The first place many gaybies learn about gayness is through TV, film and now the web. Check out our picks for just a few flavors on the new LGBT channels on YouTube and Hulu that help you catch what you’ve missed.
Whether your interests lie in documentaries, dramas, comedies or TV shows, the new channels have a little something for everybody, and the dedicated channels show that the market is ready to accommodate.
While GLAAD waxes on about the significance of Hulu and YouTube offering gay fare in an organized way, check out our samplings that can serve as potent reminders, or help you get and keep your gay card just by seeing them for the first time.
Hulu
Hulu’s Gay & Lesbian Collection includes entire TV series, new and old, like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Noah’s Arc,” “Tales of the City” and “It’s a Brad Brad World,” as well as both fun and serious movies across the decades. Click on the film titles below to go directly to a few of our top Hulu choices.
Paris is Burning (1991, top photo and above video). If you haven’t seen it, you don’t know underground ball culture. Unlike the trailer above says, you don’t need a VCR to check out this must-see for the history of vogueing, serving face, and bending genders among gay African American creatures of the night.
The Crying Game (1992, second photo). Oscar nominated and heart wrenching, the “big reveal” in this film was talked about for years.
Party Monster (2003). True story turned feature film. Drug-fueled New York club kid lives on the edge, wacks the hell out and kills a guy. Impressionable acolyte lives to tell the story in all its glittery, gory detail.
The Times of Harvey Milk (1984, third photo). Way before the Sean Penn narrative feature, this perfectly pitched documentary starts at the end, when a political rival gunned down the gay rights pioneer. Then watch Milk’s backstory, the details of him breaking the ground we walk on today, and the circumstances that led to his murder.
YouTube
On YouTube’s LGBT Movies Channel, the selections are more limited and you have to rent them. Yeah, it’s not free, but it’s just a mere $2.99 to $3.99 per flick. The selections are mostly newer releases. We recommend the farcical “American Pie” of gaiety “Another Gay Movie” (its sequel is there too), the gay Mormon love story “Latter Days,” and the “Finding Me” film series about life and love among a group of black gay men.
