Four Unmissable LGBT Documentaries Out This Summer

Far From the Tree is based on gay author Andrew Solomon’s incredible, decade-in-the-making book that looks at how families deal with children who differ dramatically from their parents (including disabled, queer, or trans kids). The documentary encourages us to embrace people (and especially children) for who they really are, and not who they might have been. It argues that diversity is actually what makes us all human. In theaters July 20. 

The Gospel of Eureka is an often-comical documentary narrated by multiple-genre artist Mx Justin Vivian Bond and set in Eureka Springs, Ark. — a Southern town home to both a vibrant LGBT community and devout evangelical Christian residents — which puts on surprising gospel drag shows and passion plays. The film reveals how these communities negotiate differences over religious beliefs, gender expression, and sexual freedom. Currently playing the film fest circuit. 

Dark Money is a thrilling (and chilling) look at the very real and damaging impact that America’s democracy faces due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s relaxation of restraints on campaign financing. The Sundance award-winning documentary by transgender filmmaker Kimberly Reed is as earnest as her coming-out film, Prodigal Son. Now in theaters. 

Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood is about ex-Marine Scotty Bowers, whose memoir, Full Service, revealed how, from the 1940s to ’80s, he connected closeted actors and actresses with “dates,” so they could fulfill their sexual and romantic interests without (publicly) running afoul of the period’s sexual conservativism. Now married to a woman, Bowers is bisexual, and his access to bi and gay Hollywood — when nobody was out — is a fascinating source of pride still. In theaters July 27.