Oscar, You’re So Gay: 10 of the Greatest Queer Films to Win Big at the Oscars

Back in the day, all the good gay names had a little bit of gruff to them ya know? We were Roccos, Earls, Brunos, and Rocks. But the gayest name? The name that has just the right amount of gruff to it, and also encompasses some of the great gays of history? Oscar. Oscar Wilde is one of our greatest gay authors, Oscar Hammerstein wrote some of the best, most lush musicals of all time, Oscar from The Office was gay, and Oscar Mayer makes meat and gays LOVE putting meat in their mouth! But the gayest of all the Oscars? THE Oscars. This Sunday marks the 94th Academy Awards, and so we figured it was time to take a #FlashbackFriday look back at 10 of the greatest queer films to win Oscars.

Philadelphia

Up first, we’ve got 1993’s Philadelphia, starring darlings of stage, TV, and film alike, Tom Hanks, Antonio Banderas, and Denzel Washington. Hanks won Best Actor for his breathtaking portrayal of a high-power lawyer who remains closeted since he could be fired for being gay. (Quick reminder that up until 2020 you still could be fired for being gay in many states, and there are even still workarounds that make it a possibility). Hanks’ character is not only closeted, but also suffers from AIDS at a time when treatment and prevention were still woefully unavailable because of pieces of shit Ronald and Nancy Reagan whose corpses can get fucked with a three-foot long stoking iron. Also, worth noting is that we currently live in a time where hetero people playing queer parts is considered cringe, but 30 years ago that was not the case. These performances were decidedly brave of Hanks and Banderas, as was Washington for being in the film. This movie was robbed of even a Best Picture nomination, which is ludicrous, but it did win Best Actor and Best Original Song (“Streets of Philadelphia” by Bruce Springsteen). It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to current Oscar nominee Jane Campion, who won for The Piano (which also saw Anna Paquin make history as the youngest Oscar winner of all time). Worth noting: Tom Hanks gave one of the most beautiful Oscars speeches of all time.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Speaking of “straights playing gay roles before it was cool to do so” 1985’s Kiss of the Spider Woman. Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, KOTSW also gave the late William Hurt (RIP) an Oscar for Best Actor, marking the first time someone won an Oscar for playing a gay role in the history of the Academy. The movie tells the story of a window dresser (who is gay, because duh) who shares a prison cell with Brazilian revolutionary (Raul Julia pre-Addams Family). The two start out as cellmates, grow to become friends, and then eventually are lovers. KOTSW was making gay prison sex cool before Daddy Christopher Meloni made it cool on HBO’s Oz.

Moonlight

Up next is one of my favorite films of all time, 2016’s Moonlight. From writer Tarell Alvin McCraney and director Barry Jenkins, Moonlight tells the story of a young, Queer, Black kid named Chiron growing up with a mom who was addicted to drugs and in a neighborhood rife with gang violence. What was so incredible about Moonlight (amount countless other things) is that it shows a Queer story that we’re not used to seeing. We’ve seen Queer stories told from so many other angles, predominantly all white and most often from a character who falls somewhere in the middle to upper income brackets. Moonlight showed us that Queer struggles are universal, while also showing us another side of American life that many aren’t used to seeing. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, winning Best Picture in an historically awkward moment where Warren Beatty read the card wrong and announced silly-ass La La Land as the winner, before the mistake was rectified. McCraney won for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Mahershala Ali won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (he won the same award two years later for his performance in The Green Book).

Milk

If there’s one thing gays love, it’s gulping down creamy, white goodness. I am, of course, speaking of milk. But that’s not the only milk we love; we also love Harvey Milk. 2008’s Milk told the story of one of the greatest Queer pioneers in history, and our nation’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. The film stars Sean Penn in an incredible and jarringly accurate portrayal of Milk, earning him the Oscar for Best Actor. Milk was unfortunately murdered by fellow councilman Dan White (played by Queen Barbra's son-in-law Josh Brolin), along with Mayor of San Francisco George Moscone played by my forever love Victor Garber. This movie was probably the beginning of the end of straights playing Queer roles (the end being The Danish Girl?), but we did get one homo playing a hetero, so we stan. White’s legal defense used what has now become “The Twinkie Defense” arguing that a lifetime of eating junk food made him too depressed to function soundly. I may love fucking twinks, but “The Twinkie Defense” can just go get fucked. Milk also stars the problematic James Franco, and Emile Hirsch who once strangled a woman to the point of unconsciousness, a crime for which he pleaded guilty. Both are exceptional in this movie. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Best Original Screenplay (in addition to Penn’s win).

The Times of Harvey Milk

This is the perfect segue for another Milk-based Oscar win, which was 1984’s The Times of Harvey Milk. This documentary showcased the life of the man who helped spearhead the modern-day LGBTQ+ movement, and took home Best Documentary Feature. It’s so good, and viewed as so important, that in 2012 it was entered into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. I’d recommend watching this movie first, and then treating yourself to Milk after.

Cabaret

One thing that often gets forgotten about the Holocaust is just how many Queer people were killed in it (roughly 15,000 and that’s just who was “out” to say nothing of the people who were killed while quietly Queer). 1972’s Cabaret, based on the 1967 Tony-winning musical by Kander & Ebb, doesn’t let us forget this. By having the Emcee, (a lithe, makeup-painted homo, portrayed brilliantly by Joel Grey who won a Tony and Oscar for his performance of this role) narrate the movie’s plot, we’re reminded of the very fact that our Queer fam was very much a part of this awful history. Many a stage production of this show end with the Emcee, clad in a prison outfit with the pink-triangle sewn on, walking into the gas chambers. It also co-stars Michael York, who plays a gay English academic named Brian. Though the character is gay, he and Sally have still sex, and I'm a sucker for a good blurring of sexual identities. As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, this movie is just incredibly Queer overall. It stars gay icons Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli, it was directed by Bob Fosse, and it won a whopping eight Oscars including Best Actress (Minnelli), Best Director (Fosse), Best Supporting Actor (Grey).

Call Me By Your Name

2017’s Call Me By Your Name was one of the most anticipated (and subsequently praised) movies of the year. While I thought the hype was a little overblown, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences disagrees with me. Starring America’s favorite hetero emo twink Timothèe Chalamet, as well as America’s least favorite cannibalistic sadist Armie Hammer, CMBYN tells the story of a young student on vacation in Italy with his family who is just starting to experience his sexual awakening, as well as the realization that he’s Queer. He falls in love with his teacher (Hammer). We all know the famous peach scene in CMBYN, and our willing suspension of disbelief lets us pretend Armie may even imagine the peach as Timothèe’s ass and not the rib cage of a woman that he could eat before carving his initials into her vagina. Ahhh the magic of film! CMBYN won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It definitely pushes into the era of “we don’t need straights playing gays anymore,” but past that it’s a generally very good movie worth watching!

Dog Day Afternoon

If there’s one thing Al Pacino does well, it’s play a man who has an interesting history with the law. There's Serpico, where he portrays the real-life altruistic cop of the same name in a corrupt Brooklyn precinct. Then in Scent of A Woman, he plays a military officer who was discharged from the military in a grenade juggling accident that left him blind. In 1980’s Cruising, Pacino plays a cop who goes undercover as a gay man in the gritty and dangerous world of the NYC gay, leather scene in an attempt to find a serial killer who targets gay men (though it never won an Oscar, Cruising is definitely worth the watch because it’s exceptionally gay for the time, and Pacino is sexy as fuck in it, too). And in 1975’s Dog Day Afternoon, Pacino plays a man who robs a bank in order to get the funds needed to pay for his partner’s gender confirmation surgery. This was a film that was definitely ahead of its time in terms of bringing the discussion of trans identities to the big screen. From director Sydney Lumet, DDA won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for its adaptation of a true crime story.

The Favourite

There are few actresses of I love more than Olivia Colman. And 2018’s The Favourite showcased her as an aging Queen Anne and her lesbian affairs with two women (Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone). The movie is funny, sad, and brilliantly acted, and features a very foppish Nicholas Hoult as the leader of the opposition party Robert Harley. What can I say? I’ve always wanted to ride a Harley. It was nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and gave Olivia Colman her first Oscar win, though I highly doubt it will be her last. Run, don't walk, to see this film. Actually... since you're probably gay, go ahead and skip.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Finally, we wouldn’t have RuPaul’s Drag Race if it weren’t for the pioneers of drag (of which Ru is obviously one). In the early '90s, drag was still decidedly fringe art and budgets for the craft were far from what they are today. And then one movie came out about a bunch of drag queens who drive cross-country, and the people they meet along the way. No, not To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. That movie wasn’t nominated for any Oscars, though it should have been. The movie I’m talking about is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It came out in 1994, a year before To Wong Foo, and stars the forever sexy Hugo Weaving (who has played multiple Queer roles) and Guy Pearce as two drag queens, and Terence Stamp as a trans woman. Priscilla was a smash success at the Cannes Film Festival in France, and brought Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner each an Oscar for Best Costume Design.

Tune into the Oscars this Sunday, March 27 beginning 5 PM PST/8 PM EST.

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