Gay Pride Month: The TV Shows, Movies and Performances to Check Out
June is full of entertaining and informative LGBTQ content
by Lawrence YeeJune is Gay Pride Month, and with most of the country under restrictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, most major Pride events are canceled. Thankfully, there’s plenty of entertaining and informative LGBTQ content to fill the entire month (and a few starting in May).
From questioning teens to talented queens, check out TheWrap’s list of Gay Pride Month programming below:
Television
“Legendary” (Premieres May 27 on HBO Max)
Pulling directly from the underground ballroom community, voguing teams (aka “houses”) must compete in unbelievable balls and showcase sickening fashion in order to achieve “legendary” status.
Eight diverse “houses” will compete in nine balls for a $100,000 prize every Thursday. Judges include Jameela Jamil, Megan Thee Stallion, Law Roach and Leiomy Maldonado.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars (Premieres Friday, June 5th on VH1)
10 of the top queens from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will return for a second (or third, in the case of Alexis Mateo and Jujubee) shot at the crown. This year’s “All-Stars” has a brand new twist: RuPaul will only select one winner from the challenge, who will go forth and lip-sync against a “mysterious lip-sync assassin” — former stand-out queens. If the All-Star prevails, she wins $10,000 and the power to send a competitor home. If the assassin wins, the bottom queen picked from a secret group vote goes packing and the prize money rolls over. This should make for some very interesting dynamics. Ricky Martin will serve as the guest judge in the premiere episode.
“Love Victor” (Premieres Friday, June 19 on Hulu)
Hulu’s “Love, Simon” follow-up series is set in the world of the 2018 film. A young adult dramedy follows Victor (Michael Cimino), a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery who reaches out to Simon to help him navigate the ups and downs of high school.
“Prideland” (Premieres 9 p.m. Friday, June 12 on PBS and May 26 on PBS Voices YouTube)
Host and actor Dyllón Burnside will explore LGBTQ+ Identity in the U.S. South in this one-hour special. The television special is a companion to the six-episode, short-form series will launch on PBS Voices, a new documentary-focused YouTube Channel by PBS Digital Studios, beginning Thursday, May 26 with Burnside’s own personal story.
“Welcome to Chechnya” (Premieres June 30 on HBO)
In this searing documentary, Academy Award-nominated director David France (How To Survive A Plague) brings us a terrifying real-life thriller that shadows a group of brave activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. Read TheWrap’s review here.
“Wynonna Earp” #WayHaught Wednesdays (Wednesdays in June on SYFY)
Ahead of the Season 4 “Wynonna Earp” premiere this summer, catch-up on the fem/ship between Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught, better known as #WayHaught.
The network is also doing #TBT Marathons of “Xena: Warrior Princess” on Thursday mornings. SYFY FANGRRLS’ Strong Female Characters Podcast will have new episodes focusing around LGBTQ+ characters and daily pride-centric articles.
Movies
“Out” (Available now on Disney+)
This short film written and directed by Steven Clay Hunter follows a man who is about to move to the city with his boyfriend but is hesitant to come out to his parents that he’s gay. But in a magical twist brought about by a dog and a cat that soar out of a rainbow, the man briefly swaps bodies with his dog, and he rushes to hide evidence of his relationship before his parents discover his sexuality. The 10-minute short is available on Disney+ now.
“For They Know Not What They Do” (Premieres June 12 in virtual cinemas)
From critically-acclaimed director/producer Daniel Karslake (the 2007 Oscar-shortlisted documentary, “For the Bible Tells Me So”) comes a powerful exploration of the intersection of religion, sexual orientation and gender identity in America. The documentary spotlights the heartfelt, personal journeys of four families of faith with LGBTQ children.
Music
“Outloud: Raising Voices” Concert Series (Premiering May 26 on Facebook)
“OUTLOUD: Raising Voices” is a 10-episode, five-week concert series highlighting and elevating a diverse lineup of queer and allied talent. The series will be premiere on May 26 with out Grey’s Anatomy” star Jake Borelli hosting and Betty Who headlining. Episodes will air exclusively on the LGBTQ Facebook page (as well as OUTLOUD and JJ|LA) twice weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesday at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET.
PickAThon #AConcertADay (Ongoing Concert Series on YouTube)
Queer and gender-fluid artist Ezra Furman performs in concert on May 26. Other artists performing the final week in support of The Recording Academy’s MusiCares include Shovels & Rope, Viagra Boys and more. Check out the PickAThon page for the upcoming performances.
Livestreams with The Boot (Ongoing Concert Series on Facebook)
Artist Jake Blount will perform Black Appalachian music on Thursday, May 28 at 12 p.m CDT. Check out his performance here.
Stage
“The Nance” (Premieres Friday, June 12 on Lincoln Center on Demand)
Tony Award-winner Nathan Lane stars in Douglas Carter Beane’s dark comedy as Chauncey Miles, who faces a changing world and his own self-loathing. The play paints the portrait of a homosexual man, living and working in the secretive and dangerous gay world of 1930s New York, whose outrageous antics on the burlesque stage stand in marked contrast to his offstage life. The play will stream at 8:00 p.m. ET on June 12.
The "Old Town Road" singer came out as gay in a June 2019 tweet. "I don’t wanna just live my entire life — especially how I just got to where I’m at — just like, not doing what I wanna do," he said in an interview with the BBC.Getty Images
The "Whip My Hair" singer came out as bisexual and open to polyamorous relationships in a June 2019 interview with her mom, Jada Pinkett Smith, on "Red Table Talk." "I love men and women equally and so I would definitely want one man, one woman," she said. "I feel like I could be polyfidelitous with those two people."Getty
The Canadian actor, who starred in "Falling Skies" and Netflix's "Locke and Key," came out as gay in a June 2019 confession on Instagram. "I’ve played that tedious game. Most painfully, I’ve talked about the gay characters I’ve played from a neutral, almost anthropological distance, as if they were separate from me," he said. "I don’t want to be complicit, even peripherally, in the idea that being gay is a problem to be solved or hushed. I’m grateful to be gay. Queerness is a solution."Getty
In a June 2019 TED talk, the actor-singer Juan Pablo Di Pace ("Fuller House") came out as gay and shared his struggle for acceptance in his native Argentina. " I figured if I changed my f---ing self, I could be in," he said, adding that he came to terms with his sexuality while playing Jesus in the 2015 NBC miniseries "A.D. The Bible Continues." “So there I am, hanging on the cross… and I look up at the sky, and I think, ‘You could still strike me down with lightning. Are you sure you want me to play your son?'” he recalled, before experiencing what he called an "overwhelming feeling of love and acceptance and freedom."Getty Images
In an August 2019 story in Women's Health, the "Dancing With the Stars" alum said she came out as bisexual to her husband, hockey player Brooks Laich: "‘You know I’m not straight, right?’ And he was like, ‘I’m sorry, what?’ I was like, ‘I’m not. But I choose to be with you,’” she says. ABC
In a series of tweets in August 2019, the teenage star of Disney Channel's "Andi Mack" came out as an "out and proud bisexual man." But the actor admitted, "I suffered with some level of my own internalized homophobia even while playing the first openly gay character on Disney Channel."Getty Images
The "Wynonna Earp" star came out as bisexual in the August 2019 issue of the U.K.'s Diva magazine. "I am attracted to both men and women and the person I fell in love with is a man," she said. "I wish it could just be about the human I am in love with, not their gender. This is why I am so passionate about advocating for equal acceptance across the spectrum of sexuality."SyFy
In a November 2019 interview with Attitude, the star of "Sense8" and "Treadstone" publicly identified as gay and said it took a long time to come to terms with his sexuality after growing up in rural Texas in the 1980s. At school, I really couldn’t fit in anywhere. I wasn’t a jock or a nerd," he said. “Forget about any LGBTQ union or groups. There was absolutely nothing. I was completely alone. I heard all the names: pussy, f--got.”Getty Images
The star of Netflix's "Aytpical" came out as nonbinary in a November 2019 Instagram post. "I’m non-binary, always felt a lil bit boy, lil bit girl, lil bit neither. using they/them as of late n it feels right," they wrote. "scary af to come out n been rly putting this off. But I feel I owe it to myself and to all of us who struggle w gender."Getty Images
In a December 2019 Instagram post, the former host of "What Not to Wear" came out and shared her one-year relationship with musician Cat Yazbek. "So I used to date men. Now I date her. That’s it," she wrote.Getty Images
The comedic actor, best known for "Road Trip," "The New Guy" and "Z Nation," came out in a January 2020 tweet. "Yep, I’m gay. Been gay this whole time," he wrote. "Tired of worrying about what people would think of me. Tired of worrying about what it would do to my career."Getty Images
It's never too late to speak your truth. Acclaimed Polish stage actor Witold Sadowy used the occasion of his 100th birthday in January 2020 in interview with TVP Kultura. "For me, the most important thing is the survival of the truth," he said. "I am proud that I am an honest man. I didn’t get married, and I didn’t have children, something I really regret. But I was born different. I’m gay."
The star of "The Good Place" came out as "queer" in February 2020 after receiving some pushback for her role as MC of a new HBO Max series about ballroom vogueing. "Twitter is brutal. This is why I never officially came out as queer," she tweeted. "I added a rainbow to my name when I felt ready a few years ago, as it’s not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight-up asked about it on Twitter. But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon-jumping over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear, and turmoil when I was a kid."Getty Images
The star of "The Vampire Diaries," "Quantico" and "The Flash" came out as gay in a short Instagram video in February 2020. "I’ve made a promise to myself to live my truth every day and sometimes that is a really hard thing to do when you have all these subconscious things that you don’t even know about from childhood and society and from just life," he said.Getty Images
Rapper Da Brat surprised fans in March 2020 by sharing a birthday gift from her girlfriend, Kaleidoscope Hair CEO Jessica Dupart. "I’ve always been a kind of private person until I met my heart’s match who handles some things differently than I do,” she wrote on Instagram. "It’s so overwhelming that often I find myself in a daze hoping to never get pinched to see if it’s real so I can live in this dream forever.”Getty Images
In a March 2020 personal essay on StartTheWave.org, British-Canadian actress came out as "queer" -- just like the title character she played on SyFy's "Wynonna Earp." "As soon as I became sexually aware, I was attracted to all shapes and genders," she wrote. "Playing a queer character and meeting the fans that are drawn to her, I guess I’ve reevaluated how I am to face this part of me."
The actor, best known for his work on "Angel" and "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D," came out as gay in an April 2020 Instagram post. Playing a gay doctor on ABC's "Council of Dads," Richards said, "required me to show up fully in a way that I don't always when I'm working. I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I am a gay man myself.”Getty Images
The YouTube sensation, best known for the 2011 viral hit "Friday," came out as "queer" in an April 2020 podcast interview. "I made a conscious decision to not, like, 'come out,'" she explained. "People started asking and I stopped not responding."Getty Images
The actress and singer, who voiced the title character in Disney's 2016 animated hit "Moana" and then starred as Ariel in 2019's "The Little Mermaid Live!" came out as bisexual in an April 2020 TikTok video. (She actually lip-syncs to the "No, I'm bi" lyrics to Eminem's "Those Kinda Nights.")Getty Images
From Julianne Hough to Da Brat to “The Good Place” star Jameela Jamil, a look at the notable people who now identify with the LGBTQ community
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