Editor’s note: This is part of the “Queering America 250” LGBTQ history magazine published by the Washington Blade. The glossy magazine is free and available across the D.C. region during Pride. 

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As America turns 250 this year, what better time to look back on the defining LGBTQ pop culture moments in our country’s history? Here are our picks for 40 of the top pop culture moments along with a few honorable mentions. In today’s volatile political climate, these selections are a reminder of the power that comes with fair representation in the films, shows, and music we consume every day. As with all such lists, these choices are subjective but offer a good overview of our community’s progress.

• “Moonlight” wins Best Picture — after the wrong movie is announced

When Barry Jenkins’s acclaimed indie “Moonlight”won the 2017 Best Picture Oscar (in a famous fiasco in which “La La Land”was accidentally named the winner), it was a landmark moment for Black and queer cinema, and stories told on a personal, intimate scale. At just $1.5 million, the film reportedly had the lowest budget of any Best Picture winner in history.

• “Angels in America”premieres on Broadway and wins Pulitzer Prize

Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Millennium Approaches”premiered on Broadway in 1993, going on to win the Tony for Best Play alongside three other awards; the second part, “Perestroika,” opened in fall 1993 to similar acclaim. The show explored AIDS during the Reagan era and remains one of the most ambitious theater productions in Broadway history.

• Ellen comes out on TV

Although Ellen DeGeneres has unfortunately tainted her legacy after allegations of harassment on the set of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” she made LGBTQ history in 1997 after coming out as gay on her sitcom “Ellen,” and on the cover of Time magazine. In that famous “Ellen”episode, DeGeneres told Laura Dern, “Susan, I’m gay!” 

• “All in the Family” makes history by featuring gay character in 1971

One of the most successful American sitcoms, “All in the Family,”made history by featuring a gay character in the Season 1 episode “Judging Books by Covers,” which debuted in 1971. The episode featured a character named Steve (Phil Carey) who explains that he is gay, much to the shock of the lead character Archie (Carroll O’Connor), one of Steve’s old football friends.

• “Roseanne”sparks outrage after airing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”episode

In Season 6, “Roseanne”aired an episode that featured a same-sex kiss between Roseanne (played by Roseanne Barr) and Sharon (played by Mariel Hemingway), prompting outrage from ABC, the network airing the show. (Read more about this history through the Blade’s interview with “Roseanne”writer Stan Zimmerman.)

• “Dawson’s Creek” becomes first primetime show to feature gay kiss

In Season 3, “Dawson’s Creek”became the first primetime network show to include a gay kiss. The episode featured characters Jack (played by Kerr Smith) and Ethan (played by Adam Kaufman) sharing a passionate on-screen moment. The show’s creator, Greg Berlanti, is out and proud himself, and helped usher in a new era of LGBTQ representation on teen-centered shows.

• The smash hit that is “Heated Rivalry”

Talk about an unexpected hit. One of the more recent entries on this list, the Canadian show “Heated Rivalry,” was adapted from a novel by Rachel Reid and became an overnight sensation after releasing on Crave and HBO Max at the end of 2025. The show’s leads, Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams, instantly became stars to watch at every awards season event.

• “Schitt’s Creek”sweeps the Emmys for final season

“Schitt’s Creek”had gone unrecognized at the Emmys, but pulled off a clean sweep with nine wins for its sixth and final season. The moment was made all the more impactful since that season happened to finish airing during the pandemic — seeing Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara and Annie Murphy all take home awards was a true feel-good moment for a show celebrating queer love.

• Pop divas penning queer anthems

Many pop divas have paid tribute to their gay fans, everyone from Diana Ross to Taylor Swift. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” wasreleased in 2011 and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Rolling Stone named it the most inspirational LGBT song of all time in 2023. In 1997-1998, two divas released iconic hit songs: Cher with “Believe” and Janet Jackson with “Together Again,” a No. 1 hit that paid joyful tribute to her friends who died of AIDS. More recently, Chappell Roan became one of the 21st century’s defining artists with the release of her solo album, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess,” in 2023. The album included multiple catchy hits, including the smash “Pink Pony Club.”

• “Will & Grace” starts airing 

“Will & Grace”started airing in 1998 and brought a gay lawyer’s (played by Eric McCormack) romantic and personal journey into millions of households. The show ran on NBC for eight seasons and also starred Debra Messing, Sean Hayes, and queer icon Megan Mullally.

• Michaela Rodriguez wins Golden Globe for “Pose”

For her work as Blanca Evangelista in Ryan Murphy’s “Pose,” Michaela Rodriguez made history as the first trans person to win a Golden Globe. While the 2022 ceremony was private that year, Rodriguez took to Instagram to celebrate the gravity of the moment: “This is for the LGBTQAI, Black, Latina, Asian, the many multi beautiful colors of the rainbow around the freaking world. This not just for me, this is for y’all.”

• Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee make Tony Awards history

In 2023, Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee made Tony Awards history after becoming the first nonbinary actors to win competitive awards. Ghee won Lead Actor in a Musical for their performance in “Some Like it Hot,” while Newell won Featured Actor in a Musical for their work in “Shucked.”

• New Queer Cinema

In the ‘90s, notable filmmakers like Todd Haynes, Gregg Araki, and Tom Kalin were part of the blossoming New Queer Movement, coined by B. Ruby Rich in the Village Voice. These films challenged traditional norms and paved the way for a new manner of imagining queer bodies on camera.

• “Paris is Burning” debuts in 1990

In 1990, Jennie Livingston’s groundbreaking documentary “Paris is Burning”brought audiences right into New York City’s drag ball scene, featuring queens Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Willi Ninja, Octavia Saint Laurent and Venus Xtravaganza. The film would later inspire the creation of “Pose”and is considered one of the most essential queer documentaries ever made.

• “But I’m a Cheerleader” becomes a cult classic

The term “cult classic” gets overused now — “But I’m a Cheerleader”is a true example of one. Although the film was under appreciated by critics when it debuted in 1999, queer movie fans have since embraced its campy tone, which was ahead of its time. The cast included Natasha Lyonne, Clea DuVall, Melanie Lynskey and, of course, RuPaul.

• “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt” wins documentary Oscar

In 1990, “Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt” won the Oscar for Best Documentary. Directed by Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein, the film told the story of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and how it honored the lives lost to HIV/AIDS. The film even recently screened at the Academy Museum and continues to leave an impact.

• Caitlyn Jenner comes out as trans

For those not in the LGBTQ community, Caitlyn Jenner was likely one of the first trans people they saw come out publicly. Jenner graced the cover of Vanity Fair after coming out in 2015, capturing the world’s attention, although the former Olympic gold medalist’s legacy has become more complicated in recent years after supporting bans on trans people in sports.

• James Ivory wins Oscar for writing “Call Me by Your Name”

At 89, James Ivory became the oldest Oscar winner in 2018 when he took home the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for penning “Call Me by Your Name,” the acclaimed adaptation of André Aciman’s novel that starred Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. Ivory previously wrote the 1987 queer classic “Maurice.” It was a big night for “Call Me by Your Name”at the 2018 Oscars as, in addition to the film’s adapted screenplay win, Sufjan Stevens performed his nominated song “Mystery of Love”in a tender, heartbreaking performance. That year, the song was up against “Remember Me”from “Coco”(which won) and “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.”

• Jonathan Bailey makes history as People’s “Sexiest Man Alive”

“Wicked”star Jonathan Bailey made history as the first openly gay man to be chosen as People’s “Sexiest Man Alive” in 2025. “There’s so many people that want to do brilliant stuff who feel like they can’t,” he told the magazine, “and I know the LGBT sector is under immense threat at the moment. So it’s been amazing to meet people who have the expertise and see potential that I could have only dreamed of.”

• RuPaul wins first Emmy for hosting “Drag Race”

RuPaul won his first Emmy in 2016 for hosting “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and continued to dominate that category through 2023. The last two years, Alan Cumming has won the award for “The Traitors, representing a new era of reality TV. Upon winning the award in 2016, RuPaul said backstage, “I really didn’t expect this.”

• Lil Nas X comes out on last day of Pride 2019

Lil Nas X came out on the last day of 2019 Pride, although he humorously tweeted “deadass thought i made it obvious.” The announcement came at a peak in his career after releasing “Old Town Road.” In 2021, his hit single “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” also made waves after the rap-country artist seduced the devil in the memorable music video.

• “Brokeback Mountain” almost completes awards season sweep

Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain”was a landmark queer film and nearly swept the 2006 awards season, winning top awards at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Producers Guild and Directors Guild Awards. Despite famously losing Best Picture in a shocking upset to “Crash,” “Brokeback Mountain” is the film that has stood the test of time, and Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal’s performances remain heartbreaking. Some anonymous voting members of the Academy later told news outlets that they couldn’t vote for a “gay film” for Best Picture.

• Hitchcock’s ‘gay’ films

Iconic filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock made several films with gay subtext. Although audiences and critics may not have realized it at the time, modern audiences have rediscovered films like “Rope” and “Strangers on a Train” for their gay themes.

• Two of TV’s gay firsts in early ‘70s

The 1973 PBS show “An American Family” followed the Loud family, including eldest son Lance, who came out as gay to his family during the show’s run and, thus, became what is widely believed to be the first openly gay “character” on television, as well as the first gay character on an early example of reality television, as ABC reported. Meanwhile, the ABC sitcom “The Corner Bar” featured the first recurring gay character on TV in 1972.

• Netflix reboots “Queer Eye”for the modern era

In 2018, Netflix rebooted the popular Bravo show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”for a new generation of fans, bringing together Antoni Porowski, Bobby Berk (later replaced by Jeremiah Brent), Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown and Tan France for weekly makeovers. The reboot was titled simply “Queer Eye” and its final season aired in January 2026.

• Billy Porter makes Emmys history with “Pose”nod

In addition to his iconic red carpet looks, Billy Porter is remembered for becoming the first openly gay Black man to be Emmy-nominated in the Lead Actor in a Drama Series category. He would go on to win this category in 2019, and was nominated the following two years.

• Sean Baker releases “Tangerine”in 2015

Ten years before winning four Oscars for “Anora,” Sean Baker released “Tangerine,” a low-budget film shot entirely on the iPhone 5S. The two trans stars were Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriquez, who were new to acting; Baker cast the two after meeting them at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center.

• “30 Something” depicts two men in bed

On Nov. 7, 1989, ABC hit show “30 Something” created a firestorm of controversy when it aired an episode featuring two male characters, Russell and Peter, in bed just after having sex. They did not touch on camera but the outrage led some advertisers to pull out of the episode and ABC did not rebroadcast it. 

• Madonna brings vogueing into the mainstream

Pop icon Madonna has been a queer ally since the 1980s, standing up to everyone from the pope to the Boy Scouts. But she reached peak gay on 1990’s “Vogue,” which brought ballroom culture into the mainstream. Madonna later brought vogueing to the most unlikely place: the Super Bowl during her 2012 halftime performance. Her film “Truth or Dare” brought her mostly gay and out backup dancers to mainstream cineplexes across the world. 

• Kim Petras wins a Grammy

In 2023, musician Kim Petras became the first openly trans person to win a Grammy. 

• “LA Law” airs same-sex kiss

In 1991, hit show “LA Law” aired a kiss between two women — lesbian CJ Lamb (Amanda Donohoe) and lawyer Abby Perkins (Michele Greene). Advertiser boycotts ensued. The scene is blamed for a rise in shows airing “lesbian kiss episodes” to boost ratings. 

• Elton John comes out

Elton John has been a ubiquitous presence in popular music since the 1970s. He came out as bisexual in a 1976 Rolling Stone interview and later as gay in 1992. He went on to marry his partner, David Furnish. Elton John is regarded as an iconic and leading figure in the LGBTQ movement, raising hundreds of millions of dollars for AIDS research via his Elton John AIDS Foundation. 

• Laverne Cox makes history 

Laverne Cox, breakout star of “Orange Is the New Black,” became the first transgender person ever to be featured on the front cover of Time magazine in 2014. She later made more history after becoming the first out trans person to score an Emmy nomination.

• The enduring popularity of camp

Gay audiences have always embraced camp and this list would be incomplete without acknowledging perhaps the four greatest camp classic films of all time: “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane” (1962), “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975), and “Mommie Dearest” (1981). “Oz” brought us Judy Garland and hence the expression “friend of Dorothy.” “Baby Jane” was, of course, best known for its pairing of feuding divas Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. Tim Curry’s portrayal of Frank-N-Furter in “Rocky” remains iconic 50 years later and was recently rebooted for Broadway with Luke Evans wearing the bustier. And Faye Dunaway’s career may not have recovered but her over-the-top performance in “Dearest” caused us all to reconsider wire hangers. (Honorable mentions: “Sunset Boulevard,” “All About Eve.”)

• Drag balls of the 19th century

Drag culture has its origins in ancient Greek theater, when women were barred from acting, forcing men to play female roles. The first documented drag balls in America were held in the 1860s in Harlem. William Dorsey Swann, a former slave, became the first known figure to use the term “queen of drag,” hosting balls in D.C. in the late 19th century.

• “Billy Elliot”nabs 10 Tony Awards

In 2009, it was “Billy Elliot”all night at the Tony Awards, taking home 10 trophies including for Best Musical and Best Actor (which David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish shared). The musical was adapted from the 2000 film directed by Stephen Daldry, which itself was adapted from a 1999 play titled “Dancer” by Lee Hall.

• Androgynous pop stars challenge gender norms

Modern pop stars often flaunt gender norms but it wasn’t always safe to do so. Three stars who did it best were David Bowie, Boy George, and k.d. Lang. Bowie famously came out as bisexual and performed in androgynous costumes in the 1970s. Boy George’s breakout hit “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” in 1982 upended audience expectations of a male pop singer. And Lang, who came out in 1992 as a lesbian, challenged norms, perhaps most memorably on the cover of Vanity Fair with Cindy Crawford in 1993.  

• Newer queer-themed movies hit and miss at box office

Adapted from the 2015 book “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda,” the 2018 film “Love, Simon”brought a young high schooler’s coming out story to the big screen. The film managed to gross $66.7 million worldwide on a $17 million budget, and led to the spin-off show “Love, Victor,” which ran for three seasons. In 2023, Casey McQuiston’s hit novel “Red, White & Royal Blue”was turned into an Amazon original movie starring Nicholas Galitzine, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Uma Thurman. The film received solid reviews and was the #1 movie on Prime Video’s platform upon release, drawing more subscribers to the platform. At the other end of the spectrum, “Bros” became the first R-rated gay romcom to be released by a major studio, Universal Pictures. While the film was not a box office hit, it helped pave the way for more studio films positioning openly queer actors as romcom material, and it made a huge splash when it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

• Oscar’s biggest queer winners 

John Schlesinger won Best Director for Midnight Cowboy in 1970. Sir John Gielgud is recognized as the first openly gay actor to win an Oscar for 1982’s “Arthur.” Howard Ashman won for Best Original Song (“Under the Sea” and “Beauty and the Beast”) in 1990 and 1992 respectively. Elton John won Best Original Song for “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from “The Lion King” in 1995. Alan Ball won Best Original Screenplay for “American Beauty” in 2000. And Dustin Lance Black won Best Original Screenplay for “Milk” in 2009.

• Little Richard comes out, goes back in

Little Richard was a leading pioneer of rock ’n roll, bursting into national prominence with his 1955 hit song “Tutti Frutti.” “I’m not gay now but I was gay all my life,” he once told David Letterman. Richard acknowledged being gay but later said he wanted to “overcome it,” citing his religious beliefs.

Honorable mentions:

• Lisa Cholodenko and “The Kids Are All Right”

For “The Kids Are All Right,” Lisa Cholodenko became the first openly queer woman to direct a film to a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. The film starred Julianne Moore and Annette Bening as a couple who have been together for 20 years, with a cast rounded out by Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska. The film is credited with helping shift popular opinion about gay marriage in a more positive direction.

• Jazz Jennings gets her own series “I Am Jazz”

For many households, Jazz Jennings, who came out as transgender at the age of five, was the youngest person they ever saw publicly discuss their transition on national television. In 2015, her own show, “I Am Jazz,” launched on TLC and ran for eight seasons.

• Elliot Page releases memoir “Pageboy”

After coming out in late 2020, “Juno”star Elliot Page detailed his transition in the memoir “Pageboy,” which was released by Flatiron Books in 2023. It would go on to win the 2023 Libby Book Award for Best Memoir and Autobiography.

• Will Byers makes it official on “Stranger Things” Season 5

Although the show had dropped some not-so subtle hints at Will Byers’s sexuality, the fifth and final season of “Strangers Things”made it official during Episode 7. “The truth is,” he said, “I am different. I just pretended like I wasn’t because I didn’t want to be.” Noah Schnapp, who played Byers, is gay himself, adding an extra touch of authenticity to the emotional scene.

• Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers launch Las Culturistas podcast

Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers have broken the internet numerous times with viral interviews from their Las Culturistas podcast, which launched in March 2016 and was recently renewed with iHeartMedia and the Big Money Players Podcast Network.