Nihil Obstat

Films With LGBTQ Catholics

Theresa and Isabelle (1968) – Based on based on the 1966 novel Thérèse et Isabelle by Violette Leduc about two high school girls who fall in love.

The Boys in the Band (1970) – The film is set in an Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan in 1968. Michael, a gay Catholic, is preparing to host a birthday party for one of his friends, Harold.  A straight Georgetown classmate who Michael loved and desired arrives unexpectedly.

Score (1974) – Betsy, a good Catholic girl, and her husband, Eddie, meet a swinging couple and express their hidden desires.

In This House of Brede (1975) – Philippa Talbot is a highly successful professional woman who leaves her life among the London elite to join a cloistered Benedictine community. One of the older nuns in the community falls in love with Sister Cecily, a postulant.

Sebastiane (1977) – Portrays the events of the life of Saint Sebastian, including his iconic martyrdom by arrows. The film, which was aimed at a gay audience, was controversial for the homoeroticism portrayed between the soldiers and for having dialogue entirely in Latin.

Entre Tiniblas/Dark Habits (1983) – A nightclub singer seeks refuge with gay nuns on dope in a Madrid convent.

Mass Appeal (1984) – Father Tim Farley, the popular priest of a conservative Roman Catholic parish, is challenged by upstart liberal seminary student Mark Dolson. Farley is popular because he gives the parish what it wants. Dolson defends two seminarians who were expelled after being suspected of engaging in a homosexual relationship. Questions as to why Dolson defended the gay seminarians arise. 

Extramuros/Beyond the Wall (1985) –  A nun agrees to a fake stigmata to avoid separation from her lover, another nun.

Lust in the Dust (1985) – A comedy about the old West staring Tab Hunter, Cesar Romero, Divine and Lainie Kazan. A gunman, outlaw, dance hall girl, search for treasure near the New Mexico town of Chili Verde.

Caravaggio (1986) – A fictionalized retelling of the Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio who was gay or possibly bisexual.  Plenty of gay cardinals.

Damned If You Don’t (1987) – A film by Su Friedrich about a young nun’s desire for another woman.

Priest (1994) – A gay Catholic priest finds out during confession that a young girl is being sexually abused by her father, and has to decide how to deal with that secret and his own.

Jeffrey (1995) – Jeffrey, a gay man living in New York City with an overwhelming fear of contracting AIDS, concludes that being celibate is the only option to protect himself. Then, he falls in love. Enter Father Dan, a horny and show-tune loving priest who tells Jeffrey that “there is only one real blasphemy – the refusal of joy… ”

Lillies (1996) – Based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s critically acclaimed play, Lilies concerns the confession of an aging prisoner to a bishop. Through the confession, and the staged scenes acted out by the male prisoners in the prison chapel, we learn that the bishop and the prisoner were part of a gay love triangle and that the bishop was responsible for the death of a young man many years ago.

In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick’s Journey of Faith – (2004) – In Good Conscience chronicles the true story of Sister Jeannine Gramick who defied a Vatican edict that she shut down her compassionate ministry to gay and lesbian Catholics and silence herself permanently on the subject of homosexuality. Sr. Jeannine began her ministry to religious and lay lesbian and gay Catholics in the late 1970s; educating, counseling, comforting and confronting. (Thank you, Jeannine!  We could not have come this far without you.)

The Journey (Sancharam) (2004) – A lesbian love story between two young women in India – one Hindu, the other Catholic.

That We Would be Heard (2005) – A Catholic lesbian woman examines scripture and her life.

Loving Annabelle – (2006) – Love story between a student and teacher at a Catholic girls school.

Corpus Christi: Playing with Redemption –  (2011) – A documentary about the staging and reception of the play, Corpus Christi, written by Terrence McNally and first staged in New York in 1998. It dramatizes the story of Jesus and the Apostles, depicting them as gay men living in modern-day Texas.

The Perfect Family (2012) – The film tells the story of a devoutly Catholic wife and mother Eileen who has been nominated for Catholic Woman of the Year. She then goes about trying to prove she has the “perfect” family, refusing to accept them for who they are, especially her lesbian daughter Shannon who marries her girlfriend Angela.

The Third Way – (2014) – A 40-minute documentary film which presents the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality with love.  For gay and lesbian Catholics who have chosen to be chaste.

Owning Our Faith (2015) – Young lesbian and gay Catholics talk about their lives and faith.

Tab Hunter: Confidential (2015) – The life and loves of a gay Catholic film star.

Desire of the Everlasting Hills – (2015) – A candid, intimate portrait of three Catholics struggling to reconcile their faith and sexuality. Desire of the Everlasting Hills is a 60-minute documentary from Courage International, the apostolate supporting people with same-sex attraction to live chaste lives.

Juana Ines (2016) – Life and loves of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz in 17th century Mexico City.

Novitiate (2017) – Set in the 1960s, a young woman in the novitiate struggles with issues of faith, the changing church and sexuality.

Yes, God, Yes (2017) – Highlights important issues relating to Catholicism, sexuality, and self-acceptance. A pivotal turning point in self-acceptance occurs during an encounter with an out and proud lesbian lapsed Catholic.

Derry Girls (2018) – A sitcom about five teenage girls attending Our Lady Immaculate College, a girls’ Catholic secondary school in Derry. One of the girls, Clare Devlin, comes out in Episode 6, First Season.

1985 (2018) – In 1985, Adrian Lester returns home to Dallas to visit his family for Christmas after several years of living in New York City. Adrian, a closeted gay man, has come to tell his family goodbye, but does not want to disclose to them that he is dying of AIDS.

Elisa and Marcela (2019) – In 1901 Spain, Elisa Sánchez Loriga adopts a male identity in order to marry Marcela Gracia Ibeas, the woman she loves. Based on a true story.

A Culture of Silence: Being LGBTQ in Catholic Schools – (2019) – A documentary about LGBT Catholic students in the Cincinnati, Ohio Archdiocese, and what happened when their teachers and administrators were told not to support them.

Wonderfully Made (2020) – Wonderfully Made – LGBTQ+R(eligion) is a combined fine art project and feature-length documentary that together explore the challenges and aspirtions of LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Your Name Engraved Herein (2020) – Two Catholic school students in Taiwan fall in love amid family pressures, homophobia and social stigma.

Benedetta (2021) – A 17th-century nun in Italy suffers from disturbing religious and erotic visions. She is assisted by a companion, and the relationship between the two women develops into a romantic love affair.

Love Beneath the Stars (2021) – A love story set in the Philippines about two students – Luke and Dominic – at a boys school.

Building A Bridge (2021) – Named after the book by Father James Martin, Building a Bridge follows a priest on his journey to make the Catholic Church more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community,