In this funny and honest memoir, BU alum Jillian Abby shares her experience coming out as a lesbian just before turning 40. From the outside, Abby’s life seemed perfect: she married her college sweetheart, had two kids, adopted a rescue cat, and co-owned a popular bar with her husband. But as she recounts in Perfectly Queer, she was fighting a battle with her identity, trying to suppress her queerness for over a decade. Abby details how she learned to accept her sexual identity and begin navigating her new life. It’s an inspiring story of taking your life into your own hands and embracing who you are. Abby reminds readers that although the journey may seem terrifying and daunting, there is immense joy in being true to yourself and living authentically.

Buy it here.

In this YA adaptation of his 2020 memoir I Have Something to Tell You, Chasten Buttigieg, the husband of Pete Buttigieg, US Secretary of Transportation and a former Democratic presidential candidate, tailors his coming out story to a younger audience. The author describes growing up in a small Midwestern town, feeling stifled and afraid when he began questioning his sexuality. He shares with young readers the joy of discovering yourself and living authentically. It’s a relatable and inspirational story, complete with a list of important resources for parents and teachers.

Buy it here.

Actor Elliott Page made headlines in 2020 when he came out as transgender, and now he’s telling his story in his own words. From his breakout performance in 2007’s Juno, which garnered him an Oscar nomination for best actress, Page was thrust into the global spotlight while privately grappling with the societal binaries forced upon him. In this deeply felt memoir, he shares intimate stories of chasing love, struggling with body image, and finding himself in an unfriendly world. Pageboy is a beautiful testament to the power of identity, queerness, and connection.

Buy it here.

As this YA contemporary romance begins, nonbinary muralist Ander Martínez has been fired from the family’s taquería in their parents’ attempt to get Ander to focus on art school. But the world has other plans. When Ander meets the taquería’s new waiter Santiago López Alvarado, it’s love at first sight. Together, they learn more about themselves and begin to build a new home in their Mexican-American community. Their plans for the future are threatened, however, when US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents come for Santi, an undocumented immigrant. This is an emotional story about falling in love and finding a home in the world.

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In this hilarious YA novel, Yami, a 16-year-old Mexican American high school student, transfers to Slayton Catholic with the intention of watching out for her brother and herself while trying to keep her lesbian identity secret from her classmates. But when she begins to fall for the only openly queer girl at school, Yani finds herself asking, WWSGD (what would a straight girl do)? Reyes explores the experience of being a closeted student at a religious school, and her heartfelt depiction of Yami’s journey of self-acceptance is told with an unforgettable voice that will have you laughing and crying by the time you reach the final page. 

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In Henry Fry’s debut novel, Danny Scudd’s life is going downhill quickly. He and his boyfriend break up and Danny is kicked out of his apartment by his roommates. When he moves in with his nonbinary best friend Jacob and their eccentric friends, he embarks on an unintentional voyage into queerness, therapy, work, and other aspects of life he’d been too scared to investigate before. When the rug is ripped out from under him, Danny is forced to confront his past, whether he wants to or not. Readers will enjoy the funny and heartfelt escape into the messy yet hopeful world of a young gay man finding his way in contemporary London. 

Buy it here.

In this contemporary reimagination of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby, Lu Zhao, a student from Singapore, visits his wealthy cousin Tommy on Long Island and soon finds himself being sucked into a world of extravagance, drugs, deceit, and murder. Gatsby offers a multicultural LGBTQ take on one of America’s most well-known novels. Featuring beautiful illustrations by Felipe Cunha, Holt has created a unique graphic thriller with an edge-of-your-seat story set in “the new roaring ’20s.”

Buy it here.

Featuring contributions from queer cultural critics like Carmen Maria Machado and Addie Tsai, this essay collection investigates the horror genre, reconciling its problematic history with its simultaneous subversion of societal norms. From a rebuttal of queerbaiting accusations against the 2009 film Jennifer’s Body to a queer reading of Jaws, Publishers Weekly describes the book as “a brilliant display of expert criticism, wry humor, and original thinking.” 

Buy it here.

Moonage Daydream follows the life and career of visionary musician David Bowie. This is no ordinary documentary: writer and director Brett Morgen, with the approval of the Bowie estate, has created a visual and auditory odyssey using archival footage and Bowie’s music. Concert and news clips are interspersed with excerpts of interviews with Bowie and animation, offering a unique exploration into the mind of one of the most famous and interesting artists in history.

Now streaming on Max.

In this just-released documentary, Emmy-winning filmmaker Julie Cohen shares the stories of three intersex individuals, with the goal of shedding light on stories that have for so long gone unspoken. The film is a condemnation of medical intervention and a chance for these individuals to open up about the hardships they face in a society so married to a sex and gender binary. Every Body premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and will be showing in theaters starting June 30.

In theaters June 30.

Described as “nothing less than a Heathers for this generation” by Rolling Stone, Bottoms follows two unpopular queer high school students (Ayo Edebiri and Rachel Sennott) who create a “fight club” to impress cheerleaders and hopefully lose their virginity before they graduate. The film, which debuted at the SXSW festival this past March—where it earned lots of buzz and positive reviews—is finally hitting theaters in August. You don’t want to miss this raunchy, hilarious exploration of the queer high school experience.

In theaters August 25.

Rock Hudson was one of the most famous movie stars of the 1950s and 1960s, starring in dramas like Magnificent Obsession and Giant (garnering an Oscar nomination) and romantic comedies like Pillow Talk. But off screen, he led a closeted life and struggled to reconcile his public image as a leading man with his queer identity. Hudson changed how the world perceived the AIDS epidemic when he became one of the first celebrities to publicly reveal he had the disease. Since his death in 1985, the actor’s legacy has been largely obscured, but filmmaker Stephen Kijak seeks to change that in his new documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, which chronicles the actor’s career and private life. The film premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and will be streaming on Max later this month.

Streaming on Max June 28.

Strange World is a family-friendly must-watch this Pride month. Featuring Disney’s first gay teen romance, the animated film is a wild ride about a family of explorers traversing a dangerous, uncharted world. The lead of Strange World, Ethan Clade (voiced by gay comedian Jaboukie Young-White) has an on-screen crush on another boy and receives nothing but support from his family. It’s a heartwarming and beautiful story that breaks new ground for Disney’s queer representation. The star-studded cast features the voices of Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, and Dennis Quaid.

Now streaming on Disney+.

Named one of the best documentaries of all time by Vogue, 1990’s Paris Is Burning focuses on drag balls in 1980s New York City, where “houses,” or communities of drag queens, compete against each other for trophies and forge familial bonds. The film offers an affectionate look at a culture now largely forgotten, set against a backdrop of racism, poverty, and the AIDS epidemic. The documentary, which was shot over the course of seven years, is as timely today as it was when it was first released nearly 25 years ago. 

Now streaming on Max.

This 2020 documentary traces the representation of transgender people in film and television, examining how Hollywood both creates and reflects anxieties about gender, beginning with the 1914 silent film A Florida Enchantment and including contemporary TV shows like Pose and Euphoria. The film has interviews with trans celebrities like Laverne Cox, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton, and Chaz Bono, and serves as both a celebration of trans history and a meditation on how much work still needs to be done to ensure equity and acceptance in the entertainment industry. 

Now streaming on Netflix.

In this 2022 comedy-drama set in 2011 and starring Troye Sivan, a Florida high school student is exposed to HIV just before he graduates and has to wait 90 days before he receives his test results. The sensitive coming-of-age film follows Caleb, who lives openly as a gay man, as he finds new love with Estha, who comes from a home where he has to hide his sexuality. Three Months was released on Paramount+ and was nominated for the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television and the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film–Streaming or TV.

Now streaming on Paramount+.