Ahead of the Curve. With a fist full of credit cards, a lucky run at the horse track, and chutzpah for days, Franco Stevens launched Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine ever published. The film tracks the power of lesbian visibility and community from the early ‘90s to the present day through the story of Franco’s founding of Curve magazine. Decades later, in the wake of a disabling injury, Franco learns that Curve will fold within the year and questions the relevance of the magazine in the face of accelerating threats to LGBTQ+ community. To forge a path forward, Franco reaches out to women working in today’s queer spaces to understand what queer women need and how Curve can continue to serve the community.
Release Date: 2020
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
In the 1950s and '60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves. Told through the memories of those who visited, the film looks back at a secret world where the persecuted and frightened found freedom and acceptance.
Release Date: 2022
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
"Coming Out" from the series We'll Meet Again. Join Ann Curry as those whose lives were changed by the early days of the gay rights movement reunite. Tom wants to find the friend who urged him to come out, while Paul seeks a fellow student who inspired him to stand up for his beliefs.
Release Date: 2018
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
The Freedom to Marry is the untold story of the most successful – and perhaps most inspiring – civil rights movement of our time. This is a riveting ride alongside Evan Wolfson, the man known as architect of the movement, and his team as they wage a decades-long battle all the way to the United States Supreme Court, providing fresh perspective on the movement’s history along the way. This is both a primer for social change and a behind-the-scenes look at how regular people can actually make a difference.
Release Date: 2016
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
Fighting for LGBTQ Rights. The 10th Amendment to the Constitution allows each state to set its own laws. That's meant that in Colorado, LGBTQIA+ rights have often been repressed. Meet the students at William J. Palmer High School who took their school district to court - and won!
Release Date: 2020
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
Fractal: Stories Across the Gender Spectrum is a collection of four Transgender and Gender Queer Documentary Shorts that explores the wide spectrum of experiences often left out of the traditional narrative. From a successful trans woman running her own salon in New Orleans to a collective experimental video essay road film; the collection expands on the joys, struggles and honest conversations within the community, to include:
- "A Fine Girl," Directed by Darcy McKinnon (she/her) and Biliana Grozdanova (she/her)
- "My Body is a Place, Just Like Any Other," Directed by: Petra Totten (she/they)
- "Ni Aqui Ni Alla," Directed by: Ley Comas (they/them)
- "Princess Stephaney," Directed by: Vaughn Shoonmaker (he/him)
Release Date: 2022
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
The Lodge. This is a story about the first-of-its kind LGBTQ retirement community. Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa, California, is the nation’s first state-licensed continuing care retirement community (CCRC) that’s specifically for LGBTQ+ seniors and their straight allies. Today approximately 100 residents from all over the United States live at The Lodge. The average age is 75; the oldest person is 97. It offers a continuum of care from independent living to failing health. Filmmakers Pam Walton, 75, and Ruth Carranza, 70, are best qualified to make this film because we have unique access to it – we’ve been living at The Lodge since December 2017. We’ve come to know and have gained the trust of the people who live here. The Lodge looks inside this unique experiment in gay/straight living to show us the daily lives, hopes, and fears of people in their 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. What you discover will surprise you.
Release Date: 2021
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
Queer women are not statistically “safe,” but there are medical spaces that have been crafted so that they can be treated with the same dignity as any other patient. Patient No More is a feature documentary about the barriers LGBTQ+ women navigate across health care systems and how the never-ending hunt for affirming care affects their lives. Focused on centering the experiences of queer and female-identified people, the film features the voices of 17 LGBTQ+ women as both expert and patient.
Release Date: 2019
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
Pronouns, LGBTQIA+, and Gender Identity - Part 1: Pronouns.
Apart from using people's names, pronouns are the way we express our gender and refer to other people's gender, but traditional gender pronouns (she/her, he/him) do not fit everyone's gender identity. These pronouns do not leave room for other diverse gender identities. This can be difficult for individuals who do not identify as he or she. People who identify outside of a gender binary often use pronouns that are not gender specific. It is important to be aware of and to use the names and pronouns that people choose for themselves to express their gender. In this course, psychologist Peter Quarry talks with Lore Burns about using gender neutral pronouns and why it matters to use them correctly. You will learn strategies for using non-gendered or gender-neutral pronouns in social and work situations, and why it is important.
Release Date: 2023
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
Pronouns, LGBTQIA+, and Gender Identity - Part 2: Gender Identity.
An individual’s gender identity is how they understand their own gender, and usually how they wish to be referred to by others. Gender identity is not necessarily connected to a person’s body. People choose to define their own gender identity, and it is important for others to accept their choices and to refer to them with language that aligns with their gender identity. The way individuals define and express their gender is on a spectrum and it may change at different times. In this course, psychologist Peter Quarry and Lore Burns take a personal approach to gender identity. You will learn from the case study video that there are many gender identities and it is important to understand, accept, respect, and be kind.
Release Date: 2023
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
The 2018 SXSW Audience Award-winning feature film debut by Gabriel Silverman, Fiona Dawson, & Jamie Coughlin, TransMilitary follows the Emmy-nominated short film Transgender, at War and in Love. Around 15,500 transgender people serve in the U.S. military (notably the largest transgender employer in the U.S.), where they must conceal their gender identity because military policies ban their service. TransMilitary chronicles the lives of four individuals (Senior Airman Logan Ireland, Corporal Laila Villanueva, Captain Jennifer Peace & First Lieutenant El Cook) defending their country’s freedom while fighting for their own. They put their careers and their families’ livelihoods on the line by coming out as transgender to top brass officials in the Pentagon in hopes of attaining the equal right to serve. The ban was lifted in 2016, but with President Trump now trying to reinstate it, their futures hang in the balance once again.
Release Date: 2018
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.
“Who’s on Top?” (narrated by George Takei) is the emotional story of members of the LGBTQ community who challenge stereotypes about gender and sexuality and demonstrate their diverse journeys in overcoming physical and figurative mountains.
Release Date: 2021
Please click the image to the left or the link above to launch the film. Students must log in through the Motlow HUB to access the content.