“Boys on the Side” had a lesbian undertone. I think. Anyway, the two of them (Whoopi and Mary Louise Parker) were mostly positive types.
I have evidently logged in to an alternate universe Straight Dope Message Board–that is the only explanation for no mention of Willow Rosenberg within 20 seconds of the OP.
Going back a bit, how about Cher’s character (Dolly, I think it was) in Silkwood?
Well, I had to dock her some positivity points for that whole almost destroying the world thing.
I’m pretty sure Ivanova was bisexual, not a lesbian.
Willow’s not in a movie.
If there’s lesbians in Willow, I don’t want to know about them.
They weren’t central characters, but Steve Martin’s neighbors in LA Story were a very normal, healthy lesbian couple.
Oh! There was a lesbian subplot in The Color Purple!
Also Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, but it reeked of inauthenticity.
I only vaguely remember Grace of My Heart, but I think it’s worth a mention.
I know. I meant Chloe Sevigny’s character.
Whoopi Goldberg’s character was a lesbian who fell in love with Parker’s character, but Parker was a heterosexual woman who, rather centrally to the plot, had AIDS.
Ivanova was definitely bisexual.
Calling Chloe Sevigny’s character in Boys Don’t Cry a lesbian is a serious stretch.
Sandra Oh played a favorably depicted lesbian in Under the Tuscan Sun.
Oh God, I just admitted to watching a Chick Movie.
Alyssa Jones in Chasing Amy? Although she may be classified as bi rather than lesbian.
There’s also an Australian film called Love and Other Catastrophes which has a lesbian couple at its centre, both of which are humanly flawed (who doesn’t have drama-filled relationships while at Uni), but I would still see them as a positive portrayal.
Controversial. Most of my lesbian friends hate the flick and say it’s a “what lesbians really want is dick” movie. I think it’s a “love knows no bounds, not even gender/orientation” movie, but then I’m a 99% straight guy, so… The only thing that did bother me about it is that, while everyone makes fun of Binky for stereotyping lesbians as man-hating, Alyssa’s lesbian friends *do *shun her for dating a guy. So… yeah. Mixed signals there, Kev’.
Bisexual.
Yep. I think she actually did love Marcus Cole a little bit, but realized it a little late and it was not enough.
I remember seeing on video years ago a 1985 movie called “Desert Hearts,” starring Helen Shaver. It was set in the '50s, with a woman coming to Reno to establish residency for a divorce, and falling in love with another woman. That was a pretty good film.
How about The Hours? Meryl Streep’s character was pretty positive.
See post #14.
John Sayles Lianna is about an older woman coming to terms with the fact that she is a lesbian.
Pretty much all the characters in If These Walls Could Talk 2.
The lesbian characters in Better than Chocolate and Nina’s Heavenly Delights.
Chloe Sevigny’s character in Boys Don’t Cry was by no means a lesbian - she thought she was dating a man.
I’d call the Bound lesbian and bisexual woman bad simply because they were really fucking annoying.
Willow too for that matter.