As we enter Pride month, it’s a great time to soak up LGBTQ+ culture and share it with your friends. The LGBTQ+ community have always been at the forefront of arts and activism and have a very rich culture, but the experiences of LGBTQ+ people vary hugely across race, gender, sexuality, geography, disability and age. Here, we have compiled a list of different LGBTQ+ content that celebrates our diversity, teaches us about current and historic struggles or just makes you feel darn right proud.

---

Books

The Transgender Issue – Shon Faye

Shon Faye reclaims the idea of the 'transgender issue' to uncover the reality of what it means to be trans in a transphobic society, analysing trans lives from youth to old age, exploring work, family, housing, healthcare, the prison system and trans participation in the LGBTQ+ and feminist communities.

We Can Do Better Than This: 35 Voices on the Future of LGBTQ+ Rights – Various

Actors, musicians, writers, artists and activists present a powerful manifesto for how - together - we can change lives everywhere. Featuring Owen Jones, Peppermint, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Beth Ditto and more.

THIS WAY OUT - Tufayel Ahmed

Through this story, Tufayel Ahmed explores the experience of character Amar after he announces his engagement to another man to his strict Muslim Bangladeshi family.

Queer Intentions: A (Personal) Journey through LGBTQ+ Culture – Amelia Abrahams

Amelia Abrahams travels across the world meeting LQBTQ+ people with a staggeringly wide range of life experiences, from the world’s biggest drag convention in Local Authority to canal boats full of sex workers in Amsterdam, to LGBTQ+ refugees from Syria hiding in Istanbul.

The Queer Advantage: Conversations with LGBTQ+ Leaders on the Power of Identity

Incisive, deeply personal conversations with LGBTQ+ trailblazers about how they leveraged the challenges and insights they had as relative outsiders to succeed in the worlds of business, tech, politics, Hollywood, sports and beyond. Featuring Billie Jean King, Troye Sivan, George Takei, Tom Daley and many more.

A Dutiful Boy: A memoir of a gay Muslim’s journey to acceptance

Charting coming of age in a queer conservative Muslim household in East London, we see Zaidi grapple with faith, family bonds, community expectations and class, ultimately reconciling both his faith and queer identity.

Novels

There are also more and more bestselling novels being written by queer people about queer people and these are well worth a read: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/55215/1/sex-body-horror-star-crossed-love-queer-books-read-2022-lgbtq-literature

---

TV

Heartstopper: Netflix

Heartstopper is a British coming-of-age romantic comedy based on the graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman. It tells the story of Charlie Spring, a gay schoolboy who falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson.

We Are Who We Are: BBC iPlayer

TV series from the director of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ in which 14-year-old Fraser is uprooted from his life when his mother accepts a position in a struggling army unit in a seaside Italian town. In the midst of exploring his gender identity, Fraser meets Caitlin, another teen on base also grappling with her identity.

Fear and Survival: Being LGBTQ in Iraq: BBC iPlayer

Anna Foster meets three young LGBTQ people in Iraqi Kurdistan and hears about the abuses they've experienced and their hopes for the future. In a place where many people believe society is changing and modernising, that's far from the reality they're living through.

It’s A Sin: Channel 4/Netflix

Russell T Davies’ incredibly moving drama set during the AIDs crisis in Britain with an amazing soundtrack and lots of light-hearted relief contrasting the tear-jerking moments. Starring Olly Alexander, Lydia West and Stephen Fry.

Pose: BBC iPlayer/Netflix

Ground-breaking series set in New York’s famed ballroom scene, following the lives of the gay and trans characters through glamour, heartbreak and activism. Featuring the largest assembled cast of transgender actors in history with trans writers, producers and film crew.

---

Film

AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman (2021)

The life of trans AIDS activist Connie Norman, who raised her voice defence of her fellow HIV positive community members in1990s Los Angeles.

Milk (2008)

Biographical film based on the life and death of Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay official to be elected to public office faces several difficulties while fighting for gay rights, culminating in tragedy.

Hating Peter Tatchell (2021)

This documentary follows gay rights activist Peter Tatchell from his early life to his fight for LGBTQ justice across the world, amid controversy and political turmoil.

Flee (2021)

Animated film recounting the true story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. He tells for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan eventually finding love in Denmark.

The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson (2017)

As she fights the tide of violence against trans women, activist Victoria Cruz probes the suspicious 1992 death of her friend, trailblazing trans rights activist Marsha P. Johnson.

Disclosure (2020)

In this documentary, leading trans creatives and thinkers share heartfelt perspectives and analysis about Hollywood's impact on the trans community.

Pride (2014)

Based on the true story of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners’ strike in 1984, which would become the ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ campaign.

All In My Family (2019)

After starting a family of his very own in the United States, a gay filmmaker documents his loving, traditional Chinese family's process of acceptance

---

Podcasts

Call Me Mother

Featuring conversations with queer elders, Call Me Mother gives you the language you need to grapple with “new” experiences by showing that you belong to a much broader history.

The LGBT Sport Podcast

Taking a look at LGBTQ+ issues in sport. Hosted by Jack Murley and featuring interviews with LGBTQ+ athletes and sports stars, giving insight into their journeys.

Busy Being Black

Award-winning podcast exploring how we live in the fullness of our queer Black lives. It is a growing compendium of queer Black voices, an oral history project and conversations with those who have learned – and are learning – to thrive at the intersections of their identities.

Bad Gays

A podcast about evil and complicated queers in history, including Cressida Dick, Lawrence of Arabia and even Alexander the Great. Hosted by LGBT historians Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller.

Out with Suzi Ruffell

A podcast all about coming out, being out, and finding one's place in the world as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Guests include Lady Phyll, MNEK and our very own chief executive, Tim Spoor MBE.

---

Other bits

Make-up

Dazed has compiled a list of incredible queer black make-up artists that are worth following for their stunning creativity.

Exhibition

Queer Britain recently opened the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum in Soho, London. A must-see if you are living in or visiting the capital.

Bookshop

Aesop’s free Queer Library has arrived in the UK | Dazed Beauty (dazeddigital.com)