celebrating 20 great queer films with happy endings • Journal • A Magazine • , Life in canada

Is it possible for queer people to have a happy ending? Of course it is—but if you’re a connoisseur of queer cinema, you’d be forgiven for thinking it might not be.

For decades, audiences have seen one tragedy after another for LGBTQ+ characters. It’s not that sad endings are inherently worse—far from it—but a cinematic trope called “bury your gays,” or “dead lesbian syndrome,” highlights the nearly endless suffering that queer characters have endured in movies. Whether death, violence or (in the best-case scenario) a lifetime of loneliness, if your character isn’t heterosexual, it was practically guaranteed—until the 1980s—that they were doomed. Take 1931’s Mädchen in Uniform, thought to be the first film to feature a lesbian relationship. It took 54 years before the arrival of Donna Deitch’s Desert Hearts, the first lesbian romance with a happy ending. That’s five decades of tragedy.

It’s also no secret that negative sentiment towards LGBTQ+ people is on the rise globally. But for those fortunate enough, queerness doesn’t equal a life of anguish—being queer is a gift. With Pride Month underway, there’s no better time to turn our eyes and ears towards the brighter parts of being queer. Although these twenty films below aren’t blind to the struggles those in the queer community face, they also recognize the joy in self-discovery and self-determination and understand the rewards that come with accepting who you are and living proudly and fiercely as yourself. Pride is joy.