It is that time of the year where everyone is encouraged to embrace who they are by celebrating pride month. If you find yourself relaxing at home with nothing to do, look up one of these LGBTQ friendly movies. It does not matter if you are straight because a great story is a great story and besides, if you didn’t know much about the LGBTQ community, these movies have an educational side. They are not listed in any particular order since they are all great in my opinion. Enjoy.

1. Jai' Tue Ma Mere or I Killed My Mother(2009)

First things first: do not take the title literally, it is only a metaphor. This is a French movie based on the shaky relationship between the director, Xavier Dolan, and his mother. Dolan in fact plays the son, Hubert Minel, a 17 teen who recently came out to his mother who is played by Anne Dorval. Their strained relationship causes them to have communication issues which often leads to arguments. As Hubert struggles to connect with his mother, he also has to deal with growing up and holding on to the relationship he has with his boyfriend, Antonin (Francois Arnaud). The creative transitions and the memorable imagery gives the story more depth and lets the audience feel like they are inside Hubert’s mind. This movie does come with subtitles, so don’t distress if you cannot speak French.

2. Breakfast on Pluto(2005)

This movie wouldn’t be possible without Patrick McCabe’s novel. Taking place in Ireland, this movie illustrates the adventures of a transgendered woman who calls herself Kitten. Throughout her life she ends up working as a dancer, a prostitute and even as magicians’ assistant. Out of all of the things she wants, she makes finding her mother her top priority. She is played by Cillian Murphy from Netflix’s “Peaky Blinders” and the upcoming movie “Dunkirk.” This movie has its funny moments as well its historical parts due to Kitten’s life revolving around Ireland’s culture in the 1970’s.

3. I Love You Phillip Morris(2009)

Jim Carrey plays Steven Russell, a family man turned con artist who leaves his wife to be openly gay after being in car accident that makes him realize that he wants to live his life to the fullest. Eventually, his crimes land him in prison where he meets the love of his life Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). But, even after they are released, Steven continues his schemes to live in luxury with Phillip. The audience will fall in and out of love with Steven since he has good intentions, but his actions are unfair to Phillip who ends up suffering more than Steven intended.

4. Man On High Heels(2014)

A South Korean action movie about Yoon Ji-Wook (Cha Seung Won), who on the outside is a cold blooded detective. But on the inside, he wants nothing more than to be a woman and embrace his feminine side. He struggles to break away from his masculine stature that pleases the world in order to transition into the body he was meant to be in. This is a perfect movie for an American audience to see another culture’s challenges with being transgender. It is currently available on Netflix and does come with subtitles.

5. Kill Your Darlings(2013)

Set in 1944 during the Beat generation, this true story focuses on a college freshmen at Columbia University named Allen Ginsberg (Daniel Radcliffe). It isn’t long before he develops a crush on the rebellious Lucien Carr (Dane Dehann). Allen’s writing brings them closer together, but when they get involved in murder, it becomes the thing that tears them apart. This story also involves themes of drugs and sexual assault. The story gets intense, but there are a lot of light hearted moments that balances it out the intensity.

6. Frida(2002)

Salma Hayek stars as the talented painter Frida Kahlo in this biographical drama. Besides bringing to life her most famous paintings and journal entries, this movie highlights the ups and downs of her marriage to Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina) as well as her open attraction toward women. She also broke gender expectations by wearing suits and keeping her famous uni-brow.Her bold spirit and unapologetic personality will teach the audience that it may be difficult to stand out from among the crowd, but it is fulfilling and makes you unique.

7. To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar(1995)

After winning a pageant, Drag queens Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze), Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) run into Chi Chi Rodriquez (John Leguizamo) one of the losers of the competition. Feeling bad for her, they end up including Chi Chi on their road trip to Los Angeles which proves to be more difficult than they expect. Comedy and drag queens: no one can name a better duo. You will also see Robin Williams and Rupaul, both talented individuals who know how to steal a scene.

8. The Rocky Horror Picture Show(1975)

This classical musical does not only have amazing songs, but it also comes with an interesting story line. A couple named Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon), become stranded after their car gets a flat tire. Their only option is to enter the mansion where they meet unique characters, including a transvestite scientist, Dr. Frank N Furter (Tim Curry), who loves to create men in his lab. As the night gets longer, Brad and Janet start to discover the true origins of Dr. Frank and his servants, Riff Raff (Richard O’ Brien) and Magenta (Patricia Quinn). Directors can make a thousand remakes of this movie, but none will beat the original.