Bored of Netflix? Thought so. With the UK enduring a chilly winter, and in a coronavirus lockdown once again, we sensed a growing feeling that people had exhausted their lists of films to watch, TV series to binge and books to read. So, last month, we took on the challenge of creating a lockdown library with a difference – a collection of recommendations to mark LGBT+ History Month, which is celebrated each February across the UK.
At BOOST&Co, we care about diversity, but we want to represent it in an authentic way. That’s why, as one of Stonewall’s Bisexual Role Models, I’ve committed to talking about LGBT+ issues in the workplace, to ensure that our community is visible and to help others to understand and celebrate who we are.
This year, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to introduce my colleagues to some of the culture I love – and, even better, they contributed a vast range of ideas for the lockdown library we built to celebrate LGBT+ culture (and to keep everyone sane).
We explored a different area each week, starting with film and TV, before moving on to theatre and books, then music and finally art. If you’re looking for something different to bust the boredom, or to provide some creative inspiration, then look no further than the gems we’ve put together here.
Week 1: film and TV
Russell T. Davies
Queer As Folk | trailer | Seminal depiction of gay men living and loving on Canal Street
It’s a Sin | on demand | Acclaimed portrayal of friends growing up in the shadow of Aids
Dr Who | montage | The scriptwriter’s reinvention of a children’s classic for the modern age
Years and Years | trailer | Epic family drama, with a star turn from Emma Thompson
Reality TV
RuPaul’s Drag Race | YouTube channel | The drag queen searches for the next superstar
Strictly Come Dancing | musicals | Last year’s series featured the first same-sex couple
The Graham Norton Show | funniest clips | Essential Friday night viewing, in its 13th year
Based on real life
Dallas Buyers Club | trailer | Matthew McConaughey as an Aids patient smuggling drugs
Milk | trailer | Sean Penn’s Oscar-winning turn as San Francisco gay politician Harvey Milk
Pride | trailer | Feelgood British film about LGBT+ activists’ support for the miners’ strike
Documentaries
Disclosure | trailer | Subtitled Trans Lives on Screen, this looks at negative portrayals
How to Survive a Plague | trailer | Activists fight preconceptions of Aids in 1980s New York
Fictional tales
Some Like It Hot | trailer | Because no one needs an excuse to watch a Marilyn Monroe film
The History Boys | trailer | Alan Bennett’s gay-themed play, starring James Corden
It Couldn’t Happen Here | trailer | Surreal caper starring the peerless Pet Shop Boys
Music
Bohemian Rhapsody | trailer | Oscar-winner Rami Malek as Queen singer Freddie Mercury
Rocketman | trailer | Taron Egerton stars in Dexter Fletcher’s glitzy biopic of Elton John
Musicals
The Sound of Music | trailer | Watch it in tribute to Christopher Plummer, who recently died
The Wizard of Oz | trailer | “Friend of Dorothy”, that rainbow… the ultimate gay musical?
The Prom | trailer | Meryl Streep helps to tackle homophobia in small-town Indiana
Week 2: theatre and books
Classic literature
Christopher Isherwood: Goodbye to Berlin | The classic that gave us Liza Minnelli in Cabaret
E.M. Forster: Maurice | Don’t miss the Merchant Ivory melodrama with a young Hugh Grant
Evelyn Waugh: Brideshead Revisited | Love, life, Catholicism – and teddy bears – at Oxford
Contemporary literature
Angela Carter: The Passion of New Eve | Dark satire about civil war in a dystopian US
Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho | Peerless satire of Wall Street, but beware the gore
Sarah Waters: The Paying Guests | Tense, prize-winning crime novel set in 1920s London
Theatre
Noël Coward: Private Lives | Risqué comedy of manners, recently starring Kim Cattrall
Lillian Hellman: The Children’s Hour | Little-known 1930s gem, filmed with Audrey Hepburn
Tony Kushner: Angels in America | Towering drama exploring the Aids epidemic in New York
Joe Orton: Entertaining Mr Sloane | Black comedy about the sexual liaisons of a psychopath
Oscar Wilde: Lady Windermere’s Fan | Finding fun in infidelity, in Wilde’s inimitable style
Non-fiction
Harriet Dyer: The Queeriodic Table | Attractive bite-sized guide to queer history
Paul Flynn: Good as You | Culture-based look at being gay in the UK in the past 30 years
Merle Miller: On Being Different | Landmark 1970s coming-out essay, from the New Yorker
Memoirs
Stephen Fry: The Fry Chronicles | Particularly good on the polymath’s acting career
Kate Millett: Flying | The groundbreaking feminist’s prose at its searing, soaring best
Jeanette Winterson: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? | Astute observations
Musicals
42nd Street | Classic backstage musical show, filmed by Hollywood in 1933
Sweeney Todd | Murder most foul on Fleet Street, recently featuring Emma Thompson
The Producers | Nathan Lane stars as one of two theatrical schemers trying to get rich
And a Brucie bonus…
Savage Love | If you love a gossipy sex column, Dan Savage is your man
Week 3: music
Classical
Alban Berg: Lulu | Murder, shrieking lesbians, Jack the Ripper… this 1930s opera has it all
Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice | His final opera, based on Thomas Mann’s novel
Francis Poulenc: Dialogues des Carmélites | Gay composer’s opera about persecuted nuns
Rock
David Bowie: Low | Masterpiece written in 1970s Berlin while off his face on cocaine
Morrissey: Piccadilly Palare | Song exploring the language used by gay people as code
Queen: Greatest Hits | Classic compilation of flamboyant rock by Freddie Mercury and co
Suede: Dog Man Star | Exhilarating, life-affirming album: the high point of 1990s rock
Rufus Wainwright: Unfollow the Rules | New record is up there with the singer’s best
Alternative
Lo-ghost: Ghost in a Blood Machine | Distinctive, award-winning South African singers
Pet Shop Boys
Discography: the Complete Singles Collection | Peerless, from West End Girls to It’s a Sin
Behaviour | Begins with Being Boring, ends with Jealousy… albums don’t get much better
A Man from the Future | Pop oratorio about the Bletchley Park code-breaker Alan Turing
Pop
George Michael: Listen without Prejudice Vol. I | The late, great singer’s second solo LP
Take That: Greatest Hits | The ultimate boyband – Back for Good and Pray are the proof
Wham!: Make It Big | Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go is the definition of perfect pop
Synthpop
Culture Club: Colour by Numbers | Boy George, with the timeless Karma Chameleon
Erasure: The Innocents | Get your hands in the air for the duo’s 1980s hit A Little Respect
Soft Cell: Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret | Forget every cover of Tainted Love you’ve ever heard
And a Brucie bonus…
National Trust: Prejudice and Pride | Clare Balding explores LGBT+ spaces in this podcast
Week 4: art
Through the ages
Michelangelo | It was denied for centuries, but the great sculptor was definitely gay
Caravaggio | Masterful painter, murderer, bisexual… the Italian artist had quite a life
John Singer Sargent | Controversial portrait painter, great mates with Oscar Wilde
Tamara de Lempicka | Scandalous Art Deco bisexual whom Madonna adores
20th century
Francis Bacon | Created visceral works featuring crucifixions and screaming popes
David Hockney | Still experimenting with new technology (and smoking) in his 80s
In the shadow of Aids
Keith Haring | Praised for both his street art and Aids activism, promoting safe sex
Félix González-Torres | Paying homage to a lost lover with two everyday clocks
David Wojnarowicz | Fearless artist who documented his partner’s death from Aids
Photography
Robert Mapplethorpe | Known for his celebrity portraits as well as gay BDSM shots
Contemporary
Zanele Muholi | Non-binary South African activist, currently the toast of the art world
Grayson Perry | The award-winning transvestite ceramicist wants to see your work
Gilbert & George | Gay East End couple who have been collaborating for 40 years
Fashion
Cristobal Balenciaga | The couturier was inspired by the great Spanish painters
Alexander McQueen | He died tragically young, but his bumster trousers live on
Design
Enid Marx | If you’ve sat on the Tube, you’ve seen more of her legacy than you think
And that’s not all… LGBT+ History Month is online each year
LGBT+ History Month, which has the motto “claiming our past, celebrating our present, creating our future”, was founded by a history teacher in Missouri, in 1994. The UK version followed in 2005, two years after Tony Blair’s Labour government abolished Section 28, a controversial law that banned teachers from “promoting” homosexuality in schools.
Since then, LGBT+ individuals and groups have staged events throughout February. These are open to everyone, whether you identify as LGBT+ or just want to be informed and entertained (this year’s sessions, held online, ranged from a Q&A with the groundbreaking cultural theorist Judith Butler to a children’s storytelling session hosted by drag queens).
So, what are you waiting for? The LGBT+ community has produced some of our finest culture, and our lockdown library provides just a snapshot of what you can find online. With many cultural venues still closed, what better time to fire up the laptop and dive right in?
Back to list