Two LGBTQ films were slapped with R and NC-17 ratings. Critics say queer sex scenes are treated differently

When adapting the 2019 LGBTQ romantic novel Red, White & Royal Blue for the screen, Matthew Lopez was careful to circumvent an R-rating. The film has a handful of sex scenes that stop short of full-frontal nudity — there's some bare butts and, naturally, shirtless men.

But it wasn't enough. Red, White & Royal Blue was rated R, meaning people under 17 would need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian to see it.

Another recent film with LGBTQ leads, the French romantic drama Passages, received an even harsher NC-17 rating, which would restrict people under 18 from seeing the film at all, and also keep it from playing in certain theatres.

The filmmakers expressed disappointed with the decision, alleging that the Motion Picture Association (MPA), a self-regulated film classification body run by six major U.S. studios, was discriminating against LGBTQ films by giving them higher ratings. Both films feature bisexual male protagonists.

"The censorship of queer images exists from top to bottom," said Ira Sachs, who directed Passages. "It's not just the MPA. It's also what films are financed, what films are supported by festivals, what films get bought, what films get shown."

"I feel grateful that I was able to make a film outside of those limits," Sachs said.

MUBI, the distributor of Passages, rejected the MPA's NC-17 rating, instead opting to release it unrated.

Meanwhile, Lopez said in an interview that he was surprised when the MPA made its choice regarding Red, White & Royal Blue, which is about the secret romance between the first son of the United States and a British prince.

"I did question whether or not, if it had been a straight couple, we would still have gotten an R-rating," he said.

Critics say the MPA has long held a double standard against movies with LGBTQ characters, slapping them with higher ratings than movies featuring heterosexual characters.

They say this further stigmatizes people from queer communities by making it more difficult to access films that depict their lives.

"We're in an interesting moment right now where we've crossed past the line of 'gay person in thing equals good progress,' and now we're starting to get a lot more varied types of queer and trans stories on screen," said Mel Woods, a Vancouver-based senior editor at Xtra Magazine.

"That does include more sexually explicit storylines. But that's also been the case for a long time."

Passages has full-frontal nudity, though its sex scenes are better described as passionate or intimate than they are graphic. Red, White & Royal Blue is even less explicit than the steamy book it's based on.