Hello again Campus Queens,

First, I must tell you all that I'm thrilled to now be on FACEBOOK! Please, won't you be my friend?

OK. Onto my advice column. I’ve received many fascinating questions over these past two months, making it difficult for yours truly to choose what to blog about next. However, there was a question that kept popping up more than any other, so I think it’s best if I answer it next. One version said it quite perfectly:

Dear Peaches,

I’m a freshman at UNLV and a Film Studies major. Unfortunately my film department, though fantastic in many ways, doesn’t offer a course in LGBT film history. I was reading about your history at Penn State and also about your new film coming out soon and I was inspired to write to you about my own dreams of becoming a filmmaker.

There are many books out now about gay film history, which gay movies to see, which are essential viewing, etc. I wanted to know your thoughts on this subject, and if you had your own list of films “every gay man should see”.

Thanks,

Vince

Well Vincent, let me first say that I’m shocked and appalled that a town like Las Vegas, the home of Showgirls and Siegfried & Roy, has no Queer Film Studies course in its main university’s cinema department. But seriously, I’d be glad to help a fellow queer filmmaker out. I remember what it was like those many moons ago when I myself was in film school – it wasn’t easy to find my own story represented up on those classroom movie screens.

Dear Campus Queers,

I'm Peaches Christ and I am like so completely thrilled to be launching my very own advice column here on the Campus Pride world wide website! Allow me, if you will, to introduce myself. Firstly, I have to say that it's been over thirteen years since I graduated from Penn State University and I look back on my ye old campus days with great fondness. I know, I know- based solely on my appearance you must be asking yourself, wow, did she graduate from college when she was ten years old? And the answer to that question is simple- yes. While I may have been a young college student, that never stopped me from staying active. I majored in Filmmaking and got a minor in Women's Studies. I was a busy member of the Student Filmmaker Organization and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Student Alliance. I was part of an activist student group called DIVA (direct initiatives via action) and even hosted campus visits with some of my queer idols, including Quentin Crisp and John Waters. After finishing my senior thesis film Jizzmopper: A Love Story, it was time to move on.

Brüno: Satire, Humor and Stereotypes

[This op-ed originally appeared at The Huffington Post]

In April, when the first trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen's new movie Brüno debuted online, many of us in the LGBT community were cautiously optimistic about what we saw - and I was among them.

I first became familiar with Sacha Baron Cohen through his Da Ali G Show on HBO, where he played different characters who conducted squirm-inducing interviews with political leaders, media personalities and everyday Americans. The characters' clueless questions - and the actor's impressive ability to never break character - allowed them to call attention to people's hang-ups, biases and intolerance.

One of those characters, Brüno, was a flamboyant gay correspondent for the fictional Austrian TV show Funkyzeit mit Brüno -- itself a satire of programs that feed people's obsession with fashion and pop culture. Brüno interviewed fashion designers, nightclub owners and models - but he also spoke to people with anti-gay attitudes, using the setting to send up the homophobia of some of his interview subjects.

Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 blockbuster Borat made him a household name. Audiences and critics loved the movie. And based on what I had seen on Da Ali G Show, I had hoped that I might be able to say similar things about the forthcoming Brüno.