As we all know by know February is LGBT+ History Month so here’s some of my favourite LGBT media I think you might be interested in!

Please share your favourites in the comments – Books, TV, Podcasts, Fiction and Non-Fiction. Whether it’s taught you, moved you, made you think, laugh or cry let everyone else know about it!

Books

Boy meets Boy – David Levithan

A wonderful YA coming of age story set in small town America that is almost fantastical in it’s acceptance of LGBT+ people – this book gave me a lot of hope when I was younger that society could be better than it is. It’s funny and bittersweet by turns and resonated with a lot of my experiences. The drama of teenage relationships, standing by your friends and having your friends stand by you when you need them – 20 years on it’s still one of my favourite books and I recommend it constantly.

Queer City – Peter Ackroyd

One for the history fans – this is a pretty comprehensive history of LGBT+ people in London from Roman times to the present day. The time span means it’s impossible for the author to go into huge amounts of depth but it’s a good introduction to specific periods – the Lupinaria of Roman London, the Molly Houses of the Georgian period and the coffee houses and discos of the 80’s. It’s a wonderfully written account of how queer Londoners have lived and loved and lost over two millennia.

A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet – Becky Chambers

The Wayfarer’s series is set in the far future, a time long after humans have abandoned earth due to climate collapse. It’s worth reading for a lot of reasons, but queer readers especially might enjoy reading a story where gender and sexuality are just no big deal. The first in the series follows Rosemary as she builds a new life following a family scandal, finding her place onboard a ship with a multi-species crew. It’s a novel about chosen family and galactic diplomacy.

Trans Like Me – CN Lester

A wonderful starting point for those new to trans issues and a delightful read for those of us who know a bit more. CN’s decades of experience as an activist and educator really show in their work, which is engaging and informative where ever you are in your knowledge of trans and non-binary people.

New Media

Overly Sarcastic Productions

One of my absolute favourite YouTube channels, OSP has been running for ten years and started out as summaries of Shakespeare and literary classics such as the Divine Comedy and the Iliad. Over the years it’s blossomed into covering everything from world history to architecture to Tropes in film, tv and literature as well. For an intellectual magpie like me I love that I can go from a video about Loki to one on Queer Coded Villains or the History of Ethiopia or Sappho.

Starship Iris

a podcast about state surveillance, featuring a same sex relationship, forbidden love and a truly creative use of pronouns. due to a clerical error, Violet finds herself on a distant space station when everything goes wrong. she’s the lone survivor, and there is only one escape pod, with just enough room for her and the smallest of her biology specimens. but there’s something not quite right about her rescuers. why is anyone else this far out? who are these people? and how is the government listening in on everything they say?

Film

But I’m a Cheerleader

Released in 1999 and one of the first LGBT+ films I ever saw it’s another coming of age story with an amazing cast including Ru Paul, Melanie Lynskey and Natasha Lyonne. Set in a make you straight camp it’s a frankly hilarious, and still sadly all too relevant, take down of the conversion therapy industry and how it tries to reinforce rigid and outdated gender stereotypes no matter the cost. It’s also a beautifully touching love story and again one that I keep coming back to.

Pourquoi Pas Moi? (Why not me?)

Turns out 1999 was a really good year for queer film apparently (Boys Don’t Cry is another ‘99 film). This was a chance find in a charity shop that became a firm favourite it’s definitely not the easiest film to get hold of but well worth a watch if you get a chance – a group of 20-somethings in Barcelona decide to get together with all their parents to host a coming out dinner and a range of reactions and shenanigans ensue. Again sad and funny and touching in equal measure. This really deserves a wider audience.

Pride!

The mostly true story of how LGBT+ people from London came together to support the 80’s miners strikes by linking up with a small mining town in the welsh valleys. Pride! Is a brilliant reminder that we generally have a lot more in common with people than we might think at first, that allies can sometimes be found in unexpected places and that we can fight back against injustice best if we fight together.

* Charley joined the Lib Dems in 2010, has stood in Local elections in Stoke on Trent and London and was PPC for Eltham in the 2019 General Election and a GLA list candidate in 2021. They have been a Youth Worker, Early Years Teaching Assistant and FE College Governor. They are currently an Emergency Services Worker in London and Chair of LGBT+ Lib Dems.