As 2025 draws to a close, we invite some friends of The Queer Review, including prominent creators, performers, and activists to share the LGBTQ+ culture that has sustained, stimulated, moved, inspired, or brought them solace this year. We hope that you enjoy this eclectic selection and discover something new to revel in. We would love to hear your own LGBTQ+ highlights of 2025, so join the conversation via our social media channels—including Bluesky @TheQueerReview.com, Instagram @TheQueerReview, and Facebook—using the hashtags #TheQueerReview2025 and #TheQueerReview
Dedicated in loving memory to Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Edmund White, Andrea Gibson, Rosa von Praunheim, Udo Kier, Jiggly Caliente, Jonathan Joss, Noel Tovey, The Vivienne, Sha’Vi Lewis, and all those we have lost this year
James Kleinmann
Founder & Editor – The Queer Review. Actor. Filmmaker.
Prince Faggot by Jordan Tannahill
Jordan Tannahill’s Prince Faggot had me at its title and lived up to the promise of its tantalizing name. Proving to be playfully provocative and unapologetically queer in its structure and form, language, themes, and staging; including a bold, fun, brilliantly choreographed sex scene and a discussion around it that looked and sounded authentic. Tannahill’s work doesn’t shy away from darker themes of the intersection of sex and addiction, while examining the patriarchal class structures, and institutional and societal racism that pervade an imagined future, along with how we perceive ourselves and our place in the world as queer and trans people. Among the play’s delights, there is an unexpectedly tender and touching, rather poetic monologue about fisting delivered by David Greenspan and a spine-chilling speech by N’yomi Allure Stewart that reframes the entire piece.
The immaculate ensemble cast—who all originated their roles in the world premiere production’s sell-out run at Playwrights Horizons and its subsequent transfer to Studio Seaview—aren’t just integral to the success of this majestic work, but feel ingrained in its DNA. One my favourite moments, is a brief but poignant intergenerational acknowledgment by Rachel Crowl of what it means to her to be sharing the stage with a fellow trans actress, N’yomi. There is power too in the play’s reflection on childhood, as each performer engages with an image of their younger selves that is perceptibly queer. With Mihir Kumar remarking, “I was not a queer man in waiting…I was queer in the present tense.” Asserting that so often we’ve known who we were all along, while the world tried to tell us otherwise. Not only one of New York’s most talked about plays of the year, Prince Faggot is one of the most significant theatrical works of the decade. Read my ★★★★★ review of Prince Faggot and exclusive interview with actor Mihir Kumar.
Follow James Kleinmann on Instagram @JamesKleinmann & Bluesky @JamesKleinmann.com. Visit his official website.
John Cameron Mitchell
Actor. Filmmaker. (Hedwig & the Angry Inch. Upcoming: Oh, Mary! on Broadway)
Griffin in Summer written & directed by Nicholas Colia
Nicholas Colia’s Griffin in Summer would’ve been a beautiful little heartfelt comedy indie hit back in the 90s when folks used to go to the cinema! ‘Member? Every week we used to just go see whatever small film got the best reviews – from critics (‘member?) and friends – no matter who was in it (and Melanie Lynskey is lovely in Griffin.) Everett Blunck, a future star if there ever was one, plays her son Griffin, our 13 year old pre-queer protagonist who’s hilariously obsessed with staging his boozy domestic drama “Regrets in Summer.” The play is a treasury of such marital zingers as “And all those miscarriages I had, they were abortions!” Owen Teague, playing Melanie’s ex-performance artist pool boy (pant pant) becomes Griffin’s inappropriately mature leading man and love object manqué. Everybody’s shittin’ where they eat and I love it. Watch it now on Hulu!
Follow John Cameron Mitchell on Instagram @johncameronmitchell. He will be taking over the role of Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s hit Broadway comedy Oh, Mary! from February 2nd through April 26th, 2026 with John Andrew Morrison, Simu Liu, Jenn Harris, and Tony Macht. Tickets are on sale now at OhMaryPlay.com.
Isabel Sandoval
Filmmaker. Actress. (Lingua Franca, Moonglow)
Peter Hujar’s Day written & directed by Ira Sachs
The film feels like an incantatory summoning of a spectral and bygone New York. There’s something of a séance in it: Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) as the medium, and Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) as this impish, restless, sexy ghost who visits us momentarily. It’s an evocative act of listening and reanimation, one that resists neat narration in favor of something more intimate and idiosyncratic. By staying with a single day, Peter Hujar’s Day lets Hujar exist as an artist and a person, not an idea.
Follow Isabel Sandoval on Instagram @IsabelVSandoval. Her latest film, Moonglow, will receive its world premiere at the 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Big Screen Competition section.
Joel Kim Booster
Stand-up comedian. Writer. Actor. (Fire Island, Loot)
Best Woman by Rose Dommu
One of the best romantic comedies I’ve read in recent memory. Characters you instantly feel like you know and an extremely clever trans take on My Best Friend’s Wedding. Laugh out loud funny, sharply observed – an absolute must read.
Follow Joel Kim Booster on Instagram @ihatejoelkim & Substack @jkb.
Jeff Hiller
Actor. Comedian. Author. (Somebody Somewhere, Actress of a Certain Age)
ta-da! by Josh Sharp & Can I Be Frank? by Morgan Bassichis
I loved Josh Sharp’s ta-da! and Morgan Bassichis’ Can I Be Frank? They are unfairly compared because they are both by downtown queer comedians, are both hilarious and touching and were both directed by Sam Pinkleton. Hm. Maybe they should be compared? Josh takes a story about almost dying and spins a tale via 10,000 powerpoint slides to tell a story about both himself, his parents, and the lyrics of Corinne Bailey Rae. Morgan takes the story, weaves it with pioneering 90s, queer performance artist Frank Maya and explores legacy, queerness, comedy and what it was like for the LGBTQ folks who came before us. Both are hilarious. Both made me cry. Both of them would hate that I called them “touching” up above, but I don’t care. I was indeed touched (metaphorically).
Follow Jeff Hiller on Instagram @boomboomhiller & Bluesky @boomboomhiller.bsky.social. Visit his official website. His autobiographical book, Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty-Year Trail to Overnight Success, was published by Simon & Schuster in June, 2025.
Dana Goldberg
Comedian. Writer. Actress. Co-host of The Daily Beans.
Billie Eilish
This year I have been so impressed with Billie Eilish. Okay, every year, but especially this one. At a time when billionaires are destroying so much of this country and the planet, Billie has stood on some of the largest stages and called them out, directly to their faces, for hoarding their wealth. That happened as she announced she was donating $11.5 million of her own tour proceeds to charities fighting the climate and food insecurity crisis. Not only did she sweep every category she was nominated for at the AMA’s, she’s showing the queer community and beyond what it means to use your platform to make the world better. In a world of Nicki Minajs, be a Billie Eilish.
Follow Dana Goldberg on Instagram @dgcomedy & Bluesky @dgcomedy.bsky.social. Visit her official website.
James Tom
Comedian.
King of Drag (Revry)
I will never forget the moment when, while watching the King of Drag premiere with my Fire Island house, my friend and fellow gaysian comic Dylan Adler turned to me with eyes full of awe and said, “the contestants have so much empathy.” That’s when I knew we had something special on our hands. Full disclosure, I worked on this show as a producer and writer. But my job was mostly contained to a pre-production Google doc, so I watched the show along with the audience. The world’s first (highly overdue) drag king competition reality show is thrilling, heartwarming, and occasionally tearjerking, featuring some moments I believe are among the great drag performances seen on TV (yes, including that other show). Watching the Kings help each other through challenges instead of being at each other’s throats is a soothing balm in a cynical media landscape. And if drag kings can teach Fire Island gays about empathy, imagine the power they have to change the world. Watch season one of King of Drag of Revry.
Robby Hoffman: Wake Up (Netflix)
On the total opposite end of the spectrum is Robby Hoffman’s long anticipated standup special, Wake Up. Sharply opinionated, slur-laden, and maddeningly funny, Robby’s debut special is a lightning rod of honesty–particularly during these times when queer creators are constantly stifled by both right wing censorship and performative political correctness. There’s clearly no silencing Robby, whose takes are so hot I found myself screaming–sometimes in laughter, and sometimes at the sheer audacity of what was being said. A lesbian provocateur of the highest degree, Robby is living proof that in this increasingly algorithmatized, AI-filtered, focus-group-decided world, the best thing you can do is be yourself–that is, if you’re Robby Hoffman. Watch on Netflix.
Follow James Tom on Instagram @jamestomxo, Blueksy @jamestomxo.bsky.social & Substack.
Jiz Lee
Nonbinary actor. Author. (Coming Out Like a Porn Star)
Fucktoys by Annapurna Sriram
I have a hardcore crush on a film, and its name is Fucktoys! The movie is written, directed, and stars Annapurna Sriram. It’s a surreal queer, brown, femme-led mythical quest set in the South against the backdrop of American capitalism and whorephobia. Shot on 16mm, the genre-queer movie draws from the 60s and 90s in fashion, soundtrack, and cinema, grindhouse, French New Wave and punk neo-camp. Sexploitation, but from the POV of sex workers. From top to bottom, the film is sexy, dangerous, hilarious, tender, and whip smart. AP is so hot I want to punch myself in the face. I related to Danni, AP’s ‘twin flame’ soulmate. Nonbinary masc sex workers are rare, and represented even less. Scenes with Danni felt like flashbacks from my own life. There were many roles I cheered for, from Big Freedia reading tarot to Intimacy Coordination by Tina Horn. It’s one of those cliché times when film is a love letter. To sex workers. To the queer South. To avant-garde cinema. A movie created by and for our communities that feels big, while not having to whitewash and conform. And for those reasons, it’s likely to stay underground, particularly during an anti-‘DEIA’ political climate hellbent on erasing our stories, art, and lives. Fuck ’em! If you are lucky enough to see this absolute treasure playing at a film festival near you, GO. It’s an instant cult classic. For screening and film updates go to fucktoys.lol.
Follow Jiz Lee on Instagram @JizLee & Bluesky @jizlee.bsky.social. Visit their official official website. Coming Out Like a Porn Star: Essays on Pornography, Protection, & Privacy edited by Jiz Lee is available now.
Bruce LaBruce
Filmmaker. Writer. Photographer. Artist. (No Skin Off My Ass, Saint-Narcisse, The Visitor)
The Rise of the Power Lesbian!
As a long-time lesbian ally, I was delighted and amazed to find myself this autumn simultaneously watching not one but two major TV series on duelling networks that featured lesbian characters as the solo lead protagonist. I am of course speaking about Howard Gordon’s Netflix limited series The Beast in Me and Vince Gilligan’s Apple TV show Pluribus. Interestingly, both characters are best-selling authors who have traumatically lost their lesbian life partners (in the former, Claire Danes is divorced from her wife after the tragic lost of their son; in the latter, Rhea Seehorn’s wife dies in the alien invasion in the first episode), and both are fighting against Byzantine conspiracies that threaten their sanity. Fulfilling the lost promise of last year’s True Detective: Night Country, in which Jodie Foster’s character by all rights should have been a lesbian (real-life lesbian Foster is an executive producer on Beast), it’s heartening to see two impactful series centred around strong yet deeply flawed, complex lesbian characters, despite the fact that neither actress playing them is a lesbian in real life. (They both do a pretty convincing imitation!). I was more entertained by Beast, with Claire Danes’ over-the-top, lip-quivering, hysterical performance; Pluribus, I’m afraid, suffers from the misguided principle that boredom can be artistically conveyed through exceedingly long, extended scenes in which nothing much happens.
Follow Bruce LaBruce on Instagram @BruceLaBruce & Bluesky @brucelabruce.bsky.social.
Jonathan McCrory
Executive Artistic Director – National Black Theatre. Director. Producer. Creative Doula.
Heaux Church by Brandon Kyle Goodman
Heaux Church at Ars Nova written and performed by Brandon Kyle Goodman and produced by Lena Waithe was a beautiful intimate telling that allowed for us to have a conversation about our sexuality and our sex. Being more sex fluid and sex positive, but also just owning the space of how Black queer identity, representation, and familiarity within that community in particular and in those family structures exists. Not from a space of shame, but from a space of wholeness, possibility, love, and grace.
Bowl EP – written and directed by Nazareth Hassan
I had the high fortune of co-producing Bowl EP with my theater, National Black Theater and Vineyard Theatre in association with The New Group. It was a beautiful queer narrative that really pushed the boundaries of what theater can do and look like. Really bringing in a Black punk queer aesthetic into the forefront and inviting us to imagine how we tackle our dark side, our shadow work.
Follow Jonathan McCrory on Instagram @jaymc86 and Facebook. Visit his official website. Read our exclsuive interview with Jonathan McCrory.
Vera Drew
Filmmaker. Actor. (The People’s Joker)
Camp written & directed by Avalon Fast
To call Avalon Fast’s newest film “dreamy” would be an understatement. This movie feels like a smear of time and space in a way that so few movies do. And for a film this seeped in vibes, it’s a total and complete structural palindrome or something. Like an absolute and cohesive container of witchy sexy sisterhood druggie holy hell. I’m hesitant to say too much before so many get to see this…all I’ll say is it captures grief, growing, and the grief of growing so beautifully and sincerely. A movie that feels like summer ending and autumn beginning, losing so many people and gaining so many more, and soaking in the light of God by absolutely succumbing to the fire of the Devil. It is no exaggeration that this has some of the most gorgeous cinematography I’ve seen in a movie in fucking years. DP Eily Sprungman is clearly working with some sort of fucking dark magic on this one. Adored all of the performances in this, but the phenomenal standouts: Zola Grimmer, Lea Rose Sebastianis (I mean maybe my favorite actor doing stuff right now tbh), Ella Reece, and Aidan Laudersmith. The FX were so pretty and restrained…like there’s such a magic to how not over the top it is, while feeling hyperreal. Like truly aspirational. Going to be ripping this movie off in my next one, lol. The world is a better place with Avalon Fast making movies. Just a brilliant and true soul putting real magic into her art. See this as soon as you can.
Follow Vera Drew on Bluesky @veradrew22.bsky.social & Instagram @ veradrew22. Read our exclusive interview with Vera Drew about making The People’s Joker and our ★★★★★ review of the film. The People’s Joker is now streaming on Mubi and available on VOD, Blu-ray, DVD, and VHS from Altered Innocence.
Jordan Tannahill
Novelist. Playwright. Director. Filmmaker. (Prince Faggot)
Can I Be Frank? written & performed by Morgan Bassichis
One of my favourite theatre experiences this year was Morgan Bassichis’ one-person show Can I Be Frank? about Frank Maya, a comedian whose life was cut short from complications related to AIDS at the age of 45, right as Maya was on the precipice of mainstream success. Though now largely overlooked, Maya was celebrated in downtown circles, and noteworthy for being one of the few out gay comedians on television in the early 1990s when he landed a half-hour special on Comedy Central. In Can I Be Frank?, directed by Sam Pinkleton, Bassichis channeled Maya by recreating one of the late comedian’s manic “rants”, and performing a couple of Maya’s original, off-kilter songs. Bassichis is a live-wire performer who had me in tears of laughter for most of the show, until they had me in, well, tears-tears. The show was both an homage to Maya, and a stirring meditation on fame, artistic legacy, and cultural memory.
Follow Jordan Tannahill on Instagram @jordan.tannahill. The play script for Prince Faggot is available now published by Playwrights Canada Press. Tannahill will be signing copies of the script as part of a talkback and live podcast recording at The Drama Book Shop in New York on February 5th, 2026.
Zackary Drucker
Artist. Director. Producer. (The Stroll, Enigma)
While this may be the bleakest chapter of American history most of us have lived through, at least we had movies, and more specifically, queer movies. Theaters gave us a surprisingly rich slate this year, which felt both defiant and necessary.
Kiss of the Spider Woman was a daring, delirious pleasure. Jennifer Lopez is perfection personified, glamorous and razor sharp, and the reimagined story of a trans prisoner felt urgently on time. That a mainstream film centered a trans storyline so boldly was thrilling; that it wasn’t more loudly embraced by the community remains genuinely baffling to me.
The History of Sound delivers one of cinema’s most reliable pleasures, watching presumably heterosexual actors do gay things, which is exciting for them and an absolute gift for us. Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, two actors I have loved in very different ways over the past few years, falling in love on screen is both tender and devastating. The film is a haunting reminder of queer life before liberation, and how much was lost in the silence.
Des preuves d’amour, Alice Douard’s debut feature, is a quiet masterpiece. Gentle, precise, and deeply felt, it’s a film I hope finds its audience when it begins streaming soon via Wolfe Video.
Meet Me in the Good Light, now available on Apple TV, wrecked me. I have not cried that hard in a theater in a very long time. Watching Andrea Gibson navigate love, illness, creativity, and mortality is devastating and life-affirming in equal measure. It’s an extraordinary film.
Niñxs is an experimental documentary following a young trans person coming of age outside Mexico City. It lingered with me long after the credits rolled, intimate and expansive at once, the kind of film that quietly rewires you.
Praise for Plainclothes, Pee-wee as Himself, and Peter Hujar’s Day is well earned. But I want to name the people behind them. Matt Wolf, Carmen Emmi, and Ira Sachs are friends, brothers in arms, filmmakers whose visions have been forged in reverence to our predecessors. Carmen, who came up in my high school years after me, returned to our hometown of Syracuse, New York, to make Plainclothes, collapsing time in the most beautiful way. I had never seen my place of origin on screen before. Pee-wee shaped my adolescent imagination, and Peter Hujar illuminated my teenage years. These films don’t just speak to queer community, they come from it.
And yes, I am also watching everything on HBO, + Clean Slate and Overcompensating on Prime, because escapism is a form of resistance too.
Follow Zackary Drucker on Instagram @ZackaryDrucker. Visit her official website. Read our exclusive interview with Zackary Drucker about her latest documentary Enigma now streaming on HBO Max.
Willow Catelyn Maclay
Film critic. Writer (Corpses Fools & Monsters)
Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness by Michael Koresky
Michael Koresky is one of the finest film critics of his generation. He has done astonishing work at the Museum of the Moving Image, brought new understandings to queer film history through his “Queersighted” series on the Criterion Channel, and paved a way for queer film critics across the decades of the 21st century to have their share of the critical discourse through his careful mentorship as the editor at Reverse Shot. His previous book Films of Endearment was a touching ode to the ways that personal experience can shape our relationship to movies, and his newest book Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness is even better.
The book chronicles the history of the queer movies hidden underneath the surface of the Production code era, and his captivating prose, intelligence, and sheer passion for the era guide the reader through the thickets of a time in American film history when queer people were not allowed to be onscreen in an explicit manner. Koresky finds that the pulse of queerness was beating strongly in movies like Tea and Sympathy, Rope, and Crossfire. The book is structured around two separate adaptations of Lilian “Hellman’s scandalous lesbian tragedy The Children’s Hour”, both by William Wyler, one in 1936 and the other in1961. In that near thirty year period, queerness manifested in strangely provocative ways, and the language of coding continues to resonate in the modern interpretation of queer cinema. It’s very rewarding to look back on a picture like Tea and Sympathy—warts and all—and understand that the way it spoke about anxieties indebted to masculine codes of how someone assigned male at birth must behave, has born new fruit in sibling pictures like I Saw the TV Glow nearly 70 years later. It’s all connected, or, as the title of the book argues, it’s the making of modern queerness.
It is always a joy to read Koresky on any subject, but when he tackles queer film history, he expands my own theoretical ideas around the subject, and I have a healthier relationship to cinema as a result. I loved Sick and Dirty, and it was my queer highlight this year. I would like to also mention Will Sloan’s Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood, David Demchuk and Connie Leigh Clark’s The Butcher’s Daughter, Louise Weard’s Castration Anthology Movie II: The Best of Both Worlds, Avalon Fast’s Camp, Aoife Josie Clement’s Persona, and Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball Tour as a few other examples of queer art that helped me get through this difficult year.
Follow Willow Catelyn Maclay on Instagram @WillowCatelyn, Bluesky @willowcatelyn.bsky.social & Patreon. Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema co-written by Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay is available now published by Repeater Books.
Caden Mark Gardner
Freelance film critic with a focus on queer & trans representation. Writer. (Corpses, Fools and Monsters)
Castration Movie Anthology ii: The Best of Both Worlds by Louise Weard
Louise Weard’s second installment in her four-part Castration Movie anthology, Castration Movie ii: The Best of Both Worlds, is one of the boldest films I’ve seen in years, challenging its audience not just in terms of its runtime but its audaciousness in going there with some of the prickliest aspects of the trans experience in 2025. It’s as if Dogme 95 and Jacques Rivette had a bastard child. Few filmmakers meet the moment of this past year and Weard does so in ways that are truly singular and uncompromising. I’m proud to call Louise a friend but objectively, she’s a mad genius.
Grace Byron’s writing. I am currently recovering from burnout so I have not yet read her novel Herculine, which sounds like my shit, but she’s easily one of the best critics out there and is also meeting this moment in her chronicling of the uneasiness in being trans under this administration.
Michael Koresky’s book, Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness.
Reissues of novels that are really, really gay e.g. Jack, The Modernist (Glück), Tramps Like Us (Westmoreland), and Nebraska (Whitmore).
The reissue of one of the most consequential trans zines of its time, Gendertrash from Hell.
Albert Serra’s Afternoons in Solitude does for bullfighting what Paris is Burning did for Ballroom.
Protect Ethel Cain at all costs.
RIP Edmund White
Follow Caden Mark Gardner on Instagram @corpsesfoolsandmonsters. Corpses, Fools and Monsters: The History and Future of Transness in Cinema co-written by Caden Mark Gardner and Willow Catelyn Maclay is available now published by Repeater Books.
Harry Lighton
Writer. Director. (Pillion)
JADE’s Glastonbury set
After four years at the top of my Spotify Wrapped, The Saturdays have finally been dethroned. Congratulations to JADE, whose debut album That’s Showbiz Baby is a megawatt banger, and whose Glastonbury debut was the best 45 minutes of my year. As someone who spends a solid hour a day lamenting the fact I never saw Little Mix live, I feared the solo experience might be triggering. But screaming “I AM AN IT GIRL” with a cider in one hand, a fag in the other, and thousands more hemming me in on every side, I got a glimpse of gay heaven and it’s glorious.
Follow Harry Lighton on Instagram @hlighton. His debut feature, Pillion, is now playing in UK cinemas & opens in the US on February 6th, 2026 from A24.
Daniel K. Isaac
Actor. Writer. (Billions, Elsbeth, Once Upon A (Korean) Time)
Town & Country by Brian Schaefer
I am biased because Brian is my friend and he asked me to be his audiobook narrator. But this debut novel is so so good please read and/or listen. I love books with multiple narrators and points of view and Brian weaves them all together so masterfully. Also, he’s really hot.
Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor
I love Brandon’s writing. He is a genius. Please read everything he’s written. I am a super fan. Brandon’s ability to write about art and artistry and identity and faith in the present day feels urgent and honest and complicated. His ability to wrestle with the complex, and hard to articulate, and actual intersectionality, while also giving me a boner in one of the sex scenes is just an absolute endorsement from me.
Speaking of boners, I am reading Rachel Reid’s Game Changers book series (that the Heated Rivalry TVshow is based on) and I need to discuss with someone. I am on book three and it’s been less than a week. I’ve been blushing and giggling and tearing up and getting hard. A lot. Wow, I love reading. More queer books please.
Follow Daniel K. Isaac on Instagram @danielkisaac. Visit his official website. Read our exclusive interview with Daniel K. Isaac.
Angelo Madsen Minax
Multi-disciplinary artist. Filmmaker. Educator. (North by Current, A Body to Live In).
The novel, Big Swiss by Jen Beagin, technically from 2023, but I just read it for the first time and LOST my shit! There is no better take down of queer Upstate NY and the warped world of self-help, woven through the sharpest of teeth.
Samara Halperin retrospective presented by Shaboom, Art Omi, and the Parkside Lounge. I want to see more retrospectives in bars with the artist doing live commentary and being heckled by their friends of 20+ years.
Ayanna Dozier’s exhibition at Microscope Gallery, specifically the piece : “Whore in the House of the Lord” (2025) – utterly entrancing.
The film Paul by Denis Coté – about a loveable cleaning sub-come-influencer who evades depression by cleaning dominant ladies’ houses.
Follow Angelo Madsen Minax on Instagram @angelomadsen and visit his official website AngeloMadsen.com.
Courtesy of the artist and Microscope Gallery, New York.
Drew Droege
Actor. Writer. Comedian. (Queer, Messy White Gays)
Jeff Hiller winning the Emmy for Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series for Somebody Somewhere
Not only has this phenomenal talent been beloved by the comedy community for years, but also he completely deserved his win for this beautiful, layered, incandescent performance on this wonderful show that was largely about small town queer life. On top of that, his surprise victory was greeted with unmitigated JOY from his out peers, Michael Urie, Bowen Yang, and Coleman Domingo. Seeing these brilliant gay colleagues so happy for Jeff was a watershed moment indeed. Yes, there were four queer nominees in this category. This business has long pitted us against each other and made us feel like there was only room for one of us to succeed. In this moment, these gents paved the way for us all to think differently.
Follow Drew Droege on Blueskey @drewdroege.bsky.social and Instagram @Drew_Droege. Visit his official official website. Drew Droege can currently be seen starring Off-Broadway in his comedy Messy White Gays running through January 11th, 2026. Read our ★★★★ review.
Chase Joynt
Non-fiction Filmmaker. (Framing Ages, No Ordinary Man) Writer. (Vantage Points)
On a Rooftop with Chase Strangio and Lío Mehiel
One night in mid-June, I was on a rooftop in NYC with a small, intentionally curated group of queer and trans people. Our friend Chase Strangio had argued before the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti, a critical case shaping transgender rights, and the decision was imminent. Concurrently, we knew The New York Times was about to publish a long form article further scapegoating trans people and fortifying its anti-trans position.
As we gathered in a circle to toast and cheer our friend, we articulated a collective desire to mark the moment with a ritual; but we had neither supplies, nor a plan. Without skipping a beat, Lío Mehiel scanned the rooftop for inspiration and jumped in with a proposition: we would all eat a grape off the snack table, expunge bad energies and worries into the flesh of the fruit as we chewed, and one by one, spit the contents of our mouths into a cup, thus ridding ourselves and the world of all toxic energy. The contents would then be composted – turned over en masse – into something new.
Dear reader, I am keenly aware of germs, somewhat phobic of textures, and generally suspicious of impromptu group activities. But I chewed that grape with wild abandon. We laughed from start to finish, with Lío cheering us on like the gay camp counsellor of our queer dreams. In the end, the Supreme Court did not rule in our favor and The New York Times continues its inexcusable treatment of trans people. But in that moment, I was very sure we had each other, and that we are all we have and need.
Follow Chase Joynt on Instagram @chasejoynt & visit his official website.
Bright Light Bright Light
Electronic pop musician. DJ. (Enjoy Youth, Choreography, Fun City)
Church Of The Outlaws by Cameron Hawthorn
A few years ago, Cameron was making mostly country music and came out as gay with a really lovely song and video, and we started chatting on Instagram as I love to collaborate with up and coming independent artists, especially in the LGBTQ+ world. We did a little collaboration and after that he created this MASTERPIECE of an album. I absolutely did not expect him to go from guitar driven singer-songwriter arrangements to this truly hypnotic, immersive and deeply sexy album. When I first heard it, I was so JEALOUS! It’s the kind of production and arrangement that lots of electronic artists strive for. It’s my joint favourite album of the year, and watching him perform it live in the three shows we did together at the end of the year was an absolute treat. I hope that way more people will discover it next year. It’s sublime.
Follow Bright Light Bright Light on Bluesky @brightlightx2.bsky.social & Instagram @BrightLightx2. Visit his official website. His latest album, Enjoy Youth, is available now.
Jonathan Burke
Actor. Singer. Dancer. (Harlem, The Inheritance, Choir Boy, CATS: “The Jellicle Ball”).
Saturday Church at New York Theatre Workshop
The musical Saturday Church, which premiered Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, boasted a plethora of queer creatives, with book and additional lyrics by Damon Cardasis and James Ijames, music and lyrics by Sia, additional music by Honey Dijon, directed by Whitney White, choreography by Darrell Grand Moultrie, music supervision, orchestrations, and arrangements by Jason Michael Webb and Luke Solomon, and a host of on stage queer Black and Brown talent, starring The Voice contender Bryson Battle, American Idol contender B Noel Thomas, and Tony Award-winner J. Harrison Ghee. Based on Damon Cardasis’ 2017 film of the same name, Saturday Church tells the story of Ulysses, a New York City queer kid, as he wrestles with family and faith as he strives to find the place where he can love and be loved. It brings my heart such great joy to see Black and Brown queer bodies finding liberation on stage, and through the combined lenses of gospel, house music, pop, and Ballroom, Saturday Church delivered just that! Read our ★★★★ review of Saturday Church & our interview with Bryson Battle, B Noel Thomas & J. Harrison Ghee.
I also want to give a special shoutout to singer-songwriter, Khalid, who, after being publicly coming out, released an amazing album that is an expression of his newfound queer liberation, After the Sun Goes Down. As a Black, male recording artist, to own his queerness in that way is revolutionary. His presence and voice continue to move the needle forward for much needed liberation for future Black queer artists. Kudos to Khalid!
Follow Jonathan Burke on Instagram @itsjonathanburke. He will reprise the role of Mungojerrie in the Broadway transfer of CATS: “The Jellicle Ball” which begins previews on March 18th, 2026. Tickets are on sale now.
Todd Verow
Filmmaker. (Frisk, You Can’t Stay Here, Memorabilia)
Hold Me In The Water written & performed by Ryan J. Haddad
Ryan J. Haddad is a mesmerizing performer and a brutally honest and funny writer. I thoroughly enjoyed his new solo play Hold Me In The Water which had a limited run at Playwrights Horizons in NYC this Spring. I have never laughed out load AND burst into tears at the same time before in the theater. Ryan’s message is simple and clear, and more important and revolutionary than ever, love one another. Read our ★★★★ review of Hold Me In The Water.
Pillion written & directed by Harry Lighton
It’s great to see a return to graphic depictions queer sex, unsanitized for straight audiences (no weird missionary position frottage here!), in the greatest romantic comedy in decades, Pillion.
Follow Todd Verow on Instagram @ToddVerow, Bluesky @toddverow.bsky.social, & Facebook. Visit his official website. A new 4K restoration Todd’s Verow’s Frisk will premiere in 2026 from Strand Releasing.
Jeremy Atherton Lin
Author. (Gay Bar, Deep House)
Big Boys created by Jack Rooke
This British show—a gentle bromance and campus romp—came recommended by a couple who said they cried every episode, and we did the same. It’s a silly comedy but also an honest look at mental health, masculinity, and class. The entire cast is perfect but my shoutout goes to Jon Pointing as Danny – his sad smile gets me every time. With the finale, creator Jack Rooke gives a masterclass in narrative experimentation that doesn’t feel gimmicky; rather, home truths are delivered with humongous generosity.
Follow Jeremy Atherton Lin on Instagram @jeremyathertonlin. Visit his official website.
Elizabeth Purchell
Queer film historian & programmer. Filmmaker (Ask Any Buddy)
Paul Morrissey series at Metrograph & the Kuchar brothers series at Anthology Film Archives
The Paul Morrissey series at Metrograph—Leaving the Factory: Morrissey After Warhol—and the Kuchar brothers series at Anthology Film Archives—Reflections From A Cinematic Cesspool: George & Mike Kuchar—were two of my favorite programs of the year, with Morrissey’s Forty Deuce (1982), G. Kuchar’s Portrait of Ramona (1971), and M. Kuchar’s Chronicles (1969) all being films I’ve been thinking about nonstop since seeing them. Selfishly, programming the first American screening in decades of Morrissey and Andy Warhol’s L’Amour (1973) at Anthology and helping to uncover and distribute the long-unseen films and videos of Jim Baker (Mouse Klub Konfidential) and Ken Camp (Highway Hypnosis) were also major highlights.
Follow Elizabeth Purchell on Instagram @schlockvalue & Bluesky @schlockvalue.bsky.social. Visit her official website.
Johnnie Ingram
Co-creator We’re Here & Swiping America on HBO Max
Trans Forming Liberty by Amy Sherald
This year will be remembered for me as the year of queer resistance, and one highlight that has stayed with me came from the art world. A portrait by Amy Sherald called Trans Forming Liberty. It hit immediately because it instantly brought me back to We’re Here season two in Evansville, Indiana, when Bob the Drag Queen dressed as the Statue of Liberty as our brave production crew and cast paraded through the conservative town in drag on the Fourth of July during a time when the political climate was just beginning to shift more violently for the drag and trans communities. I have long admired Sherald’s work and followed her rise closely, but after this year and the controversy surrounding this painting, it has become one of my favorite works not just of hers, but in all of art history. For those who may not know her by name, Sherald is the artist behind the iconic grayscale portraits of Black Americans, including Michelle Obama’s White House portrait, works that honor identity, presence, and everyday dignity.
In 2025, her acclaimed exhibition American Sublime was scheduled to open at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in September. When the museum raised “concerns” about including Trans Forming Liberty, which depicts Arewá Basit, a Nigerian American trans activist and model, Sherald defiantly chose to stand by her work and withdrew the show. That decision will be remembered in art history, but also deserves to be highlighted this year as we all could use a reminder that we do not need permission from anyone— not social media, a museum, a network, or the president of the United States— to create work and stand up for what we believe in.
Follow Johnnie Ingram on Instagram @johnnieinstagram. Watch We’re Here and Swiping America on HBO Max.
Hugh Sheehan
Composer. Sound designer. Writer. Podcast host. (Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7)
The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White
After coming out in my mid-twenties I ardently sought out as much queer art and literature as I possibly could; doing anything I could to immerse myself in a culture and heritage that had, until then, been off limits to me. I remember scouring “Best LGBTQ+ Books” lists online, and seeing White’s A Boy’s Own Story consistently ranked towards the top of those lists. I bought a copy and ended up reading it in two or three sittings, enrapt by White’s beautiful, lyrical prose, his virtuosic ability to tell a story, and his singular way of imbuing a warmth and humour into every passage he wrote. The book was a profound and fitting induction into a way of life that I now treasure.
Since then White has become a treasured companion to me, his writing offering solace and comfort, humour and joy with ease and generosity. His knack for ascribing words to feelings or experiences that I otherwise find difficult to make sense of is unparalleled. What’s more, it still feels as though there is so much of his work left for me to explore, such is the breadth of his oeuvre.
White’s The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir—the last book he published before his death in June—is a joyous celebration of gay sex in its myriad modalities, of promiscuity and queer sociality, and above all, a gorgeous self-portrait of the ways Edmund seemed to move through life (sexual or otherwise): with unashamed abandon, total compassion, and with a twinkle in his eye.
Follow Hugh Sheehan on Instagram @hughsheehan. Listen to his award-winning five-part narrative audio documentary series for BBC Sounds, Criminally Queer: The Bolton 7.
Justin Teodoro
Artist. Illustrator.
Peter Hujar’s Day written & directed by Ira Sachs
This year I fell in love with Peter Hujar’s Day. Directed by Ira Sachs, the film takes place over one day in 1974 during a conversation between the photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and the writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall). Based on the book by Rosenkratz, “Peter Hujar’s Day” isn’t megawatt or flashy but rather a beautiful story about the ordinary mundaneness of creative work and the introspective poetry of 1970s New York City when artists were its most vibrant players. The film is a celebration of friendship – two people simply spending a day together engaged and listening to one another, a real intimate connection that feels so refreshing and comforting especially during these loud and overwhelming times.
Follow Justin Teodoro on Instagram @justinteodoro. Visit his official website.
Jen Markowitz
Filmmaker. (Summer Qamp) Producer. (Canada’s Drag Race)
Pee-wee as Himself directed by Matt Wolf
Pee-wee as Himself is a tender, quietly devastating portrait of Paul Reubens that refuses easy mythmaking. Director Matt Wolf, known for his work excavating misunderstood outsiders, brings a patient, humane eye to the film. Rather than centering on scandal or nostalgia, Wolf lets Reubens control the rhythm, and the result is guarded, funny, evasive, and ultimately vulnerable. The documentary becomes less a biography than a meditation on performance, privacy, and the cost of creating a persona, shaped in part by queer subtext and coded self-expression, that audiences feel entitled to access. One of the best documentaries of the year, it’s intimate without being indulgent, and deeply moving in its restraint.
Follow Jen Markowitz on Instagram @jen.markowitz. Stream Jen Markowitz‘s Summer Qamp on Peacock (US) and Superchannel (Canada).
Todd Stephens
Filmmaker. (Edge of Seventeen, Swan Song)
Jinkx Monsoon in Oh, Mary! on Broadway
Twinless and Blue Moon were my favorite queer narrative films of 2025 and the doc Come See Me in a Good Light totally blew me away. But the highlight of my queer year was seeing Jinkx Monsoon tear it up on Broadway in Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary! She’s back in the bratty wig again in January, 2026 so check her out then if you missed her this year. Jinkx and I have a new project in the works, stay tuned…. Read our ★★★★★ review of Jinkx Monsoon in Oh, Mary!
Follow Todd Stephens on Facebook.
Daniel “Dusty” Albanese
Photographer. Filmmaker.
Plainclothes written & directed by Carmen Emmi
Plainclothes is a very impressive first feature from Carmen Emmi, whose beautifully nuanced writing tackles layers of institutional homophobia while always maintaining the humanity of his subjects. He also makes some surprisingly brave decisions—particularly centering the story on a closeted cop entrapping other queer men. And it’s a testament to the intelligent, empathic script and Tom Blyth’s fantastic performance that it really works.
While we navigate this current backlash against the LGBTQ community it’s essential to tell these difficult stories, to understand how suffocatingly oppressive our recent history was, and see how we can persist despite a hostile society. For me, getting to watch Plainclothes in a small-town theater with writer-director Emmi and cinematographer Ethan Palmer present—surrounded by an audience of queer people who survived the time period depicted—was a really powerful experience. Read our interviews with Carmen Emmi, Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey.
Follow Daniel “Dusty” Albanese on Instagram @DustyRebel and Bluesky @dustyrebel.bsky.social. Visit his official website.
Arthur Dong
Oscar-nominated filmmaker. Author. Curator. (Coming Out Under Fire, Licensed To Kill, Family Fundamentals).
Francis Jue’s Tony Award win for Yellow Face
June 8th, 2025, New York City: It was the night of the Tony Awards, and actor Francis Jue—a Broadway, television, and film veteran of nearly four decades—was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for Yellow Face, David Henry Hwang’s satire of the long-standing practice of casting white actors in yellowface to play Asian characters.
I’ve known Francis since 1988, when he appeared as one of the stagehands in M. Butterfly on Broadway. (He later stepped into the touring production as the play’s cross-dressing lead.) From there, our paths crossed intermittently over the years—emails and quick hellos at stage doors whenever we were in the same town: Pacific Overtures in New York, Soft Power in Los Angeles. Some of his numerous film and television credits include Good Sex, Our Son, White Noise, Joyful Noise, Madam Secretary, New Amsterdam, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Francis told me recently, “I’ve always been motivated to show that an out Asian American person can tell universal human stories.” Indeed, he’s currently appearing as Cléante at New York Theatre Workshop’s production of Tartuffe.
The 2025 production of Yellow Face was itself a revival. Francis had first earned both an Obie Award and a Lucille Lortel Award for the play’s 2008 Public Theater production. By the time the 2025 Tonys rolled around, he had already won the Outer Critics Circle Award for his scene stealing performance. When Francis’ name was called, I raised my iPhone and snapped this photo of him on stage, capturing the moment the honor became real. But it was what he said next that made the evening momentous. Addressing the audience, Francis offered words that reached well beyond the theater: “To those who are being targeted in these authoritarian times, I see you. At its best, this community sees you. And I hope that encourages you to be brave, to dream, and to dream big.”
Follow Arthur Dong on Instagram @arthurdongfilm. Visit his Deep Focus Productions official website. He is currently writing his next book Grandview Film, which profiles pioneer filmmaker Joseph Sunn Jue, Francis Jue’s grandfather. Read our exclusive interview with Arthur Dong.
Daniel Lismore
British fabric sculptor. Designer. Campaigner. “England’s Most Eccentric Dresser”, Vogue.
Peter Tatchell – generally
Sam Buttery in Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch the musical
Artist Ian Brennan’s paintings
Trans Secret Santa UK – a community project from non-profit campaign group Trans+ Solidarity Alliance
Glyn Fussell and his support for LGBTQIA+ people & his Mighty Hoopla festival with co-founder Jamie Tagg
Stephen Fry and his comments on JK Rowling
Not A Phase art auction at Moco Museum in London with artists coming together to support
UK Black Pride was one of the best days out I had this year – the love was beautiful
Maggi Hambling’s paintings, created immediately after the death of her girlfriend, shown at Wolterton Hall were deeply moving.
Follow Daniel Lismore on Instagram @daniellismore, Facebook, & TikTok @daniellismore. Visit his official website DanielLismore.com. His book, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken, is available now.
Alexis Gregory
Playwright. Performer. Producer. Director.
Duckie’s Rat Park
Legendary London queer collective Duckie’s event ‘Rat Park’, held in a community centre in South-West London, blew me away four weeks in a row, for four hours each week. It tackled themes of great relevance to the queer community, including sex, drugs, community, ageing, activism, relationships, mental health, intimacy. This sober happening was part TV magazine show, community forum, vaudevillian Social Club meets high-art entertainment, interactive community art project, mediation, discussion, confessional, and spell-casting intervention, with added torch song divas and a bonfire finale leaving us all on a high each week. You had to be there. And you should be. The extraordinary, uplifting, and truthful Rat Park is planned to return to London in 2026. Look out for it. Oh, and the ticket price includes a jacket potato (filling of your choice), endless cups of tea (served in good china, thank you) and delicious (Bermudian) fish cakes. All served via a hatch in the wall. What more could the not-very-average-queer-about-town possibly need.
Follow Alexis Gregory on Instagram @alexis.gregory. Visit his official website.
Sam Zelaya
Actor (Wendell & Wild).
Pop Off, Michelangelo! by Dylan MarcAurele
Pop Off, Michelangelo! is a comedy musical that combines Renaissance Italy with Drag Race campery and I was so pleased to see it come back to the London stage just in time for my birthday. Inspired by real-life speculation around their sexualities, it follows Renaissance rivals Michelangelo and da Vinci, reimagining them as childhood best friends and “ravenous power bottoms” who set out to revolutionise the art world in a time when the Catholic Church was cracking down on homosexuality. It’s one of the funniest shows I’ve seen all year, and it’s packed full of queer chaos and infectious music that will get stuck in your head for days.
Follow Sam Zelaya on Instagram @samzelaya97. Read our exclusive interview with Sam Zelaya.
Glenn Gaylord
Filmmaker. (I Do, Leave It on the Floor) Senior Film Critic – The Queer Review.
Twinless written and directed by James Sweeney
James Sweeney, who writes, directs, and stars in Twinless, his superb sophomore effort, has made the one film I’ve returned to over and over again this year. Dennis (Sweeney) meets Roman (Dylan O’Brien) at a twins bereavement support group. With Dennis being gay and Roman straight, they strike up a friendship initially based on their shared trauma. All, however, is not what it seems, as Sweeney expertly guides us through one twist after another. In flashbacks, we meet Rocky, Roman’s late gay twin, also played by O’Brien. While Roman is all rough edges and one big open wound, Rocky has confidence and swagger to spare. O’Brien pulls off a sensational feat with his performances, making us laugh one minute while breaking our hearts the next. Sweeney has crafted a beautifully shot film that not only explores queer identity, but also the rarely discussed topic of prevarication within the community. So many of us have lied about ourselves at some stage in our lives, often to fit into rigid social constructs. Twinless faces head on our relationship with the truth, which couldn’t feel more timely considering the “alternative facts” we now endure on a daily basis. It takes you to surprising places, making for one unforgettable cinematic achievement. Read Glenn Gaylord’s full review Twinless and watch our interview with James Sweeney and Dylan O’Brien.
Follow Glenn Gaylord on Instagram @Glebborama & Bluesky @glenngaylord.bsky.social. Visit his official website.
Matt Cain
Author. (The Madonna of Bolton, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle, Becoming Ted)
Objects Of Desire by Neil Blackmore
This is the best novel I read all year. Objects Of Desire is about a celebrated gay novelist called Hugo Hunter, who’s inducted to an elite community that includes Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Gore Vidal and George Orwell – all of whom author Neil Blackmore brings to life with dazzling effect. But it turns out Hunter didn’t write either of his novels – and obtained them through quite shocking means. When the 1980s and the horrors of the AIDS crisis arrive, he finds himself running out of money – and accepts an offer to write a new novel and a memoir. But he has no idea how he’s going to do either… Objects Of Desire has a gripping plot, lashings of humour and moments of great poignancy. It asks questions about our desire for fame and love and whether we can ever have both. And it manages to be dark but not bleak, gossipy but not vacuous, vicious but never cold.
Under The Boardwalk by Martin Sherman
I loved every page of the long-awaited memoir by New York-born playwright Martin Sherman. It’s written in an accessible, chatty style but is smart and serious, offering insights into some amazing historical events at which the author was present – from the Stonewall Riots to Woodstock to Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. It also relates Sherman’s moving struggle against the low self-esteem inflicted on generations of gay men plus the dark cloud of fear caused by a hereditary illness that had ravaged his mother. And I found his battle to make it as a gay playwright in what was then a hostile industry very inspiring and was stirred by his ultimate triumph with the seminal Bent. If you’re interested in queer culture and history, get this book on your radar!
Follow Matt Cain on Instagram @mattcainwriter & Bluesky @mattcainwriter.bsky.social Visit his official website. Matt’s latest novel, One Love, published by Hachette in the UK & Headline Review in the US is available now and The Castle of Stories will be published by Hachette in the US and the UK in May, 2026.
Dr Emily Garside
Writer. Researcher. Contributor – The Queer Review.
Every Step She Takes by Alison Cochrun
This book speaks to anyone who has discovered aspects of themselves later in life. As Queer folks, we’re often told (by our own community!) that we should have ‘always known’ or that everyone has it figured out as a teenager. This gorgeous novel, with Cochrun’s characteristically compelling story and characters, explores not having your identity figured out and getting there with help from a community you choose. Set on the Camino de Santiago (what was already a bucket-list trip for me, now more so), she takes the pilgrimage. She combines it with Queer self-discovery, of yes, the main character figuring out her identity, but also a whole host of Queer pilgrims, all figuring things out. I fell in love with Cochrun’s writing with The Charm Offensive, which made me feel seen, and played a part in my later coming out as Asexual. Coming back to her writing, to reflect on later coming out and self-discovery, a few years later in Every Step She Takes felt like an affirming reading pilgrimage of its own.
Follow Emily Garside on Instagram @emigarside & Bluesky @emilygarside.bsky.social. Visit her official website. Her latest book, Gay Aliens and Queer Folks: How Russell T Davies Changed TV is available now published by Calon.
Chad Armstrong
Writer – The Queer Review. Editor – Cultural Binge.
Kip Williams & The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway
My LGBTQ+ highlight of the year is a double-header: Australian director Kip Williams and his astonishing The Picture of Dorian Gray which premiered on Broadway. As an Australian, seeing this digital-camp-extravaganza take over the world has been a patriotic joy. Kip is an amazing director who joined the Sydney Theatre Company under Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton’s tenure before taking over as Artistic Director for eight years. It was there that he developed his “cine-theatre” style (there’s more to it than just screens on stage, if you get the chance to hear Kip expound on the theory behind it, you really should).
Dorian Gray would debut in 2020, just as Covid shut the world down, with local actress Eryn-Jean Norvill, before taking on London and New York with Sarah Snook (and just wait till you see the upcoming Cynthia Erivo-led Dracula production opening in London in 2026 that twists the formula, a version of which debuted in Sydney in 2024). His one-person adaptation of Dorian Gray took the core material and turned it into an ever-evolving spectacle critiquing our digitally-obsessive lives and online narcissism. It took Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece of gay-themed horror and queered every single aspect of it even more for the 21st Century. While Kip has become known for his use of screens and technology on stage, his past work shows that he has many more theatrical tricks in his toolkit that the world will hopefully get to experience soon. A theatre director with a scale of vision not seen since the rise of Barrie Kosky or Baz Luhrmann, Australia’s temporary loss is the world’s theatrical gain. Read our review of Dorian Gray on Broadway.
Follow Chad Armstrong on Instagram @culturalbinge & @ChadLDN, & on Bluesky @culturalbinge.bsky.social & @chadldn.bsky.social. Visit his theatre review site Cultural Binge.
Paul Burston
Author. (We Can Be Heroes) Founder of London’s LGBTQ+ literary salon Polari & the Polari Prize
Among the many books I’ve enjoyed this year are Strange Relations by Ralf Webb – a meticulously researched, beautifully written account of how four literary giants redefined masculinity in mid-century America. I was gripped by the opening chapters on Marlon Brando’s revolutionary performance as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. I also learned a lot about James Baldwin, John Cheever and Carson McCullers – and the way their lives and work often intersected. A great book I can’t recommend enough.
Lisa Jewell has been a big deal in the UK for over two decades. Now she’s finally getting recognition over the pond as a writer of first class psychological thrillers. Nobody does it better, and her latest is no exception. Don’t Let Him In is the chilling story of a man who seduces and abuses women. Complex, disturbing and deeply satisfying.
VG Lee is a personal friend and a terrific author who deserves a much wider readership. Her new novel Our Shadow Selves is a change of direction for the author of comic novels like Diary of a Provincial Lesbian and The Woman in Beige. Our Shadow Selves is a gripping psychological thriller which I read at various stages of development and which has stayed with me. It will be published by Muswell Press in March 2026.
On TV, Hacks has gone from strength to strength. I can’t wait for the next season.
My two favourite theatre productions this year both co-starred Ncuti Gatwa. Back in January, he brought an abundance of queer joy to the role of Algernon in the National Theatre’s luscious production of The Importance of Being Earnest. A shout out, too, to Sharon D Clarke as Lady Bracknell – a battle-axe of distinctly Caribbean heritage. It’s a measure of how well-crafted Wilde’s classic play is that it can withstand such a radical reinterpretation, with contemporary references and sexual innuendos raising unexpected laughs alongside the familiar lines and Wilde’s skillful skewering of Victorian hypocrisies.
Equally playful, and by far the sexiest play I’ve seen all year, Born With Teeth paired Gutwa with Edward Bluemel in a two-hander about the relationship between Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Written by Liz Duffy Adams and directed by Daniel Evans, the play explores the intense professional rivalry and simmering sexual tension between the two young playwrights. Much like Earnest, it also blends historical drama with a few sharp, contemporary shocks. The action takes place over two years and is confined to a single set, with a running time of 90 minutes and no interval.
Bluemel was charming and funny as Will. But it was Gatwa’s energetic performance as Kit that elevated this chamber piece into something truly remarkable. Dressed in a figure hugging leather two piece, he prowled the stage with a lascivious grin and a cocky swagger which had the audience laughing and swooning.
The West End production ran from September. My dear cousin MissElaineous treated me to tickets for my birthday. During the much-deserved standing ovation, we turned to each other and said, “I’m pregnant!”
Follow Paul Burston on Instagram @PaulBurston1 & on Substack. His memoir We Can Be Heroes is available now.
Kim David Smith
Cabaret artist. Actor.
Eric Lesh
In a year drenched in LGBTQ+ cultural fabulousness (despite the terrors) I would love to highlight the artwork and community building of artist Eric Lesh. Eric’s gallery in Provincetown (which celebrated its fourth summer this year) is a hub for inclusive, queer, horny, gorgeous, celebratory, and skillfully-rendered art and artmaking. Between Eric’s own works (in mediums as varied as pastel, acrylic, watercolor, charcoal, pencil, and even espresso and red wine), and the works of guest photographers he shows throughout the season, E. Lesh Gallery is a feast for gay eyes (and for the unassuming straights who wander through), and an important summertime queer destination. My husband and I loved posing for him this summer (for a double penis portrait in pastels, now hanging beside our bed), and I wholeheartedly recommend folks to stop by next summer to schedule a posing session with Eric and his cheerful assistant Pippa (a sweet and sleepy Griffin). Or, simply stop by to browse, buy, and enjoy Eric’s blithely joyous work!
Follow Kim David Smith @kimdavidsmith & Bluesky @kimdavidsmith.bsky.social. Kim David Smith’s latest album Mostly Marlene is available on digital & streaming platforms. He will perform at Tiergarten, Brooklyn on January 16th, 2026. Read our interviews with Kim about A Wery Weimar Christmas & Mostly Marlene.
Slava Mogutin
Multimedia artist. Author. Activist.
2025 was a very eventful year for me with art shows and curatorial projects in Mexico City, New York, Berlin, Provincetown and beyond. I’m particularly proud of my exhibition My Romantic Ideal at the Bureau of General Service—Queer Division at the LGBTQ Center in NYC, bringing together 28 queer artists across three generations and 18 countries. The show was on display for four months, attracting a record number of visitors.
Another highlight was my annual Gay Propaganda film program at a beautiful open-air cinema in Berlin, Freiluftkino Kreuzberg. It was the third installment, with 20 short films by emerging and established filmmakers, including Gus Van Sant, Bruce LaBruce, Matt Lambert, Gio Black Peter and Joseph Keckler. At a time when our constitutional rights and freedoms are under attack on both sides of the Atlantic, I see my curatorial work as a continuation of my activism.
I was saddened by the news of Edmund White’s passing. He was one of my favorite writers and mentors, and I was fortunate to interview and photograph him for Gayletter back in 2016. We even filmed an X-rated music video in Ed’s bathroom. I asked if he could sing and he said, “No, I cannot sing,” so I recorded him reciting and whispering the lines from Marlene Dietrich’s Falling in Love Again. His delivery and acting were simply breathtaking.
Follow Slava Mogutin on Instagram @slavamogutin. Visit his official website.
The Queer Review 2025 – LGBTQ+ highlights of the year compiled by James Kleinmann, Founder and Editor – The Queer Review
Jenni Olson
Queer film historian. Writer. Archivist. Filmmaker.
Frameline
At this year’s Frameline (the San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival) I saw so many fantastic films (shouting out: Lesbian Space Princess, Jimpa, and A Body to Live In in particular). But what I really want to shout out the most — is Frameline itself.
Year after year, the festival continues to be a life-changing event for the thousands and thousands of people who attend in person and online. For me personally, I can’t even list all the amazing blessings the festival has given me over the decades. But as we’re about to celebrate Frameline’s 50th anniversary in 2026 (June 17–27) let me just reflect that the foremost incredible thing that Frameline gives all of us — at its most elemental level — is the gift of being in a movie theater with a bunch of other amazing queer people watching amazing queer films. Seeing ourselves on the screen and in the audience, being together to simultaneously experience and create our culture — the festival has been giving me this since the first time I attended it in 1989! And as I always like to say, it’s not just about the films — it’s about the entire experience. The people, the parties, the popcorn line.
As a former staff person (I was festival co-director from 1992-94), current Frameline Distribution filmmaker, one-time Completion Fund recipient for my 2015 film The Royal Road, and longtime card-carrying Frameline member, I encourage everyone to support the organization as generously as you can. Join me in becoming a member, or just make a donation, or even just go see a screening (or become a volunteer, which is an amazing experience!) You can also watch Frameline Distribution films here — year-round — via their Vimeo and Kanopy pages (including most of my films — check them out if you’re up for 16mm urban landscape essay cinema about a butch dyke pining over unavailable women and arcane California history). And learn more here about the many other things Frameline does including LGBTQ film restoration, filmmaker support like the Completion Fund, and great year-round screenings and events.
Follow Jenni Olson on Instagram @JenniOlsonSF & Bluesky @jenniolsonsf.bsky.social. Visit her official official website.
Get in touch via social media using the hashtag #TheQueerReview2025 and #TheQueerReview on Bluesky @TheQueerReview.com, Instagram @TheQueerReview, and Facebook to share your own favourite LGBTQ+ culture and events of the year.
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