LGBTQIA+ Resources: Streaming Videos

Founded in the 1970s in a New York City apartment, The Lesbian Herstory Archives is now the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. For more than 40 years, the all-volunteer organization has striven to combat lesbian invisibility by literally rescuing history from the trash. Frustrated by misogyny and homophobia within academia, Deborah Edel and Joan Nestle co-founded the archives for those conducting research, both professional and personal. Over the years, the organization has witnessed many of the major milestones in LGBTQ+ history and has weathered several storms. Today, with its founders in their seventies, the archives are facing new challenges, including a change in leadership and the rise of digital technology. Exploring the fascinating origins of the organization, THE ARCHIVETTES is a tribute to second-wave feminism and intergenerational connection, as well as an urgent rallying cry for continued activism in a politically charged moment. 2018

Anneke is 12. She loves ice hockey and is a hardcore tomboy. Everybody who meets her assumes she's a boy, but she's not sure if she wants to be a girl, a boy, or something in-between when she grows up. 2010

OUT IN THE OPEN destroys the misconceptions, fears, and myths about the LGBTQ community. This documentary is aimed for at risk youth across the world, as well as their families, friends, and teachers. OUT IN THE OPEN presents that no single person is the same and that all people should be celebrated. OUT IN THE OPEN interviews celebrities, politicians, and everyday allies, straight and gay, who openly celebrate the LGBTQ community. 2015

A powerful and moving piece documenting the lesbian, gay and bisexual movement in the early 1990s, A Simple Matter of Justice expresses all the emotions of the joyful protest that was the 1993 March on Washington. Sections on civil rights, AIDS and health care, the military and families are woven together from coverage of the music, comedy, speeches and marchers. Performers include Melissa Etheridge, RuPaul, BETTY, Holly Near and The Flirtations. Martina Navratilova, Sir Ian McKellan, Rev. Ben Chavis and Eartha Kitt are just a few of the speakers. Events include The Wedding, The Dyke March, ACT UP Hands Around the Capitol and a reunion of African-American veterans. A must-see for LGBTQ History. 1993

Trans filmmaker Tony Zosherafatain drove across the country to examine the lasting impact of the administration's policies and was forever changed by the resiliency of the trans community. 2021

Pink or blue. Male or Female. Mommy or Daddy. Categories that we all take for granted are broken apart in transparent, a documentary about 19 female-to-male transgender individuals living in the United States who have given birth and, in all but a few stories, gone on to raise their biological children. Transparent focuses on its subjects' lives as parents, revealing the diverse ways in which each person reconciles giving birth and being a biological mother with his masculine identity. Traditional views of gender are further re-examined through the variety of genders the children use to conceive of their parents. The first-person stories in Jules Rosskam's in-depth documentary explain how changing genders is dealt with and impacts the relationships, if at all, within these families. 2016

Lisa Ling explores the revolution going on in how we think about genders. She meets individuals across the spectrum who are seeking acceptance from those closest to them.

This documentary interviews LGBTQ women in rural communities, and argues that these places are often much more inclusive than the stereotypes lead one to believe. This is a phenomenon known as metronormativity. Contrary to dominant ideas that position rural places as backwards, conservative, and homophobic, the women in this documentary feel safe, supported, and happy. The film asks how we have come to imagine what life is like for LGBTQ people in rural places, and provides an opportunity to imagine it otherwise. 2019

This documentary challenges the viewer to question their notions of what it means to be male or female. By taking us on a journey through the eyes that see the world differently, it explores the diversity that exists within the transgender community, as well as the depth of the transgender experience in day-to-day living. 2013

A moving documentary on what its like to be transgender, to grow up in the wrong gender and eventually transition to a different sex. A documentary designed to record, share and celebrate the personal stories of transgender women and men and their stories of struggle, of courage and of triumph. Though they vary in age, ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds, each person has fought to cast off the gender assigned to them at birth and embrace their true selves. This program covers what its like to grow up in the wrong gender and eventually transition. The decision to transition from one gender to another is a life changing one not just for the transgender person but for their family and friends. Male or female, boy or girl? Most of us can answer that question without a second thought, but for some people, the answer isnt so simple. This documentary takes us firsthand into the lives of seven people who are transgender, revealing their struggles and life changing transitions. It takes a powerful look at this new generation, exploring the medical possibilities, struggles and choices transgender teens, adults and their families face today. Encouraging classroom discussion, this program helps students to think of the differences in each of us in a positive way, breaking stereotypes, acceptance, challenging prejudice and increasing visibility for the transgender community. 2016

Meet young Australians who do not identify as either male or female to gain an understanding of their lives and experiences. 2020

Stonewall Uprising explores the dramatic events that launched a worldwide civil rights movement. When police raided a Mafia-run gay bar in Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, on June 28, 1969, gay men and women did something they had not done before—they fought back. As the streets of New York erupted into violent protests and street demonstrations, the collective anger announced that the gay rights movement had arrived. 2011

Artist iO Tillett Wright has photographed 2,000 people who consider themselves somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum and asked many of them: Can you assign a percentage to how gay or straight you are? Most people, it turns out, consider themselves to exist in the gray areas of sexuality, not 100% gay or straight. Which presents a real problem when it comes to discrimination: Where do you draw the line? ("Filmed at TEDxWomen.") 2013