Gay Sex Scenes That Made Movie History

Britain has produced some of the most beautiful and important gay-themed films in history, and Beautiful Thing has to be near the top of the list. It tells the very simple story of two working class boys in a housing project in the U.K. who fall in love. One of them, Jamie (Glen Berry), has a supportive although unconventional mother, while the other, Ste (Scott Neal), has a violent, alcoholic father and an abusive older brother.

Glenn Berry (left) and Scott Neal in Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing is nothing more and nothing less than a love story between two teenagers. Their first sexual encounter is tender and romantic, and despite the many obvious obstacles, the ending is a happy one (although somewhat vague). Its depiction of working-class gay youth, the simple lines of the storytelling and the brilliant acting all add up to one of the most beautiful things in the history of gay cinema.

Hotness: 7
Romance: 10
Significance: 8

Velvet Goldmine (1998)
From gay director Todd Haynes comes a dazzling and quite unusual film about British glam rock of the '60s, with thinly veiled portrayals of Bowie, Jagger and other androgynous rock luminaries. It stars Jonathan Rhys-Myers as the Bowie-esque Brian Slade and Ewan McGregor as a version of Iggy Pop named Curt Wild, with whom Slade's wife (Angela Bowie-clone Mandy Slade, played by Toni Collette) finds him in bed — which, legend has it, is actually where Angela found David, only it was with Mick Jagger.

Homosexuality is used mostly to shock, although it's refreshing to see the coy "androgyny" of the glam era resolved into actual gay sex for a change.

Hotness: 7
Romance: 5
Significance: 7

Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Just another "going to summer camp" movie? Not really. Set in 1981, Wet Hot American Summer has become a cult favorite, especially among gay viewers for its unabashedly positive portrayal of a gay couple — sex and all. In fact, the gay couple is the only one in the film who even has a sex scene, and it's played more for heat than laughs.

Bradley Cooper (left) and Michael Ian Black

The camp's hottest preppy (played by Alias' Bradley Cooper) is in love with another counselor (comedian Michael Ian Black), and they even get married, to the supposed dismay of the straight colleagues who — in true summer camp form — have been trying to get one of the men laid with a girl counselor all summer (the straight guys, far from horrified, actually buy the newlywed gay couple a chaise lounge for a wedding present).

They're well-liked by everyone at camp, and their relationship is taken as seriously as the genre allows — and more so than the heterosexual relationships in the film. The film actually took some criticism for being too gay-positive, or perhaps straight-negative, which is definitely something new for a mainstream flick.

Hotness: 8
Romance: 5
Significance: 10