This past year has definitely been full of self-discovery for many. In the process of that self-discovery, the LGBTQ+ community has grown significantly as we’ve all been learning a lot more about ourselves.

This Pride season is going to be the first one for many “baby gays” and friends/family members of the community. While all of the partying and celebrating can look like a dream, it’s incredibly important to recognize the hardships and journeys of the individuals who paved the way for us (and continue to do so to this day). Educating ourselves on vital aspects of queer culture including Stonewall, queer-coding in cinema, Studio 54, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and how pride itself came to be is essential.

Here are some of my favorite LGBTQ+ documentaries that are free with most general streaming services (specifically Netflix, YouTube Originals, and Amazon Prime) that you can binge as our crazy quarantine year comes to a close!

(Disclaimer: Before you ask “Where is ‘Paris is Burning’ on this list?- It is one of my all-time favorite documentaries EVER so I was planning to put it on here originally. However, it’s no longer on a streaming service. You’ll have to buy it over on Apple TV right now to view it, but if you got that extra chunk of change DEFINITELY check it out!)

State of Pride

Alright, let’s start with a documentary everyone can watch for free on YouTube Originals (they usually put a few films out each year that are free to the public when Pride rolls around, so keep an eye out for more content that could still be on its way).

State of Pride is a great place to start learning about what Pride truly is— its history, and what it has become. It’s a wonderful jumping-off point documentary for anyone new to the community: especially young LGBTQ+ lovelies and the family/friends of LGBTQ+ members looking to learn more about how to further support.

I think they picked three really interesting Pride celebrations to feature, each one displaying how different the experience can be from location to location. The doc shows San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Tuscaloosa’s Pride celebrations. I have personally only ever been to Denver, Colorado, and Savannah, Georgia’s Pride myself, and watching this really showed me how much the area’s culture can truly influence the Pride experience.

(Also, Troye Sivan is in this. Just tossing that out there because I adore him and what he adds to this documentary. That is all.)

A Secret Love

Imagine keeping your relationship with the love of your life a secret from everyone for over 60 years. Wild, right? Well, in A Secret Love, we learn the love story between Pat Henschel and Terry Donahue. This documentary explores their journey into retirement while simultaneously watching their stories and struggles of being a gay couple in the 20th century play out. These two have been such bright lights in the world and their love for each other is one that will truly move you.

I thoroughly enjoyed how this documentary dealt with everyone’s varying perspectives on their relationship. It was an element I was totally not expecting but it added so much to the film. It’s one thing to hear Pat and Terry’s story in their eyes, but the truth really shines in the perspectives of all the other people they surround themselves with. The documentary also had a shocking amount of found photos and videos of Pat and Terry through the years that they dig up while packing up their things to move, which also helped show just how many different experiences these two went through together.

You can check it out on Netflix, it’s one of the few select lesbian documentaries that are easily accessible on streaming and is a beautifully made one too!

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

If you take any of my documentary suggestions, please put this one at the top of your list. Marsha P. Johnson was a black transgender gay rights activist who passed away in 1992. In the film, they examine her passing as it was first ruled a suicide although many in the community believe she was murdered.

This film raises many points on various issues that Black people, gay people, transgender people, and combinations of the three all face. While I believe this film truly does educate the audience on her passing and bring forth a little bit of the closure the community is still looking for, many have raised the issue that it does not direct the audience to any post-film call to action on any of the activist points it covers. I personally appreciate how the movie truly feels like it transports you through the experiences transgender women faced in New York City back in the second half of the 20th century.

With that in mind, I highly recommend it as a breaking-off point on many different community issues. After checking the film out on Netflix, if you want to learn more about Marsha you can also check out the Happy Birthday, Marsha documentary on Amazon Prime that goes further in-depth about her life. I also recommend checking out the Marsha P. Johnson Institute to learn how to further support black trans lives.

Disclosure

After the incredibly hard year transgender people are facing (specifically in the U.S.), this documentary on Netflix helps illuminate the transgender perspective on media and how influential pop culture has been for them (both positively and negatively). The discussion of transgender representation in the entertainment industry is an ever-growing one as trans rights are constantly at stake in our country. The more respectful representation, the more understanding. Since the trans community has been at the front lines of the LGBTQ+ movement in history as well as in the fight for their own rights, we as a community definitely owe them the efforts of understanding and helping them fight against transphobia.

Sam Feder, who directed Disclosure, arranged to not only let the voices in the film be entirely from transgender and non-binary individuals but also hired a majority trans crew on the film and did a nationwide search in order to do so. Laverne Cox, Bianca Leigh, Alexandra Billings, Mj Rodriguez, Yance Ford, Brian Michael Smith, and many more trans voices in entertainment speak their truth on trans representation in entertainment throughout this film.

If you would like to learn more about the topic after checking this flick out, I have a few of my favorite videos on YouTube on it that you should definitely go take a loot at:

Variety’s Transgender in Hollywood Roundtable

Monsters In The Closet - Video Essay on LGBTQ+ Representation in Horror

Laverne Cox’s Interview About Disclosure with Trevor Noah

Record Number of Bills Restricting Trans Rights in the USA(2021)

Last Call At Maud’s

Lesbians! Listen up! This film is about one of the oldest standing lesbian bars that was in the U.S.: Maud’s was in San Francisco from 1966 to 1989. The documentary is a tad dated as it did come out in 1993, but is a wonderful piece to learn about gay culture— specifically the importance of gay bars throughout the years to the community and how they are the source of many major gay trends. Now, while I started this section with a lesbian call to action, this film does a good job at covering all gay bar culture from the 20th century.

I specifically appreciate this documentary because it sheds a light on queer culture before and after Stonewall. I feel like we only briefly get the chance to discuss LGBTQ+ history before then since it is incredibly hard to dig up the community’s lost history. It’s refreshing to see a perspective on both sides.

This film showed me just how much lesbian culture has changed recently, too. The expectations the community put on itself back in the day versus now shows which struggles have evolved in their priority today.

BONUS: Studio 54!

From Netflix’s Studio 54 — From Netflix’s *Studio 54*

Okay, okay. . . I know I said I had 5 recommendations, but this list wouldn’t have been complete without this documentary. Anyone who knows me personally knows I sing praises for this movie. And while I had the very lucky opportunity to meet the filmmakers of this movie back when it was released at a film festival and learn a lot about it from them, this film lays out the wild story behind Studio 54 so well. I left this film as an extra recommendation because this movie is focused on the club and not the LGBTQ+ community specifically. However, it does go into detail on the incredible impact this club had on the gay community and even more into the story of one of the creator’s of Studio 54 who was gay, Steve Rubell. His life is quite a wild tale, let me tell you! If you’re looking for a documentary to fill the void of Paris Is Burning for the time being, this is definitely a good go-to. It discusses overlapping figures in the same era a bit and might introduce you to a few gay icons you might not have known about before too!

5 LGBTQ+ Must Watch Documentaries For Pride Season