Fresh Ten LGBT Documentaries

“Outrage,” a powerful new political documentary by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick, premiered last week and has been getting fantastic reviews from coast to coast. The film is a searing indictment of the hypocrisy of closeted politicians with appalling gay rights voting records who actively campaign against the LGBT community they covertly belong to. Boldly revealing the hidden lives of some of the United States’ most powerful policymakers, “Outrage” takes a comprehensive look at the harm they’ve inflicted on millions of Americans, and draws attention to the media’s complicity in keeping their secrets. In exposing these truths and examining this real life issue facing our society, the film stands as a perfect example of the role that documentary films can play in the LGBT community. So, with that in mind, here are some other great films from recent years that are currently available on DVD – these are our Fresh Ten LGBT Documentaries.

10. She Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape. In one of the most important and controversial documentaries of the last five years, filmmakers Justine Chang and Armand Kaye examine a crime that has been ignored, discounted, and even declared impossible. The result of years of research and production, She Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape is a jarring, terrifying, and eye-opening look at this lesbian rape and sexual violence between women.

9. Tying the Knot. From a historical trip to the Middle Ages, to gay hippies storming the Manhattan marriage bureau in 1971, Tying the Knot digs deeply into the past and present to uncover the meaning of civil marriage in America today.

8. Out of the Past: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Rights in America. Director Jeff Dupre’s solid documentary on the gay community is one part history lesson (profiles of obscure gay and lesbian historical figures) and one part smart reporting (a young lesbian attempts to form a Gay-Straight Alliance club in Salt Lake City).

7. A Jihad for Love. A Jihad for Love is the world’s first feature documentary to explore the complex global intersections between Islam and homosexuality.

6. Through My Eyes. Through My Eyes provides an unflinchingly honest look at the role of today’s young Christians in the gay debate: what they really think, how they perceive the church, and what they wish other Christians knew.

5. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community. Before Stonewall is a documentary about evolution, namely the evolution of gay culture in the U.S. from the early 1920s to the Stonewall riot of 1969.

4. All Aboard: Rosie’s Family Cruise. All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise demonstrates that gay families can be just as loving, sharing, exasperating, and embarrassing as heterosexual ones.

3. For the Bible Tells Me So. For the Bible Tells Me So is a compassionate and insightful documentary about the contemporary face of an old conflict between Christian fundamentalists and gay and lesbian people.

2. The Times of Harvey Milk. A devastatingly skillful and emotionally compelling documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk charts the political rise and brutal slaying of the first openly gay city official in the United States, Harvey Milk.

1. Freedom to Marry. Shown throughout the United States and around the world at festivals in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Australia, Brussels and Berlin, Freedom to Marry has gained international acclaim and is being widely used as a educational tool for marriage equality.