expectations.

As the four friends age, life takes them in unexpected directions, and their relationships come apart and come back together as the years go by. It’s a stunning work from Angela Flournoy, and the book’s journey is both briefly shocking and heartbreakingly inevitable. The last fifteen pages or so truly took my breath away.

Is it gay? Yes, one of the protagonists is queer.

Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein

(Fiction, family, love, soccer)

On the surface, Spectacular Things appears to be a sort of “beach read” (it is a Reese’s Book Club pick, after all), but that doesn’t quite capture the book’s expansiveness. It follows the soccer-loving Lowe family, headed by Liz, a single mom who had her first daughter, Mia (named after Mia Hamm), when she was just a teenager. Liz was a soccer phenom headed for the big leagues when she got pregnant with Mia, and she gave it all up to start a family. Mia and her younger sister, Cricket, were raised to be soccer players, though Cricket emerges as the star, and all of Mia and Liz’s resources are diverted to her success.

Broadly, the book explores the sacrifices we make for family and the joy and pain of having a Big Dream. Liz is a kooky single mom that fans of Gilmore Girls will surely appreciate, and the soccer plot will appeal to fans of women’s sports. Despite the hardships these characters face and the book’s length, it’s a fairly breezy read with heartwarming moments mixed in with its tragedy. Satisfyingly sentimental.

Is it gay? Yes, one of the main characters is gay. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one, but you’ll probably be able to guess as you read.

Audition by Katie Kitamura

(Cerebral literary fiction)

I don’t quite know how to describe Katie Kitamura’s Audition; it’s a book that resists definition. Moreover, I don’t want to say too much about it, because its narrative leaps deserve to be experienced without warning. The novel follows an unnamed actress preparing for an upcoming stage play. She meets a young man who, had things worked out differently, could have been her son. What follows is a haunting take on identity and relationships without any easy conclusions. If provocative character studies that leave you with more questions than answers are your jam, pick this one up.

Is it gay? No.

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

(Fiction, suspense, romance)

I want to start by thanking the reader who suggested I read this a few months ago — you were right! Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep is a matryoshka doll sort of novel. Set in 1960s Netherlands, the book follows Isabel, a young woman who lives alone in her family home following the death of her mother. Isabel dislikes most other people and lives a life of solitude, obsessing over her routine and the upkeep of her house. When her brother Louis asks Isabel if his girlfriend, Eva, can stay with her while he’s out of town, Isabel is taken aback, but has no choice but to acquiesce.

Isabel behaves coldly toward Eva and is quite mean-spirited, though Eva’s annoyingly cheerful demeanor remains constant. As the two women spend more time together, long-held beliefs are upended, perspectives shift, and the past arrives to haunt the present. An unpredictable love story, a quiet thriller, and an incisive family history, The Safekeep is a must-read.

Is it gay? Yep.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

(Thriller, atmospheric horror, sci-fi, dystopian)

Caitlin Starling’s The Luminous Dead reminded me of the Alien universe by way of The Descent, and if that sounds interesting to you, I think you’ll love this book. It takes place in a not-so-distant future wherein humanity has colonized the solar system, but class inequality remains — and has gotten worse, even. Some planets are wealthy, while others are populated by destitute workers with no means of upward mobility.

Our protagonist, Gyre Price, is from one of these destitute planets, and works as a caver — essentially spelunking on behalf of corporations — to claw her way out of poverty. Her current expedition is shrouded in mystery, and her only contact with the outside world is her above-ground handler, Em, who refuses to tell her what she’s looking for. As Gyre drops deeper beneath the ground, things start going haywire, and she wonders if she’s really alone down there.

The Luminous Dead is a wonderfully atmospheric novel, generating tension based on what’s just out of view. With only two characters and a dark, subterranean setting, the book does a lot with very little. It’s not gory or violent, but it is tautly written and deliciously spooky, which makes it hard to put down.

Is it gay? Yes, it is.

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Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane

(Non-fiction, nature)

Is a River Alive? is a stunning work of nonfiction that explores humanity’s fundamental connection to nature. In an effort to understand our relationship with rivers and their importance to the functioning of our lives and this planet, naturalist Robert Macfarlane traveled to rivers across the globe, in Ecuador, Canada, and India, and spoke with the people who have pledged their lives to protect them. He explores the Rights of Nature movement and the effort to define rivers as living entities enshrined with the rights of personhood.

Is a River Alive? is a gorgeous book written with thoughtful, poetic prose, posing some of the most important questions of our time. Read this if you’re a nature lover, and if you’re not a nature lover, read it too, and maybe you’ll become one.

Is it gay? Well, no. But who am I to tell a river how it identifies?

Play You For It by Samantha Saldivar

(Romance)

Samantha Saldivar’s Play Your For It is a sports romance where neither of the protagonists actually play sports. We follow Jordan D’Amato, a former WNBA player named head coach of a college basketball team in Oregon. Jordan struggles to deal with the pressure of being the first of her kind and leading her team to a much-needed victory. Caroline Beck is a sports journalist tired of being underestimated by her male colleagues. Jordan’s rise to the top is the perfect story for Caroline, but will their personal relationship get in the way of their jobs?

Spoiler alert: yes, yes, it will. But that’s okay! This is a romance novel, so all problems can be overcome. I appreciated that this felt like an adult romance novel, with characters who care about their jobs and have responsibilities outside of romantic partnerships. The dynamic between the two characters is fun, and I enjoyed how ambitious they both are. Saldivar works in broadcast news and was a sports journalist herself, so the workplace elements are particularly strong.

Is it gay? Well, yes.

Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys by Mariana Enriquez

(Gothic non-fiction)

Mariana Enriquez is one of our greatest living horror authors, and her new nonfiction book, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys, is even better than I had hoped. The book is exactly like it sounds: Enriquez shares her experiences visiting cemeteries around the world. In a less talented writer’s hands, this premise might feel derivative. But Enriquez is so tirelessly curious, empathetic, and a little (or a lot) freaky, that her experiences in these graveyards take on profound meaning.

With each graveyard Enriquez visits, over the course of several decades, she tells us how and why she ended up there, what was going on in her life at the time, and the many odd and unbelievable stories housed within its gates. Unapologetically macabre and more personal than Enriquez’s previous work, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave is a riveting journey through many dark and buried histories.

Is it gay? Not particularly.

Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun

(Romance)

Every Step She Takes literalizes the journey one takes to find love and self-acceptance. We follow Sadie Wells, a 35-year-old woman who spends every waking moment managing her late grandmother’s antique shop in Seattle. Sadie has had no luck with romance, and comes to the sudden realization that she might be gay. When she gets the chance to walk the Camino de Santiago in Portugal, she decides that a grand adventure will be good for her.

The first problem arises when there’s turbulence on the flight and a slightly drunk Sadie spills her secrets — including her sexuality crisis — to her seatmate, a dashing stranger named Mal. Problem number two is the fact that Mal happens to be on Sadie’s Camion tour, which Sadie learns is a trip specifically for queer women. Both Sadie and Mal are keen on running from their problems, but the Camino forces them to confront what they’d rather keep buried — including their feelings for each other.

Every Step She Takes is a pretty classic sapphic romance, though the Portugal setting adds some intrigue and vibrancy. Not as dark as Cochrun’s previous book Here We Go Again (her best, in my opinion), it nonetheless touches on grief and familial strife. The Camino gives it a nice pace and a time/location constraint that works well for the plot and its familiar romance novel beats.

Is it gay? Yes, very.

Best Woman by Rose Dommu

(Rom-com)

Rose Dommu’s debut novel, Best Woman, draws clear inspiration from ‘90s rom-coms, and if those are your jam, you’ll probably get a kick out of this book. It centers on Julia Rosenberg, a Florida-born woman who leaves her glittery New York City life to return home and act as the “Best Woman” at her brother’s wedding. Though her family accepted her when she came out as a trans woman, she has mixed feelings about being back in the Sunshine State and staying with her overbearing mother.

Enter Kim Cameron, a smoking-hot lesbian whom Julia had a massive crush on in high school. Kim is also a part of the wedding party, and when the two reconnect, Julia tells an ostensibly harmless lie about her family that quickly spirals out of control. Julia desperately wants Kim’s love and approval, but her methods for getting it prove to be disastrous.

Best Woman’s closest rom-com relative is My Best Friend’s Wedding, the Julia Roberts film in which she plays an utterly unhinged woman who wreaks havoc on those around her. Similarly, Julia spends much of the book behaving badly and coming off as sort of an asshole, even if her intentions aren’t all bad. Dommu writes this messy but still lovable character well, and it adds some edge to the often syrupy rom-com genre.

Is it gay? Yep.

What paid subscribers got this week

Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn is one of us. During a red carpet interview, she was asked about Heated Rivalry. She said she watched it while she was at the Olympics, and she wants “yuri Heated Rivalry.” (Yuri refers to a relationship between two women.) She suggested that future producers hire her so she can fall in love with her co-star. Meanwhile, Grey’s Anatomy has brought back its own yuri after a sapphic dry spell. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) returned to Grey Sloan Memorial and immediately hooked up with a former classmate.

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Here are some places to donate to support trans people in Kansas: The Ace Foundation, The LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas, and the Trans Youth Emergency Project.

Have you ever gone on vacation in France and returned home gay and ready to burn down the patriarchy? Such is the drama at the center of A Woman Like Eve, a Dutch film released in 1979. An underseen entry in the canon of 1980s lesbian films, a group that includes Liana, Personal Best, and Desert Hearts, A Woman Like Eve tells an explicitly feminist story within the confines of a divorce drama.

Dutch filmmaker Nouchka van Brakel, an important figure in her era, directed the picture, one of several films of hers that deal explicitly with women’s independence. It stars Monique van de Ven, best-known for appearing in the Paul Verhoeven films Turkish Delight and Katie Tippel, alongside French actress Maria Schneider, who’d starred in Last Tango in Paris several years prior.

Van De Ven plays the titular character, a housewife who is fed up with the daily tedium and breaks down one day at a family brunch. In an effort to soothe his hysterical wife, her husband, Ad (Peter Faber), sends her on vacation to France with her friend Sonja (Marijke Merckens). While Sonja chases boys, Eve’s attention is drawn to Liliane (Schneider), a hippie type who lives in a commune outside of the city. (She’s sort of a proto-cottagecore lesbian, but without the cutesy aesthetic.) Sonja warns Eve that her new friends are a bunch of lesbos, but Eve isn’t deterred— though she is shocked by the sentiment.

Ad thinks he’s solved Eve’s problems by sending her on a trip, but instead, she returns to the Netherlands as a feminist, and Ad isn’t too happy with that. She sets out to organize her friends and neighbors into a chore-sharing collective, sort of like the commune, and Ad wonders when dinner will be served. She tries to take more time for herself, learning French as a hobby, and Ad accuses her of being selfish and not caring about her family.

Eve goes to a feminist punk concert and hooks up with Liliane, who is in town for a women’s festival. Liliane spends the night (on the couch), and during breakfast, Ad makes fun of her for being a vegetarian. Eve confesses to Ad that she’s in love with Liliane, and he thinks it’s funny, because experimenting with women is very trendy these days. Ad doesn’t know the half of it. Still upset with Eve for spending time outside of the house, Ad follows Eve to visit Liliane, and he witnesses them having sex. He no longer feels so happy-go-lucky about the situation. In fact, he goes ballistic. He gets drunk at their son’s birthday party, screaming at Eve in front of everyone and declaring, “My wife isn’t a woman but a dyke.”

Eve does actually abandon her family at this point, going to stay with Liliane at the commune for several months. The women walk around with their tops off and debate the ethical concerns of child-rearing. But Eve can’t stay forever, because she misses her children, so she returns home. She won’t move back in with Ad, though, because, as she puts it, “You can’t stop an avalanche halfway.” Eve has seen the light, and she won’t return to the dark ages.

Ad and Eve begin divorce proceedings, at which point the film becomes legible as a divorce drama. Though Ad claims he’s being discriminated against because he’s a man and begins hurling vitriol at Eve during their court session, the judge grants Eve custody of the children, and they come to live on her quaint Dutch houseboat. Liliane is there too, sometimes, though she doesn’t care much for children. They go on a picturesque picnic with the kids and one of their other lesbian friends, and everyone frolics naked in the field. It’s all very bucolic, like an old painting.

They eventually get kicked out of paradise, as Ad announces he’s engaged to Sonja (that traitor!), and the judge grants him custody of the kids since they will once again have a mother and a father in the home. Eve’s impassioned speech about how her sexual orientation doesn’t affect her ability to parent doesn’t get her anywhere this time around. Having lost her children, Eve decides to join Liliane on the commune for the foreseeable future, only to change her mind at the last minute, presumably so she can stay close to the kids.

A Woman Like Eve eventually made its way to the United States, screening at film festivals and arthouse cinemas. Reviews were mixed. Writing in the Bay Area Reporter, Michael Lasky noted that while the film has several redeeming qualities, it is “intermittently cliche bound.” He suggests, rightly, I might add, that the film spends too much time following the reactions to Eve’s transgression, particularly that of her intolerant and increasingly vociferous husband. Indeed, the film is at its best when it zooms in on Eve’s personal journey, and Van De Ven’s sympathetic performance carries the film in its less effective moments.

In an issue of Jump Cut from 1984, Lisa DiCaprio compares the film to Liana, John Sayles’ lesbian film from 1983. She’s critical of Liana, which she argues portrays the title character’s foray into lesbianism with no real conflict or consequences. In A Woman Like Eve, the consequences are the point. The film “emphasizes the painful choices that society forces on lesbians, especially on lesbian mothers,” she writes. “It provides us with an engaging drama which illustrates in a compelling way how the dynamics of a lesbian relationship are shaped by the harsh realities of a deeply homophobic society,” she continues. While Ad’s explosive, overblown reactions to Eve’s lesbianism become tiring, the film does an admirable job of even-handedly depicting the obstacles Eve and Liliane face.

Lesbian author Sarah Schulman was not a fan of the film when she saw it in 1986 at the 7th annual New York Gay Film Festival. In a short blurb in Gay Community News, Schulman criticized A Woman Like Eve and that year’s slate of lesbian films for their portrayal of “conventional narratives usually built around relationships instead of a lesbian sensibility.” She also declares it “perhaps Maria Schneider’s worst performance on screen.” (To be fair, Schneider’s performance is pretty wooden, especially when compared to Van De Ven’s much more energized work.) Writing in the University of California, Santa Cruz’s newspaper, City on a Hill, Sharan Street argued that the film’s depiction of the feminist movement and feminist issues appears outdated and old hat, and suggested that it relies more on ideas than feelings.

Ultimately, despite several imperfections, A Woman Like Eve paints a compelling portrait of the struggle for lesbian empowerment during second-wave feminism. It adheres to conventions yet finds a fairly radical vantage point within this familiar narrative structure. In many ways, A Woman Like Eve follows the blueprint of a typical divorce story. It came out in the same year as Kramer vs. Kramer, perhaps the most famous divorce movie of all (overtaken in recent years by Marriage Story).

The films have a lot in common. In Kramer vs. Kramer, Meryl Streep’s character leaves Dustin Hoffman because she decides she wants more from life than being a wife and mother. Hoffman, who has spent much of his son’s life working, learns how to be a father and resents his wife for neglecting her duties. Ultimately, because we stay with Hoffman for most of the film, Kramer vs. Kramer winds up more sympathetic towards the husband than the wife. (In some ways, Marriage Story follows a similar trajectory.)

In A Woman Like Eve, our sympathies remain with Eve throughout, with little room for argument. Still, the film acknowledges that Eve’s actions have probably hurt her children, as unfair as her situation may be. Though A Woman Like Eve goes through the motions of a divorce drama and ends with Eve losing custody of her children, her commitment to nonconformity feels radical. Still, it’s far from the only film to depict the difficulties of lesbian mothers. The title character’s custody battle features prominently in Carol (if not the child herself), and films like Two Mothers For Zachary tackle real-life custody battles. Carol makes a similar argument as Eve, maintaining that she’s no use to her daughter if she’s “living against [her] own grain.”

It’s just fine that Eve’s relationship with Liliane never takes front and center, because it frames Eve’s destruction of her marriage as a personal choice rather than something that’s out of her control, ie, the power of love. It’s more about awareness than about love. En route to their sunny family picnic, Eve relays the story of Adam and Eve to her children, explaining how the pair were kicked out of paradise once Eve tasted the forbidden fruit. (Liliane plays the role of Lilith in this story, though Eve leaves that part out.)

Eve can’t return to the garden — a conventional heterosexual marriage — whether Lilith (Liliane) is by her side or not. Her lesbian feminist awakening is messy and imperfect, and there are casualties, but her empowerment is worth the price.

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Though the Oscars are the biggest awards show in the nation, they’re far from the only voting body handing out awards for cinematic achievement. For example, I’m part of GALECA, a group of LGBTQ entertainment critics. We honor films and television through the Dorian Awards, voted on by our members. The Dorian Awards often nominate films overlooked by the Oscars and other more prominent awards, in part because LGBTQ films still struggle to get noticed. (Here are this year’s nominations.)

What follows is a list of films that weren’t nominated for any Oscars, but are still worth your time. Several of these films were nominated for Dorian Awards, while the rest are films I enjoyed and think deserve more love. Many great films came out in 2025, and if you’re looking to catch up ahead of the Oscars, here are some additional entries you can add to your watchlist.

Sorry, Baby

In addition to Sinners, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, and Sentimental Value (which were all rightfully nominated for Best Picture), Sorry, Baby was my favorite film of the year. Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby follows Agnes (Victor), a literature professor at a small college in New England dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault. Much of the film centers on her relationship with her best friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie), who supports Agnes through all of life’s ups and downs.

Though Sorry, Baby tackles serious topics like assault and trauma, its dynamic tone, which oscillates from sad to funny to both at once, gives the film a sense of buoyancy. More importantly, these tonal shifts reflect the perplexing, non-linear trajectory of real life and the process of healing. The film isn’t sad and hopeful and funny and heartbreaking for the sake of being those things, but rather because that’s what it’s like to live a life — whether in the wake of trauma or not. A stunning debut from Victor, whose voice feels startling their own, Sorry, Baby is a must-watch.

Is it gay? Yes, Agnes’ best friend, Lydie, is queer, and Eva Victor is non-binary. The film was nominated for four Dorian Awards, along with two additional nominations for Victor.

Where to watch: HBO Max.

Twinless

You’ve probably never seen a film quite like Twinless, and that’s reason enough to give it a watch. Written and directed by James Sweeney, the film follows Roman (Dylan O’Brien), who attends a support group for people who have lost their twins after his twin brother, Rocky, is hit by a car. Roman meets a lonely man named Dennis (Sweeney) at the group, and the two become fast friends, until a dark secret tests the strength of their relationship.

I won’t go into the plot any further, because I think it’s best to experience without any expectations. O’Brien gives an amazing performance in the film (he was nominated for Film Performance of the Year at the Dorian Awards), and he really shows his range. Sweeney constructs a character who eschews notions of likability for a more honest portrayal of the necrotic effects of loneliness. Lauren Graham also appears as Roman and Rocky’s mom, as a treat, and you won’t want to miss Aisling Franciosi’s appearance in the film.

Is it gay? Yep. The film was nominated for four Dorian Awards.

Where to watch: Hulu, Disney+, for rent on other platforms.

Hedda

If you’re a fan of Tessa Thompson or messy queers, Hedda should be next on your watch list. Based on the Henrik Ibsen play Hedda Gabler, Nia DaCosta’s film transports the drama to 1950s England. Thompson plays the titular character, a theatrical woman married to a professor. Hedda hosts a lavish party at her estate, and things become tumultuous with the arrival of her former lover, Eileen (Nina Hoss), a controversial writer and professor, and her new protegee-turned-lover, Thea (Imogen Poots). Hedda manipulates the partygoers to the point of chaos, and the evening unravels in a dramatic fashion.

Hedda is not a perfect film. The action could be more dynamic, and the plot more engaging, but the acting and the visual spectacle of it all tend to make up for these deficits. Thompson is so well-cast in the role you’d think Ibsen wrote it for her. She’s perfectly suited for this kind of introspective, character-driven period piece, whether it be Hedda or the amazing (and underrated) Passing. It’s mesmerizing to watch her turn on the charm while keeping a sense of volatility and destructiveness simmering just beneath the surface. Nina Hoss, who you may recognize from TÁR, is similarly fierce, as is Imogen Poots in her thankless role as the nagging girlfriend.

Is it gay? Yep! It was nominated for four Dorian Awards.

Where to watch: Prime Video.

Kiss of The Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman is the kind of film that either works for you or doesn’t. For me, it totally worked. The film is adapted from the stage musical of the same name, which is based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, previously made into a 1985 film starring William Hurt and Sônia Braga. Set in early 1980s Argentina, Kiss of the Spider Woman follows Luis Molina (Tonatiuh), a gay musical lover sent to prison for public indecency. He shares a cell with Valentin Arregui Paz (Diego Luna), a political prisoner and militant communist.

Despite having seemingly nothing in common, the two men grow close as Molina narrates the story of his favorite musical, The Kiss of the Spider Woman. The film jumps between the prison setting and Molina’s telling of the film, in which a perfectly cast Jennifer Lopez plays the protagonist, Aurora, as well as the villain — the Spider Woman. Luna and Tonatiuh both play roles in the movie-within-a-movie as well. Kiss of the Spider Woman covers tricky terrain, traversing from the dark world of the prison to the faux-technicolor dream of the musical. Ultimately, the film’s stylized melodrama buoys a heartfelt story, and excellent performances from Tonatiuh, Luna, and Lopez sell its big swings.

Is it gay? Yes, it is. It was nominated for two Dorian Awards, and Tonatiuh also received a nomination.

Where to watch: Rentable on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, Fandango.

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Pillion

If you’re wondering why Swedish heartthrob Alexander Skarsgård was walking around in all those slutty little outfits last year, it’s because he was promoting his new BDSM rom-com, Pillion. Harry Lighton’s directorial debut stars Harry Melling as Colin, a meek gay man who strikes up a relationship with a sexy, mysterious biker named Ray (Skarsgård). Ray teaches the naive Colin the ways of BDSM, and Colin finds that he’s well-suited to being a submissive partner. Meanwhile, Ray remains a very attractive enigma.

Pillion has received a lot of press for its explicit content, but it’s no more shocking than you’d expect, particularly if you’ve seen Skarsgård in True Blood. It’s basically a romantic comedy wherein sex, and in particular the dynamic between a dominant and a submissive partner, carries a lot of weight. Melling is very good in the lead role, and it’s kind of amazing how sultry but also sort of cute Skarsgård is here. More lighthearted than you might expect, but there’s some depth there too.

Is it gay? Yes, very much so. It was nominated for two Dorian Awards.

Where to watch: You may be able to watch it at a theater near you, but it’s not streaming yet.

A Private Life

Jodie Foster speaks French, but she’s not gay in A Private Life — you win some, you lose some. Foster plays Dr. Lilian Steiner, a psychiatrist in Paris. When one of her longtime patients dies, she becomes convinced it was foul play, and conducts an ill-advised investigation into the matter. She ropes in her ex-husband (Daniel Auteuil), struggles with her relationship with her son (Vincent Lacoste), and worries she’s losing her mind.

Part noir mystery and part dark comedy, A Private Life features a zippy, occasionally hairbrained plot. Foster’s performance is the film’s most compelling aspect. It’s great to see her out of her element — speaking French among locals, and appearing less and less competent at her job (her usual mode) as the film goes on. She’s so great here, presenting as an initially impenetrable character who becomes more interesting as the cracks begin to appear. The plot gets a little silly after a while, but Foster is really great, and her goofy dynamic with Auteuil is an unexpected delight.

Is it gay? Sadly, no. TW for Jodie Foster playing straight.

Where to watch: It might be playing in theaters near you, but it’s not streaming yet.

Highest 2 Lowest

I’ve barely seen anyone talking about Spike Lee’s most recent film, and that’s just not right. Highest 2 Lowest stars the legendary Denzel Washington as David King, a music mogul and founder of an influential record label. After putting up most of his assets in a bid to regain control of his business, a ransomer attempts kidnap his son, but makes a mistake and kidnaps the son of his friend Paul (Jeffrey Wright), instead. As David considers whether to pay the ransom for another man’s son, time may be running out for his kingdom.

A pseudo-remake of Akira Kurosawa’s influential 1963 film High and Low, Lee makes the story totally his own. Washington is stupendous in the lead role, letting you know exactly what kind of man David is within the first three minutes. Lee’s cinematic gifts are on full display here, and the film’s subway chase scene is a gorgeously shot showstopper. Things heat up in the best way when an expertly cast ASAP Rocky shows up, and I won’t tell you whether or not Washington throws down in a rap battle in this movie — you’ll just have to watch and find out. The rhapsodic score is a delight and gives the film a sense of old-school Hollywood bombast.

Is it gay? Nope.

Where to watch: Apple TV+.

See You Soon

Alexandra Swarens has been reliably cranking out low-budget lesbian films for the last decade, with seven feature films under her belt in the last seven years. (I interviewed Swarens in 2024 about her film The Holiday Club.) Her 2025 film See You Soon is her best yet. Sort of a Before Sunrise for the lesbian set, the film follows Kate (Swarens), who has a layover in Paris on the way to her sister’s wedding. She meets a French artist named Juliette (Clementine Pinet), and their night together blooms into something more.

Like all of Swarens’ films, See You Soon features naturalistic dialogue, which often appears improvised, and an unhurried pace. Swarens always has chemistry with her co-stars, but she and Pinet are especially well-matched for this whirlwind love story. The film’s emphasis on realism doesn’t detract from its sense of romance, which induces the warm fuzzies in part because of how low-key it is. Aspirational, but not out of reach. Watch until the end for a great reference to one of the all-time best lesbian films.

Is it gay? Yes, very much so.

Where to watch: Tubi, The Roku Channel, YouTube TV, for rent on Tello Films (with no ads).

Materialists

This is a controversial pick, because many folks did not like this film. I did, but I understand why it might rub people the wrong way. Materialists, Celine Song’s follow-up to Past Lives, stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a successful (though not wealthy) matchmaker. At the wedding of one of her clients, Lucy meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a charming billionaire who can give Lucy the life she wants. She also reconnects with her ex, John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor. Money was one of the reasons the pair broke up.

Materialists has some pretty stark tonal shifts that upend your expectations, and I think account for a lot of people’s dislike of the movie. It begins with a sort of pitch-black cynicism about love that I found oddly appealing and then transforms into something else entirely. Dakota Johnson, who is very beautiful and charming in an off-kilter sort of way, makes sense in this movie, and I think Song utilized her alluring dispassion to great effect. I found it much more interesting than I thought it would, in part because it’s a kind of knotty movie – for better or for worse.

Is it gay? Nope.

Where to watch: HBO Max.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

A lot of people disliked Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere as well, so I guess I’m feeling controversial in my film opinions this year. It really moved me! The film follows Bruce Springsteen, played by Jeremy Allen White, as he moves through a dark period in his life while recording his classic 1982 record Nebraska. As Bruce grapples with depression and mulls over the difficult events of his childhood, his friends and family struggle to help him. Meanwhile, he digs into his most personal musical project yet.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere makes smart choices for a biopic, focusing only on a brief period of Bruce’s lengthy career for maximum emotional impact. White is great in the lead role, fully embodying The Boss and externalizing his inner turmoil without overdoing it. I really resonated with what Manohla Dargis said in her review of the film — that it really sits with sadness in a way few Hollywood films do. Bruce is in deep psychic pain here, and the movie has him marinate in his pain rather than breaking out of it in a hero’s journey.

Is it gay? Nope.

Where to watch: Hulu, Disney+, for rent on other platforms.

28 Years Later

Few legacy sequels have reached the dazzling heights of Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, which came out more than two decades after the genre-defining zombie flick 28 Days Later. In an homage to the first film, which was shot on a camcorder, 28 Years Later was shot primarily using an iPhone, giving it a sense of immediacy while also acknowledging the passage of time. A clear commentary on contemporary politics, 28 Years Later follows an isolated community founded on traditional values, drawing analogies between the film’s zombie outbreak and the isolationist developments of Brexit and COVID-19.

Beautifully shot and stunningly acted, 28 Years Later is a triumph of horror filmmaking. It follows 12-year-old Spike (Alfie Williams), who ventures outside of his compound with his father (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He returns to the island to retrieve his ill mother (Jodie Comer) and take her to an infamous doctor (Ralph Fiennes) living off the land. Both tender and terrifying, 28 Years Later is a sumptuous return to Boyle’s zombie roots. If you watch this film, be sure to check out its sequel, The Bone Temple, next.

Is it gay? Nope, but I know how some of you feel about Jodie Comer.

Where to watch: Netflix, for rent on other platforms.

Superman

I was skeptical going into Superman because the superhero genre has gotten so oversaturated, and I’m not a big fan of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, but I came away from it pleasantly surprised. In many ways, Superman is a return to form, a classic superhero story that recalls the good old days before the MCU and DECU. We’re introduced to Superman, aka Clark Kent (David Corenswet), without any backstory. This makes perfect sense, because we all know Superman’s origin story.

When we meet Superman, his intervention in foreign affairs is being questioned, he’s just lost a fight, and the public has begun to turn on him. He starts dating powerhouse journalist Lois Lane (a commanding Rachel Brosnahan) and draws the ire of his nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Corenswet makes a lovely Superman, and Krypto the dog is a total star who is only outshined by Brosnahan, whose snappy Lois Lane is just as formidable as her superpowered boyfriend. Superman has a ton of heart, is surprisingly politically prescient, and is a good reminder of how satisfying classic Hollywood storytelling can be.

Is it gay? No, but talk to me later about Lois Lane. Queer actress Isabella Merced plays Hawkgirl.

Where to watch: HBO Max.

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Before we get started, here are some places you can donate to folks in Minnesota under ICE’s siege. You can use this tool to track and report ICE sightings in your area. Here are some other things you can do. If you start a monthly subscription to this newsletter right now, I will donate the revenue from your first month to one of the organizations linked above.

I recently acquired a copy of a book that may contain the answers many of us seek. It’s called How To Be A Happy Lesbian: A Coming Out Guide, and it was published in 2002. I was inspired to buy it based on the cover alone, and now that I’ve read it, I thought I would share what I’ve learned with you. Together, maybe we can discover the secrets of the lesbian universe.

How To Be A Happy Lesbian was written by Tracey Stevens, a novelist, and Katherine Wunder, a Licensed Professional Counselor. They are (or at least were) partners who live together in North Carolina in a house full of animals. They are also the authors of Lesbian Sex Tips: A Guide For Anyone Who Wants To Bring Pleasure To The Woman She (Or He) Loves, which features a similarly amazing cover. They thank each other in the book’s acknowledgments.

In the intro, Tracey writes, “This book is dedicated to all the lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people, and everyone else deemed “different” by society who are courageous enough to be who they really are; and to the straight people who are so secure with their own sexuality that they are not threatened to call us their family and friends.” She explains that she was inspired to write the book because it was the kind of thing she wished she had growing up in a homophobic environment. Essentially a self-help book for lesbians, Tracey and Katherine provide helpful tips for how to exist in the world as a lesbian.

To that end, Chapter 1 is entitled “What does it mean to be a lesbian today?” Tracey first defines the term lesbian as “women who love, cherish, and have primary relationships with other women.” She includes a section on gay slang and slurs, but suggests that you own these words instead of being hurt by them. The next section explains the magical sensation of gaydar, which she describes as “the ability to recognize another homo immediately.” Notably, the chapter ends with a guide on where to meet other lesbians. Suggestions include sporting events, places where animals are, bars and clubs, lesbian groups, the internet (though Tracey warns this can be dangerous), and everyday locales like the grocery store. (This is where gaydar comes in handy, I suppose.)

Chapter 2 is all about bodies, and provides a brief rundown of relevant anatomy. Yes, there are diagrams. Chapter 3 is a guide about how to have safe sex and includes information about STDs. Chapter 4, written by Katherine, describes strategies for healthy communication. Katherine lays out communication rules, such as don’t use shoud, could, would, and never, don’t yell, and begin by saying something positive when you want to bring up an issue with someone. She also gives advice on how to come out, suggesting that you might want to have information about local PFLAG chapters when coming out to your family.

Chapter 5 is where the magic happens. Titled “Romance and the art of making lesbian love,” the chapter begins with Tracey explaining that she once had a partner who had never orgasmed before, and when Tracey finally got her there, “the house practically rocked.” We love to hear it, Tracey. She begins with a discussion of romance, noting that this can look different from woman to woman, and then gets into foreplay techniques. Tracey then gets very specific about the next steps you should take to make things happen. In the “Moving down south” section, she imparts an important truism: “Remember ambidextrous is great but ambiSEXtrous is better!”

Next up – an explanation of different sex positions, including “The illusive and unnatural scissors” and “Sitting up – on her face.” After a brief mention of S&M, Tracey makes a somewhat jarring transition to childhood abuse and domestic abuse, noting the importance of using your creator-given gifts to overcome hardship.

Chapter 6 details strategies for “dealing with the outside world.” Tracey begins with two kinds of people you might meet out there who are bound to give you trouble. They are closet cases and MCs, which stands for people who “missed their calling,” meaning they should be gay but never got around to figuring that out for themselves. These can be some of the meanest people you’ll meet, Tracey says. The Christian Right is pretty bad too, she admits, and they’re the ones who created the concept of the Gay Agenda – an actual homophobic propaganda video distributed to government officials. If you need proof that Gay Is Okay, just look to the animal kingdom, Tracey suggests. Whether being gay is pre-destined, hereditary, or something else entirely, it’s definitely not a choice, according to Tracey.

Unfortunately, there are some negatives about being gay in the world, which is why Tracey dedicates Chapter 7 to the topic of “Living in the primarily heterosexual USA.” This chapter includes information about the rights and privileges gay people don’t have in the United States of America. She argues that it’s important to think about what we lack so we can imagine a better future for ourselves. Still, Tracey urges us to always have a positive attitude about life and be optimistic about the state of the world.

How to maintain this sense of optimism? Look for gay role models, which is the subject of Chapter 8. Tracey presents us with a list of lesbians to look up to, both contemporary and historical. The list includes figures like Susan B. Anthony, Emily Dickinson, and Melissa Etheridge. If that’s not enough to keep our spirits up, Tracey suggests we go to the movies. Chapter 9 lays out a handy guide of lesbian movies to watch, compiled by Raymond Murray, the founder and president of TLA Video. (The surprisingly extensive list includes several lesbian films I’ve never seen or never even heard of, which to me indicates how much accessibility and reach continue to be problems when it comes to lesbian cinema.) You can find an online version of the list here.

Chapter 10, which was written by Katherine, is all about therapy and counseling. She lays out what psychological institutions have to say about gays and lesbians, what to expect when going to therapy, and includes a short section detailing what counselors with gay and lesbian clients should know.

The final chapter, called “Coping with the world as a lesbian,” contains a roundup of Tracey’s favorite self-help truisms. They include: “Everyone is born with gifts,” “Love the planet,” “Don’t judge other people,” “The best revenge is success,” and “It’s not good to shove your ideas down someone else’s throat.” Tracey ties up this hodgepodge of ideas with a sincere wish for readers of the book. She writes, “I hope this book will help you on your quest to becoming a happy, healthy lesbian. This is a new millennium, full of the promise of equality for us all, and I wish you the brightest, most wonderful future you could ever imagine.”

Can we find the answers somewhere in there? How do you become a happy lesbian? Here’s what I’ve gleaned from Tracey and Katherine’s writing. Step one: You must learn how to be a lesbian and meet others like you. Then you’ve got to educate yourself about safe sex and discover how to rock a woman’s world. (Sexually and otherwise, but mostly sexually.) But make sure you know how to communicate! You know what they say – happy wife, happy life.

You also need to learn to face the world, even when it’s spewing hatred in your face. However, when things are looking bad, you need to have hope, and believe that things will get better. Have confidence in yourself! You can do this by finding lesbian role models, either throughout history or in the present day. Hollywood movies can be mean to gays and lesbians (boo), so you should go seek out indie films that depict lesbians in a positive light. You should definitely go to therapy, if you think that could help you. You should also listen to Tracey’s advice, because she’s very wise.

While parts of this book are (unintentionally?) hilarious and other aspects are outdated, much of this decades-old advice still rings true. Lesbians certainly still need help, as does everyone, and Tracey and Katherine’s book isn’t the worst place to start. Comment below if any of Tracey and Katherine’s suggestions resonated with you or made you laugh, or if you have solved the eternal quandary of how to be a happy lesbian. Please, enlighten us!

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