15 LGBTQ+ movies you might want to watch, or re-watch while social-distancing

On Thursday, March 19 2020, The Lagos State Government placed a ban on public gatherings in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Nigeria. Since then, many parts of Lagos and Nigeria at large have been approaching a lockdown, albeit slowly. Workers working from home, residents of Lagos buying groceries that are sufficient to last a long time, schools locking down with some moving to online classes, and religious houses moving fully to online platforms.

However, with the speech from the President, His Excellency Mohammed Buhari, yesterday the many parts of the country will be on total lockdown for 14 days. “All citizens in these areas are to stay in their homes” he announced, starting from 11 pm on Monday. While this might be good news for many Nigerians, it is not the case for many LGBT persons who have to be stuck with non-affirming families, homophobic friends, or away from every form of support.

As a form of support, The Rustin Times has collated a list of 15 movies with LGBTQ+ themes and characters that Queer Nigerians can binge-watch this holiday to remind them that they are not alone in this, that there is a network of individuals who see them.

POSE: Pose is set in the world of the late-1980s to early 1990s and looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world.
Moonlight: Moonlight is a look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to manhood is guided by the kindness, support and love of the community that helps raise him.
Orange is the New Black: Orange is The New Black is a comedy-drama Netflix series which takes place in a women’s prison. The story is based around Piper Chapman, a woman whose past history with a drug dealer (Alex Vause) eventually causes her to be sentenced to 15 months in prison.
Glee: A group of ambitious misfits try to escape the harsh realities of high school by joining a glee club. It is a musical comedy in which the eager and ambitious students not only compete to win the Nationals, but also have to deal with the tough and cruel realities of their school, McKinley High.
Tales of the City: Inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City begins a new chapter in the beloved story. Mary Ann (Laura Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her adopted daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann is quickly drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of queer young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane.
Will and Grace: Will & Grace is set in New York City and focuses on the relationship between Will Truman, a gay lawyer, and his best friend Grace Adler, a Jewish woman who owns an interior design firm. Also featured are their friends Karen Walker, a demonically alcoholic socialite, and Jack McFarland, a flamboyantly gay actor.
Love, Simon: Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it’s a little more complicated. He hasn’t told his family or friends that he’s gay, and he doesn’t know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing.
Those People: In Manhattan, a young gay painter is torn between his obsession with his best friend and a promising new romance with an older foreign pianist.
Boy Culture: In Boy Culture, A successful male escort describes in a series of confessions his tangled romantic relationships with his two roommates and an older, enigmatic male client. The new client (Patrick Bauchau) breaks down a male hustler’s (Derek Magyar) emotional walls.
Milk: In 1972, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his then-lover Scott Smith leave New York for San Francisco, with Milk determined to accomplish something meaningful in his life. Settling in the Castro District, he opens a camera shop and helps transform the area into a mecca for gays and lesbians. In 1977 he becomes the nation’s first openly gay man elected to a notable public office when he wins a seat on the Board of Supervisors. The following year, Dan White (Josh Brolin) kills Milk in cold blood.
Alex Strangelove: A high school senior plans on losing his virginity to his girlfriend. Things get complicated when he meets a handsome and charming gay kid from the other side of town who unwittingly sends him on a roller-coaster journey of sexual identity.
Blue is the warmest colour: In Blue is the warmest colour, A French teen (Adèle Exarchopoulos) forms a deep emotional and sexual connection with an older art student (Léa Seydoux) she met in a lesbian bar.
Margarita with a straw: Margarita with a Straw is a 2014 Indian drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age following her complex relationship with a blind girl, played by Sayani Gupta.
The thing about Harry: Sam (Jake Borelli), a young gay man who is reunited with his former high school bully Harry(Niko Terho) in adulthood, only for the two men to become friends and fall in love after Harry reveals that he now identifies as pansexual.
RuPaul’s Drag Race: RuPaul’s Drag Race is an American reality competition television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV, WOW Presents Plus, and, beginning with the ninth season VH1. The show documents RuPaul in the search for “America’s next drag superstar.” RuPaul plays the role of host, mentor, and head judge for this series, as contestants are given different challenges each week. RuPaul’s Drag Race employs a panel of judges, including RuPaul, Michelle Visage, and a host of other guest judges, who critique contestants’ progress throughout the competition. The title of the show is a play on drag queen and drag racing, and the title sequence and song “Drag Race” both have a drag-racing theme.