Our lives are defined by decades. So much of our history can be neatly segmented in ten-year increments. When phrases such as “the 60s,” “the 80s,” or “the 90s” are uttered, a myriad of images specific to each era come to mind. From fashion to pop culture, from political events to technology, decades are framed through narratives of change. Some changes may be seen as positive, while others are galvanizing. But rarely are we personally or culturally in the same place as we were ten years earlier.

The 2010s saw a significant shift in the portrayal of LGBTQ+ people in the media. During the 2000s, open and honest portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters on television were still largely relegated to cable. LGBTQ+ centric films — with the notable exception of Brokeback Mountain — remained heavily marginalized to small art house films.

In the 2010s, the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights mirrored the expanding representation of non-heteronormative characters on the big and small screens. This was also matched with a growing number of LGBTQ+ actors and media personalities coming out of the closet, slowly chipping away at the stigma the exists against openly LGBTQ+ folks in the entertainment industry.

This is not to say that Hollywood has become completely open to LGBTQ+ characters; far from it! Major blockbuster movies remain very straight, exclusively cis-gendered, and, with few exceptions, blindingly white. Most LGBTQ+-centric films remain independently produced and distributed in limited releases targeting large urban markets. 2018’s Love, Simon, marked the first time a major studio produced and distributed a gay-themed romantic comedy in the same manner as any other big-budget rom-com. While the film performed well at the box office, major studios are not tripping over themselves to follow suit. It’s clear, Hollywood remains stubbornly resistant to queering up its wide-release film.

Yet despite this, the 2010s was a benchmark decade for queer cinema. More LGBTQ+ themed films were released in this decade than ever before, and amassed wide critical acclaim culminating in Moonlight’s best picture Oscar in 2017. While the progress may be slow, the 2010s marked the decade when the silver screen began to ‘queer it up’ more frequently than ever before.

10. Beach Rats (2017)

Frankie, an aimless teenager, struggles to escape his bleak life. He balances his time with a new girlfriend, his toxic group of friends, and online chats with men whom he meets up with for sex and drugs. Frankie attempts to compartmentalize his life by having sex with older men, hoping to avoid anyone who might know his friends. This becomes increasingly difficult, however, as he moves about the area and happens to run into them or lures them to meetings for drugs.

The film is gritty and yet beautifully shot with an intense sexual energy pervading many scenes mirroring Frankie’s adolescent hormones. This story explores the damaging and homophobic reality of the toxic masculinity that shapes young men’s opinions of what it means to be male and sexual; often to their detriment.

9. Love, Simon (2018)

Seventeen-year-old Simon Spier wants a great love story, but things are complicated. He’s gay, completely closeted, and has fallen in love with “Blue,” an anonymous classmate whom he chats with online. Simon’s life is turned upside down when his true identity is exposed by a blackmailer to his friends and family. Feeling more isolated than ever, Simon must put his life back together and find his great love story.

Based on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel, and directed by Greg Berlanti, the film marked the first time a major Hollywood studio — 20th Century Fox — gave a gay-centric romantic comedy the same budget, promotion, and distribution as any other film in the genre would receive. It’s a beautifully written and acted gay coming-of-age film. It’s the kind of movie many of us wish we would have had as conflicted and closeted teenagers.

8. The Cakemaker (2017)

Thomas, a German baker, is having an affair with a married Israeli man named Oren, who frequently visits Berlin on business. When Oren fails to return Thomas’s calls one day, he discovers that Oren died in an accident in Israel. He travels to Jerusalem to see Oren’s widow, Anat, who owns a cafe. Without revealing his identity, he gets a job in the cafe’s kitchen and rents an apartment in the city. Thomas feels near to Oren when he is with Anat and to his surprise, starts an affair with her. When Thomas’ true identity is revealed it changes both of their lives forever.

The Cakemaker boasts a haunting script, beautiful cinematography, and a moving score. The central question of the film is not one of sexual attraction, but rather, of love. How far are we willing to go to keep a lover in our life, and can we find that love again in other people?

7. Pride (2014)

During the summer of 1984, Britain is in the grips of one of the largest and most contentious labour disruptions in the country’s history. The National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, bringing the country to a near halt. With the government, police, and media against them, the Miners find an unlikely ally in a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists who are raising money to support the strikers’ families. Deciding to gift the donations to a tiny mining village in Wales, the two groups come together in a way neither would have ever expected.

Based on true events, it is a funny and lovingly crafted feel-good film. It centers around the commonality of ‘otherness.’ It resurrects a largely forgotten chapter in the battle for LGTBQ+ rights in the UK, but does so in a highly emotional way without ever being preachy.

6. Holding the Man (2015)

Adapted from Timothy Conigrave’s funny and beautiful memoir of the same name, it follows the lives of Tim and his lover, John, as they meet while teenagers attending an all-boys high school in Melbourne, Australia. Following their fifteen year relationship, the couple’s love survives in the face of huge adversity.

Conigrave’s memoir was funny, touching, and unapologetically in your face, which is mirrored throughout the film. The movie highlights the brutal and heartbreaking reality of the AIDS crisis, but does so in a moving way, framed by the love between Tim and John.

5. Tangerine (2015)

Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex worker who has just finished a 28-day prison sentence, finds out her boyfriend Chester cheated on her while she was in prison. On Christmas Eve, she and her friend Alexandra set out on a mission to find Chester and teach him a lesson.

Shot entirely on an iPhone 5, the film is effectively an old-fashioned comedy, but one that subverts the heteronormative conventions of the genre by featuring trans-women in the lead roles. Widely acclaimed and with significant Oscar buzz, it came as a surprise to critics, and fans of the movie alike, when it failed to garner a single nomination during Oscar season.

4. God’s Own Country (2017)

Johnny Saxby works in near isolation on his family’s farm in the north of England. He deals with the lonely nature of his existence by binge-drinking sessions and having casual hookups. When a handsome Romanian migrant arrives to take up temporary work on the family farm, Johnny suddenly finds himself having to deal with emotions he has never felt before. An intense relationship forms between the two, which could change Johnny’s life forever.

God’s Own Country is a quiet, reflective, painful, and sexy film. It is gritty and bleak, yet warm and loving. The conflicted tone mirrors Johnny’s internal strife. Named the best British Independent film of 2017, it was largely overlooked internationally, due in part to its release at the same time as Call Me By Your Name.

3. Carol (2015)

Therese, a department-store clerk in 1950s Manhattan, meets Carol, an older woman trapped in a loveless marriage. As their bond deepens, they become romantically involved and Carol finds the strength to leave her husband. But their happiness is thrown in turmoil when Carol’s husband threatens to use her sexuality to challenge her fitness as a mother.

Carol is a rare adaptation in which the film is on par with the novel it originated from. Hailed by critics as the best movie of 2015, it came as a surprise when it failed to gain the best picture nomination.

Tied for First: Moonlight (2016) & Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Moonlight — Chiron, a young, African-American, gay man deals with his dysfunctional home life and comes of age in Miami during the “War on Drugs” era. The story of his struggle to find himself is told across three defining chapters of his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love while grappling with his sexuality.

Call Me By Your Name — During the summer of 1983, 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending his days with his family at their villa in Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student who’s working as an intern for Elio’s father. Amid the splendor of their surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire throughout a summer that will alter their lives forever.

Moonlight and Call Me By Your Name both mark a rare occasion when two LGBTQ+ themed films were nominated back-to-back. Moonlight won best picture, while Call Me By Your Name won best-adapted screenplay the following year.

Rather than trying to separate the films into first and second place, both films deserve the top spot for a variety of reasons. Both films speak to the diverse reality of gay life with Moonlight focusing on the African-American experience (something far too rare in queer cinema). Both films also represent a benchmark in the types of stories being told in LGBTQ+ films.

Released in the second half of the 2010s, they mark a noted shift in how queer cinema is treated by critics, audiences, and studios. Both were successful at the box office, acclaimed and garnered awards. They ended the decade on a positive note for LGBTQ+ cinema and a hopeful preview of films to come in the 2020s.