[Susan Foreman]

LGBT+ films is going to be a huge topic for me, and something that I will have to break down into different categories

As always, I am only including films I have in my collection, and my reasoning will be that the people involved are either main or strong characters. I refuse to feature anyone who is depicted as being 'just a victim', cowardly or simply used for comic relief

'Queer films'

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) - Ernest Thesiger as the highly camp Dr. Pretorius is one of the most identifiably gay characters in an era where explicitly acknowledging that fact was banned
Dracula’s Daughter (1936) - Forget Jean Rollin - this is the original 'lesbian vampire' film! Countess Marya Zaleska (Gloria Holden) is a character desperate to shed the disease of vampirism and live freely as a normal woman (meaning: under the thumb of a controlling man). The seduces her victims — of both genders — to drain them of their blood. She battles “horrible impulses” that she tries and fails to repress, and even starts seeing a psychiatrist to analyze the “vampire” out of her (a treatment that was thought to cure homosexuality, as well)
Les Diaboliques (1955) - Never directly identified as lesbians, Christina (Vera Clouzot) is mild and frail [the 'lipstick lesbian'], while Nicole (Simone Signoret) is tough [the 'butch']. Together they play to kill a domineering husband in one of the greatest and most gripping films ever made
The Children's Hour (1961) - Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) are two teachers who are accused by a lying student of being lovers. Although this is malicious and untrue gossip, their lives are torn apart
Victim (1961) - Very much ahead of it's time, being made in an era when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK. Melville Farr (Sir Dirk Bogarde) is a (closeted) married lawyer, who tracks down other gay men being blackmailed. The film is noted for being the first time that the word 'homosexual' was used in a movie
The Haunting (1963) - Incredibly a film from an age that has a lesbian character being feminine and not a predator. Claire Bloom plays Theodora - who is called by the shortened form Theo, which obviously is a more masculine name - a psychic who isn't the root of all evil in the film, despite being gay.
The Vampire Lovers (1970) - more lesbian vampires!
Fright Night (1985) - When the handsome closeted vampire Jerry Dandridge (Chris Sarandon) moves into the neighborhood, Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale), the boy next door, becomes so fixated on knowing more about him that he starts to ignore his girlfriend. And while vampirism has always been an avatar for queer characters, Jerry and his manservant Billy (Jonathan Stark) actually pretend to be a posh gay couple to ingratiate themselves with the neighbors
Hellraiser (1987) - Maybe I am reading too much into this, but The cenobites are a group of BDSM loving, leather enthusiasts who exist to get 'straight' people to join them in dungeons where they can explore new heights of potential pleasure if they’re willing to liberate themselves! — an obvious subtext!!
High Tension (2003) - A French, no-holds-barred version of Single White Female is highly violent and psychosexual. But at the end of the day, it’s a new millennium take on a character being driven to madness by their same-gender sexual obsession

'Transgender Films'
This falls into two categories - transvestite films, which feature a character wearing the clothing of the opposite gender, and transsexual films, which feature a character who is 'born in the wrong body'

'Transvestite Films'

Some Like It Hot (1959) - The classic cross-dressing film. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon dress as women to escape the mob. Well, you would do, wouldn't ya!. Then they meet Marilyn...
Carry On Matron (1972) - It could have been almost any 'Carry On' film!
The Triple Echo (1972) - A deserting soldier poses as his lovers sister in one of the strangest films ever made
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - The queen of the cult cinema
La Cage Aux Folles (1978) - The original version is obviously much better than the scene-for-scene remake 'The Birdcase'
Tootsie (1982) - Totally unbelievable, and full of more plot holes than a sieve, but very entertaining...although the gender politics are insulting (a man can say and do things that a woman can't!)
Just One Of The Girls (1993) - lightweight teen remake of 'Some Like It Hot'. Corey Haim dresses as a girl to escape the school bully. Well, you would do, wouldn't ya! Then he meets Nicole Eggert...
I My Me! Strawberry Eggs (2001) - Japanese anime television series which is another take on 'Tootsie'. A male teacher disguises himself as a woman to enable him to teach at a school where the headmistress is a man hater
Kinky Boots (2003) - True story of a shoe factory that save itself from closure by starting to design 'kinky' boots for transvestites. If you didn't know it was a true story, you wouldn't believe it!
Breakfast On Pluto (2005) - Cillian Murphy plays an Irish transgender foundling, searching for love and her long-lost mother in the 1970s.

'Transsexual Films'

Glen Or Glenda (1952) - Edward D. Wood's most personal film. Forget the critics, this is great...
Homicidal (1961) - Maybe it's blasphemy, but I think this film is better than 'Psycho'
Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971) - Hammer films mixing of Dr Jekyll and Jack The Ripper
Boys Don't Cry (1999) - Heartbreaking true story of Brandon Teena, murdered for 'being different'
Different For Girls (1997) - Just a great film, with a killer soundtrack
Hedwig And The Angry Inch (2001) - Nothing to do with owls, this is a good rock film with some wonderfully camp songs
Beautiful Boxer (2003) - Uplifting Thai biography of Parinya Charoenphol, a famous trans woman Muay Thai fighter, actress and model
A Soldier's Girl (2003) - Heartbreaking true story of Calpernia Addams and her tragic romance with serviceman Barry Winchell
Normal (2005) - Possibly the truest depiction of what its like transitioning later in life
A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story (2006) - Heartbreaking true story of Gwen Araujo, murdered for 'being different'