There are pieces of culture that speak to a queer identity before we can articulate those identities for ourselves. Comedian and writer Guy Branum explained it this way: “For so many centuries, queer people have only been able to communicate with each other in large part through culture. It really is about leaving breadcrumbs so that people can find their way to the stuff that they need to find.†Emmy winner Lena Waithe remembered finding her way as a child of the ’90s. “Culture was really Black, really cool, but it was also really straight,†she said. Yet she found one movie that reflected a queer, Black, masc-presenting woman and saw herself. “I recognized her, if you get my drift,†said Waithe. “I was wearing T-shirts and jeans and cornrows. If I’m not a little young lesbian in training, I don’t know what it is. Seeing her, there was something that normalized me.†Tony winner Alex Newell remembered a movie that was ahead of its time in its approach to drag and, in hindsight, says it may have influenced their approach to gender. “They’re not making a mockery of drag. They’re not making a mockery of the experience of it all,†they said. These discoveries can be profound. “It’s so amazing that you have to find this stuff accidentally,†said Branum. “But it’s also so cool that so many queer thinkers and writers have been doing the work of putting themselves into art so that we can see ourselves.†To hear Newell, Waithe, and Branum talk more about the movies that made them queer, listen to the full episode of Into It here and subscribe below.