Happy Valentine’s Day: Queer love stories you’ll want to devour on this holiday
Valentine’s Day is here! The straight people have ruled this holiday forever and we, here at Q+ Magazine, have decided it’s time for the queers to step up and carve themselves a rightful place in this holiday space. So, we’re making Valentine’s Day as gay as possible, and we’ve dubbed this year’s celebration Valensgay’s Day! Queer love stories for all!
Here’s what we’re proposing: find your honey, grab some of your favorite take-out, snuggle under a blanket, and cozy up and watch some of the greatest queer love stories the world has proudly given us.
International queer cinema has come a long way over the years. From Asia to Europe, and all the way back to the Americas, we’ve got some of the greatest gay romances ever made. Culturally diverse, rich storytelling like this reveals one thing at the end of the day: it doesn’t matter where we come from, what we look like, or what language we speak, love is universal, everywhere.
So happy Valensgay’s Day from ours to yours. We hope you have a good one!
Love, Simon (United States)
This 2018 comedy-drama is the story of Simon (Nick Robinson), a deeply closeted high school student who is struggling to find his place in the world. Simon’s friend tells Simon that she has learned there is another closeted guy at their high school and the two begin communicating via email through fake names to protect their identities.
Despite the fake names, the two share many personal experiences with one another and form a bond. However, their emails are discovered by another boy at the school who threatens to expose Simon’s identity unless he helps the boy win over the girl he likes.
It’s high school, so there’s a lot of drama and there’s a lot of mess that the characters have to wade through before viewers are treated to a happy ending between Simon and his secret crush.
Based on the book Simon v. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, we highly recommend this lovely coming-of-age queer love story.
Your Name Engraved Herein (Taiwan)
The Taiwanese media does not experience the same anti-LGBTQ restrictions that mainland China does. Taiwan is known for making incredible LGBTQ stories for both the big and small screens. Your Name Engraved Herein is the highest-grossing LGBTQ film in Taiwanese history, and the most popular film overall in 2020.
It’s the story of two male students, Chang Jia Han (Edward Chen) and Wang Bo Te (Jing Hua Tseng) in the 1980s as martial law in Taiwan comes to a close. Despite family pressure, social homophobia, and the tumultuous social changes happening in Taiwan at the time, the two young boys fall hopelessly in love with each other.
The boys definitely hesitate to act on their obvious feelings for each other. Then their same-sex school is flipped to a co-educational setting and there are girls thrown into the mix. Their bond is threatened by the option of heterosexual romance, but it’s no use. They care about each other way too much.
These boys suffer greatly and spend much time apart before they are reunited. This film will shatter your heart into a million tiny pieces but it’s an absolutely must-watch queer love story.
Call Me By Your Name (United States)
If you haven’t seen this classic queer love story you need to stop everything you’re doing right now and watch it. It’s the story of 17-year-old Elio (Timothee Chalamet), who is spending time with his family at a 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He has a chance encounter with Oliver (Armie Hammer), who is a doctoral student hoping to intern for Elio’s dad.
Despite the age difference, the desire between them is electric from the start. The pair have so much in common but spend an awful amount of time not acting on their feelings, despite the obvious connection the two share.
As Oliver’s time in Italy comes to a close, the couple finally physically act on their feelings. Elio is overcome by sadness, wishing they hadn’t wasted so much time trying to avoid the inevitable.
Depending on who you talk to, this one doesn’t have a happy ending. The boys don’t end up together, but Elio definitely learns a lot about himself through the journey. Bring tissues, friends. You’ll definitely need them.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France)
It’s 1770 in France and Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to do the wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel), a young woman who has, interestingly enough, just left the convent. Although she is now to be wed, Héloïse isn’t necessarily happy about it. Marianne has been charged with the task of painting the bride-to-be without her knowledge. Therefore, Marianne observes her in secret day after day, and well, we all know where that kind of thing leads.
Unwilling to betray Héloïse’s trust, Marianne eventually reveals the true reason why she is there. Shockingly, Héloïse agrees to sit for her properly so the painting can be completed. One thing leads to another, and Marianne and Héloïse open themselves up to each other both physically and emotionally.
But it’s 1770 and these things just cannot last. Or can they…?
God’s Own Country (England)
Johnny (Josh O’Connor) lives on a farm with his grandmother and sick father. Because of his father’s illness, and his grandmother’s age, the day-to-day workings of the farm largely falls on Johnny’s shoulders.
Unhappy with the situation he finds himself in, Johnny copes with alcohol-fueled casual sex encounters. While he is out doing this very thing one night, one of the calves dies during birth. If Johnny had been present, instead of out sleeping around, the calf’s life could have been saved.
Johnny’s father hires Ghorghe (Alec Secareanu) to help with the lambing season. Johnny and Ghorghe end up spending several days out camping in the paddocks to care for the animals. After a bit of roughhousing, the two men end up taking things further and end up rolling around in the dirt while having sex.
Johnny, imperfect in many ways, ends up cheating on Gheorghe though and when he finds out, Ghoerghe immediately leaves the farm.
All is not lost though. Lessons are learned, reconciliations are made, and this queer love story does have a happy ending folks!
We wish all the queers a romance-filled, happy Valensgay’s Day this year! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!
