Historic Lesbian and Gay books, art and films for teens

Bit of a derail here but I had to share!
I was looking for a rare book online and one of the 'vintage' books on offer was a book on etiquette - by Lady Troubridge.
That rang a bell, so I checked and yes it is by that Una Lady Troubridge who was Radclyffe Hall's main squeeze.
Maybe a book on etiquette written by a lesbian isn't exactly what the OP had in mind

PS I didn't buy it, only because the postage from the UK was so high, otherwise it would have been fun to own it. I was going to say 'and have it on the shelf beside The Well of Loneliness', but I've never wanted to give shelf space to The Well, too depressing..
One little detail I remember is that Stephen called her beloved horse 'Raftery' after the 18/19th century Irish poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí, which impressed me greatly.
Depressing spoiler alert: she shoots it, wouldn't ya know...🙄

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - film

I always get that mixed up with Mystic Pizza!

Imagine Me and You - 00s lesbian romcom

Sugar Rush - 00s but huge for lesbian representation

Beautiful Things - 90s gay working-class romance (also Gimme Gimme Gimme - 90s sitcom by the same writer)

Beautiful People - underappreciated British gay sitcom set in the 90s

To bring two strands together, Learned by Heart by Emma Donaghue is an imaging of the early life of Anne Lister and her first love, Eliza Raine, while they were at boarding school in York as teenagers. It's not explicit but you really can feel the love they have for each other as well as the tight restrictive lives expected for them and how they both didn't fit into society. Lister's portrayal is an absolute treat.

I don't really The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters being explicit, it's a good read as well.

My Summer of Love (adapted from a book of the same name) was filmed in Todmorden which is also where Oranges are not the only fruits was filmed. It's set late 90s. Also has Emily Blunt in her first film as well as young Paddy Considine. Todmorden and nearby Hebden both have thriving lesbian communities (and are pretty close to Anne Lister's house at Shibden, must be something in the hills! 😏)

”Olivia” by Olivia (Dorothy Bussy)

Noel Streatfeild did write an autobiography, but it is clearly wildly sanitised. It's 3 volumes, starting with A Vicarage Family. The next two volumes are out of print and very expensive.

@pontefractals
The one I read, many years ago, was by Angela Bull. It's out of print now, but not wildly expensive on second hand websites.

Is there a biography you would recommend, please?

Hey my favourite lesbian literature - and wonderful for any teen! Rubyfruit jungle - Rita Mae brown

Not sure if anyone has said call the midwife there have been some interesting story lines involving LGB

And she lives with her 6 foot tall "maid" Lucy!

I see @StamppotAndGravy and @AlbertCamusflage have already suggested Mary Renault - the Alexander trilogy is wonderful but my favourites that portray same sex relationships rather beautifully, both gay and lesbian relationships are:

• The Mask of Apollo (Nikeratos/Thelattos and Axiothea/Lastheneia);
• the Last of the Wine (Alexias/Lysis) and finally
• the King Must Die, the main character Theseus's interests are oriented towards women, but other characters are mentioned to be gay with no particular focus or comment, just a natural part of their character or storyline (Iros/Hippon, the Corinthian, Thalestris the Amazon etc).

Set in the 1950s, My Policeman (cert 15, Amazon) is an interesting insight into being gay, in a small town, where people like coppers aren't meant to be gay.
Harry Styles plays the lead character, which may or may not be a draw, and he's not bad in it.

@VeryQuaintIrene my favourite books too! Quaint Irene is definitely more interested in women (Lucia anyway) than men.
There is a gay strand in the excellent film LA Confidential.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - film
any of the Ellen Galford books

this is a lovely thread, thank you for reminding me of some of the books and films that helped me explore...very cautiously!

[I feel so offended by the word 'queer'. I just hate it. So much good and useful material is being contaminated by its use. I can't think of a better word than contaminated right now.]

I agree, curator types love it though.

And my blood boils over ‘LGBTQA +’ especially as so many of the historic figures were highly sensitive and intelligent while that umbrella term is meaningless and stupid, especially when used as the LGBTQI+ community by newscasters and the like.

Maurice, both the novel by Forster and the beautiful film. Watched it with my Dad when I was a very naive 15 and I had a lot of questions which my Dad thankfully answered very well. I had no idea about how difficult life could be as a gay person before that.

Our Three Selves: The Life of Radclyffe Hall
www.amazon.co.uk/Our-Three-Selves-Life-Radclyffe/dp/0688043852

The Bloomsbury Group
(historic)
www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Squares-DVD-James-Norton/dp/B00X7HEK5Y

The Love Songs of Sappho

Also the incredibly gay and very funny actual novels of E.F.Benson. My username is a tribute to them!

I just listened to a play about the making of the film Victim and the influence it had on changing the law. It was very good. Available on BBC Sounds under Drama on 3

Adding a few more
Documentary
A Secret Love after 70 years in the closet a couple have to come out of the closet since they were leaving the home they share to go into a nursing home.
The Celluloid Closet - great documentary on how censorship of homosexual relationships was implemented and also the work arounds.

Memoir and Biography
Brian Masters Life of EF Benson of the Mapp and Lucia novels. Wow his family was so gay.
Claire Harman, Sylvia Townsend Warner: A Life. Kids think they invented situationships and throuples. Think again.
Ben Nicholson Portrait of a Marriage. Same thing how messy things get when feelings are involved. The affair of Vita Sackville West and Violet Trefusis much of it in their own words.
Penelope Fitzgerald, Charlotte Mew and her friends. Amazing poet tragic life.
Hermione Lee, Virginia Woolf. Definitive bio on her.
Andrew Wilson, Beautiful Shadow Patricia Highsmith. Worth learning early not to put your favourite authors on a pedestal.

The above picks because while all the subjects are LBG the biographers are also superb writers and explorers of their subjects while maintaining even handedness in their portrayals of their flaws. It can get the teens to discuss how to separate the individuals from their works. Sorely needed in the current climate.