THE ARTS

“Moonlight.” “The Handmaiden.” “Carol.” The last few years have not only brought LGBTQ films and stories further into the mainstream, but queer films have dominated awards seasons and found commercial success. This has been a long time coming: The New Queer Cinema was a major influence on the indie film boom of the ’90s, and set the bar high for the many queer films to follow.

After a gunman killed 49 people and wounded dozens of others at Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year, Rev. James Martin heard many of his fellow Catholic clergy members offer condolences. But what struck him most was what he didn’t hear. What was missing from many of their messages, Martin says, was any acknowledgment that most of the victims were LGBT people. “That to me was really revealing, and that showed me that even in death LGBT Catholics were invisible to the institutional church,” he tells The Advocate.

This has already been a banner year for LGBTQ-themed art exhibitions around the world, and still more are heading to top museums across the U.S. and Europe this fall. From gay comics in the Bronx to forgotten queer Chicano artists in Los Angeles to Hockney in Spain, here are our picks for the shows not to miss.