A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction. The concept of "lesbian" to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation evolved in the 20th century. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence as men to pursue homosexual relationships, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as homosexual men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless, unless a participant attempts to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality was expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampered by a lack of knowledge about homosexuality or women's sexuality, they distinguished lesbians as women who did not adhere to female gender roles. They classified them as mentally ill—a designation which has been reversed since the late 20th century in the global scientific community.
Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jason Lee. The film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee). It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series.
Formula 17 is a 2004 Taiwanese film directed by Chen Yinjung. It stars Tony Yang, Duncan Chow, King Chin, Dada Ji, Jimmy Yang, and Jason Chang. It is a gay romantic comedy film about Chou Tien Tsai, a romantic Taiwanese young man who takes a trip to visit an online boyfriend in person for the first time. Finding his internet relationship unsuitable for his real life, he moves on with his life and rooms with an old time friend of his. The film describes Tien's experiences with his loyal roommate and his friends, and a surprising relationship that he develops with the local "Playboy".
LGBT themes in speculative fiction include lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) themes in science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres. Such elements may include an LGBT character as the protagonist or a major character, or explorations of sexuality or gender that deviate from the heteronormative.
Sexuality has been a significant theme in the various Star Trek television and motion-picture series. Sexual relationships in Star Trek have mostly been depicted as heteronormative in nature. There have been depictions of bisexual relationships, but always with a twist. In Star Trek Discovery, there were two same-sex marriages, while in Star Trek Enterprise there was a polyamorous character with three wives, each of whom had three husbands, with the marriages depicted as open to romantic and sexual relationships with others.
Cruising is a 1980 American crime thriller film written and directed by William Friedkin and starring Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, and Karen Allen. It is loosely based on the novel of the same name by New York Times reporter Gerald Walker about a serial killer targeting gay men, particularly those men associated with the leather scene in the late 1970s. The title is a double entendre, because "cruising" can describe both police officers on patrol and men who are cruising for sex.
Robert Joel McLane was an American actor who is known for having starred in the early openly gay film A Very Natural Thing in 1974.
Bo White is an American actor who appeared in Christopher Larkin's 1974 groundbreaking film, A Very Natural Thing, the gay alternative to Love Story (1970). He plays Jason, a divorced photographer, who meets a lonely English Literature teacher David during New York's 1973 Gay Pride celebration in the second half of the film and show the potential to form a long term relationship.
The Mirror Has Two Faces is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film produced and directed by Barbra Streisand, who also stars. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is loosely based on the 1958 French film Le Miroir à deux faces written by André Cayatte and Gérard Oury. Also starring are Jeff Bridges, Pierce Brosnan, George Segal, Mimi Rogers, Brenda Vaccaro, and Lauren Bacall. The story focuses on a shy, middle-aged professor who enters into a platonic relationship with an unlucky colleague.
Scott Neal is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in The Bill, first in guest roles as Ryan Keating and Carl Simms and later as a regular cast member as PC Luke Ashton, and for his breakout role in landmark LGBT film Beautiful Thing. He is also known for his role in EastEnders as Jason Adams.
Maggie Stone is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. She was portrayed by actress Elizabeth Hendrickson, who also portrayed Maggie's identical twin sister Frankie Stone. The character came to Pine Valley in 2002 after Frankie's death, and befriended Bianca Montgomery whilst investigating her sister's murder. The series portrayed Bianca as having fallen in love with Maggie, with Maggie initially maintaining that she is only interested in men. The series featured her dating several men, taking a few of them to bed, sometimes out of confusion and other times out of a clear attempt to dispel her growing romantic attraction to Bianca. The two eventually become girlfriends, though heartbreak follows.
Edge of Seventeen is a 1998 coming of age romantic comedy-drama film directed by David Moreton, written by Moreton and Todd Stephens, starring Chris Stafford, and co-starring Tina Holmes and Andersen Gabrych.
Christian Clarke is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by John Partridge. He first appeared in the show's 3,509th episode, originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on 17 January 2008, and was introduced as the brother of established character Jane Beale. He was introduced as a new homosexual character for the show, following the popularity of Coronation Street's Sean Tully. Christian and Partridge's casting were announced on 20 November 2007.
A mixed-orientation marriage is a marriage between partners of differing sexual orientations. The broader term is mixed-orientation relationship, sometimes shortened to MOR or MORE.
John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean are fictional characters and a supercouple from the long-running British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks. John Paul is portrayed by James Sutton, and Craig is portrayed by Guy Burnet. John Paul, is the son of Sally St. Claire and Myra McQueen, while Craig is a son of Johnno Dean and Frankie Osborne. The character of Craig was introduced in 2002, while that of John Paul was introduced in September 2006; the supercouple relationship between the two slowly developed over a period of months, starting in 2006 and gaining intensity through 2007. Craig departs in September 2007, returning in September 2008 in a storyline which saw he and John Paul secure a happy "sunset ending", before Craig left the Hollyoaks franchise.
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, which is also known as pansexuality.
The Moon and the Sandals is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga, her debut work. Originally serialized in Hanaoto magazine, the individual chapters were collected and published in two tankōbon volumes by Houbunsha in March 1996 and February 2000, respectively. It follows the romantic relationships of high school teacher Ida, his lover, a student named Kobayashi who develops a crush on Ida and is rejected, and the fellow student whom Kobayashi comes to love afterwards.
Gay interpretations have been part of the academic study of the Batman franchise at least since psychiatrist Fredric Wertham asserted in his 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent that "Batman stories are psychologically homosexual". Several characters in the Modern Age Batman comic books are expressly gay, lesbian, or bisexual.
Sex in film, the presentation of aspects of sexuality in film, specially human sexuality, has been controversial since the development of the medium. Films which display or suggest sexual behavior have been criticized by religious groups or have been banned or censored by governments, although attitudes have changed much along the years and a more permissive social environment has developed in certain parts of the world, notably in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. In countries with a film rating system, films which contain explicit sex scenes typically receive a restricted classification. Nudity in film may be regarded as sexual or as non-sexual.
Tubstrip is a risqué comedy set in a gay bathhouse written by Jerry Douglas. The original production, also directed by Douglas, premiered off-Broadway in 1973, played in eight other cities, and then opened on Broadway in 1974 with adult film star Casey Donovan in the lead role.
