This Weekend: Black Queer Pride

Starting this Friday Lighthouse Foundation is hosting Black Queer Pride Summer Edition. It is going to be a weekend filled with various events celebrating Black Queer Pride. If you want to attend in person register here bit.ly/RegisterBQP (I will be at the events on Sunday because a Gospel Drag Brunch is too good to miss :)) There will be virtual versions of all the events in case in person will not work for you. Check it out.

Going back to your regularly scheduled weekly Pride post: 

As I said last week this month I am focusing on LGBTQ+ films/documentaries. I will keep you updated on what I have seen as the month progresses as a way to spotlight different LGBTQ+ stories and experiences.

• The Boys in the Band (2020), set in 1968 NYC, based on a play, European - M (Mixed but overall pretty much White), LGBTQ+ focused, Overall mainly just some kissing but does include a few moments of nakedness. (I then watched The Boys In The Band: Something Personal which was a 30 min documentary on the film and the play it was based on.)
• The Half of It (2020), set in modern day Small Town Squahamish, a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, BIPOC-F (Female identified), Not LGBTQ+ focused, Just kissing 
  
• A Perfect Ending (2012) Mixed-F (Female identified), set in modern day in some major city (maybe LA?), Fictional, LGBTQ+ focused sorta, Explicit (Not much plot outside naked women, but what plot there was, was interesting) It felt like something that was supposed to be a 20-40 min short film that ended up being made as a full length film instead.
• Circus of Books (2019), Documentary about an historic gay bookstore/adult sex shop

This was an interesting film (which happened to include an all openly gay cast) which was much more focused on the internalized junk that develops when you live in a heteronormative world then external homophobia which was refreshing for a period piece. 

While all the characters have their own issues, they felt like typical issues and while it was clear that being LGBTQ+ heightens their issues, it is more looking at a group of people who have to differing levels found ways to process or avoid their own experiences. While the play is set in a different time period it felt like it was a story of my people and my own identity.

Also being set in 1968 the play was able to avoid some of the "someone always dies" that occurs in works set a decade or two later.  These characters have carved out an identity and existence and at the end they continue on. A little battered by life but still able to celebrate and go on living which has something to add to the stories told about the LGBTQ+ experience.

It would have been nice if some of the meanness was taken out but on the other hand that meanness to those we care about also made the story feel real.