Open Channel D

It’s primary season in a midterm year, and that means this is your best chance to stop the bleeding and put a check on the White House. Voting for the midterms will be happening as early as the next few weeks for some extremely consequential positions with no electoral college to fuck it up.

In my state alone, we are voting on who will be our:

Governor (and Lt. Governor)

Congressional Representative

Senator

Secretary of State

State Auditor

Attorney General

County Sheriff

District Court Judge

These people have the power to either help this administration’s agenda or stop it in its tracks. They handle elections, criminal justice, natural disaster response, and so much more. Some places may have people running for school board as well, and if you don’t want book bans to continue, then you need to vote on that.

Early voting for the primaries may start as soon as June (as in, this month) and July. And then the general will happen in November.

Check that you’re registered, what the dates are, check that you either know where your polling place is or can request an absentee ballot early enough, and research who’s on your ballot.

Maurice (1987)

Rope (1948) - Mostly just subtext, but is widely accepted as being queer (although not the best representation...)

The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Gay Deceivers (1969)

Another Country (1984)

Benjamin (2018)

The Birdcage (1996)

Victim (1961)

In & Out (1997)

Brokeback Mountain (2005) (obviously)

Next Goal Wins (2023)

Strangers on a Train (1955) - Not explicitly queer, but most people view one of the main characters as being gay

Deathwatch (1965) - This one's kind of confusing and weird but you've just got to watch it and believe me

The Sergeant (1968)

The Servant (1963) - Most people interpret it as having homosexual subtext. Also it's Dirk Bogarde, so.....

Carol (2015)

The Children's Hour (1961)

Miller's Crossing (1990) - A few of the characters are gay, but it's not really the main focus of the movie. Still a great one, though.

Warlock (1959) - A western with a pair of characters that seem a bit more than friends..... A lot of westerns are known for having subtext, but this one is known by some as "the first gay western". Decide for yourself.....

Those are the ones that I have watched, but I'll also include a few in my watchlist that I've heard are also queer in some way:

The Singer Not the Song (1961)

The Tin Star (1957)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Leather Boys (1964)

Death in Venice (1971)

Wilde (1997)

Winter Kept Us Warm (1965)

Queer (2024)

Philadelphia (1993)

Compulsion (1959)

That Certain Summer (1972)

Beautiful Thing (1996)

Wings (1927)

Imagine Me & You (2005)

The Boys in the Band (1970)

Milk (2008)

Pride (2014)

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Straight Jacket (2004)

Enjoy, and HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to expand my original list with all of the queer movies I've seen since then!

From my original list:

The Tin Star (1957) - Not as gay as I thought it would be, but there's some semblance of subtext to be found if you look hard enough...

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) - Paul Newman described it as "a love affair between two men"... so... there's that!

Winter Kept Us Warm (1965) - I thought it was pretty damn gay but apparently some of the actors didn't even know it was supposed to be.

Compulsion (1959) - Based on real gay murderers (same story as Rope (1948)).

That Certain Summer (1972) - Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen are explicitly in a relationship, but they show almost no affection towards each other whatsoever. But what can you expect from a 70s TV movie?

Imagine Me & You (2005) - Cute lesbian romcom. I loved it!

Some Like it Hot (1959) - Has kind of an open queer ending.

+ More:

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - This movie actually destroyed me. You need to watch it.

Mass Appeal (1984) - A lesser-known movie about the church and there's a bisexual priest and it's very interesting. And Jack Lemmon is in it. I love it!

Plainclothes (2025)

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983)

Bound (1996) - Amazing lesbian crime movie. So good.

Edge of the City (1957)

Mikey and Nicky (1976) - Gay gangsters??? Just maybe???

Buddies (1985) - Really touching and devastating movie about AIDS

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

Deathtrap (1982)

The Balcony (1963) - Shelley Winters and Lee Grant may kiss 👀

Twilight's Kiss (2019)

The Falls (2012) - Gay mormons. Low budget. On Tubi.

The Best Way to Walk (1976) - DEVASTATING french movie about repressed desire.

Personal Best (1982)

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Prayers for Bobby (2009) - I cried SO much watching this movie. Be warned...

Movies I haven't seen yet but I've heard they're queer in some way:

Moonlight

Saved!

Dark Harbor

Villain

Macho Dancer

Farewell My Concubine

Between Two Women

Fried Green Tomatoes

Women in Love

Summertime

Firebird

Parting Glances

La Cage aux Folles

Breakfast on Pluto

Oh huh! I hadn't realized I didn't post this one here on Tumblr! I finished this study in early March and have plans to have it be one of 3 pieces to go together 🙂‍↕️

And it was astonishing because not only was it an amazing sense of connection between the audience and the actress, but you also realized that this was a kind of an historical lesson in theater reception. That’s what must have happened at The Globe. These soliloquies were not simply monologues that people spoke, they were call and response to the audience. And you realized that vibrancy, that that sense of connectedness is not only what makes theater great in prisons, it’s what makes theater great, period."

Hamlet. There’s a scene where Hamlet sees Claudius praying and debates whether to kill him now or wait (because if Claudius dies praying he will automatically go to heaven). The actor playing Hamlet was genuinely asking the audience the questions in the speech, and when he got to “and should I kill him now?” someone in the audience shouted “YES KILL HIM HE NEEDS TO DIE!” Hamlet took the entire rest of the monologue to that person, enumerating his reservations so persuasively that they started to nod in agreement.

Romeo and Juliet. In this production, the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt happens in several rounds, of which Mercutio won the first. Mercutio’s actor made the choice, upon his victory, to run down the audience with his hand out for high-fives. He decided this in rehearsal, so he had time to plan for the three responses people would probably give him: a) a high-five back; b) being stunned and not reacting; and c) the old “oops too slow.” What this Mercutio did not prepare for was the audience member who panicked and deposited their handful of M&Ms into his open palm. The way I heard it, Mercutio was still processing this when Benvolio came up beside him and stole the M&Ms out of his hand to eat them.

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from Sherlock.

Arrival of the Birds by The Cinematic Orchestra.