Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema from Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.
Stephen James Kmetko is an American broadcast and entertainment journalist. First working as a news anchor and reporter in the US midwest, Kmetko moved to Los Angeles, California and embarked on a 30-year career as an entertainment journalist and television news show host.
Rose Troche is an American film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter.
Eating Out is a 2004 American sex comedy film written and directed by Q. Allan Brocka and starring Rebekah Kochan, Ryan Carnes, Jim Verraros, Scott Lunsford, and Emily Stiles.
Patrik-Ian Polk is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Polk, who is gay, is noted for his films and theatre work that explore the experiences and stories of African-American LGBT people. In 2016, Polk was included in the Los Angeles Times Diverse 100 list, which described him as "the man bringing black gay stories to screens large and small".
Alejandro "Alec" Mapa is an American actor, comedian and writer. He got his first professional break when he was cast to replace B. D. Wong for the role of Song Liling in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly. He gained recognition for roles such as Adam Benet on Half & Half, Suzuki St. Pierre on Ugly Betty and Vern on Desperate Housewives. Mapa recurred as Renzo on Switched at Birth.
Miss Coco Peru is the drag persona of American actor, comedian and drag performer Clinton Leupp, known for her role in the 1999 independent film Trick and for her series of live theater performances. Recognizable by her "trademark copper-toned flip hairdo", Peru also starred in Richard Day's Girls Will Be Girls (2003) and was one of six performers featured in the Logo original stand-up comedy series Wisecrack (2005). She has also appeared in a number of other supporting and guest-starring roles in film and television.
Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds is a 2006 American sex comedy film directed by Phillip J. Bartell. It is the sequel to Eating Out (2004) and the second installment in the Eating Out franchise. Q. Allan Brocka, who wrote and directed the first film, returned to co-write the screenplay alongside Bartell. The film stars Jim Verraros, Emily Brooke Hands, Rebekah Kochan, Brett Chukerman, Marco Dapper, and Mink Stole. Verraros, Hands, and Kochan reprise their roles from the first film as Kyle, Gwen, and Tiffani, respectively, while Chukerman replaces Ryan Carnes as Marc. Dapper portrays nude art model Troy, while Stole plays Kyle's mother Helen. Following the first film, Kyle and Marc break-up, with both setting their sights on Kyle, who is unsure of his sexual preferences. In his attempt to approach Troy, Kyle pretends to be an ex-gay man, Tiffani posing as his girlfriend, and attends with him meetings at an ex-gay support group; conversely, Marc decides to seduce Kyle by being his out gay self.
Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World is a stop motion adult animated sitcom created by Q. Allan Brocka, who also acts as director. It is a spin-off from Brocka's 1999 short film of the same name, and debuted on the LGBT-focused Logo network in July 2007 and on the Canadian Teletoon's late-night programming block "The Detour" that October.
Daddy & Papa is a 2002 documentary film made by Johnny Symons. It explores same-sex parenting as seen in the lives of four families headed by male couples. The film also examines the legal, social, and political challenges faced by gay parents and their children.
Boy Culture is a 2006 American romantic drama film directed by Q. Allan Brocka, based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Matthew Rettenmund. The film stars Derek Magyar, Darryl Stephens, Patrick Bauchau, Jonathon Trent, and Emily Brooke Hands.
John R. Gordon is a British writer. His work – novels, plays, screenplays and biography - deals with the intersections of race, sexuality and class. With Rikki Beadle-Blair he founded and runs queer-of-colour-centric indie press Team Angelica. Although he was a "white person from a white suburb", according to Gordon, in the 1980s he became deeply interested in black cultural figures such as James Baldwin, Malcolm X and Frantz Fanon, and they have influenced his work ever since.
Ready? OK! is a 2008 comedy film written, edited, and directed by James Vasquez, and produced by Daisy 3 Pictures.
Eating Out: Drama Camp is a 2011 American sex comedy film and the fourth installment in the Eating Out film series. The film was directed by Q. Allan Brocka, who co-wrote it with Phillip J. Bartell.
The depiction of LGBTQ characters in Western animated series in the 2000s changed significantly from the previous decade. This included series such as Queer Duck, the first animated TV series with homosexuality as a predominant theme, The Boondocks, American Dad, bro'Town, W.I.T.C.H., The Venture Bros., Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, Moral Orel, Lizzy the Lezzy, and many others would include LGBTQ characters.
The depiction of LGBTQ characters in animated series in the 2010s changed significantly from the previous decade; especially in Western animation. This included Rebecca Sugar's Steven Universe which aired on Cartoon Network and praised for going "above and beyond when it comes to inclusive storytelling" The 2010s also brought with it shows such as Adventure Time, The Legend of Korra, BoJack Horseman, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Amphibia, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and The Bravest Knight, among others, all of which had strong LGBTQ characters. Representation of LGBTQ characters would only continue to grow in the 2020s.
Biello & Martin are a songwriting duo working in dance, theatre, and film. Independently, Michael Biello is a lyricist, performance artist, and ceramic sculptor. Dan Martin is a composer and music producer. They are best known for creating performance works which promote love, spirituality, and self-expression through a Queer lens. As LGBTQ+ cultural activists, they also founded Outmusic, an LGBTQ+ music organization, and have been romantic life-partners for over 40 years.
Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term's use as a reference to male homosexuality may date as early as the late 19th century, but its use gradually increased in the mid-20th century. In modern English, gay has come to be used as an adjective, and as a noun, referring to the community, practices and cultures associated with homosexuality. In the 1960s, gay became the word favored by homosexual men to describe their sexual orientation. By the end of the 20th century, the word gay was recommended by major LGBT groups and style guides to describe people attracted to members of the same sex, although it is more commonly used to refer specifically to men. At about the same time, a new, pejorative use became prevalent in some parts of the world. Among younger speakers, the word has a meaning ranging from derision to a light-hearted mockery or ridicule. The extent to which these usages still retain connotations of homosexuality has been debated and harshly criticized. This page examines gay characters in fictional works as a whole, focusing on characters and tropes in cinema and fantasy.
Scout's Honor is a 2001 American documentary film directed by Tom Shepard and written by Meg Moritz. Appearing as themselves in the documentary are Steven Cozza, James Dale, Tim Curran, Dave Rice and Scott and Jeanette Cozza. The film examines the Boy Scouts of Americas (BSA) policy against gays in the organization. It focuses on Steve Cozza and Dave Rice who join together to fight against the policy, and also relates the stories of two gay men who were expelled from the organization, and fought back in the courts. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2001, where it won an Audience Award for Best Documentary, and director Tom Shepard won a Freedom of Expression Award. The documentary had additional screenings at several other film festivals where it received multiple awards, and it also received a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary. The film aired nationally on the PBS series POV on June 19, 2001.
This article features the history of the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) characters in animated productions under The Walt Disney Company, including films from the studios Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar, and programming from the Disney Branded Television channels as well as the streaming service Disney+. From 1983 onward, Disney struggled with LGBTQ representation in their animated series, and their content often included LGBT stereotypes or the content was censored in series such as Blazing Dragons. Some creators have also criticized Disney studio executives of cutting LGBTQ scenes from their shows in the past, or criticized that their shows were not seen as part of the "Disney brand", like The Owl House.
