Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls, who do boys like they're girls...

For the first time in cinema history, we're seeing films with characters whose love lives are just as complex as those of the people watching them.

Take a look at two of this month's releases. In the indie romantic comedy Kissing Jessica Stein, straight New Yorker Jessica has an affair with another first-time lesbian. Meanwhile, in new British drama Lawless Heart, a gay man (Tom Hollander) has sex with a female friend.

Nothing strange about that, you might say - and you'd be right. "I think the gay element is done very gently in the film," says Hollander. "There's no big political stand." His sentiments are echoed by Heather Juergensen and Jennifer Westfeldt, the writers and stars of Jessica Stein. "We didn't set out to issue a grand edict about sexual orientation and what determines it," they say.

Lawless Heart

If films like these are anything to go by, we take such antics in our stride. Rewind 40 years, though, and you'd have seen a very different picture. In The Trials Of Oscar Wilde (1960) Peter Finch got sent to prison for his sexual orientation, while Dirk Bogarde was blackmailed for his in Victim (1961). Meanwhile, the only lesbians seen on screen were the tragic heroines of The Children's Hour (1961) or raddled old hags like Beryl Reid in The Killing Of Sister George (1968).

The 70s brought some changes, but not many. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) featured one of the first all-male kisses, while Al Pacino cut a tragic figure in Dog Day Afternoon (1975) as the bank robber trying to raise money for his boyfriend's sex change. More often than not, however, filmmakers still played to their male audience's irrational fears, most notably in Deliverance (1972) and Midnight Express (1978).

The 80s and 90s saw another nasty trend: homosexuality equated with psychosis. Sharon Stone's bisexual killer in Basic Instinct (1992) provoked a storm of controversy, with protesters picketing cinemas and even wearing T-shirts giving away the ending. And thanks to The Birdcage (1996) and In & Out (1997), that old stereotype - the mincing, limp-wristed queen - not only survived but flourished.

Kissing Jessica Stein

Things were changing though. Tom Hanks' portrayal of a gay man with AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) was a watershed - dignified, humane and not a single camp mannerism to be seen. But perhaps the biggest turning point came when Hilary Swank won an Oscar for Boys Don't Cry (1999), which told the tragic real-life story of cross-dressing lesbian Brandon Teena. As Swank said when she collected her Oscar, "We've all come a long way."

So where do we stand now? Probably at a crossroads. We appear to be finally moving into a period where sexual diversity is accepted, even embraced. However, we're still far from a time when a character's sexuality is as irrelevant as the clothes they wear or the cars they drive. That day may come, but it'll take more films like Lawless Heart and Kissing Jessica Stein to make it a reality. NS 05 August 02

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