Hey, remember But I'm a Cheerleader?
Made in 1999, the movie remains one of my favorite queer films to this day. Not only is it an apt parody of the "ex-gay" conversion therapy, it's funny - more in a dark humor sort of way, if you're into that.
Despite her gender conformity (she's a stereotypical feminine cheerleader), protagonist Megan is actually a lesbian and therefore is forced to go to straight camp. At this camp, we see the anxious gender policing behind so much anti-LGBT advocacy. For instance, the "patients" are to become heterosexual mostly by learning how to conform to gender stereotypes and force themselves to be attracted to people they aren't attracted to.
As you can imagine, all of that goes swimmingly.
The joke, of course, is that Megan is already "properly" "feminine" but is still somehow, inexplicably attracted to women. That doesn't change by the end of the movie. The other characters have a range of gender presentations, and mostly the film shows the absurdity of trying so hard to force people to be what they inherently are not or do not want to be.
Oh, and did I mention the film stars Clea DuVall (mmmm) and Natasha Lyonne? Most importantly. I mean, Clea DuVall playing a broody soft butch is like lesbian/bisexual catnip. More please.
Enjoy this fan-created music video of the film, below:
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