Until 1992, being a gay or lesbian soldier was illegal in Australia. New research is unearthing the heartbreaking stories of people who devoted their lives to the military but were discharged when their sexuality was exposed.
In what ways do our sexual pleasures and fantasies inform the way we see the world?
André Holland and Trevante Rhodes in Moonlight: it has seemed in recent years that queer films are just not Best Picture material.
A24, Plan B Entertainment
When Warren Beatty began his acting career in the 1950s, the idea of homosexual men at the centre of a cinematic story could not be countenanced. Moonlight still shows us lives generally absent from film screens.
Queer in more ways than one…The Lobster marries the romantic and political.
The Lobster
The narrative of monogamous coupledom exerts much force in our imaginative and social worlds - even queer films are dominated by love plots. But The Lobster, a savagely funny film about heterosexual love, is a welcome exception.
Queer history is celebrated in the United States, so why not Australia?
Ronald Woan
US director Sean Baker’s Tangerine is a film that’s queer in both storyline and filmmaking approach. Featuring trans actors and shot on an iPhone 5S, it teases with ideas of authenticity and truth.
Empire, currently screening on Channel Ten, is throwing stereotypes to the wind and presenting strong drama that is black, queer, and diverse.
Channel Ten
Empire, a TV drama about a black hip-hop star turned music mogul, is breaking new ground by foregrounding ‘risky’ issues around race, sexuality and class.
Dykes on Bikes have been opening the Sydney Mardi Gras since 1988.
Will Choi
Dykes on Bikes have been starting Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade since 1988 – and many for many participants, the yearly ride to Sydney is as important as the parade itself.
David McDairmid’s exuberant artworks help us understand the changing face of HIV/AIDS art.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
At the end of July, Melbourne hosted the 20th International AIDS Conference. A huge red AIDS 2014 sign perched on the Swanston Street Bridge between Flinders Street Station and the Melbourne Concert Hall…
Wurst embraces a wide spectrum of individuals who recognise their own gender performance as imperfect.
Georg Hochmuth/EPA
Four songs in to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night, six Icelandic men in a band called Pollapönk took to the stage dressed in fluorescent suits and declared to an ecstatic house…
Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, stars of Blue is the Warmest Colour, at the Cannes Film Festival.
EPA/Ian Langsdon
From limited theatrical releases to the queer film festival circuit – and being refused classification – 2013 has seen films with LGBT content distributed to audiences by a variety of means. Box office…