![[Image Description: IN the top left corner the a scene from Love Simon: two boys lean in to kiss each other. In the top middle a black boy looks directly. In the top left corner a brunette woman and blonde woman kiss. In the bottom corner a dishevelled asian girl looks confused. In the bottom right corner two men stand back to back with their eyes closed.]](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Untitled-design-6-3.png)
Happy Pride Month! To spread some queer cheer, we’re sharing a list of our favorite TV shows and films featuring LGBTQIA+ characters. So call up your friends, your boo, cuddle your plants and pets closer to stream the ultimate Pride watch list!
1. The Half Of It
What it’s about: Ellie Chu is a small town loner, helping her father with his station master duties and running a business writing essays for her classmates. She insists on keeping to herself until Paul Munsky, a jock, asks her for help writing a love letter to their classmate Aster Flores. Here is our full review of the film.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
2. Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga
What it’s about: The film title translates to “I Saw A Girl And Felt This Way,” and is Bollywood’s first rom-com starring lesbian love interests. Sweety Chaudry must juggle living in conservative Punjab, impending expectations of marriage (to a boy) and a playwright who develops a crush on her (not realizing he’s not Sweet’s type).
Where you can watch it: Netflix
3. Moonlight
What it’s about: Split up into three parts, this coming of age film follows the main character through different phases of his life in Miami, Florida where he struggles with his sexuality and identity. Moonlight won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and stars Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monae, and Trecante Rhodes.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
4. Love, Simon
What it’s about: Simon Spier is a closeted 16-year-old, secretly writing letters to an anonymous friend he’s fallen in love with online and carefully hiding his sexuality from everyone. Simon’s carefully crafted life is endangered when a blackmailer threatens to out him to his whole school.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
5. Euphoria
What it’s about: HBO’s Euphoria follows a group of high schoolers. The main story is that of 17-year-old Rue, a drug addict fresh from rehab with no plans to stay clean. Circling in Rue’s orbit are Jules, a transgender girl searching for where she belongs; Nate, a jock whose anger issues mask sexual insecurities; Chris, a football star who finds the adjustment from high school to college harder than expected; Cassie, whose sexual history continues to dog her; and Kat, a body-conscious teen exploring her sexuality.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
6. The Danish Girl
What it’s about: Loosely based off of one of the earliest recipients of sex reassignment surgery, this film tells the story of 1920s Danish artist, Lili Elbe, played by Eddie Redmayne. It follows Lili’s transition as husband Einer Wegener to the wife of Gerda Wegener, a tentatively supportive painter.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
7. Orange Is the New Black
What it’s about: A dramedy set in a minimum-security federal prison, this series follows various prisoners as they navigate life under lock and key. Piper Chapman is completely unprepared to see her ex-girlfriend locked up with her, as she is responsible for tearing Piper away from freedom and her fiance, Larry.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
8. Killing Eve
What it’s about: This UK thriller comedy show tells the story of two female spies and their increasing obsession with each other. Eve, played by Sandra Oh is a bored MI5 agent until she is recruited by MI6 to hunt down international assassin Villanelle. Both women begin to lose focus in their initial assignments and become more interested in learning more about each other.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
9. Sense8
What it’s about: A sci-fi Netflix series, Sense8 tells the story of eight individuals inexplicably connected to each other from birth. Called “sensates” for their extraordinary ability to experience what the others in the group are living through, they must stay alive long enough to find out why a secret government organization wants them dead. Shot on-location in cities like Berlin and Mumbai, Sense8 boasts diversity and an inclusive cast.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
10. Sex Education
What it’s about: Otis, played by Asa Butterfield, is an insecure virgin and the teenaged son of a sex therapist. After successfully administering sex therapy to a fellow classmate by accident, Otis becomes his school’s most sought after resource as everyone seems to be struggling with “sex problems”. Helping him navigate this new attention is his openly gay best friend Eric and savvy new business partner, Maeve Wiley.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
11. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
What it’s about: A musical comedy production like no other, this film opens on a dark and stormy night when a naive, newly engaged young couple’s car breaks down. They seek help from a nearby castle, whose owner turns out to be Dr. Frank N. Furter, a mad scientist and alien trans woman that has managed to create a muscle man. Dr. Frank N. Furter and the castle servants begin to seduce the innocent couple separately.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
12. High Fidelity
What it’s about: A Hulu original starring Zoe Kravitz, High Fidelity follows the romantic life of Brooklynite and struggling record shop owner Rob. Freshly full of heartbreak, Rob cracks a scheme to come to terms with her love life, determined to track down her Top 5 failed relationships to ask her partners why they left her.
Where you can watch it: Hulu
13. Queer Eye
What it’s about: This Netflix reboot launches a new Fab Five, queer makeover experts that tour the US in search of nominees in need of a confidence boost. Tan France serves as the stylist, Antoni Porowski is the food expert, Karamo Brown is the culture extraordinaire, Bobby Berk is responsible for design and Jonathan Van Ness is the team groomer.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
14. Modern Family
What it’s about: A mockumentary following an extended American family, this sitcom is set in suburban Los Angeles. So named “modern”, among the show’s family members are a gay couple on their journey to becoming fathers. Mitchell and Cameron were one of American TV’s earliest depictions of wholesome gay dads.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
15. How Gay Is Pakistan?
What it’s about: This BBC documentary film investigates gay culture in Pakistan, where the punishment for being openly gay is up to ten years in prison or the death penalty. In spite of the law, this film follows eager and comedic British Pakistani Mawaan Rizan on his quest to find the gay scene in his homeland. Along the way, we learn about Pakistan’s gay dating culture, the large trans community, and meet various gay rights activists.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
16. But I’m A Cheerleader
![[Image description: Two young women stare at the camera, shocked.] via Lionsgate Films](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/but-im-a-cheerleader.png)
What it’s about: When Megan’s friends and family begin to suspect she’s gay, her parents intervene and enroll her in a weird residential conversion therapy program. It’s a camp ’90s classic of John Waters-like proportions with a message of self-acceptance and community at its heart.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
17. 52 Tuesdays
What it’s about: This Australian coming-of-age film shares the experience of a teenage girl struggling to deal with her mother transitioning to a male identity. Billie is sent to live with her father, whom her mother Jane divorced for the year that Jane is transitioning to James. The only time Billie gets to see James is on each Tuesday of the week.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
18. Call Me By Your Name
What it’s about: Starring Timothee Chalamet, this film is set in the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy. 17-year-old Elio becomes involved with his father’s 23-year-old graduate student. As the summer goes on, the two fall in love with each other, remaining closeted and keeping their relationship a secret, despite everyone knowing.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
19. Broad City
What it’s about: This television sitcom follows the lives of two twenty-somethings as they try to “make it” in New York. Based on a popular web series and inspired by the leads’ real-life friendship, Broad City explores the bonds and sometimes-cringe humor between the women.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
20. Pose
What it’s about: Featuring a largely Black and Latino cast, this series focuses on the ballroom culture of New York City in the 80s and 90s. Most notably the show centers the AIDS crisis of the 90s, showing how hard the community was hit by how frequently characters attended funerals. The series also traces the popularity of dance styles and the various contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community to mainstream pop culture.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
21. Gentleman Jack
What it’s about: Inspired by the real-life diaries of the lesbian landowner and industrialist Anne Lister, this historical drama series is set in Yorkshire in the early 1900s. While restoring her uncle’s estate, Anne Lister meets Ann Walker, an unusual lady landowner with whom she begins a secret and dangerous romantic relationship.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
22. Carol
What it’s about: Set in 1952 New York City, this romantic drama tells the story of Therese Belivet, an aspiring photographer and the glamorous Carol Aird. Therese and Carol are both struggling with their respective male partners when they meet each other and instantly have a connection. Against the charming backdrop of Christmastime in New York, this film tells the story of a budding romance.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
23. Before Stonewall
What it’s about: Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 documentary film about the LGBTQIA+ community before the events of the Stonewall riots. This film outlines the struggles and challenges the lesbian and community faced leading up to Stonewall.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
24. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
![[Image Description: Two women embrace each other just about to kiss.] via Portrait of a Lady on Fire](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Portrait-of-a-Lady-on-Fire.jpg)
What it’s about: Set on a remote shore in Britain in the 18th century. Marianne, a young painter has been commissioned to paint a portrait of a young woman named Heloise, who will soon marry. The director, Celine Sciamma, doesn’t hold back while she explores the growing passion between Marianne and Heloise.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
25. Brokeback Mountain
![[Image Description: Two cowboys content in each others arms.] via Brokeback Mountain](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Brokeback-Mountain.jpg)
What it’s about: During the summer of 1963, two cowboys start a sexual relationship after they are both hired to look after sheep in the secluded Wyoming mountains. The movie follows the rest of their lives as they attempt to forget their romantic past and move forward in their respective heterosexual relationships, despite an enduring and intense infatuation with one another.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
26. A Very English Scandal
![[Image Description: A man in a suit stands with his hand on his hips worried.] via A Very English Scandal](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/A-Very-English-Scandal.jpg)
What it’s about: This incredible TV series is based on the true story of 1970s British politician Jeremy Thorpe. He has a secret: he’s gay. Like many men in his position he solicits sex from naive victims then dumps them when he’s done. However, the mini-series takes a twist when he’s charged with conspiracy to murder.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
27. Pride
![[Image Description: A pride march going through London Bridge. A man in a leather jacket sits in other protestors shoulders with a megaphone.] va Pride](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Pride.jpg)
What it’s about: After Joe is cast out of his family home, he joins an up-and-coming activist group led by a charismatic gay rights campaigner, Mark. Based on a heartwarming true story, the group correlates their struggle with that of the striking miners and head off to a mining village in Wales to try and establish a political coalition against the Thatcher government with them.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
28. RENT
![[Image description: Angry men and women stand together in an array of different clothing colors and identities.] via Sony Pictures Releasing](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/88133e48-0a97-493b-b58a-dda818f8f1ec-rent.jpg)
What it’s about: Loosely based on Puccini’s 1896 opera La Bohème, seven friends living in the East Village of New York City in the ’80s form a group bonded by economic hardship, a love of the arts, and an ongoing battle against the AIDS crisis. It swings from sad to absurd, and has a killer soundtrack full of iconic musical favorites!
Where you can watch it: Amazon
29. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
![[Image Description: A transgender woman with long blonde hair and a microphone performs on stage.] via Hedwig and the Angry Inch](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Hedwig-and-the-Angry-Inch.jpg)
What it’s about: This rock musical explores the life of Hedwig Robinson, a trans East German rock singer, who tours the US with her band while she tells her story. It explores the origins of love, sexuality, and the ever-fluctuating gender of its campy yet endearing title character. Hedwig assists all who watch, in guiding them through what finding that “other half” really means, whether it be love, identity, or a punk persona within all of us.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
30. Dallas Buyers Club
![[Image Description: A man and drag queen sit on bench facing away from each other.] via Dallas Buyers Club](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dallas-Buyers-Club.jpg)
What it’s about: Set in 1985, this film tells the story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas cowboy whose life is turned upside down when he finds out he is HIV-positive. He ends up establishing a way for fellow HIV-positive people to get access to treatments for the disease.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
31. Philadelphia
![[Image Description: Courtroom scene. Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington sitting next to each other.] via Philadelphia](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Philadelphia.jpg)
What it’s about: This movie was one of the first Hollywood movies to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia. The story is to-the-point yet powerful: fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness’s telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterward, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller, the only lawyer willing to help.
Where you can watch it: Netflix
32. The Birdcage
![[Image Description: A man with a painted face and red lipstick, clutches his tie in worry.] via The Birdcage](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Birdcage.jpg)
What it’s about: This hilarious, over-the-top comedy centers on a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen partner, who agree to pretend to be straight so that their son can introduce them to his fiancee’s conservative parents. The results of this, as might be expected, is a hilarious disaster.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
33. Boys Don’t Cry
![[Image Description: Hilary Swank looks off into the distance, sitting on a bench.] via Boys Don't Cry](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Boys-Dont-Cry.jpg)
What it’s about: This movie is based on the tragic true story of Brandon Teena, a 21-year-old trans man who lost his life after his gender identity was outed by the woman he’d fallen in love with. The story flows in a gritty and hard-hitting style, and makes sure Brandon’s life and impact will never be forgotten.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
34. Mysterious Skin
![[Image Description: A transgender woman with long blonde hair and a microphone performs on stage.] via Hedwig and the Angry Inch](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Mysterious-Skin.jpg)
What it’s about: “The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life. Five hours, lost, gone without a trace…” These are the words of Brian Lackey, a troubled 18-year-old plagued by nightmares and under the belief that he was the victim of alien abduction. On the other end is Neil McCormick, a young man that moves to New York in an attempt to forget the childhood memories that haunt him. Now, 10 years later, Neil’s pursuit of love leads him to New York City, while Brian’s voyage of self-discovery leads him to Neil — who helps him to unlock the dark secrets of their past.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
35. Ma Vie En Rose
![[Image Description: A young boy wearing a white dress wears a veil.] via Ma Vie En Rose](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ma-Vie-En-Rose.jpg)
What it’s about: In this Belgian movie, six-year-old Ludovic believes that he was meant to be a little girl, and waits for the mistake to be fixed. Where he waits for the miraculous, Ludo finds only rejection, isolation, and guilt from those in his family and community. It’s a truly powerful movie, and one that comes with its own difficult backstory.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
36. A Single Man
![[Image Description: Colin Firth looks despondently at a bookshelf.] via A Single Man](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/A-Single-Man.jpg)
What it’s about: Colin Firth plays an English professor unable to cope with his day to day life after the death of his boyfriend. He decides to commit suicide, but the story changes as his day unfolds. As he tries to survive, he encounters a Spanish immigrant, then his best friend, who just so happens to be in love with him. As a result, he begins to rethink life.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
37. High Maintenance
![[Image Description: A man on the phone looks to the distance.] via High Maintenance](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/High-Maintanance.jpg)
What it’s about: This TV show provides a glimpse into various New Yorkers who are all linked by a common thread: their weed deliveryman. Each episode focuses on clients from every class and borough as they call on The Guy for deliveries.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
38. Margarita With a Straw
![[Image Description: A woman sucking on a curly straw.] via Margarita with a Straw](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Margarita-with-a-Straw.jpg)
What it’s about: A young woman with cerebral palsy moves from India to New York City to attend NYU on a semester abroad. There, she meets a blind girl of Pakistani-Bangladeshi descent and falls in love.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
39. Life Partners
![[Image Description: Two friends sit on a bed laughing and having fun.] via Life Partners](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Life-Partners.jpg)
What it’s about: Leighton Meester and Gillian Jacobs play codependent friends whose friendship is tested when one of them starts to get serious with a guy. Sasha, played by Meester begins to feel neglected after her best friend’s love life seems to be doing better than her own.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
40. 120 BPM
![[Image Description: A young man looks away while another man tries to kiss him.] via BPM](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/BPM.jpg)
What it’s about: It’s the early 1990s in Paris, and anti-AIDS pressure group ACT UP is fed up with the government’s lack of interest and active censorship of the AIDS epidemic across France. We closely observe the group and their radical acts of protest, whilst also following the brief but beautiful relationship between HIV-negative newcomer, Nathan, and HIV-positive veteran, Sean.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
41. Fire
![[Image Description: Two Indian women hold each other warmly, while smiling.] via Fire](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/FIRE.jpg)
What it’s about: Two women abandoned by their husbands find love in each other. This movie caused much controversy when it first came out in India, and theatres were attacked by Hindu fundamentalists because of the lesbian storyline.
42. Faking It
![[Image Description: A blond and brunette girl embrace and kiss each other.] via Faking It](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Faking-It.jpg)
What it’s about: A romantic comedy TV show about two best friends who love each other — in slightly different ways. After numerous failed attempts to become popular, the girls are mistakenly outed as lesbians, which launches them to instant celebrity status. Seduced by their newfound fame, Karma and Amy decide to keep up their romantic ruse.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
43. This Is Not Berlin
![[Image Description: A man with gay written in red multiple times on his body.] via This is not Berlin](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/This-is-not-Berlin.jpg)
What it’s about: It’s 1986 in Mexico City, and we meet seventeen-year-old Carlos. He doesn’t fit in anywhere: not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: post-punk, sexual liberty, and drugs that challenges the relationship with his best friend Gera and lets him find his passion for art.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
44. The Bold Type
![[Image Description: Three women wearing luxury dresses.] via The Bold Type](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Bold-Type.jpg)
What it’s about: This amazing show is inspired and produced by Cosmopolitan editor in chief Joanna Coles. Revealing a glimpse into the outrageous lives and loves of those behind the global women’s magazine, “Scarlet”, this incredible show centers around the rising generation of women finding their own voices in a sea of intimidating leaders. Inspired by the life of former Cosmopolitan magazine editor-in-chief (Joanna Coles), the series weaves together the stories and struggles of some truly badass women.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
45. The Color Purple
![[Image Description: Whoopi Goldberg sits on a chair with her hands on her face.] via The Color Purple](https://thetempest.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Color-Purple.jpg)
What it’s about: An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie’s abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing “Mister” Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister and finding her identity in the meantime.
Where you can watch it: Amazon
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