What’s your essential piece of queer pop culture?

Liza Minnelli’s status as a gay icon has been solid for close to 60 years. She may in fact even be the ultimate example of one; if she has any competition, it’s from her literal mother Judy Garland. Regardless, Liza With A Z, her 1972 TV special once believed to be lost to time, is a towering achievement of old-school performance and showmanship. Sure, Minnelli herself isn’t queer, but there’s an undeniable sensibility to her (and the behind-the-scenes talents of gay artists John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Halson, for example, certainly inform this too). Releasing the same year as her triumph in Cabaret, Minnelli was in her prime. But what’s most notable in watching the also-Bob Fosse-directed Liza is the complete abandon with which she takes the stage, unafraid to look momentarily weird or awkward to help the whole room achieve catharsis. What says Pride month more than that? [Drew Gillis]