Oscar�s 25 Gayest Moments

After last years Brokeback bonanza, its easy to dismiss the 2007 Oscars as, well, not so gay. But well still be glued to our sets on Sunday, February 25 at 8 p.m. (5 p.m. PST!) to watch the gowns, listen for glaring speech omissions (thank you, Hilary Swank), and pray Joan Rivers asks Leo about his star-making turn in Letters from Iwo Jima (hey, it could happen). In honor of this years 79th annual event, we thought wed take a look back (chronologically) at Oscars gayest moments over the years. 1970Midnight Cowboy is the first and only X-rated film to win an Oscar in any category. And the film, which features a sexy Jon Voight selling himself (sometimes to men) to make ends meet, won Best Picture as well as Best Director for the late, gay John Schlesinger. 1972 Schlesinger continues to work gay themes into his filmsand get Academy recognition. His 1971 film, Sunday Bloody Sunday, featured a bisexual love triangle with Murray Head, Glenda Jackson, and Peter Finch, and it received four Oscar nominations. 1976 Al Pacino played a bisexual hood who robs a bank in order to finance his lovers (Chris Sarandon) sex change operation in Dog Day Afternoon. He, Sarandon, the film, and director Sidney Lumet receive nominations, and writer Frank Pierson (who would go on to direct the trans-inclusive film Soldiers Girl) takes home a trophy for his screenplay. Elton John (who came out as bisexual the year before in Rolling Stone) sang the song Amoreena over the title sequence. 1980 The Academy can be a dragand that was best exemplified when the French cross-dressing comedy La Cage Aux Folles was nominated for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. 1984 Barbra Streisands cross-dressing musical (is there any other kind?), Yentl, is nominated for a startling five Academy Awards and brings home the prize for best music. Cher struts down the red carpet baring her midriffand wearing that crazy headpiecefor the 1984 event. Naturally, gay designer Bob Mackie was to thank for the outfit. 1986 William Hurt takes home the Best Actor award for playing a gay prisoner in Kiss of the Spider Woman. The film is also nominated for director, picture, and adapted screenplay, and it would later be adapted into a stage musical starring Chita Rivera. 1989 Rob Lowe serenades Snow White with Proud Mary at the awards. Cmon, is there anything gayer than that?! 1991 Madonna sings Sooner or Later from Dick Tracy (which later wins best song) at the show and is visibly trembling from nerves. Its nice to know she wasnt always made of steel. 1992 The ceremony provides one of Oscars most heartbreaking moments when Alan Menken and the late, gay composer Howard Ashman win Best Original Song for the title track to Beauty and the Beast. Ashman, who also won with Menken for The Little Mermaids Under the Sea, had recently died of complications from AIDS, and his partner, Bill Lauch, accepted the trophy on his behalf. 1993 Jaye Davidson wins a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his trans turn in The Crying Game. At the 1993 ceremony Elizabeth Taylor beseeches the audience to embrace AIDS as a cause. At the time it was still considered a gay disease and not something people wanted to talk about. Tonight I am asking for your help, she said. I call upon you to draw from the depths of your being to prove that we are a human race. To prove that our love outweighs our need to hate. That our compassion is more compelling than our need to blame. That our sensitivity to those in need is stronger than our greed. 1994 Tom Hanks accidentally outs his high school drama teacher when accepting the Oscar for his performance in Philadelphia. The moment would later serve as the basis for the comedy In & Out.1995Trevor, a film about a 13-year-old boy discovering his sexuality (and attempting suicide) wins the Oscar for Best Live Action Short. Trevor begat The Trevor Project, which runs the nations only 24-hour suicide hotline for LGBT youth. When designer Lizzie Gardiner accepts the Oscar for costume design in 1995, she wears a dress made entirely out of American Express Gold cards. The only thing gayer is the movie she won for: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.1999 Out writer/director Bill Condon accepts the award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1999 for Gods & Monsters, based on the life of gay director James Whale. Sixty years ago Hollywood sort of turned its back on him because he insisted on living the way he wanted to, said Condon in his acceptance speech, so, Mr. Jimmy, this is for you. 2000 2000 may have been the gayest Oscars on record with gay writer/director Alan Ball picking up a trophy for penning the gay-inclusive American Beauty (which won a total of five awards); Hilary Swank beating out Annette Bening for playing trans lad Brandon Teena in Boys Dont Cry; bi babe Angelina Jolie winning for Girl, Interrupted; gay director Pedro Almodovar winning his first Oscar for the queer-filled All About My Mother; and queer composer John Corigliano taking home best score for The Red Violin.2002Lord of the Rings Oscar nominee Ian McKellen brings hottie New Zealander boyfriend Nick Cuthell to the awards. Also in 2002, gay fave Chicago cleans up, taking home six awards (including Best Picture). Sadly, the quartet of gay nomineesRob Marshall (director), Bill Condon (adapted screenplay), and John Kander and Fred Ebb (original song)walks away empty-handed. Perhaps 2007 will be Condons year with his Dreamgirls an Oscar fave. 2004 Charlize Theron takes home the Best Actress award for her role as lesbian serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. She would go on to pledge (in 2005) that she and longtime boyfriend Stuart Townsend would not get married until gays and lesbians can legally tie the knot as well. Australias Adam Elliot wins an Academy Award for his animated short Harvie Krumpet and includes my beautiful boyfriend, Dan in his list of thank yous. 2006 In his speech when accepting the Best Director award for Brokeback Mountain, Ang Lee thanks the characters of Ennis and Jack: They taught all of us who made Brokeback Mountain so much about not just all the gay men and women whose love is denied by society, but just as important, the greatness of love itself. Dolly Parton sings her nominated Travelin Thru at the 2006 show. Could anyone have imagined that this all-American lady would end up penning the main song for Transamerica? A beautiful, bold move. Totally ruined by some song called Its Hard Out There for a Pimp winning instead. 2007 Ellen DeGeneres is set to host the Oscars, making her the first (openly) gay host the awards ceremony has ever had. Agree? Disagree? Let us know what you think the gayest moments in Oscar history have been! Leave a comment below!