# Episode 438- 1st Film with Gay Characters

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/forgotten-hollywood-2166799/episode-438-1st-film-with-gay-characters.md
Podcast: [Forgotten Hollywood](https://stenobird.com/podcast/forgotten-hollywood-2166799)
Published: 2026-06-22T06:45:32+00:00
Episode link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/episode-438-1st-film-with-gay-characters--72626856
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Duration seconds: 630

## Resource

For Pride Month June 2026, James Lott JR guest stars. The film most often considered the first major film to feature an explicitly gay character/storyline is Different from the Others (Anders als die Andern), a 1919 German silent film. It starred Conrad Veidt as a gay violinist whose relationship with a male student leads to blackmail and tragedy. It was also made with sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld and is often called the first gay-rights film in history. For American/Hollywood film, it gets more complicated because gay characters were often coded for decades because of censorship. A major milestone is The Boys in the Band from 1970, one of the first mainstream American films to openly focus on gay male characters and gay life.

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## Transcript

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