Oscars So Straight: Queer Films, Roles & Actors the Academy Snubbed

Snubs and surprises for the Oscar nominations this year are focusing on such high profile personalities. Take the Best Director, which saw such Regina King ("One Night in Miami,") ("The Trial of the Chicago Seven,") and Spike Lee, ("Da 5 Bloods"). Or actor with Tom Hanks ("News of the World"), Delroy Lindo ("Da 5 Bloods"), and Tahar Rahim ("The Mauritanian"); and actress: Sophia Loren ("The Life Ahead"), Zendaya ("Malcolm and Marie"), and Michelle Pfeiffer ("French Exit").

But in such an inclusive year that saw major inroads by women and minorities, LGBTQ representation barely registers, despite there being amongst the widest net of possible nominees streaming and a captive audience of the homebound to watch them. Of the nominations in 7 major categories (Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Foreign Film, Documentary) show just one narrative film with (barely) queer content – "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom."

That was for Viola Davis, who received a Best Actress nom for her portrayal of the titular character in "Ma Rainey" (the movie also lost out on a Best Picture nod). But her character's sexuality is marginal at best to the narrative. Otherwise the acting nominations have either no out actors or queer characters amongst the nominations.

Performances with queer content that might have placed include "Ammonite" with Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as two Victorian women in a relationship; "Supernova" with Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a long-term couple dealing with a debilitating illness; Golden Globe winner Rosamund Pike as a queer scammer in "I Care a Lot"; Viggo Mortensen playing a gay man dealing with his homophobic dad in "Falling"; Paul Bettany as a gay professor in the 1970s American South in "Uncle Frank"; Elisabeth Moss as Shirley Jackson in "Shirley"; and Henry Golding in "Monsoon".

Ignored queer actors include Jim Parsons in the remake of "The Boys in the Band"; Jodie Foster, fresh from her Golden Globe win for "The Mauritanian"; Laverne Cox for "Promising Young Woman"; and newcomer Jo Ellen Pellman, one of the bright spots in the much-maligned "The Prom."

The most notable snub in the Documentary category is "Welcome to Chechnya," a searing look into homophobia in Russia. Also ignored was the documentary "Mucho Mucho Amor" about the Puerto Rican psychic and astrologer Walter Mercado. In the International Film category absent is the highly praised Mexican drama "I Carry You With Me" that follows the relationship between two men over decades that won honors at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

And a major omission in the category of Best Live Action Short is Pedro Almodovar's innovative adaptation of the Jean Cocteau play "The Human Voice" with Tilda Swinton in conversation with the man who has jilted her. It was short-listed for a nomination by GoldDerby.com, but didn't make the cut.