Rico (Edward G. Robinson) and Otero (George E. Stone) are queer-coded gangsters in Mervyn LeRoy’s 1931 pre-code Hollywood film adaptation of W.R. Burnett’s 1929 novel “Little Caesar.”

Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker and Drew Barrymore star in the 1995 film BOYS ON THE SIDE, which features a screenplay by out gay writer Don Roos.

The 1989 drama LONGTIME COMPANION was one of the first widely-released theatrical films in the USA about the AIDS pandemic. It was brought to the screen by gay creatives Craig Lucas, who wrote the screenplay, and Norman René, who directed the film.

The comedy classic THE FIRST WIVES CLUB (1996) was adapted from Olivia Goldsmith’s 1992 novel of the same name by two gay screenwriters, Robert Harling (STEEL MAGNOLIAS) and an uncredited Paul Rudnick (IN & OUT / JEFFREY / SISTER ACT).

Warner Baxter’s character, Julian Marsh, in the 1933 pre-code musical 42nd STREET was originally written as gay - but only a brief glimpse of subtext remains in the film adaptation.

Historian Shane Brown’s 2020 documentary “A Queer Romance: Gay Characters and Male Bonding in Early Film (silent film and pre-code),” based on his book “Queer Sexualities in Early Film: Cinema and Male-Male Intimacy.”

The 1932 pre-code Hollywood film CALL HER SAVAGE was one of the earliest mainstream American films to feature a glimpse inside what is likely a gay bar.

Rex O'Malley plays the queer-coded gay best friend in queer director Mitchell Leisen’s 1939 screwball comedy MIDNIGHT.

Prince Belshazzar (Alfred Paget) and his guard (Elmo Lincoln) share in one of Hollywood’s earliest onscreen same-sex kisses in D.W. Griffith’s 1916 silent epic INTOLERANCE: LOVE’S STRUGGLE THROUGH THE AGES

Clifton Webb is the queer-coded wealthy “bachelor” Elliott Templeton in Edmund Goulding’s 1946 adaptation of queer author W. Somerset Maugham’s 1944 novel “The Razor’s Edge.”

Glenn Tryon swoons over Stan Laurel, and blows him a kiss, in the 1923 silent comedy THE SOILERS.

Candice Bergen, in her screen debut, plays a lesbian named Lakey in Sidney Lumet’s 1966 adaptation of Mary McCarthy’s 1963 bestselling novel “The Group.”

Ferdinand the Bull is a classic queer-coded character from Disney’s early days, featured in the 1938 animated short of the same name and based on Munro Leaf’s 1936 children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand.”