Essential LGBTIQ+ documentaries

For decades, documentary was one of the most direct ways to tell real LGBTIQ+ stories — no script filter, in the community's own voices. Here are a few worth seeking out.

History and activism

• Paris is Burning (1990) — New York's ballroom scene, drag, voguing and the "houses" that worked as chosen family.
• The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017) — about the trans activist who was key to the Stonewall riots.
• How to Survive a Plague (2012) — activism during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the US in the 80s and 90s.

Gender identity and trans visibility

• Disclosure (2020) — how Hollywood portrayed (and distorted) trans people for over a century.
• Southern Comfort (2001) — the life of a trans man in the southern US, a festival winner for its honesty.

Why watch documentaries, not just fiction

Fiction can inspire, but documentary leaves a historical record — first-hand testimony that, in many cases, is also the only remaining memory of key moments in the LGBTIQ+ movement.