Wednesday October 11 marks the 29th anniversary of National Coming Out Day, which celebrates both individuals coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer, and those that stand beside them as an ally. And we think you should mark the occasion by watching one of these LBGTQ movies.
This particular date was chosen as National Coming Out Day because it marks the anniversary of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which saw between 75,000 and 125,000 people invade the nation’s capital to highlight the inequality.
As the Human Rights Campaign’s website so eloquently states, “Coming out – whether it is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or allied – STILL MATTERS. When people know someone who is LBGTQ, they are far more likely to support equality under the law. Beyond that, our stories can be powerful to each other.”
This is exactly why movies about coming out are so important. It’s not just that they are ripe with internal conflict that can suddenly explode into drama, ingredients that are always good for cinema, but they can make a profound and life-changing impact on viewers watching that are in the exact same predicament.
Of course, over the years there have been an enormous amount of LBGTQ movies, each of which have approached this subject matter in a number of different ways. But not all of them are the most uplifting of films. So, with National Coming Out Day now upon us, we here at Metro decided to create a list of 9 LBGTQ movies to watch on Wednesday October 11 that will make you feel a whole range of emotions, but not leave you feeling completely downhearted.
Unfortunately, while it’s undeniably a gem of a film, that means there’s no room for “Brokeback Mountain.” Click though the slides above for other ideas of LBGTQ movies to screen on the day’s 29th anniversary.
