Queer Icons

LGBTQ guests champion queer artworks which are special to them, to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. From the poetry of Sappho to the songs of Frank Ocean.

Queer Icons – The List

From Sappho to the songs of Frank Ocean see what Front Row's LGBTQ guests have championed
Olly Alexander on Anne Carson's Autobiography of Red

"I felt there were clues as to how this guy felt about me"
Christine and the Queens on Jean Genet's novel

"Gender doesn't count anymore. What matters is desire in every form"
A.Dot on Frank Ocean's Channel Orange

"It addressed sexuality in ways that hadn't been done before"
Alan Carr on J.R Ackerley's memoir

"I'm not totally comfortable being gay, whereas he absolutely loves it"
Paris Lees on The Crying Game

Why she loves Neil Jordan's film but also finds it problematic
Nicholas Hytner on Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

How Lorenz Hart wrote the song in code, with a gay subtext
Rebecca Root on Mary Oliver's Wild Geese

How the poem helped in her struggle with gender identity
Tony Kushner on Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

Tony champions Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel and musical
Will Young on Joan Armatrading's Everyday Boy

How the song inspired Will to come out as a teenager
Maggi Hambling on Some Like it Hot and cross-dressing parents

"That kiss is a marvellous lesbionic moment"
Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney on Paris is Burning

Moonlight writer Tarell on this ground-breaking doc about drag balls in New York
Neil MacGregor on The Warren Cup

Why this Roman goblet is so important in LGBTQ history.
Asifa Lahore on Dana International's Eurovision song

The UK's first out Muslim drag queen reflects on faith and sexuality
CN Lester on Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues

How this coming-of-age story challenges sexual and gender definitions
Mary Portas on Donna Summer's I Feel Love

"When that piece of music goes on, love has no boundaries"
Thomas Adès on Lulu by Alban Berg

How Berg created opera's first explicitly gay character
Antony Sher on Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy

Antony on his love of the play and regrets about not coming out sooner
Ben Hunte on Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing

"It made me feel good about being me"
Emma Donoghue on I've Heard the Mermaids Singing

"It was like lemon juice splashed in my face, it just blew my mind"
Alan Hollinghurst on Ronald Firbank's novel

How this hugely enjoyable writer "homosexualised" the English novel
Stella Duffy on Patricia Highsmith's Carol

"It's special because it has lesbian characters who blossom on the pages"
Colm Tóibín on Edmund White's The Married Man

"White is catching gay life at a key moment when it's developing in very different ways"
Juno Dawson on Big Brother

“This might seem like quite a lowbrow choice, but Big Brother put us front and centre”
Stephen Fry on Julian and Sandy

Stephen chooses the comedy duo from Round the Horne

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