Welcome to QueerBio.com
DID YOU KNOW?
Prominent Theatre and Film Critics Who Identify as LGBTQ
Theatre and film critics play an influential role in the community when it comes to cultural development, progress, support, and acceptance. They publicly evaluate and share their opinions on productions with a view to providing insight as to their quality, enjoyability and contribution to a subject matter. As such, they are often highly trained and educated in all aspects of theatre or film production, thereby giving them the qualifications to assess their merit and suitability for audiences. Critics see their profession and subject matter as art forms.
As such, theatre and film critics have contributed enormously to the growth of films and plays that have an LGBTQ theme or component to them. Both the LGBTQ film and theatre industry have flourished in most societies, and this community of critics have played a role in that.
Criticism can take two forms: academic studies that attempt to place the production in the context of the development of themes, theory and the industry itself; and popular reviews and opinions designed to sway public interest in the production. In most cases, the critic is located in only one of these forms. Although the profession of cultural critic has been around for a very long time, its growth really took off in the 1920s with the rise of print media and recently with digital media. Blogging and YouTube have popularized the ability to communicate opinions on cultural productions. Online review forums such as Rotten Tomatoes have taken on an influential role in assessing film and theatre, with both good and bad outcomes.
One criticism of the LGBTQ film and theatre critic profession is the lack of diversity in its ranks. Indeed, all of the LGBTQ individuals we have been able to identify are gay men. There is no representation from the lesbian, transgender, intersex, and other communities. This can impact the success of productions by these other sexual minority communities since there is no critical support from peers. The situation appears to couple with the increasing focus on the lack of diversity in the film and theatre communities themselves.</p? <p>Of course, theatre and film producers themselves are often at war with the community of critics, especially in the case of bad reviews. Lack of gender balance can add to this air of antagonism. Logic asserts that there needs to be an aggregated number of diverse reviewers offering different perspectives to add value to cultural profession.
We have identified a number of LGBTQ individuals who are prominent film and theatre critics. They hail from Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States. To read more and see the complete list, click HERE
Directory of past 'Did You Know?' Articles See Here
The goal of QueerBio.com is to be the definitive online biographical reference source for the international LGBTQ community. Its database lists over 16,000 contemporary and historical figures who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, two-spirit, or gender fluid (LGBTQ) and includes artists, sports figures, politicians, entertainers, business leaders, academics, activists, and more. The database is widely international in scope and is an ideal source for research and analysis with full search and sort functionality.
The mission is to inspire, educate, and motivate all generations of LGBTQ individuals and others through a collective knowledge of this international community.
Managing Editors: Mark S. Bonham, Connie Bonello, Gordon Dunbar
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To search for an individual from the database of over 15,000 biographies, simply type the name in the Search Box located in the top right hand corner of this Home Page and click on GO. Similarly, you can search for a common characteristic such as Country, City, Nobel Prize winners, writers, and so on.
Alternatively, you can view and scroll through the entire list of biographies by viewing the All Biographies section.
Library of Congress Historic Collection - LGBTQ+ Studies Web Archive
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Announcing Our New Documentary Project - Being Different: 101 Global LGBTQ Individuals Who Changed the World
Despite adversity and discrimination, LGBTQ individuals have excelled throughout history. Yet historians and academics have conveniently participated in the heterosexist erasure of these LGBTQ contributions by omitting the LGBTQ status of prominent historical figures from academic and historical documents. Accordingly, there are relatively few comprehensive projects which document and showcase the influence of these LGBTQ efforts.
Being Different: 101 Global LGBTQ Individuals Who Changed The World will be an original documentary outlining the contributions that members of the LGBTQ community have made, individually and collectively, to changing the world.
We are now Crowdfunding to get this project off the ground. We would love to have you as part of our team. You can help us and SUPPORT THIS PROJECT!
SEE THE TRAILER, READ MORE AND CROWDFUND HERE
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Bonham Centre Awards Gala
Annual Awards established in 2007 to recognize individuals or groups that have made a significant contribution to the advancement and education of human rights issues surrounding sexual education. Click here to find out more about the Bonham Centre Awards, past recipients, and present nominees.
Books Available From QueerBio.Com
A Path to Diversity: LGBTQ Participation in the Working World (Mark S. Bonham, 2017) investigates the current state of employment markets around the world for the LGBTQ community. Included is a discussion of equality in the workplace and why it is important to both the employer and employee, the wage gap, which professions are attractive to LGBTQ individuals and why, and the role of unions and government legislation. A survey of seventy five professions provides a status report for each, and seventy two biographies of influential LGBTQ professionals from around the world is included. 242 pages
READ MORE AND PURCHASE THE PRINT COPY HERE
READ MORE AND PURCHASE THE U.S. KINDLE COPY HERE OR THE CANADIAN KINDLE COPY HERE
Notables: 101 Global LBGTQ People Who Changed the World (Mark S. Bonham, 2015) reveals a group of select global Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals whose accomplishments in their profession changed the world in some relevant way. Included are founders of various social movements, innovators in sports, leaders in business and politics, explorers and discoverers, instigators in religious movements, thinkers in philosophy, infamous villains, creators of new academic fields of study, and risk takers in the arts, culture, and entertainment worlds. 212 pages.
READ MORE AND PURCHASE THE PRINT COPY HERE
READ MORE AND PURCHASE THE U.S KINDLE COPY HERE OR THE CANADIAN KINDLE COPY HERE
Champions: Biographies of Global LGBTQ Pioneers (Mark S. Bonham, 2014) reveals a group of select artists, writers, politicians, lawyers, sports figures, activists, and religious figures from around the world who have helped shape the history of the LGBTQ community. Presented in a convenient notebook format. 114 pages.
READ MORE AND PURCHASE THE PRINT COPY HERE
Order for yourself, and the books also make an ideal gift for friends and family while supporting the development of QueerBio.Com
