MILESTONE MOVIES GAY AND LESBIAN THEMES

1930: "Morocco" -- In her first American film, Marlene Dietrich (right) plays a cabaret singer who shocks her audience by kissing another woman on the lips.
1933: "Queen Christina" -- Greta Garbo, in the title role, kisses her lady-in-waiting and, later on, disguises herself as a man.
1936: "These Three" -- Director William Wyler's film version of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" was forced by the Production Code to eliminate most references to lesbianism.
1961: "The Children's Hour" -- Wyler's second version of Hellman's play, starring Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine, is more faithful to the original work.
1970: "The Boys in the Band" -- William Friedkin directs the film version of the pathbreaking off-Broadway play about a group of gay men in New York.
1972: "That Certain Summer" -- TV movie about a teenager (Scott Jacoby) who is confronted with his divorced father's (Hal Holbrook) relationship with another man (Martin Sheen).
1974: "A Very Natural Thing" -- Directed by Christopher Larkin, this movie might have been the first U.S. feature film directed and performed by gays to receive national distribution.
1975: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" -- Cult-favorite (below) musical comedy with lots of transvestism and transsexualism.
1980: "Cruising" -- Controversial film by William Friedkin starring Al Pacino as an undercover New York police detective investigating serial killings of gay men.
1982: "Making Love" -- Husband Michael Ontkean leaves wife Kate Jackson for Harry Hamlin.
1982: "Personal Best" -- Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly are two track stars training for the Olympics who become lovers.
1982: "Victor/Victoria" -- Julie Andrews, Robert Preston, James Garner and Alex Karras star in a musical comedy set in 1930s Paris, with Andrews playing a woman pretending to be a man who is a female impersonator.
1984: "The Times of Harvey Milk" -- Oscar-winning documentary by Rob Epstein about murdered San Francisco supervisor and gay activist Harvey Milk.
1985: "An Early Frost" -- TV movie was one of the first to sympathetically deal with AIDS.
1985: "Kiss of the Spider Woman" -- William Hurt wins an Oscar for his portrayal of a gay man sharing a Latin American jail cell with a political prisoner (Raul Julia).
1990: "Longtime Companion" -- One of the first feature films to look at the impact of AIDS on the gay community.
1992: "The Crying Game" -- The "secret" of the character played by Jaye Davidson in Neil Jordan's drama became one of the most discussed movie events of the year.
1993: "Philadelphia" -- Tom Hanks (left) wins an Oscar for his performance as a gay attorney fired by his law firm because he has AIDS.
1996: "The Birdcage" -- Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play a loving gay couple, and Gene Hackman dresses in drag in this remake of "La Cage aux Folles."
1997: "In and Out" -- Kevin Kline stars as an Indiana schoolteacher whose quiet life and impending marriage to fellow teacher Joan Cusack is shaken when a former student (Matt Dillon) "outs" him in an Oscar-acceptance speech.
1999: "Boys Don't Cry" -- Hilary Swank is a surprise Oscar winner for her portrayal of a young woman who chooses to dress and live as a man.
2003: "Angels in America" -- Mike Nichols' miniseries starring Al Pacino, adapted by Tony Kushner from his award-winning play about AIDS and politics in the 1980s, wins 11 Emmy Awards.
Source: Scripps Howard