Why is it so difficult to find the best lesbian movies? Historically, portrayals of lesbians and same-sex relationships in American films were extremely limited due to the Hays Code.
The Hays Code, enacted in response to the wild and roaring 20s, was a set of moral standards dictating what was appropriate and inappropriate to show in movies.
These rules censored everything from nudity and profanity to inferences of sexual “perversion” and portrayals of interracial relationships.
Due to these strict guidelines, lesbianism in the film was largely regulated to subtext. Germany’s Mädchen in Uniform (1931), known as the first lesbian movie, managed to sneak through the code for a limited US release thanks to support from Eleanor Roosevelt.