Oh Man: The 5 Most Controversial Gay Films of All Time

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I Love You, Phillip Morris is out, as in openly gay and finally in theaters. The controversial comedy, which stars Jim Carrey as real-life homosexual con man and prison escapee Steven Jay Russell and Ewan McGregor as a fellow inmate and the love of his life, struggled to get big-time distribution despite its two bankable stars and oft-noted hilarity. After small distributor Consolidated Pictures Group scooped the film up, delayed release indefinitely, then promised a limited release, Roadside Attractions finally bought and delivered it to the nation. Carrey's loud, sweaty anal sex scene reportedly scared risk-averse distributors. Would his fans balk? Would the religious right try to have the film banned? Would gay activists protest yet another gay criminal character? Probably yes to all! Though its difficulties seem the result of small, closed minds, there are many historical examples of films about gay men causing controversy (films with lesbian themes, like Basic Instinct and Boys Don't Cry, have too). Check out the five most controversial gay films of all time to see what distributors may have been afraid of.

CRUISING (1980)

In recent years, William Friedkin’s thriller based loosely on Gerald Walker’s 1970 novel has become a cult classic appreciated for capturing a balls-out moment in post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS era gay culture, but its production sparked protests and attempts to sabotage filming in the summer of 1979. Al Pacino stars as a cop who goes undercover in NYC’s S&M leather bars to catch a serial killer preying on gay men and begins to question his own sexuality (and dance awfully). The murky ending suggests that he may have transformed into a homicidal homosexual. Gay activists worried that it equated gay to violent and would inspire homophobia and hate crimes. Their fears proved well founded: In November 1980, a minister’s son shot and killed two gay men outside of The Ramrod, one of the film’s locations.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

While few would argue that Jonathan Demme’s horrific thriller is a bad film, its portrayal of two rather nefarious gay serial killers upset many in the gay community, particularly because Hollywood was not positively portraying homosexuals elsewhere. Imprisoned Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) is somewhat ambiguous, but self-identifying transsexual Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb (Ted Levine), who skins big-boned ladies to make himself a “woman suit,” is not. When The Silence of the Lambs won the 1991 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay, organizations like Queer Nation were outside the Los Angeles Music Center leading a protest. Sadly the demonstration did not save us from the far shittier sequels Hannibal and Hannibal Rising.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)

Ang Lee’s drama about two closeted cowboys offended many on the religious right. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops slapped the “O -- morally offensive” tag on the film, while conservative groups and TV personalities claimed that it was liberal propaganda, part of a “gay agenda” to undermine Middle American morality. In the most notable instance of theaters refusing to show Brokeback Mountain, Larry H. Miller, the Mormon owner of the Utah Jazz, pulled it from his megaplex at the last minute when he learned of the gay romance (and yet he still showed Eli Roth’s torture porn, Hostel). More controversial than all that, though, is Brokeback’s loss of the 2005 Best Picture Oscar to Crash, a film we should all be able to agree tosses salad.

MYSTERIOUS SKIN (2004)

Gregg Araki’s adaptation of Scott Heim’s 1996 novel brilliantly shows the lasting impact childhood sexual abuse at the hands of their mustachioed baseball coach has on two young men, one gay (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the other straight (Brady Corbet). However, the Australian Family Association argued that it shows pedophiles how to successfully molest children, as it depicts the older man's coaxing. Though the AFA attempted to have Mysterious Skin banned, the Classification Review Board denied them (filthy pedophiles that they are).

L.I.E. (2001)

The Motion Picture Association of America’s bullshit ratings system is completely subjective and inconsistent, but we’re not surprised that it spanked the dreaded NC-17 on Michael Cuesta’s directorial debut. In the film, Brian Cox plays Big John, a sympathetic gay pedophile who befriends and fathers a lonely 15-year-old boy (Paul Dano) following his mom’s death and his shady dad’s imprisonment. The fact that John appears to only have sex with receptive children probably didn’t help the film's cause. It’s much easier to sleep at night when you know for sure that pedophiles are monsters (assuming those monsters are not lurking under your bed).