Elliot Page Movies Ranked By Transness
On January 22, 2008, Elliot Page became the first trans actor to be nominated for an Oscar — he just didn’t know it yet.
Since they were a child, Elliot has been one of our most interesting, courageous, and flat-out talented actors. They have built a body of work that is dark, political, and outside the realm of normal Hollywood stardom. They’ve always given the impression that their goals as an actor — and a public figure — go far beyond themself, go far beyond fame and fortune.
If Elliot’s creative focus remains on acting, I am certain the next phase of his career is going to be even more fruitful. Hollywood’s transphobia is no match for the shot of adrenaline that is finally being out to yourself and the world. It’s a reality that Elliot would not have had his success had he been out as a child — it’s also a reality that trans actors and activists have changed the industry enough the past two decades that now he’ll be able to change it even more.
But before we look to the future, I think it’s worth looking to the past. Because Elliot may not have played trans characters, but in every single movie he showed up to set as a trans person and when we watch those movies we are looking at a trans person.
I think trans actors can play cis characters — though I’m far more invested in trans characters being complex enough that this wouldn’t be desired — but that doesn’t mean ignoring what those trans actors bring to those roles. I’m not arguing that Elliot’s characters have been textually trans — I am arguing that it’s worth considering them through a trans lens.
Over the past few weeks I’ve watched or rewatched just about every one of his movies. This project has only increased my admiration and affection for Elliot. I hope this is received as a celebration — a celebration of all Elliot has accomplished so far and, more importantly, what’s possible for their future.
There are three ratings: the movie’s overall transness, Elliot’s character’s transness, and the average between those two assessments resulting in the ranking.
Illustrations by A. Andrews.
30. Smart People (2008)
Movie: 1/10
Elliot: 1/10
Total: 1/10
When I started this project I thought that no matter how not trans a movie was, I’d at least give Elliot’s character a 2/10 — then I watched Smart People. Elliot’s first role post-Juno has all the markings of Hollywood (and probably new management) squandering a once-in-a-generation talent because they can’t handle that talent’s innate queerness. This insufferable indie, about an insufferable English professor played by Dennis Quaid, forces Elliot to play a Republican teenager who uses the R word and only thinks about tax credits. He’s still good — he’s always good — but this is one of his worst movies and easily the least trans.
29. An American Crime (2007)
Movie: 1/10
Elliot: 2/10
Total: 1.5/10
This is a brutal movie based on the brutal story of Sylvia Likens. If you haven’t seen this movie and don’t know about Sylvia Likens, I would recommend not seeing the movie and not reading the entire Wikipedia page about her. (I, unfortunately, did both.) There’s nothing trans about this movie, but this is just one of many very brutal entries in Elliot’s filmography and I do find it interesting that they were so often filling roles where they were abused. Trans people in real life often face abuse prior to transition because vulnerability is read into our difference — it’s interesting to see that potentially play out in casting.
28. Love That Boy (2003)
Movie: 1/10
Elliot: 2/10
Total: 1.5/10
Even watching this through an early 2000s indie lens, I just couldn’t get past the conceit of a 22 year old girl falling in love with a 15 year old boy. Elliot plays an age appropriate person also in love with that boy. It’s a small part and not especially trans except in the way they always feel trans.
27. The Stone Angel (2007)
Movie: 1/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 2/10
Elliot is on the poster for this adaptation of what I’m told is an oft-read book in Canadian public schools. But they’re barely in it! The marketing people were probably just trying to capitalize on Juno, because while I believe it was shot beforehand, it was released right after. Their character is presented as feminine but they do complain that their mom used to make them wear sashes and bows. Also their future mother-in-law hates them which feels vaguely trans.
26. Super (2010)
Movie: 2/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 2.5/10
I know James Gunn’s breakout has defenders but I really loathed its gratuitous violence and general amorality. It’s self-aware, but is it self-aware enough? I’d argue no. Elliot plays a tomboy who works at a comic book store. Despite having to use gay as an insult (lol 2010), be really ableist, and — I’m so sorry — rape Rainn Wilson, they’re easily the best part of the movie. Anything about superheroes is going to feel a little trans even if it’s bad.
25. Ghost Cat (2004)
Movie: 2/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 2.5/10
One of two early Elliot Canadian kids movies about fun ghosts! His character loves cats, has a crush on the older boy who also volunteers at the animal shelter, and wears a cool brown leather jacket. I guess this movie isn’t that trans but it’s a good leather jacket.
24. Flatliners (2017)
Movie: 2/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 2.5/10
Elliot’s most recent movie is about a bunch of med students with guilt and a death wish. I don’t recommend watching this no matter how much you like Elliot, Kiersey Clemons, and Diego Luna — but guilt and death wish are unfortunately both trans.
23. Going for Broke (2003)
Movie: 1/10
Elliot: 4/10
Total: 2.5/10
Most actors have to be in at least a few mediocre TV movies and this one about gambling addiction is a real slog. But extra points for Elliot’s character dying his hair and becoming rebellious while being the most responsible member of the family. That’s a trans combo! There’s also a scene where he wants to wear jeans and his mom wants him to wear a skirt.
22. Inception (2010)
Movie: 4/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 3.5/10
Because this is a big budget movie made by a guy whose understanding of gender is men grunt and women die, Elliot is forced to wear a lot of makeup in this one. He’s also not really a character and is mostly just around to ask for exposition. But the trans person not being well-developed and just providing exposition honestly checks out?? I’m being snarky, but the truth is Inception is still really good and the movie being about “pure creation” feels trans to me. Like if we can cheat architecture, we can certainly cheat assigned gender, right? Tom Hardy is a hot blonde woman at one point so I’d say yes.
21. Homeless to Harvard (2003)
Movie: 3/10
Elliot: 4/10
Total: 3.5/10
Another TV movie, this one based on the life of Liz Murray. It’s a bit better due to Thora Birch and a bit more trans due to themes of being an outcast and overcoming adversity. Elliot plays her sibling and is only in the movie in the beginning but he’s wearing big baggy clothes and is the responsible one in the family.
20. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Movie: 4/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 3.5/10
19. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Movie: 5/10
Elliot: 2/10
Total: 3.5/10
Despite being made by two of the worst people in Hollywood — and being two of the worst entries in the franchise — it’s impossible for X-Men movies not to feel trans. Elliot’s Kitty Pryde is femme and mostly just a love interest in The Last Stand, despite being able to walk through walls. They’re in Days of Future Past even less, but it’s cool to look at the movies side-by-side to see Elliot’s evolution. Even though they’re still playing the same character and they’re years from coming out, they seem so much more comfortable on-screen in 2014 than they did in 2006.
18. Pit Pony (1997)
Movie: 5/10
Elliot: 2/10
Total: 3.5/10
Elliot’s first movie is about a little boy who is forced to work in a Novia Scotia coal mine in the early 20th century. Elliot plays his loud sibling who is sad they don’t get to see their brother as much anymore. They’re not in it much of the movie but the whole thing is about striking! Collective action is trans! This was turned into a show that Elliot was also on, but I haven’t watched it so I cannot comment on its quality nor its transness.
17. The Cured (2017)
Movie: 5/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 4/10
This is a fascinating entry in the zombie movie subgenre, forgoing the usual outbreak plot for something far more complex. The zombie epidemic has already devastated Ireland — but now many of the zombies have been cured and have to face life as second class citizens haunted by memories of the harm they caused. Elliot plays a straight mom who was never a zombie but they are the number one ally to the cured and being a number one ally is a great step to being trans. Because the former zombies actually did commit harm, I find this movie works better not as an allegory for queer people, but as an allegory for those in our lives who don’t accept us. Can we forgive friends and family who didn’t see our humanity? Can we continue to see theirs?
16. To Rome with Love (2012)
Movie: 2/10
Elliot: 6/10
Total: 4/10
Elliot has called this Woody Allen film the biggest regret of his career. (It’s worth noting this was made before Dylan Farrow’s letter when just about every white actor was working with him — actors such as Emma Stone, Kristen Stewart, and Kate Winslet worked with him after.) I could only stomach rewatching Elliot’s section and God is this awful!! It’s horrifying that as a teenager I couldn’t see the grossness of Allen’s movies. But what’s wild is Elliot’s character feels really trans?? Woody Allen’s attempt to create a sexist stereotype accidentally resulted in someone who feels pretty queer. They’re bisexual and just got out of a relationship with a gay guy who they thought they could change! Both of these things are played as jokes but if you ignore the musings of Jesse Eisenberg and Alec Baldwin, Elliot’s character just feels queer, trans, and too good for this movie.
15. Wilby Wonderful (2004)
Movie: 3/10
Elliot: 5/10
Total: 4/10
Something I learned doing this project is there are a lot of lowkey Canadian movies about really dark things. This ensemble dramedy — co-starring Sandra Oh! — features Elliot as a teen who spends a lot of time making out with his boyfriend and slut shaming his mom who owns a café. There’s a moment where a homophobe talks begrudgingly about where the queers hang out and Elliot perks up. Combine that with a scene where he gets femmed up and looks uncertain in a mirror — and his confused shame-filled relationship to sex — and I’d say it all feels pretty trans.
14. Tallulah (2016)
Movie: 5/10
Elliot: 3/10
Total: 4/10
One of the best parts of watching every Elliot Page movie is it also means watching a lot of Allison Janney movies! The two of them have such good chemistry and their dynamic is at its best here. This movie is trans because it starts with Elliot living in a van with their boyfriend and ends up being all about chosen family. There’s also a moment where someone calls their character Lucy and they say no their name is Lu.
13. Peacock (2010)
Movie: 8/10
Elliot: 2/10
Total: 5/10
This isn’t my least favorite movie on this list, but it’s probably the worst. It’s like someone decided to remake Psycho but make it boring. Yes this is offensive, yes this is bleak, but worst of all… it’s dull! Cillian Murphy isn’t technically playing a trans woman here, but most movies that play into the violent transfeminine trope aren’t explicit about the character’s transness. I’m super curious if the genderqueerness is what drew Elliot to this movie, even subconsciously. And, for the record, I don’t begrudge their involvement at all — we all made mistakes a decade before transitioning.
12. My Days of Mercy (2017)
Movie: 4/10
Elliot: 6/10
Total: 5/10
Despite the movie’s queerness, there isn’t much here that’s textually trans. But like Tallulah, there’s just something about these later indie movies that Elliot produced that feel trans. Elliot seems more comfortable and more himself on screen and it’s very easy to read his transness on his characters. This is a morally complicated movie but I think it’s really good and has one of Elliot’s best performances.
11. Freeheld (2015)
Movie: 2/10
Elliot: 9/10
Total: 5.5/10
For me, transness is not just about gender identity — it’s also about political identity. Trans people hold all sorts of beliefs and act all sorts of ways, but if I’m ranking art by my definition of transness then politics are a factor. This weepy melodrama released at the tail end of the gay marriage movement is what people mean when they say a movie is gay but not queer. Elliot’s role as a butch lesbian lets them be truer to their own gender identity and they’re so comfortable and lovely on-screen. But they’re the only good part. This movie is filled with pro-cop propaganda and shows policework around drugs with the complexity of Law and Order. It creates heroes out of several cis male characters — including Michael Shannon as a straight cop — and is the kind of palatable gay cinema that does more harm than good. Which queer lives do we care about in politics and on screen? Which queer lives do we ignore?
10. Into the Forest (2015)
Movie: 5/10
Elliot: 6/10
Total: 5.5/10
Written and directed by lesbian filmmaking icon Patricia Rozema, this understated post-apocalyptic tale was tough to watch before the pandemic and is tougher to watch now. Elliot’s character begins as a self-centered teenager who throughout the movie is forced to quickly grow up and become the responsible member of the family — a theme in his work! As his sister (played by Evan Rachel Wood) begins to fill the mother archetype, Elliot becomes the father. He gets tougher, more butch, and starts wearing flannel. The movie is all about surviving under impossible circumstances and with its two queer leads and queer director the movie just feels very queer and trans.
9. Touchy Feely (2013)
Movie: 7/10
Elliot: 4/10
Total: 5.5/10
This is another one that’s not textually very trans but the vibes feel very trans. The great Lynn Shelton’s low-key dramedy about a massage therapist who develops an aversion to touch and her dentist brother who becomes a healer is all about intimacy, personal growth, and unlikely connections. Elliot plays the dentist’s child who lives with him and works for him but wants to leave. He’s obsessed with his aunt’s boyfriend and the culmination of their relationship is so tender in Shelton’s directorial care.
8. The East (2013)
Movie: 6/10
Elliot: 6/10
Total: 6/10
Sorry but ecoterrorism is trans. I cannot imagine a group of ecoterrorists that are all cis. I’m sorry I just can’t. And here Elliot’s vaguely queer character is joined by another ecoterrorist named Luca, who is beaten up by the feds for being gender-nonconforming. Elliot’s character is also the child of a man who works for one of the bad companies they’re trying to take down, and Elliot meets up with him as part of their scheme. Their dad says they look beautiful because Elliot is dressed femme and the energy is just very trans child meeting up with a disapproving parent — in addition to one being an ecoterrorist and the other being the true cause of the terror.
7. Marion Bridge (2002)
Movie: 7/10
Elliot: 6/10
Total: 6.5/10
Molly Parker is so good in our next lowkey Canadian indie about very serious things. (This is written by Daniel MacIvor, the writer/director of Wilby Wonderful.) Elliot’s character is introduced in all denim smoking a cigarette. He’s reading Jane Eyre. He runs away from home. There’s lots and lots of trauma. The whole thing is about returning to estranged family. Trans trans trans trans.
6. Hard Candy (2005)
Movie: 7/10
Elliot: 8/10
Total: 7.5/10
Many people’s first introduction to Elliot, this mouse-and-cat rape/revenge tale deepens with less obvious gender lines. Elliot’s character begins the movie playacting girliness, but once he’s begun his plot of revenge, the performance falls away. The intention is probably for him to go from a Lolita-figure to a more grounded portrait of a girl, but watching Elliot now, he feels like a vengeful trans boy, furious at the way the world treats women and furious at the way the world treats him. The scene when he wears his target’s clothes is especially sharp. It feels like he’s experimenting with going from prey to predator only to repeatedly retreat in discomfort at this new role. He doesn’t want to be violent. He doesn’t want to switch roles. He wants these roles to disappear altogether. But that’s not the world we live in. So, for now, he’ll put on these acts — girl, predator — so other people can safely be themselves.
5. Mouth to Mouth (2005)
Movie: 8/10
Elliot: 8/10
Total: 8/10
Even before Elliot gets their head shaved on camera, this rough-around-the-edges indie feels trans. Elliot plays an angsty runaway who joins a street cult called SPARK. They have a general dissatisfaction that makes them the perfect target for this group. Post-childhood but pre-X-Men, this movie feels like it’s capturing a moment when Elliot was coming into their own before Hollywood course-corrected them back to an attempted heteronormativity. It’s fitting then that the movie is all about running away from home only to run away from the new home that claimed you. It takes most of us a few tries to really find our communities, to really find ourselves.
4. Juno (2007)
Movie: 7/10
Elliot: 9/10
Total: 8/10
If you weren’t a teenager in 2007, I’m not sure you’ll ever be able to understand the unique way so many of us latched onto this movie. The soundtrack! Diablo Cody’s writing! Elliot Page, Elliot Page, and, one more time, Elliot Page. It’s honestly kind of emotional to realize how trans this movie is given how much it meant to us as kids!
Let’s start with the sort of clinical way Juno loses their virginity. It shows a certain disconnect from their body, like sex is something to cross off a list, even though we’ll see they do have feelings for the person they’re having sex with. Next up, their fashion. Sure they could just be a quirky girl but I think the pipe pushes them into trans territory. Bleeker’s mom says Juno is just… different. And they really are! The women around Juno are so cis and hetero and the contrast with Juno is stark. Also the way she seeks approval from the dude adopting her baby! “I don’t really know what kind of girl I am,” Juno says. Watching the movie now, the answer seems simple enough: not a girl at all.
3. I Downloaded a Ghost (2002)
Movie: 8/10
Elliot: 10/10
Total: 9/10
“I just think it’s time you put down the Goosebumps and start to act more like a girl!”
And so begins a kids movie so trans it makes all the Disney princesses seem cis. Elliot plays a child obsessed with all things scary much to his mother’s chagrin. She gives him a dress and begs him not to turn this one into a costume so he gifts it to a giant model swamp creature in his horror-themed club house. He’s determined to win his school’s haunted house contest even though every year the winner is the same popular rich girl. This is a movie where the villains are the cops and rich people. And there’s literally a scene where Elliot puts on a latex skin suit to pretend to be a woman.
When Elliot accidentally gets his dad fired, he cries, “My family is being hurt because of the way I am!” He then puts on makeup and a dress during a sad montage. But then he goes back to dressing like a boy to save the day! The movie loses some points because the titular ghost is an annoying cis dude comedian — like does Goodfellas impressions annoying — but this is still a delightful kids movie about a trans boy learning to be himself and making a great haunted house along the way!
2. The Tracey Fragments (2007)
Movie: 9/10
Elliot: 10/10
Total: 9.5/10
Out of all Elliot’s movies, this split screen indie drama is most improved by his transition. Upon release, most people thought it was an interesting but failed experiment. It’s less about plot and more about vibes and as a story about a damaged teenage cis girl, the vibes aren’t quite enough. But as a portrait of a trans teen it’s fascinating. And there’s plenty on-screen to support that reading besides its star.
Elliot plays Tracey Berkowitz, called The Titless Wonder by one of his many bullies. He’s a depressed outcast with a shitty homelife and a shittier time at school. He has a crush on a boy who wears makeup and his psychiatrist is literally a trans woman who urges him to explain to his parents how he’s feeling. When he helps a woman on the bus, she says “thank you, man” and when he uses the girls bathroom, another bully jokes about whether he is a “he or a she.” During the sex scene, he dissociates — picturing a horse among other things — and it all feels very trans and very gay.
The fractured style seems to capture something really true about his sense of self and experience of the world. At the end, he says, “My name is Tracey Berkowitz, just a normal girl.” He repeats that last phrase, unconvinced. Not normal. Not a girl. Just a confused teen trying to survive in a cruel world.
1. Whip It (2010)
Movie: 10/10
Elliot: 10/10
Total: 10/10
It’s one of my dreams to make a coming of age movie about a trans teen who never realizes they’re trans. But in a sense one already exists. It’s called Whip It.
When this movie came out, people complained that it wasn’t gay. But Elliot’s character falls for a femme-y douchebag rock star and if that’s not closeted gay transmasc energy I don’t know what is. (At one point they even swap clothes!) The whole movie is about Elliot’s character’s struggle between the girly pageants their mom wants them to do and roller derby where they feel more like themself. So many of us found conflict with our families long before understanding why. Maybe it was roller derby, maybe it was theatre, maybe it was how we dressed or how we acted — even if we didn’t have the language, we knew we were different. It’s an experience so many of us have and this is the rare chance to see it on-screen. It’s fitting that when someone tells their mom they’re doing roller derby, they say, “Thanks for outing me.”
It’s okay if you don’t read Whip It as trans. It’s okay if this whole exercise bothers you as a cis woman who grew up connecting to Juno and Hard Candy and all of Elliot’s other work. Maybe these readings won’t feel necessary when Elliot has 30 more movies they’ve made fully as themself, when all the talented trans actors who started their careers as themselves get the roles they deserve. But until then I’m grateful to have Whip It. I’m grateful to have Elliot Page. I’m grateful to have a trans actor who has already given us so much, and is sure to give us so much more.
November 2021: What’s New and Gay on Netflix, Paramount, Showtime, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBO Max and More!
Another month, another opportunity to discuss the crucial community issue of what gay stuff we can stream on services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO, Paramount Plus, Apple TV. How will we ever keep up! Let us begin with the homosexual highlights.
Netflix Content for the Gals, Gays and Theys in November 2021
Big Mouth: Season 5 – November 5
“Big Mouth is an irreverent comedy about teens navigating a time of puberty, in an animated world where things like hormones, mental health, and more unseen forces are represented by literal monsters that follow you around and only you can see. The show has already featured a bisexual mom, a pansexual student, a trans girl voiced by Josie Totah, and other queerness sprinkled throughout. The Season 5 trailer seems to imply that one of the main characters, Jesse, might be falling for aforementioned pansexual, Ali, which I’m sure will result in something that is equal parts sweet, hilarious, and awkward as all hell, as is the way of Big Mouth.” — Valerie
Gentefied: Season 2 – November 10
One of 2020’s few unexpected gifts was this spirited dramedy about the Morales family fighting to save their family’s restaurant in a rapidly gentrifying area — and we were of course particularly interested in Ana, the queer artist who finds political issues bleeding into her relationship with her girlfriend.In Season 2 they will be dealing with Pop’s deportation and Ana will be “choosing to be with the ones who choose [her]” including a very hot girl she’s looking at art with and dancing with in the trailer!
Passing (2021) – November 10
“Formally, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut Passing; an adaptation of Nella Lawson’s classic Harlem Renaissance novel, is about Irene (Tessa Thompson), a Black woman finds her world completely turned upside down when she’s reunited with a former childhood friend (Clare, played by Ruth Negga) who’s passing as white. Informally, Passing explores the homoerotic friendship between Irene and Clare, full of longing glances, secret smiles, loaded pauses and fingertip caresses that left Carmen declaring ‘oh this is what white women who love Carol have been passing out about, I get it now.'” — Carmen
Supergirl (The CW): Season 6 – November 16
Cowboy Bebop: Season One – November 19
Based on a beloved anime series, LGBTQ-inclusive Cowboy Bebop follows three bounty hunters in a space Western as they search the solar system for dangerous criminals while also outrunning their own pasts. Nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park will play the nonbinary role of Gren, a veteran in the original anime who has been updated as running a hot jazz club on Mars.
Vita and Virginia (2019) – November 22
We all love Vita and Virginia and also, they loved each other. I asked Drew if this movie was good and she said “no, but it wasn’t bad. It’s very fine.”
Bruised (2020) – November 24
“Bruised stars and is directed by Halle Berry (in her directorial debut!) as MMA fisher Jackie Justice. Justice’s deal is that she walked away from her career on the rise, and now middle-aged, accepts an offer to fight the top woman MMA fighter in an off-the-books match while also coping with being reunited with her son, who she gave up as an infant. That’s a lot! And when the photos of Halle Berry in the ring burned down the internet a few months ago, Heather discovered that Halle’s Justice is going to be queer — let’s go indie queer media! Researching the stories that matter!” — Carmen
Hulu Is Not Doing Anything For Us This Month Besides Delivering Gillian Anderson in “The Great” Season 2, Which Isn’t Gay But I Thought You Might Want To Know Anyhow, So, Yeah, Sorry
Boys Don’t Cry (1999) – November 1
A tragic film based on the true story of Brandon Teena, a young trans man in Nebraska who found what felt like home and love and ended up subject to violence and murder.
HBO Max: What Gay and Lesbian and Queer Stuff is Going On There??
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) – November 1
Alanna Ubach plays Noreen, a total 90s lesbian in a plaid vest and bandana who crushes hard on Marcia Brady in this delightful 90s film inspired by the 70s TV series.
Gossip Girl: Season 1B Premiere – November 7
The second half of Season One of this so-so reboot returns with a Thanksgiving episode and more promised cameos from the original series. Social media expert Monet de Haan, the daughter of pharmaceutical moguls, was revealed to be a lesbian in the first bit of Season One, and of course we will also continue to enjoy Luna La, a Mexican stylist played by trans actress Zion Moreno!
Sort of (CBC): Season 1 Premiere – November 18
This “big-hearted series” follows “fluid millennial” Sabi Mehboob, the youngest child in a large Pakistani family. They work as a bartender at an LGBTQ bookstore/bar and as a nanny for a downtown hipster family and are trying to find themselves in a story that “exposes the labels we once poured ourselves into as no longer applicable… to anyone.” This looks really cool and queer and different and I am personally VERY EXCITED for it.
The Sex Lives of College Girls: Season 1 Premiere – November 18
Leighton is a preppy homosexual from a wealthy family in this series from Mindy Kaling about, you guessed it, the sex lives of college girls! It’s centered on four freshmen rooommates at Essex College in Vermont.
Paramount Plus Delivering for the LGBTs in November 2021
Star Trek Discovery: Season 4 Premiere – November 18
Season 4 will find Michael Burnham as the ship’s new captain, the first time a Black woman has sat in the captain’s chair in a live-action Trek series. The crew, including lesbian Jet Reno (Tig Notaro) and trans characters Gray (Ian Alexander) will grapple with a giant anamoly threatening to destroy life out of the galaxy, sucking various worlds into its orbit.
The Real World Los Angeles: Homecoming Premiere – November 24
After the reckoning enabled by the New York cast reunion earlier this year, L.A.’s return is sure to be equally dramatic, as the first but certainly not the last cast to vote to remove a roommate from the house. Beth A, who entered the home with a 90s lesbian haircut and a “I’m not gay but my girlfriend is” was a late-add, replacing Irene when she fled the house of sin for marriage.
Amazon Prime Video LGBT Options For People To Watch Things
Tampa Baes: Season One – November 5
This reality TV show, which has already earned some skepticism for its very light-skinned cast, follows a group of conventionally hot lesbians in Tampa as they drink as much alcohol as they possibly can while somehow retaining gainful employment. Also there are fights and sex!!! And um, this will be a neat little situation for us to process as a society
The Wheel of Time: Season One – November 19
The hotly anticipated series based on the widely beloved fantasy series centers on Aes Sedai, a wildly powerful and all-woman organization. Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) is amongst its most respected members, and is the advisor to Rand (Josa Stradowski), the Dragon Reborn, who will either save or destroy humanity! NBD. The showrunner has confirmed there will be lgbt rep in the show. This prediction was backed up by Heather, so!
Hanna: Season 3 – November 24
Trained assassin Hana, works to destroy Utrax —the sinister organization that created her — from the inside, with the help of her former nemesis, CIA agent Marissa Wiegler. Lesbian character Jules (Gianna Kiehl), along with young assassin Sandy (Aine Rose Daly) are getting suspicious about what exactly are Hanna’s impressions.
Apple TV+ Queer Stuff for November 2021
Dickinson: Season 3 Premiere – November 5
Dickinson’s thrid and final season returns in November and will allegedly take place during the Civil War, a battle that divided Dickinson’s family just as she was emerging as an artist. There are some steamy girl-on-girl kisses in this trailer between Emily and her beloved!
Showtime Anytime Lesbian Materials for November 2021
Yellowjackets: Season 1 Premiere – November 14
I was simply excited to read the cast list for this program that is “equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama” about a team of champion high school soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness: Melanie Lynskey, Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci, Tawny Cypress — AND our very own (by which I mean “she’s gay”) Jasmine Savoy Brown. Brown’s character, Taissa, grows up to become a politician with a wife!!! It kind of sounds like Alive?
Peacock LGBT+ Shows for November 2021
Saved by the Bell: Season 2 – November 24
The kids are back for a new year at Bayside with new faces and also “As Jamie (Belmont Cameli) gets support from Lexi (Josie Totah) following her parents’ divorce, Lexi struggles with learning to be a more understanding girlfriend.”
Newfest 2021: The Best Shorts from “Noor & Layla” to “MonsterDykë”
Newfest 2021 is taking place in New York City and virtually online. Find tickets for in-person and online screenings here.
Let’s be honest. Shorts programs can be rough.
Watch any omnibus film like Paris, je t’aime or To Each His Own Cinema and you’ll find that even some of our greatest filmmakers falter when presented with the short format. Shorts are really hard to do well. Even good ones often hint at promise more than feeling complete.
And yet shorts programs are one of the most exciting corners of any film festival. It’s where new voices are experimenting and unleashing creativity that’s yearning to be seen. And so I watched just about every short at Newfest relevant to our interests and you can just watch the ones that are truly special.
Out of the 49 shorts I watched, these eight were my favorites. Check them out!
8. Duet (dir. Shae Xu)
Featured in Shorts: Dyke Drama
This subtle film of lesbian longing follows a melancholy high school music teacher who shows up to her ex-partner’s concert — that’s ex piano partner. With these two women we see the divide between people who take risks and people who hide in comfort. And while much is left unsaid, when they play together they communicate so much desire, so much passion, so much life with just their long gay piano fingers.
7. Love is a Hand Grenade (dir. Jessica Benhamou)
Featured in Shorts: Brief Encounters
While this film begins like so many films of lesbian cinema past, it soon reveals deeper goals. This isn’t your average tale of a queer woman longing for her straight friend with a boyfriend. Instead it’s about the boundaries we sometimes need to set with those we love. The naturalistic writing and strong performances from Genesis Lynea and Saffron Hocking lull us into their flirtation before revealing a reality as explosive as the film’s title.
6. Kwêskosîw (She Whistles) (dir. Thirza Cuthand)
Featured in Shorts: Queer Fear
Rape/revenge is not a genre I usually respond to, but here Thirza Cuthand trades gratuitous violence for expertly crafted tension. Stephanie is an Indigenous woman on her way to her girlfriend’s place with a dead phone. As her cab driver grows increasingly threatening, Sera-Lys McArthur captures Stephanie’s mix of terror and righteous anger. This is at once an effective piece of genre filmmaking and a representation of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. It shows what’s possible when horror prioritizes catharsis over suffering.
5. F1-100 (dir. Emory Chao Johnson)
Featured in Shorts: Finding Refuge
Using video, illustration, and animation, this experimental doc explores the anxiety of being a trans person living in the US on an F1 student visa. It’s clear and informative in its details while feeling visceral in its presentation. This isn’t just a doc about the failures of US immigration policy or Malaysia’s treatment of queer people — it’s also the story of one trans person just trying to survive. This feels as formally personal as it is autobiographical as it is politically necessary and that’s what makes it such an accomplished short.
4. Freely We Serve (dir. Anna White & Emily Kaye)
Featured in Shorts: Sense & Spirituality
Bursting with creativity, this mix of animation and puppetry tells the story of two gay angels whose love is forbidden by God. What I love about this film — beyond its incredible design — is its emphasis on the harm that can exist within queer relationships and spaces. Instead of simply critiquing religious institutions, it reveals how we as queer people can internalize the same power structures and patterns of abuse that we’re trying to escape. It’s a pointed, necessary message packaged in an entertaining ride of a film.
3. Pure (dir. Natalie Jasmine Harris)
Featured in Shorts: Queer Kid Power
Tucked within the sweet and corny (and Disney-produced) films of the kids section is this deeply felt story of self-acceptance. Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew gives a lovely performance as Celeste, a girl torn between her upcoming cotillion ball and her burgeoning identity as a queer poet. Harris follows the expected beats of a queer coming-of-age movie, but with sharp writing, beautiful cinematography, and naturalistic performances, she shows just how good these stories can be when artful and specific. She’s working on turning this into a feature and I am so excited to see what she does with more time and money and to see all her future work!
2. Noor & Layla (dir. Fawzia Mirza)
Featured in Shorts: Dyke Drama
The only short I watched twice, Fawzia Mirza’s Noor & Layla is a love story told in reverse. These five vignettes about two Muslim women breaking up and meeting (and everything in between) are linked by five prayers. As the layers of this relationship are revealed, their connection — as individuals and within religion and culture — deepen, and their end becomes even more melancholy… and uncertain. This left me wanting more while still feeling complete and that’s exactly what I want from a short.
1. MonsterDykë (dir. Kaye Adelaide & Mariel Sharp)
Featured in Shorts: Always a Pleasure
I’m obsessed with this four minute film. It’s somehow both the very simple story of a trans woman realizing she’s better off ignoring men and a bonkers, pornographic Shape of Water/Pygmalion monster-fucking combo. Shot on black and white 16mm, this feels like something from the past while content-wise being everything I want from cinema’s future. It’s gross and hot like the best sex and it’s creative and free like the best queer art. Let this movie suck you up like an inanimate monster’s oozing orifices. You will not regret the experience.
Bonus: I didn’t include The More Things Change (featured in Shorts: Beyond the Binary) because I already wrote a full review for it back in 2019 when it played Outfest but it’s really good and you should watch it if you haven’t yet!
All of these films are available online until October 26th.
October 2021: What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Peacock and Apple TV
Well it’s October, a spooky little month for us all to stare at our television and say “where are the gay things? If I turn on Netflix, what will I find there? Or Amazon?!?!?!! Or HULU!?!?! What about HBO Max?? I am here to tell you!
Netflix Content for Gals, Gays and Theys in October 2021
The Baby-Sitters Club: Season 2 – October 11
Season Two of this sweet lil family series based on the YA novels that inspired lesbian entrepreneurship worldwide will be offering a lot more queer representation than the first but I cannot tell you exactly how yet. On a somehow unrelated note, Mallory and Jessie are finally joining the BSC. But with the new school year you can anticipate “booming business, new relationships, personal journeys and important lessons.”
Shameless: Season 11 (Showtime) – October 11
The final season of this program, which managed to end its run with more LGBTQ+ female characters than any non-LGBTQ-focused television program ever, took place right in the gut of the pandemic and saw our lesbian lead Debbie make a series of absurd and frustrating choices! We also got a lot of gay Sandy Milkovich though, so.
In the Dark: Season 3 (The CW) – October 14
“In the Dark’s third season giveth – in the form of a new queer character, Leslie played by Marianne Rendón from Imposters – and it taketh away – by way of resident lesbian Jess being sidelined right off the bat. It’s a bonkers show with a band of problematic faves but it does technically have queer characters, so. Here we are.” – Valerie
Sex, Love and Goop: Limited Series – October 21
It appears that one of the six couples who have signed up to talk to Gwyneth Paltrow about their sex lives is a lesbian couple, and I wish them all the best.
Sex Unzipped – October 26
Saweetie is hosting a comedy special that focuses on “sex positivity” while featuring sex experts, horny puppets of “all sex and sexualities that exist in real life” and talking heads. Special guests include Dominique Jackson, Mae Martin, Sam Jay and Trixie Mattel.
Wentworth: Season 8B/Season 9 (Foxtel) – October 27
The final ten episodes of our beloved Wentworth, named Wentworth: The Final Sentence, will find Joan recovered her memory and assuming the identity of Kath Maxwell while attempting to control her desire to seek vengeance against Vera, Will and Jake. Allie returns to Wentworth and queer characters Marie Winter and Ruby Mitchell will also exist.
Gay Content on Amazon Prime Video for October 2021
My Name is Pauli Murray (2021) – October 1
Non-binary Black Lawyer, Episcopal priest, poet and American Civil Rights Activist Pauli Murray — whose most significant romantic relationships were with women — was instrumental in arguing the equal protection cause of the 14th amendment outlawed sex-based discrimination. Analyzed in retrospect, Murray was aided in this perspective by their gender “in-betweenness,” and this amazing human is the focus of this special documentary.
Hightown: Season One (Starz) – October 1
Monica Raymund’s Jackie Quiñones is a hard-drinking and womanizing Provincetown townie who gets pulled into a drug-related murder investigation when she finds a body on the beach — another victim of Cape Cod’s opioid epidemic. This “funny, exciting, sexy crime drama” also sees Jackie on her own journey towards sobriety.
Leverage: Redemption: Season 1B (IMDB TV) – October 8
Eight new episodes bring the crew back together in a world where it’s gotten easier and more legal than ever for the rich to get richer and the powerful to destroy dissent. Aleyse Shannon plays Breanna Casey, a lesbian with skills in the realm of computers, robotics and getting into trouble.
I Know What You Did Last Summer: Season One – October 15
This mystery thriller series is based on the same 1973 Lois Duncan novel that inspired the iconic 1997 film. A year after a fatal car accident that haunted their graduation night, a group of teens bound together by a dark secret reunite for the summer to find that somebody knows what they did and wants to kill some goats and people about it. I did spend the first three episodes wondering if the lesbian tongue kiss between the popular/doomed Lennon (Madison Iseman) and influencer Margot (Brianne Tju) in the trailer was just a party trick, but in Season Four we confirm that it was indeed more than that!
Fairfax: Season One – October 29
This animated series is centered on a pre-teen group of stylish pals who dream of becoming influencers. The series’ title refers to the street in Los Angeles where long lines of humans regularly assemble for the latest drop at Supreme. In Fairfax, Supreme is Latrine, Canter’s becomes Schwimmer’s, and one of the kids engaging in madcap adventures is aspiring model-slash-activist Derica, who sports a big gay rainbow sticker on her bike helmet and is determined to save the planet in style. She’s voiced by Kiersey Clemons!
Hulu LGBTQ+ Content for October 2021
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 18 Premiere (ABC) – October 1
Season 18 will pick up in an alternate universe where COVID has been dealt with and is now gone and IDK that sounds pretty nice huh.
Station 19: Season 5 Premiere (ABC) – October 1
The premiere of Station 19 is gonna be a crossover with Grey’s Anatomy! I’ve never seen this show but I think it is about fire !!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday Night Live: Season 47 Premiere (NBC) – October 3
Our favorite Kate McKinnon show returns in October! There’s also featured player Punkie Johnson, returning once again to the cast. The second episode features bisexual musical guest Halsey and the October 23 episode has got Brandi Carlile playing gay music for you.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (2016) – October 3
Fox’s “hesitant mashup of the stage and film versions that somehow manages to extinguish the spark of both” stars Laverne Cox as Doctor Frank N. Furter, whose portrayal “isn’t near the queer revelation it oculd be.”
Dopesick: Limited Series – October 13
This eight-episode series based on the non-fiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors and the Drug Company that Addicted America looks at the opioid crisis on a micro, macro and opulent level: its impact on a distressed Virginia mining community, the DEA investigation and the accumulated wealth of the Sacklers, the family behind Purdue Pharma. Cleopatra Coleman will play Grace Pell, described as “brash and funny” and “an out lesbian who isn’t afraid to be herself amongst the world of the coal miners.”
Queens: Season One Premiere (ABC) – October 20
Queens stars Eve, Naturi Naughton, Nadine Velasquez and Brandy as four former hip-hop legends in their 40s who come back together for a chance to recapture the fame they possessed in the 90s. Naughton plays Jill “Da Thrill,” who traded stardom and drugs for a quiet Catholic life in Montana but has now found herself embroiled in an affair with another woman!
Queer Shows and Films Joining HBO Max in October 2021
Pariah (2011) – October 1
One of the best lesbian films of all time, Dee Rees’ first feature tells the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye), a 17-year-old Black lesbian coming into her identity and exploring her first love while struggling with an intolerant family.
The Hours (2002) – October 1
Three women of different generations played by Julienne Moore, Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman are interconnected through their relationship to Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway in this film based on Micheal Cunningham’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Topics include getting the flowers yourself, suburban ennui, suicide, AIDS and art. Great soundtrack!
Tully (2018) – October 1
This comedy-drama from Diablo Cody follows the strange developing friendship between an exhausted (bisexual!) mother of three, Marlo (Charlize Theron), and her new night nanny, Tully (Mackenzie Davis).
The Republic of Sarah: Season One (The CW) – October 6
After an incredibly valuable mineral is found under the ground of a small town in New Hampshire, a mining company swoops in to make a buck and is blocked by “rebellious high school” teacher Sarah Cooper, who ends up turning the town into its own nation. Nia Holloway plays AJ Johnson, a lesbian having an affair with the mayor’s wife.
15 Minutes of Shame: Limited Series – October 7
Roxane Gay and Kara Swisher are amongst the talking heads in this Monica Lewinsky produced docuseries about what happens to the Cancelled, the bullied and the shamed — and how tech companies are ultimately the entity that benefits most from social media pile-ons.
The Truth of Dolores Vázquez: Limited Series – October 26
Dolores Vázquez spent 519 days in jail for the murder of her ex-partner’s child in 1999 — and was handily convicted mostly ’cause there was a media circius and she was easy to villainize as a “dominant” lesbian, not because there was anything actually tying her to the crime. This six-part docuseries tells her story, which many may recognize from Netflix’s Murder by the Coast.
In The Heights (2021) – October 28
The film adaptation of the musical returns to HBO Max in October, with a key adjustment from the original: “Carla is also re-developed as Daniela’s romantic partner with quiet, lived-in moments across the week of one block’s summer heatwave.”
Love Life: Season 2 – October 28
Season One followed a millennial New Yorker played by Anna Kendrick (but it did include some gay stuff too!) and Season 2 centers on Marcus Watkins, a freshly divorced single Black man in his 30s navigating the New York dating scene. The preview suggests a threesome but more importantly, Marcus’s sister is played by SNL’s first out Black lesbian cast member Punkie Johnson.
Peacock’s New LGBTQ+ Stories for October 2021
Unidentified with Demi Lovato: Limited Series – September 30
This unscripted series follows Lovato, their BFF Matthew and their sister Dallas as they search for extraterrestrial life and UFO phenomena and investigate eyewitness encounters, secret government reports and UFO hotspot tests.
Home Sweet Home (NBC) – series premiere October 15
NBC shows premiere next-day on Peacock for Peacock premiere customers
Ava DuVernay’s unscripted series follows 18 families from diverse backgrounds who have signed up to swap lives with another to experience the world beyond their own upbringing. The premiere episode shows a Greek Orthodox family exchanging their home with a lesbian couple with kids who are “diblings” to their friends’ kids (siblings who are biologically related through the same donor) and LGBTQ+ representation is featured “across the series.”
The Girl in the Woods: Season One – October 21
Our heroine Carrie, a resident of Oregon, is attempting to escape the mysterious, cultish colony that guards the world from the monsters hidden behind a secret door in the woods. Non-binary actor Misha Osherovich plays Nolan, a charcter navigating their gender identity throughout the season and the trailer shows Carrie (Stefanie Scott) locking lips with Tasha, played by Sofia Bryant of I Am Not Okay With This.
Apple TV+ Queer Offerings for October 2021
Invasion: Season One – October 22
One of the network’s most anticipated series follows five people across the globe as Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens the future of humankind. Shioli Kutsuna plays Mitsuki Yamato, an aerospace engineer hiding a same-sex relationship with an astronaut.
The Maybe Gays of October:
I have invented this new section of the monthly streaming guide to inform you of shows that ping but unfortunately I could not confirm their queerness.
Maid: Season One – Netflix – October 1
There are two production stills that intrigued me: one includes a twentysomething girl with like a hot pink mohwak sitting in a support group, and the other (from episode 106) has two women, Vivian and Sasha, walking together in a position that suggests a history of lesbian romance. I do not intend to watch this program so if someone could just let us know. Furthermore there are a lot of social workers in this program and social work is a gay profession.
Guilty Party: Season One — Paramount+ — October 14
Kate Beckinsale’s real-life friend Asia Kate is wearing latex and licking Kate’s feet in the teaser, but the reason I think somebody has to be gay in this dark comedy about a privileged journalist trying to get a woman out of prison for a murder she didn’t commit is because when this many women in a trailer are seen without men at their sides, one of them has to be gay! That’s math.
Night Teeth – Netflix – October 20
This is about female vampires and Megan Fox and Sydney Sweeney are involved. Are they vampire girlfriends? Will the “all vamps are pansexual” rule apply here? We’ll find out!
Roaring Twenties: Season One – Netflix – October 22
This is a reality show about eight twentysomethings “looking to live the best years of [their] lives in the biggest, boldest way possible” and it was casting in August in Austin, Texas; there’s no info anywhere about this program’s participants but are they really gonna shoot an entire show in Austin without any bisexuals, that feels unlikely!
De-Gayed By Hollywood: 22 Movies That “Straightwashed” LGBTQ+ Women Characters
For most of cinema history, LGBTQ people have relied on subtext to get us through the cold lonely nights of our queer discontent — and sometimes we did so because studios and test audiences were terrified by any and all reminders that we existed! “Straightwashing” comes in many forms: turning a queer person into a straight person in a biopic, rejecting gay storylines to please studios or in fear of losing family and international audiences, removing gay scenes or relegating obvious lesbians to subtext because nobody wants women to be happy without men. Last week the internet was abuzz with an actor revealing that Legally Blonde had a potential lesbian ending, although a screenwriter for the film has since denied that claim. Still, I got to thinking that wow, this has happened to us a lot, hasn’t it?
The list of biopics or movies based on true events that straightwashed their characters for a film adaptation would be longer than a CVS receipt, so I’ve tried to limit this list to films where there is evidence that gay content was considered and rejected or conversation around the absence of gay content.
Times Square (1980)
This gritty indie follows misunderstood youths Nicky and Pamela who meet each other in a mental hospital and become best friends, finding refuge in punk music and street life. The story was based on the diary of an actual teenage girl that the screenwriter bought at a second-hand store. The filmmakers still consider it to be a lesbian love story, but the vast majority of its lesbian content was stripped from its final print, which essentially destroyed the movie. Despite being impossible to find online, it still has a cult following amongst queer audiences and has been noted for its portrayal of a pre-Giuliani Times Square.
The Color Purple (1985)
Author Alice Walker wrote of the Spielberg adaptation of her classic novel: “I was clear that Shug is, like me, bisexual. That Celie is a lesbian. Do I regret that my version of the book was not filmed? I have accepted that it wasn’t.” She “lobbied for a kiss” with Spielberg but “knew the passion of Celie and Shug’s relationship would be sacrificed when, on the day “the kiss” was shot, Quincy reassured me that Steven had shot it “five or six” different ways, all of them tasteful.” In 2011, Spielberg admitted that he “took something that was extremely erotic and very intentional, and I reduced it to a simple kiss.”
Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael (1990)
A film that has tentatively attracted queer audiences for over three decades, this Wynona Ryder vehicle was supposed to be, depending on who you ask, “an account of a small town’s memory of a bisexual teenage woman” or “a lesbian coming out story.” But, as recalled by the director, “at test screenings people were kind of shocked to see the two [women] in bed… I think we miscalculated the reaction.” According to author Michelangelo Signorile, ” the film “removed the original lesbian theme from its screenplay.” The remaining pieces left in its wake are what one fan called “one of the most subtle lesbian subplots in Hollywood history.”
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
The lesbian relationship between Idgie and Ruth was fairly explicit in Fannie Flagg’s book (although her then-girlfriend, Rita Mae Brown, recalls Flagg struggled with internalized homophobia and didn’t want her book considered a “lesbian novel”) and deliberately ambiguous in its blockbuster Hollywood adaptation. Fried Green Tomatoes was released right before Basic Instinct, inspiring activists to wonder why queerness was okay for serial killers, but not for two cafe-owners in Alabama. In the director’s cut, director Jon Avnet claimed that a food fight scene was intended to be a “love scene.”
Switch (1991)
This epic flop’s storyline was thus: Steve’s an asshole, three (3) of his former lovers assemble to murder him and then he is reincarnated as a woman, Amanda, so he can learn what it’s really like to be a woman! He’ll only make it to heaven if he can find one woman to love him. One of his potential suitors is Sheila, a lesbian perfume magnate. Originally Amanda/Steve and Sheila shared a lesbian sex scene, but test audiences felt uncomfortable about it and thus the story was re-written to have Amanda/Steve rebuffing Sheila’s advances. “Beyond the explicit and offensive homophobia that provokes such a censorious action,” wrote a reviewer at OutWeek, “the suppression of this scene is further complicated by the fact that arguably, it would’ve been the “safest” way to represent lesbianism in a Hollywood movie: not as lesbianism at all, but as heterosexuality.”
L.A. Story (1991)
As quoted in the book Basic Instinct, Hollie Conley of GLAAD said that the Steve Martin comedy LA Story “had two positive lesbian characters removed from the film following negative reactions at test screenings,” while The L.A Daily News reported that Steve Martin’s lesbian friend and neighbor in L.A Story had her lesbianism “downplayed.”
A League of Their Own (1992)
For not being gay, a League of Their Own has a reputation for being really fucking gay — from the classic bircurious straight girl / butch lesbian friendship between Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna to the gay outcast played by gay actress Megan Cavanaugh to Anne Ramsey to the league’s entire deal. Josephine D’Angelo, the baseball player who inspired Geena Davis’s Dottie Hinson, was gay in real life and ejected from the league for getting an alternative lifestyle haircut. The recent Netflix documentary A Secret Love tells the story of two women who met and fell in love playing for the AAGPBL, which was apparently a non-stop party for its closeted lesbian players. Luckily, the new television series will not be obscuring the league’s intense gay history.
Now and Then (1995)
Honestly everybody in this pic looks gay tho
Christina Ricci and Rosie O’Donnell shared the role of tomboy Roberta in the beloved (by future lesbians) ’90s girl movie Now and Then. Lesbian showrunner Marlene King, who would later go on to produce Creepy Doll Tribute Series “Pretty Little Liars,” told Entertainment Tonight that “The script was written, and then we shot [the movie] with the intention of Roberta being gay.” But when they screened the film in the Chicago suburbs, their plan went south: “When Roberta was Rita Wilson’s character’s gynecologist [during the labor scene], people freaked out. They were like, ‘Ew, she’s a lesbian and she’s looking at her vagina!’ And we were like, ‘What? Seriously? Do you really care?'” Unfortunately, the studio backed the test audiences’s homophobic response, insisting they change the character to avoid anybody leaving the theater with “crazy thoughts.” King, Rosie and the cast were all upset by the decision, which also involved adding the line “Roberta, for example, has chosen to be alternative. She lives in sin with her boyfriend, but she is still normal.”
X-Men Franchise (2000 – 2019)
In the comics, Mystique/Raven is bisexual and has a long-term female partner named Destiny. You wouldn’t know this from watching the X-Men films, however, because Destiny is only in one of them and although in the comics Mystique has had relationships with men, women and demons; her only relationship in the films has been with Magneto.
Legally Blonde (2001)
The original Legally Blonde film was allegedly supposed to end with a romance between Elle (Reese Witherspoon) and Vivian (Selma Blair). “The first ending was Elle and Vivian in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands,” star Jessica Cauffiel told the Times. “The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically.” However, Legally Blonde’s screenwriter has rejected this claim.
Scooby-Doo (2002) & Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)
Scooby Doo writer James Gunn wanted his live-action film adaptation of the Scooby-Doo comics to make Velma “explicitly gay.” After a fan tweeted at Gunn last year asking him to “make our live-action lesbian Velma dreams come true,” he replied, “”I tried! But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).” Sarah Michelle Gellar also told reporters that her character and Velma were supposed to kiss during a body-swapping scene.
Love Actually (2003)
My least favorite film in the history of cinema committed many sins in its pathway to near-universal affection and adoration and one of them was, in fact, cutting a plotline featuring a lesbian couple. In this story, a teacher at the school attended by many of the films innocent children (Liam Neeson’s stepson, Emma Thompson’s kiddos, etc), played by Anne Reid, is seen heading home with her partner, played by Frances de la Tour. There is coughing and illness and then um, she dies? So. As you can see, Love Actually’s cut storylines were just as stupid as the ones it included!
Whip It! (2009)
Whip It! was a fantastic vehicle for Elliot Page and Drew Barrymore to do a lot of hot editorial photoshoots together but more than that, it was an actual movie about roller derby, which is a lesbian sport. And yet: where were the lesbians? “I was pushing for Eva to be a lesbian seductress, hitting on all the girls,” said actress Ari Graynor. “I tried to push the envelope a little on stuff that didn’t end up in the film.” In 2018, Elliot Page said of the film, “A movie like Whip it, you know, should be more queer. It’s just that simple. It wasn’t a realistic reflection of the derby world, and I wish that was different. I love that film, just wanna be clear. Love that film, had a fucking blast, met two of my best friends in the universe on the film. But yeah, of course looking back on that, that’s a bummer. It’s a reflection of the time.”
Saving Mr Banks (2013)
Pamela Travers, the bisexual author of Mary Poppins, was not the “solitary, sexless spinster” she appeared to be in the Disney film. (Nor did she ever come around to liking the Disney adaptation of her book, as this movie suggests) Emma Thompson, who played Travers, defended the choice to leave sexual orientation out of the film: “You can’t fit everything about a persons life in two hours…. Saving Mr Banks is about a woman’s creative, artistic life. It’s a relief, quite frankly, because when is a movie about a woman not about her love life?” Well, I think we all know the answer to that!! WHEN THE WOMAN IS GAY.
Ghostbusters (2016)
In an interview with The Daily Beast, director Paul Feig affirmed that Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann was a lesbian character, shrugging and noting “I hate to be coy about it. But when you’re dealing with the studios and that kind of thing…”
Suicide Squad (2016)
Although this wrong was eventually righted in future films (and in the animated series), Harley Quinn’s bisexuality was nowhere to be found in Suicide Squad, which instead lauded her abusive relationship with Joker. As noted by The Advocate, “It’s truly horrifying that Hollywood would rather try to sell an abusive ‘straight’ relationship as romantic over showing a bisexual woman in a healthy same-sex relationship.” In fact, the animated series did address her abusive relationship with the Joker — and then she ended up breaking up with / killing him, falling in love with Poison Ivy, and riding off into the sunset with her. Guess which one had more critical acclaim? The second one, by far, even from straight critics.
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
According to star Anna Kendrick, she and co-star Brittany Snow “tricked everybody into just shooting one [ending] that was just the two of us getting together. We knew it was a long shot. It meant so much to us that there was this following around their latent relationship and, yeah, I thought it would’ve been really cool if it would have ended up coming to fruition in the end.” (That said, the Pitch Perfect franchise has featured a Black lesbian character in all of its films.)
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
In addition to casting lily-white actress Scarlett Johansson as Japanese cyborg Major Motoko Kusangi, Ghost in the Shell straightwashed the character, who is depicted as queer in the original anime and manga. The film hinted at a lesbian scene in its first trailer, but that hint turned out to be a false lead. Screenwriter David Opie said it could’ve been “refreshing” to not focus on her sexuality, but noted that the directing team “did ultimately sexualize her character through numerous action scenes featuring Johansson in the nude, which arguably reinforces how the lack of bisexual representation here is even more of a missed opportunity.”
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Daniella Pineda played Dr. Zia Rodriguez, a paleo-veterinarian who ends up on an unexpected journey with Owen and Claire in their mission to save their park from angry dinosaurs. Pineda told Yahoo that a scene was cut in which she looked at Owen to size up his looks and noted: “square jaw, good bone structure, tall, muscles. I don’t date men, but if I did, it would be you. It would gross me out, but I’d do it.” She loved the scene for its insight into her character and for the inherent humor of a woman rejecting objective hunk Chris Pratt.
Black Panther (2018)
As Carmen explains in her piece on Black Panther, two prominent members of the Dora Milaje, Ayo and Aneka, are in a romantic relationship in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ version of the Marvel Black Panther comic series. In 2017, members of the press were invited to private screenings featuring clips from the much-anticipated feature. Joanna Robinson wrote in Vanity Fair of a scene she witnessed at that time: “We see Gurira’s Okoye and Kasumba’s Ayo swaying rhythmically back in formation with the rest of their team. Okoye eyes Ayo flirtatiously for a long time as the camera pans in on them. Eventually, she says, appreciatively and appraisingly, “You look good.” Ayo responds in kind. Okoye grins and replies, “I know.” Marvel responded swiftly to assure that the relationship was not a romantic one, and when the film debuted to widespread acclaim, it was clear to viewers that the scene confirmed by multiple journalists in attendance had been mercilessly cut.
Thor: Ragnrok (2018)
Bisexual actress Tessa Thompson has confirmed her character, Velkyrie, is bisexual and that the female warrior who died to save her in a flashback during the film was her lover. Thompson also managed to convince director Taika Waititi “to shoot a glimpse of a woman walking out of Valkyrie’s bedroom” but, alas, “he kept it in the film as long as he could; eventually the bit had to be cut because it distracted from the scene’s vital exposition.”
Wonder Woman: 1984 (2020)
Wonder Woman is bisexual in the comics and therefore canonically queer, but you would not know this from watching any films in which Wonder Woman has appeared, which have all been handily straighwashed. Some expected a little more out of Wonder Woman: 1984, as it also featured the canonically queer character of Barbara Minerva/Cheetah, with whom Wonder Woman experienced palpable sexual tension. When asked about why their connection wasn’t explored, Patty Jenkins said, “This storyline was so clearly about Steve coming back, the whole story was about Steve. It’s all a love story with Steve.” That focus was um, one of many reasons why the movie SUCKED HARD.
The United States vs Billie Holiday (2020)
The trailer for the Hulu biopic got the entire queer community stoked for its release — but the queer scenes from said trailer were nowhere to be found in the film. We did not see Billie and Tallulah Bankhead at a jeweler together and we did not see them kiss. “It was hinted at that they were lovers,” wrote Dani Janae in The Drop review of the film, “but the scenes between them were so… stale. It looked like they were just acquaintances.”
10 Queer Movies to Make Her Break Up With Him
Someone recently found Autostraddle by Googling “movies to make her break up with him” and, friends, it really touched my heart! Because we’ve all been there! Wanting the girl we like to break up with some stupid boy! Drew, our resident queer movie expert, and I talked it out and decided there’s two ways you can go here. You can watch a queer movie with your friend that is just so dang sexy they might catch on fire, or you can watch a queer movie with your friend that has a misandrist angle to it. Bonus points if it’s a film that does both of those things! Drew and I made a quick list of 10 queer movies that’ll surely make her break up with him. (And if you’re looking for movies about friendship and misandry, Carmen’s already got you covered on that!) Please weigh in with your own helpful suggestions in the comments!
Bound
Bound doesn’t queer the genre just by making them both women — it queers the genre by deepening both characters. Corky isn’t a fool and Violet isn’t evil. They’re both just desperate. Hot and desperate and in love. Violet uses her sexuality to get what she wants, but with Corky it’s genuine. As Violet says, with Corky it’s sex — with everyone else it’s just work. It’s not subversive to have Corky trust Violet, but it’s absolutely subversive to have Violet prove worth trusting. She’s only a femme fatale in the sense that she’s a femme and if you’re a man and you deserve it she’ll kill you. But Corky isn’t a man and her gamble pays off. Yes, this is ultimately just a gay movie about overcoming trust issues.
The Handmaiden
Then there are the erotics that Hideko seizes for herself, ones that are technically taboo and yet entirely her own. There are classic lesbian period drama erotic images like Sook-hee and Hideko undoing approximately one thousand buttons along each other’s spines, like Sook-hee watching Hideko pull on gloves, like a bathing scene that is maybe the sexiest scene in the whole movie, and I’m including the actual sex scenes. Now let’s talk about those actual sex scenes! They are long; they are spitty; they are sweaty. Hideko and Sook-hee lap at each other and buck their bodies against each other and want each other so, so much.
Kissing Jessica Stein
I used to hate this ending. I related deeply to Jessica and her rejection of queerness felt like a betrayal. But the years have passed, and as my own queerness has changed my relationship to my family and myself, I’ve realized I’m really more of a Helen anyway. The fact is queerness freed Jessica from the confines of an expected life and whether she wants to date another woman or settle down with Josh Meyers that will always be true. That’s the power of a queer identity — no matter how short-lived.
Desert Hearts
Desert Hearts is the first lesbian movie that made me cry. The death and dismemberment and dashed dreams of the films I saw before it, that was all fine and good and unsurprising. Where I grew up, lesbians were witches, and witches burn, and I knew that. It was the tenderness of Desert Hearts that got me, the hope, and the idea that a woman didn’t need to have it all nailed down by the time she hit 30, that a woman could give in to what she wanted and just figure it out as she went along, no matter how young or old she was, or what she’d committed to do or be in the past.
Carol
From Heather’s article on Carol’s Oscars snub:
Carol‘s director, Todd Haynes, who was also snubbed by the Academy for the first time this awards season, refused to center on masculine experience (he cut a scene where Therese gave Richard a hand job, for example, deciding to eschew all male pleasure on-screen). He also made the bold decision to allow Carol‘s audience to laugh at men. Not with men. No, Haynes invited viewers to see the men in his movie — these husbands and boyfriends and duplicitous know-it-all notions sellers — through the eyes of queer women and to laugh openly at their silliness, unearned confidence, and expendability.
The most triumphant moment of the film comes when Carol walks out on Harge (and a roomful of male lawyers) after declaring that she will not live against her grain. He is the embodiment of toxic masculinity and she shrugs him off like her fur coat.
The Half of It
From Drew Gregory’s love letter to The Half of It:
You aren’t a love story, but that doesn’t mean your love story is any less important. Watching Ellie and Aster connect — even under the guise of Ellie as Paul — is overwhelming. It’s that thing, right, where you’re in a small town and nobody understands you and then suddenly you find one person who does. And, sure, there’s probably a whole world of people out there who could understand you like they do, but you don’t know that. You’re young. And for the first time in your life you don’t feel alone. Even if someday you realize you weren’t actually soulmates, it still means everything, and will always mean everything, because when life felt impossible and the future seemed bleak that person showed you that you could belong.
Fried Green Tomatoes
My favorite lesbian movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, is not even technically a lesbian movie. Technically it’s a movie about two women who live together, raise a child together, defend and love each other, and have sexually-charged food fights in a Totally Heterosexual way. The relationship is a lot less subtextual in the book (although it’s never actually spelled out in the book either, you’ll have to read fanfiction for that), but I’ll always love the movie all the same. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it over the years, as it was a regular feature in the network TV Saturday Afternoon movie line-up throughout my own formative years. It’s also probably the only queer film you can comfortably watch with your foot-washing Baptist granny. While the queer aspect may have been covert, the relationship between Idgie and Ruth was a strong, positive and beautiful one which made a big impression on my own burgeoning yet equally subtextual queer identity. Before I even could fully articulate why, I thought the picnic scene where Idgie pulls out fresh honeycomb from the hive for Ruth was one of the most romantic scenes in film.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Portrait of a Lady on Fire is not simply a work of the female gaze, it is not simply a work of lesbian cinema. It is pushing against the boundaries of the screen, frantically, lovingly, desperately, erotically, grasping grasping grasping for a new language, a new way of seeing… Marianne studies and she paints, falling in love as an act of creation. Every glance thrills her as an artist, overwhelms her as a potential lover, and pains her as a spy… I will not reduce actors Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel to adjectives. To say they are good or great or brilliant is insufficient. Sciamma’s attempt to capture without controlling allows for their performances to feel accomplished in a way that’s separate from the viewer. They are each other’s only audience.
I Can’t Think Straight
This movie made both Natalie and Valerie Anne’s top ten lists, already a shining endorsement. Natalie says she didn’t fall in love with I Can’t Think Straight right away, but when it clicked, it clicked. Valerie says maybe it nudged her one step closer out of the closet. Seems like exactly the kind of thing you want to show the girl you want to break up with her boyfriend.
9 to 5
I’m going to count this as queer because lesbian icon Lily Tomlin is in it. What you get with 9 to 5 is a hilarious and resonant movie that still holds up after all these decades, a reminder that men have always been terrible, the message that no one will ever understand you like the women in your life, and a perfect bridge to Grace and Frankie, the greatest TV show ever about best friends realizing they’re soul mates.
May 2021: Here’s What’s New and Gay on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO Max and Peacock
It’s May Day and everybody is wondering the same thing: what is landing upon our television screens via streaming services that appeals to our interests as homosexuals, bisexuals, pansexuals and otherwise-identified humans who love to watch stories on a screen??? Specifically what can I locate on Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Peacock and HBO Max???!!?!! What is streaming in May 2021!?! There’s simply one way to find out and it is to read this post.
Netflix May 2021 Streaming for Gays, Girls and Theys
Last month was a prime time to be a queer woman on Netflix but this month, it’s a great month to be a gay man on Netflix: a new season of Special, a documentary about controversial LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell, a based-on-true events film about gay culture in Mexico at the turn of the century, a new superhero series with a gay male lead! Not quite so good for the girls. Here’s a list of the odds that may or may not be in our favor.
J.T. LeRoy (2019) – May 1
JT Leroy was a persona invented by author Laura Albert (Laura Dern) and played by her sibling-in-law, Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart) who wrote a lot of books that did very well and then it was exposed that he was not real! “Justin Kelly’s JT LeRoy is not a great movie,” wrote Drew in her review. “In fact, it’s pretty bad. And yet in so many ways it’s the perfect JT LeRoy movie, the inevitable conclusion to this whole twisted saga.”
Jupiter’s Legacy: Season 1 (Netflix Original) – May 7th
Based on the graphic novels, Jupiter’s Legacy is “an epic superhero drama that spans decades and navigates the complex dynamics of family, power and loyalty.” Richard Conrad/Blue Bolt, one of the series leads, is gay. Humberly Gonzalez, a practiced hand at playing gay (Utopia Falls, Ginny & Georgia), is playing Gabriella/Neutrino, who is queer in the graphic novels although nothing on that tip has been confirmed thus far for the new series. Netflix’s gay content twitter account The Most tweeted today that “Anna Akana kicks ass as sword-wielding baddie Raikou” but I can’t find anything indicating she’s a queer character, perhaps y’all can fill me in!
The Dance of the 41 (2020) (Netflix Original) – May 12
Inspired by actual events, this Mexican arthouse film follows the secretly gay congressman who marries the daughter of the then-president of Mexico, and centers around the events leading up to and following 1901’s “The Dance of the 41,” a ball for gay men, illegally raided by police, in which many guests dressed in women’s clothing. It was the first time homosexuality was discussed widely in the Mexican press. It does not seem like there are any gay women in this film but like also it’s very gay, so???
The Upshaws: Season One (2021) (Netflix Original) – May 12
This new sitcom about a blended family from Wanda Sykes and Mike Epps looks really good but is Wanda Sykes gay in the series? I do not know! The Upshaws was not included in Netflix’s “Streams in Gay Guide” but there is likely only one way to find out: watching the show.
Halston: Limited Series (2021) (Netflix Original) – May 14th
Ryan Murphy’s latest for Netflix covers the life of fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick, although it is unclear if there will be any lesbian or bisexual characters. Josephine Baker is listed as a one-episode character on imdb.
Army of the Dead (2021) – May 21st
Las Vegas suffers an intense zombie outbreak, inspiring a group of mercenaries to venture into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist of all time. This is relevant to our collective interests because as you may know, Tig Notaro was late-added to the film, replacing Chris D’Elia.
Master of None: Season 3 (Netflix Original) – May 23
This final season of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None focuses on Lena Waithe’s character, Denise, and her relationship with her girlfriend. It is called “Moments in Love.” Let the Lena Waithe discourse begin!
Lucifer: Season 5B – May 28th
Season 5B of Lucifer will likely see Maze either fighting to prove she has a soul or trying to pretend she doesn’t care if she does or not. Either way surely our favorite bisexual badass from hell will break bones and hearts in equal measure.
New Stuff For Queer Women Etc on Hulu May 2021
Pose debuts this month on FX on May 3rd, but does not seem to be part of FX on Hulu.
I Am Cait: Season 2 – May 1
The reality show following trans celebrity Caitlyn Jenner is dropping its 2016 season on Hulu.
Bound (1996) – May 1
This lesbian noir classic from the Wachowskis follows Violet (Jennifer Tilly), the femme fatale seeking an exit from her relationship with her mafioso boyfriend and Corky (Gina Gershon), a butch ex-con who looks really great in a tank top. Together they are scheming to get some of that sweet sweet mafia money.
Shrill: Season 3 (Hulu Original) – May 7
The (sadly) final season of Shrill continues to follow Annie, a character inspired by writer Lindy West who juggles bad boyfriends and bad workplaces and searching for self-confidence. Her best friend/roommate, Fran (Lolly Adefope), is a lesbian and we love her. Season 3 promises Fran and Emily taking their relationship to the next level and Fran getting a job at a salon. Trans actress Patti Harrison is also returning to the program for all the laughs we can handle.
A Perfect Ending (2012) – May 15
This mediocre lesbian film stars Jessica Clark as Paris, a high-price escort who begins a little situation with a wealthy middle-aged wife, Rebecca (Barbara Niven) who is having conflicts with her husband and also has never had an orgasm!
Mosquita y Mari (2012) – May 15
A “quiet and big-hearted” coming-of-age film about two very different girls — Mari Rodriguez is street-wise from a struggling family and Yolanda Olveros is a sheltered only child whose parents have high hopes for her future. They are thrust together by unexpected circumstances and then what happens? FEELINGS.
Pride: Limited Series (2021) – May 15
Releasing May 14 on FX and the next day on FX on Hulu, PRIDE is a six-part documentary series chronicling the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights in America from the 1950s through the 2000s. Each segment is directed by a different LGBTQ+ director with an emphasis on well known and overlooekd characters, tracing the movement from the1950s Lavender Scare to the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and beyond, exploring the queer legacy of the Civil Rights movement and the battle over marriage equality.
Reaching for the Moon (2013) – May 15
Miranda Otto and Glória Pires play American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian designer Lota de Macedo Soares, two headstrong women who had a very dramatic affair. As Drew wrote on the Best Lesbian Films ever list, “It’s a film about depression, substance abuse, and the creative process — and how all three affect romantic relationships.”
Tru Love (2013) – May 15
A Candian film about 37-year-old “serial bed hopping lesbian” Tru who is bounding aimlessly through life when she meets Alice, a 60-year-old widow visiting Tru’s friend, her busy lawyer daughter, Suzanne. Sparks fly! There are complications with Suzanne! I watched this entire film and retained not one moment of it, but your mileage may vary.
The Bold Type: Season 5 Premiere (Freeform)- May 27
After a bad Season 4, The Bold Type returns for its final lap in the sun with a short six-episode season. Jane, Kat and Sutton will allegedly be “on the brink of defining who they really are and how best to leave their mark on the world,” Nikohl Boosheri is recurring as our dear favorite character Adena El-Amin.
Amazon Prime Gay Stuff In May 2021
Bound (1996) – May 1
As aforementioned in the Hulu section. Big effort from Amazon this month!!!
HBO Max Queer Content Coming in May 2021
Frida (2002) – May 1
Salma Hayek got an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of surrealist Mexica artist Frida Kahlo in this biopic mainly focused on her relationship with husband Diego Rivera. Bisexual Kahlo has many affairs with women including Josephine Baker (Karine Plantadit-Bageot) and Tina Modotti (Ashley Judd), who also had an affair with Diego!
Legendary: Season 2 (HBO Max original) – May 6
This ballroom competition show that pits ten Houses against each other in a battle for a $100,000 grand prize returns for a second season with guest judges including Demi Lovato, Adam Lambert, Tiffany Haddish and Amiyah Scott. Jameela Jamil, Leiomy Maldonado, Megan Thee Stallion, and Law Roach return as main judges.
Lesbian Character on Peacock in May 2021 Alert
Girls 5Eva: Season One (Peacock Original) – May 6
This series from Tina Fey about a girl group with one hit in the ’90s who are given a second shot at fame in 2021 features Paula Pell as one of the group members who is also by the way a lesbian. Busy Phillips is in this, I feel like everybody loves Busy Phillips yeah?
25 Good First Date Movies for Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Queers
It’s kind of a miracle that any gay women were able to form lasting relationships prior to 2015, due to the complete dearth of lesbian first date movies that ended in anything other than a lesbian hurling herself off a roof, getting murdered for having sex with another woman, or being arrested for stalking psychopathic tendencies. These days there’s dozens — dozens! — of queer and queer-adjacent films that include laughing, smooching, man-bashing, and even happy endings. So we’ve compiled a list of 25 Good First Date Movies for Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Queers, sorted into five helpful categories depending on the mood you’re trying to set.
The Classics
Desert Hearts (1985)
The oldest movie on this list, but also, to this day, one of the sexiest. Director Donna Deitch’s lesbian love story, which was written by lesbian novelist Jane Rule, is set in the ’50s and was filmed in the ’80s, and it absolutely holds up in the 2020s.
But I’m a Cheerleader (1999)
Jamie Babbit‘s cult classic, starring Clea DuVall and Natasha Lyonne as disaffected youth at a ridiculous gay conversion camp, remains the number one movie on our 200 Best Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Movies Of All Time list, and it won’t be going anywhere any time soon. Lesbian camp at its finest.
Saving Face (2004)
Alice Wu‘s directorial debut is a lesbian romance, a coming of age story, and a multigenerational family comedy that has delighted queer audiences for decades, and which compelled all of us to watch Wu’s second film, The Half of It — which also made this list — the second it landed on Netflix in 2020. Wu is a queer filmmaking icon, and she’s only released two feature films.
D.E.B.S. (2004)
The other camp film on this list of good first date movies for lesbians is D.E.B.S., Angela Robinson‘s short film turned feature about a lesbian mastermind super-criminal who falls in love with one of the spies from The Academy of Discipline, Energy, Beauty, and Strength that’s pursing her. Plus a bonus Holland Taylor as the head of the elite investigative force.
Imagine Me & You (2005)
The original and most-quoted lesbian rom-com in the history of gay cinema follows Rachel and Luce around London as they grocery shop, attend football games, flirt over flowers, and try not to love each other (while daring to love each other).
Romances/Rom-Coms
Carol (2015)
Todd Haynes’ adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt is the perfect lesbian movie for any season: flirting season, breakup season, misandry season, and Christmas.
The Handmaiden (2016)
Park Chan-wook’s 2016 film adapted from the 2002 historical crime novel Fingersmith by Sarah Waters is a cinematic masterpiece of erotic storytelling. One of the sexiest films on this list for sure.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (2017)
Hey! Another one of the sexiest films on this list! And another one by Angela Robinson! Professor Marston & the Wonder Women is based on the true story of Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston and his polyamorous relationship with Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne.
Rafiki (2018)
Writer/Director Wanuri Kahiu‘s Rafiki was the first Kenyan film to screen at Cannes. It has been universally praised by critics around the world, despite still being banned in its home country. It’s a bright, colorful, visceral, loving, stunning movie about two girls in love.
Comedies
Wild Nights With Emily (2018)
Before Apple TV+’s Dickinson, writer/director Madeleine Olnek dared to imagine a world where Emily Dickinson’s queerness was put back into her story — where it had been deliberately erased — and she was understood as a whimsical, generous genius, instead of an angsty, nun-like recluse. Molly Shanon is pitch-perfect as the renowned poet who wrote most of her poems for her beloved Sue.
Blockers (2018)
One of Autostraddle CEO Riese Bernard’s all-time faves, Blockers is a genuinely funny, seriously gay, surprisingly sex-positive comedy that invites you to laugh with its characters whom you’ll find yourself relating to even if you haven’t been to prom in a very long time.
Booksmart (2019)
Molly and Amy, played to absolute perfection by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever, shine in Olivia Wilde’s queer, feminist answer to the dozen teen boy buddy comedies of the early aughts. Highly watchable, eternally hilarious, a good first date movie for lesbians who are even just going to stay friends.
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
There’s definitely a threesome in Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo’s absolutely ridiculous musical comedy, so that makes it gay. But so does the life partnership of Barb & Star, who take a vacation to the imaginary Vista Del Mar and end up saving each other and the world.
Coming of Age Stories
Dope (2015)
From Autostraddle Editor in Chief Carmen Phillips: “Dope is part teen comedy, part heist mystery, but most importantly it is so sweetly and effortlessly and casually Black. A complete love letter to nerdy ass black kids and the black communities we grew up in.” Kiersey Clemons is also very gay in it!
Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
Oh, hey! It’s Kiersey Clemons again! Hearts Beat Loud is everything you love about queer YA literature. There’s self-discovery, first love, complicated feelings about leaving home, and lots of hope. Plus: original music!
The Prom (2020)
Ryan Murphy’s star-studded film adaptation of the award-winning super-gay Broadway musical swept our entire team off our feet. We loved it despite all reason and explanation and expectation. It transported us. Which is, of course, what all the best musicals do.
The Half of It (2020)
Alice Wu’s follow up to Saving Face says it’s not a story with a happy ending, but that’s actually untrue. It’s not a story with a stereotypical smooshy love send-off, but it’s all courage and finding yourself and coming out and breaking free. It’s a feel-good film all the way around.
Misandrist Magnum Opuses
Set It Off (1996)
Queen Latifah gets revenge.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Charlize Theron gets revenge.
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Cate Blanchett gets revenge.
Hustlers (2019)
Jennifer Lopez gets revenge.
Widows (2019)
Viola Davis gets revenge.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (2020)
Harley Quinn and Renee Montoya get revenge.
Movies About Women in Suits That You Want to Ruin Your Life
A Simple Favor (2018)
In A Simple Favor, Blake Lively plays, in the words of Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, “a whirlwind monster of a Mommi” — and that’s all you really need to know.
Happiest Season (2020)
The gay holiday film that divided our entire community — except for on this one point: more Kristen Stewart and Aubrey Plaza in suits please.
What’s Gay and New and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBO and Peacock in April 2021?
As we begin our lives this April 2021 it’s time to look at the TV set and ask “what is gay and new and streaming with lesbian and bisexual characters on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO???” What about PEACOCK what are they up to? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves in April 2021, as we approach a new slate of streaming content for our enjoyment or derision. And, bless us everyone, are closer to ever to a period of time in which we will have the option to look at people in real life OR on a screen! Can you imagine!
New Queer Stuff on Netflix in April 2021
Worn Stories (Netflix Documentary Series) – April 1
Did you know that the clothes you wear are imbued with meaning!?!! Well, they are, and this series talks to ordinary and famous people about the attire that really means something to them. John Waters popped up in the trailer and so did some fun gender stuff so I’m imagining there will be a queer element here. If there isn’t, I will be disappointed in EVERYBODY.
Madame Claude (Netflix Original) – April 2
Truly never before in my life have I begun to watch a trailer in hopes of uncovering a mid-reel lesbian kiss only to witness the trailer LEADING WITH A LESBIAN KISS which is just to say, the French film Madame Claude looks fantastic. “I realized early on that men treat us like whores,” narrates the french woman at the center of this film about sex workers. “So I decided to be the queen of the whores.” I approve of this message with my whole heart. The story is based on the true story of Fernande Grudet, a madame of the 60s and 70s who “had a client book that read like the guest list to a royal wedding” and “often contested with a much darker reality.”
The Wedding Coach: Season One (Netflix Original) – April 7
IDK if you know this but weddings are like super stressful and not as much fun as they seem when you just go to them and get wasted with people you kinda knew in college. So it’s good to have a coach, yes, a wedding coach. Even better if your wedding coach enlists help from queer comics like Fortune Feimster and Punkie Johnson! There’s a gay male couple in the cast, but I didn’t notice any lesbian couples.
Dolly Parton: A MusicCare (Netflix Documentary) – April 7
Queer musicians Brandi Carlile and Miley Cyrus are amongst the musicians paying tribute to our queen Dolly Parton in this concert!
My Love: Six Stories of True Love (Netflix Original) – April 13
This charming little documentary series, inspired by the acclaimed Korean documentary “my love don’t cross that River,” MY LOVE follows a year in the life of six elderly couples in different parts of the world, including a lesbian couple in Brazil.
The Baker and the Beauty: Season One – April 13
This hourlong romantic comedy-drama was cancelled by ABC after one season. It was centered on the son in a Cuban family who works in his family bakery and then gets involved with an international superstar / fashion mogul who moves his life into the spotlight. His younger sister, Natalie, is queer!
The Circle: Season 2 (Netflix Original) – April 14
The first season of this reality television show was a true delight and delivered the “bisexual chaos” we desired. Eight strangers are put in a building, each in their own rooms, able to interact with each other only through an in-world social media app called “The Circle.” Every week, a contestant is booted, and often a new contestant arrives. I said at the time that The Circle is a reality game show about working from home, but now it’s sort of a reality game show about…. the last year of our lives? Gonna be a trip!
Ride or Die (Netflix Original) – April 14
This rough and dreamy Japanese film follows a lesbian couple in which one of the girls is married to an abusive husband and the other girl kills him so that she can be free and then they are free with nowhere to go! But also it’s complicated!
Why Are You Like This: Season 1 – April 16
This Australian comedy series whose creators describe it as “a TV show about our terrible personalities” follows twenty-something roommates Mia, Penny and Austin; three queer friends who develop their “questionable modern day moral codes in confronting the complex social issues of an outrage driven world, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.” Mia is bisexual, south Asian, self-assured and self-serving. Penny is straight, white, very anxious and attempting to be a great ally. Austin is a “self-obsessed baby drag king.”
Stuff For Gays, Girls and Theys Streaming on Hulu in April 2021
The Color Purple (1985) – April 1
Alice Walker’s epistolary novel was de-gayed for this wildly successful Steven Spielberg adaptation starring Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong and Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg plays Celie, a teenager in rural Georgia with an abusive family who falls for showgirl Shug Avery, her husband’s mistress who Celie nurses back into health.
Manifest (NBC): Season 3 Premiere – April 2
If you are perchance curious about what happened to the passengers of Flight 828, great news: Season 3 will actually answer this question.
Hysterical (FX): Season 1 Premiere – April 3
Noting that “the future of comedy is female,” this docuseries takes us “backstage and on the road with veteran comedians, rising stars and novices to discover how an intrepid group of boundary-breaking females are changing the game and exploring what it takes to become the voices of their generation and their gender.” The series includes queer comics like Judy Gold, Jessica Kirson, Fortune Feimster and Margaret Cho. It looks good but also way too white!
Rebel (ABC): Season 1 Premiere – April 9
This series, inspired by the life of Erin Brokovitch, stars Katey Sagal as a blue-collar legal advocate without a law degree who fights valiant causes. It feels like there should be queer people involved in some capacity but who knows! There was a casting call for somebody to play Andy Garcia’s son, a trans man, though, so, there is that.
Home Economics (ABC): Season 1 Premiere – April 8
This comedy revolves around the relationship between three siblings who have accomplished varying levels of financial success: Connor’s in the 1% and lives in Matt Damon’s old house in San Francisco with his wife and kid. Tom is a novelist who’s not doing well! And then there is the reason we are talking about it at all: Sarah is low-income and lives in a teeny-tiny apartment with her wife (played by Sasheer Zamata) and two kids. Hijinks!
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform): Season 2 premiere – April 9
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay centers around Nicholas, a 25 year old gay dorky Australian expat, forced to become the guardian to his two younger half-sisters after their father dies. It’s one of a limited number of shows featuring characters on the autism spectrum played by actors on the autism spectrum. In Season Two, the bisexual younger sister will determine that she is in fact heterosexual, but her girlfriend Drea seems to be sticking around the family anyhow?
Thelma (2017) – April 17
A coming-of-age thriller that follows Thelma, who is finally away from her religious upbringing and adjusting to college and her sexuality. She begins having seizures and visions and perhaps is rocking some potentially telekinetic powers.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 4 (Hulu Original) – April 28
FINALLY we are getting the fourth season of The Handmaid’s Tale, which had to shut down shooting on account of the coronavirus last spring. In the trailer, the Resistance is now in full force, June is somewhere near the top of it, Aunt Lydia is VERY unhappy about all this, June’s daughter shows up, that guy June hooked up with is around, so is Josh Lyman, Moira is worried that June will not last another day in Gilead, there is maybe some murder and explosions and IDK I am personally stoked to watch this shit go down.
Amazon Prime Queer Women Stuff in April 2021
Milk (2009) – April 1
The Harvey Milk biopic follows the influential leader and the group of activists that came up around him, including Allison Pill as LGBT rights activist Anne Kronenberg.
Anne+: Season 1 – April 1
This queer as hell Dutch series premiered in 2018 and follows the love life of Anne, a 24-year-old lesbian. If we get Season One in 2021 then maybe by 2023 we’ll get to the season (2) where the characters talk about my L Word podcast. In this initial season, Anne moves into her own place, runs into her ex, and reflects on her past relationships and turbulent love life bringing us to where she is today.
Couple’s Therapy (Showtime): Season 1 – April 1
The couples who get therapized in this program include a lesbian couple in which one of the women is trans.
Survivor’s Remorse (Showtime): Seasons 1-4 – April 1
M-Chuck (Erica Ash) is the lesbian sister of the basketball player who shoots out of poverty into the NBA and brings his family along with him. She’s one of my favorite gay characters ever, and aside from one plot choice I hated, I loved every minute of this show and wish it hadn’t been cancelled!
LGBT Content on HBO Max April 2021
The Color Purple (1985) – April 1
Okay so The Color Purple is the new V is Vendetta where I swear every month it’s coming or going from one of these places. This times, it’s coming here and to Hulu! Where will you watch it?
Mare of Easttown (HBO Max Original) – April 18
Kate Winslet is Mare, a detective who was good at basketball as a teenager and is now a little rough for wear. Her daughter, played by Angourie Rise, is gay! The series “explores the dark side of a close community and provides an authentic examination of how family and past tragedies can define our present.” Sounds like a familiar formula but you know what I am unsurprisingly here for it.
A Black Lady Sketch Show: Season 2 (HBO) – April 23
FINALLY A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW IS BACK! All we know so far is that the season (first ep of the season? IDK) will have guest appearances from Issa Rae, Gabrielle Union and Jessie Williams!
New LGBTQ Content on Peacock in April 2021
Rutherford Falls: Season 1 Premiere (Peacock) – April 22
This new sitcom about the lives in a small town in upstate New York and the Native American reservation it borders boasts the largest Indigenous writing staff for an American TV show. The show centers on town namesake Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms), who is fighting the moving of a historical statue. Lakota Siuox actress Jana Schmieding is Nathan’s best friend who wants to make her town’s cultural center into a museum. Jesse Leigh, a non-binary Chinese-American actor, plays Bobbie Yang, Nathan’s nonbinary teenage executive assistant.
60 Straight Actresses Who Play Gay The Most
Straight actors who play gay: they’re everywhere. Let’s talk about lesbian roles played by straight actors. As the U.S. vs. Billie Holiday trailer made its way across the internet, questions were raised. Specifically this one: Damn, how many queer characters has Natasha Lyonne played at this point? And there’s nothing I love more in this life than compiling data to answer a question that does not objectively require answering but nevertheless is fun to consider!!
Before we get into this little stats grab, to be clear this is just a compilation of information, not a position, and there are so many positions to have! I personally am not an advocate of “only gay actors can play gay parts.” Do I love it when a gay actor plays a gay part? Hell yeah! Do I celebrate it when a straight actress announces her desire to play a gay part? Hell no! But intellectually, at this point in history when the idea of a fundamental or universal queer experience that would best inform any type of queer role (which can also have its own intersectional identities) grows shakier and less certain, I can’t make a strong argument for it. (However, if the character is gender non-conforming, it is upsetting when the small handful of butch roles that exist go to straight gender-conforming actors while actual masculine-of-center women or otherwise-suited-to-the-role queer people don’t get work!) Do note — this is not the same conversation as the one about trans status! Because yes, only trans actors should play trans parts but trans status and sexual orientation are very different categories. that said, it is really exciting to have more and more out queer actresses actually playing lesbian and bisexual parts.
This list is focused on living actors who do mostly English-language films and shows, just to keep it manageable. A minimum requirement to be on the list was three roles in Film or TV in which at least one of the roles was a lead or otherwise iconic and all three characters were explicitly queer, not just a “kissed a girl” part or a brief guest role. There are actually TONS of actors who’ve done three parts, simply having three parts is not enough okay thank you.
62. Katie McGrath
Katie McGrath in Dracula
How Katie McGrath identifies is a mystery because she is a cryptid who isn’t on social media, but she has played on-paper queer in Dracula, Secret Bridesmaids Business, and a very special episode of Dates. And has played questionably-queer in Merlin, Supergirl, and pretty much everything she’s ever played. She also once famously said, “You can’t make a show without lesbianism.” (-Valerie)
61. Nicola Walker
Nicola Walker in “Collateral” (2018)
Nicola is a straight actor who played gay Helen Bartlett in Scott & Bailey, Jane Oliver in Collateral and Lucy in The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders.
60. Shivani Ghai
Shivaani Ghai in “The Catch” (2016 – 2017)
Ghai had a regular role on Dominion as the queen of Helena, a recurring role on Batwoman as the queen of the pirate nation of Coryana and a recurring role as the secret lover in The Catch.
59. Brianne Howey
Brianne Howey in “Batwoman” (2019)
Howey is pretty young but is already racking up those! Gay! Roles! Specifically: Kat Rance on The Exorcist, Reagan on Batwoman and Whitney Taylor on Twisted.
58. Sofia Black D’Elia
Sofia Black D’Elia in “Skins” (2011)
What’s interesting about D’Elia is that her body of work is pretty small so far, so it’s interesting that so many of them are GAY. She entered our worlds in the unfortunate US reboot of Skins, playing a lesbian named Tea. She also had gay roles in The Mick and Betrayal.
57. Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman in “The Con Is On”
Uma Thurman is very tall, like me. Actually she’s taller than me! Furthermore, gay in Henry & June, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, and The Con is On.
56. Laura Fraser
Laura Fraser in “Lip Service” (2010-2012)
She was a lead in Lip Service before her sudden departure from the program, romances Shelley Conn’s character in Nina’s Heavenly Delights and is the target of a mission to remove lesbians from the army in The Investigator.
55. Rebecca Naomi Jones
Rebecca Naomi Jones in “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” (2015)
A stage actress best known for her roles in American Idiot, Passing Strange and Hedwig and the Angry Inch; she’s also played gay onscreen a lot! For example: she was Gwen in High Maintenance, Davvy O’Dell in Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll, and played Leah in the Netflix rom-com Someone Great.
54. Sasheer Zamata
Sasheer Zamata in “Woke” (2020)
You likely recognize her from Saturday Night Live but if you are very lucky you will also recognize her from her gay roles on Woke and The Last OG. This April, she will appear in the ABC sitcom Home Economics as the wife of a main character with whom she shares a very tiny apartment.
53. Floriana Lima
Floriana Lima in “Supergirl”
Most notably Maggie Sawyer on Supergirl, Lima also was a gay regular in The Family and a queer FBI liaison in the short-lived Allegiance.
52. Jessica Leccia
Jessica Leccia in “Guiding Light”
Leccia played Natalia Rivera, one half of “same-sex supercouple known as Otalia,” during the end of Guiding Light‘s 72-year run. She then obviously appeared in the Otalia spinoff series Venice, as well as in queer parts in A Million Happy Nows and the indie film Slippery Slope.
51. Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek in “Timecode”
First of all: Frida. We all know about Frida. Second of all: the infamous bisexual / lesbian taco in Sausage Party. Third of all, she is bisexual in Timecode.
50. Michelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd in “Picard” (2020)
Although Hurd has played four queer roles, three of them were guest parts: E.R., Witches of East End and Younger. Her biggest queer bang is on Star Trek: Picard, where she plays Raffi Musiker, who has a romantic situation with Seven of Nine. Also I used to see her at the gym a lot and she is even hotter in real life, which is just a general FYI.
49. Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose in “Power” (2016 – 2017)
Most recently, she changed our lives as Paula Hawthorne in Little Fires Everywhere. Previously she played criminal/police officer Jukebox in Power and was the voice of Lorraine Hansberry in the American Masters TV series documentary.
48. Rachel Weisz
Rachel Weisz in “Disobedience” (2017)
Rachel Weisz played two iconic lesbian roles back to back in Disobedience and The Favourite and previously did one kinda-queer role (her queer storyline exists in backstory rather than the film’s present-tense, as far as I can tell) in Definitely Maybe.
47. Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick in “The Humbling” (2014)
In Losing Chase, she falls for a woman played by Helen Mirren whomst she has been entrusted to care for after her nervous breakdown, In What’s Cooking? she is dating a woman played by Julianna Margliues? In The Humbling she is the ex-girlfriend of the daughter of a friend of the film’s lead character, an aging actor played by Al Pacino? So we are all over the map here.
46. Allison Pill
Allison Pill in an apron and button-up shirt in “American Horror Story: Cult” (2017)
Pill played a lesbian with a personality resembling a soft paper plate in American Horror Story: Cult and hooked up with Floriana Lima’s character in The Family. was Harvey Milk’s campaign manager Anne Kronenberg in Milk and Vice President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter Mary in Vice.
45. Kathy Bates
Kathy Bates in “Tammy” (2014)
Whats’ the verdict on Kathy Bates’ character in American Horror Story Apocalypse I can’t remember where we landed but I remember feeling that she was GAY but maybe also a robot? Anyhow, Bates was Pearl’s wealthy lesbian cousin Lenore in Tammy, openly gay political operative Libby Holden in Primary Colors (she got an Oscar nom for that one) and Gertrude Stein in Midnight in Paris.
44. Sharon Duncan-Brewster
Sharon Duncan-Brewster in “Cucumber” (2015)
British actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster played one of Jackson’s lesbian Moms in Sex Education, Edith’s on-and-off lover in Years and Years and Maureen in the BBC series Cucumber. She also played a sister in the quarantine theatrical production Stuck With You. She also was in Imagine Me & You and in Bad Girls although somehow she was not queer in either of them, which is unfortunate for us all.
43. Nia Long
Long was a problematic bisexual in Dear White People, a queer hippie in If These Walls Could Talk 2, and the girlfriend of Mary McCormick in Broken Hearts Club.
42. Judi Dench
Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal” (2006)
Dame Judi was nominated for an Oscar for playing an old lesbian spinster who is obsessed with a young teacher in Notes on a Scandal, played bisexual novelist Iris Murdoch in Iris and the lesbian aunt in The Shipping News.
41. Cree Summer
Cree Summer in “Queen Sugar” (2019)
In 1995 on Courthouse, she and the actress who played her character’s girlfriend became the first-ever Black lesbian characters on network TV. She voiced Foxxy Love in Drawn Together and played Octavia Laurent in Queen Sugar. She was also the voice of Souki Lou, a guest on The Goode Family.
40. Lisa Ray
Lisa Ray in “Four More Shots Please!” (2020)
In addition to starring in the classic lesbian films I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen, Lisa Ray also played a bipolar Bollywood star dating her trainer in Four More Shots Please.
39. Joey Lauren Adams
Joey Lauren Adams in “Chasing Amy” (1997)
When Chasing Amy debuted in 1997, its portrayal of a lesbian who goes for it with a guy was pretty problematic, but also there was a part where they were on the swings and she was explaining fisting that truly changed my life. Anyhow! She reprised her role in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, and she dates one of Tara’s many personalities in The United States of Tara. She was involved in a triad with a man and a woman in Harvard Man.
38. Rose Rollins
Rose Rollins in “The L Word” (2009)
Our beloved Tasha from The L Word appeared in the Girltrash: All Night Long, which featured a few other gay-for-payers: The L Word‘s Kate French as well as Mandy Musgrave and Gabrielle Christian from South of Nowhere. In 2004, she made her gay debut in the TV movie Nikki & Nora. AND ALSO SHE WAS GAY IN BOSCH!!! We are all praying she will also be gay in her new basketball show.
37. Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci in “Monster” (2003)
Ricci has played a lot of real-life queer people: Aileen Wournos’ girlfriend in Monster, LGBT activist Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project, adapted from the stage play; and Lizzie Borden in the Lifetime series THe Lizzie Borden Chronicles. She was also a bisexual drama teacher in Australia who hooks up with Ruby Rose in Around the Block. In Now & Then she played the young version of Rosie O’Donnell’s character, Roberta, who was initially written as a lesbian but that whole story was thrown out to increase the film’s mainstream appeal.
36. Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Lynskey with Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures (1994)
Lynskey is all up in lesbian cannon with her starring role in Heavenly Creatures and her parts in But I’m a Cheerleader and The L Word.
35. Mandy Musgrave
Mandy Musgrave (R) in “South of Nowhere” (2005-2007)
Known and beloved for her groundbreaking role as Ashley Davies of Spashley fame in South of Nowhere, Musgrave went on to play queer in the film Girltrash: All Night Long and a three-episode bit on 90210. She also was featured in two lesbian webseries: Cowboy Up and 3-Way.
34. Penélope Cruz
Penelope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008)
She won an Oscar for having darkroom sex with Scarlett Johansson in Vicky Christina Barcelona and danced and romanced Charlize Theron in Head in the Clouds. In Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother, she gets pregnant through a relationship with a trans woman and then begins a sex-free Mommi relationship with the trans woman’s ex. She also had a girl-on-girl scene in the 1980s Belgian TV series Elle et lui and the 2006 Spanish music video “Cosas Que Contar” by Eduardo Cruz.
33. Suranne Jones
Suranne Jones in “Gentleman Jack” (2019)
Gentleman Jack herself played a bisexual sex therapist in the six-episode series Strictly Confidential and a no-nonsense bisexual detective investigator in A Touch of Cloth.
32. Piper Perabo
Lena Heady and Piper Perabo in “Imagine Me and You” (2005)
In addition to her very memorable lesbian turns in seminal films Lost and Delirious and Imagine Me & You, she also played a “funky” bisexual blonde who gets hit by a truck in Perception.
31. Sandra Oh
Sandra Oh in “Killing Eve” (2018 – )
She’s in love with a killer in Killing Eve, is a pregnant lesbian in Under the Tuscan Sun and is married to Kathy Bates’ character in Tammy.
30. Sarah Shahi
Sarah Shahi in “Guns For Hire” (2015)
Shahi played two very iconic queer television roles — Carmen De La Pica Morales in The L Word and Shaw in Person of Interest. Then she was in this film Guns For Hire that I’m gonna be honest you guys it looks really bad and if you google “Guns For Hire + Sarah Shahi” you are going to just get a bunch of porn.
29. Lena Headey
Lena Heady in “Band of Gold” (1995)
Headey played lesbian BDSM-focused sex worker Colette in Band of Gold, Clarissa Dalloway’s ex in Mrs. Dalloway and most legendarily, Luce in Imagine Me & You. She’s also said her “tomboyish huntress” character Angelika in The Brothers Grimm is gay, although that element was not explored onscreen. “I’ve got quite a big gay following,” Lena Headey allegedly said at some point. “I played a lesbian prostitute in the TV series ‘Band Of Gold’ but I think my following really grew when I played one in the film ‘Imagine Me & You,’ with Piper Perabo.” Also she was gay in Possession!
28. Gina Gershon
Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon in “Bound” (1996)
After her iconic role as a soft butch criminal in Bound, Gershon found her lesbian icon status “kind of scary at first [but] then kind of amazing.” She went on to engage in amazing lesbian experiences in the also iconic but for a different reason Showgirls as well as in Prey for Rock ‘n Roll. Gershon also had a small role on Ellen‘s coming out episode.
27. Sherri Saum
Sherri Saum in “The Fosters” (2016) (Freeform/Eric McCandless)
SHERRI SAUM
Sherri Saum is of course best known for her lesbian Mom role in The Fosters, which she reprised in Good Trouble, and she also did a lesbian guest spot on Grey’s Anatomy.
26. Breeda Wool
Breeda Wool as Lou Linklatter in “Mr Mercedes” (2017-)
After her breakout role as a lesbian contestant in a Bachelor parody on UnReal, Breeda starred in a spin-off series centered on her character, The Faith Diaries. But her first gay part was in the lesbian film A.W.O.L. in 2010. Breeda went on to play gay Lou Linklatter in Mr Mercedes and a guest gay part on Strangers. She told Out magazine that to prepare for her role on UnREAL, she watched the (actually very good) L Word Mississippi.
25. Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave in “If These Walls Could Talk 2” (2000)
She was an elder lesbian mourning the loss of her wife in If These Walls Could Talk 2, Clarissa Dalloway in Mrs. Dalloway, suffragette Olive Chancellor in The Bostonians and was a guest star on “Political Animals” as a lesbian Supreme Court Justice. In 1986 she played trans tennis player Renee Richards in Second Serve.
24. Jodhi May
Jodhi May in “Genetleman Jack” (2019)
She was Nan’s socialist activist girlfriend in Tipping the Velvet, one of Anne Lister’s exes in Gentleman Jack, played murderous maid Lea Papin in Sister My Sister, has a triad in Sleep With Me, and played Emily Dickinson’s sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert, in A Quiet Passion.
23. Elizabeth Mitchell
Elizabeth Mitchell on “ER” (2000-2001)
Most iconically, Mitchell played Gia’s girlfriend in Gia, clawing at a fence to make out with Angelina Jolie and Weaver’s first lesbian girlfriend on ER. She also played gay in Nurse Betty and The Expanse.
22. Shelley Conn
Shelley Conn in “Mistresses” (2008- 2010)
Conn starred as Nina in British lesbian film Nina’s Heavenly Delights and had regular gay roles as a patient who falls for Sue Perkins’ veterinarian character in Heading Out, “the most shameless of the cheating sirens” in Mistresses and a lesbian DA in Liar.
21. Mariel Hemmingway
Mariel Hemmingway in “Personal Best” (1982)
In 1982, Hemmingway starred in Personal Best, one of the first-ever lesbian films to earn a wide release, and “a revolution for queer female sexuality on the big screen.” Hemmingway participated in the infamous Roseanne kiss of 1994, played a lesbian secret service chief in In Her Line of Fire, has a threesome that leads to a lesbian awakening in The Sex Monster and did a lesbian guest spot on Crossing Jordan.
20. Rooney Mara
Rooney Mara in “Carol” (2015)
She glove lunched in Carol, she tracked a killer of women and got an Oscar nomination in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and then also was queer in the terrible 2017 American experimental romantic musical drama film Song 2 Song. In the very bizarre thriller Side Effects, she has an affair with her counselor, Victoria, with whom she plots to kill her husband.
19. Lili Taylor
Lili Taylor in “The Haunting” (1999)
Taylor played the legendary Valerie Solanas in the ’90s indie I Shot Andy Warhol, was a stifled New Jersey housewife who becomes lovers with Courtney Love’s character in Julie Johnson, feels attracted to the bisexual Theo in The Haunting (a 1999 film that everybody hated, same source material as The Haunting of Hill House), is part of a butch-femme couple with Juliette Lewis in Gaudi Afternoon, played gay in Pret-a-Porter and had a gay guest run on The Good Wife.
18. Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari and Caterina Murino in The Garden of Eden (2008)
A young Joey Solloway wrote the story arc featuring Mena as a lesbian performance artist who befriends Claire in Six Feet Under. In Hemingway’s Garden of Eden, she created a triad for herself and her husband and another woman. Furthermore and henceforth, she performed as the Black Dahlia in American Horror Story! Oh right and she had lesbian sex in Becks and in Standing Still. “The sexuality of a character, playing gay or straight, has never meant anything to me,” she told NewNowNext. “I see much deeper than that, and that’s also how I go through life.”
17. Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless in “Xena the Warrior Princess” (1995 – 2001)
She is XENA THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. When counting her total number of queer roles, I thought I’d forgotten to put her L Word role in the TV database but then i realized her L Word role wasn’t explicitly gay, which was a weird journey for me, because why wouldn’t it be? Why even cast Xena if you’re not going to make her gay?!!?!?! Anyhow, it’s fitting that it was Lawless’s character investigating the death of Kirshner’s character because you know who else dies a lot???! Lucy Lawless characters. Lawless leaned into subtext as Number 3 in Battlestar Galactica, was Ruby in Ash vs The Evil Dead, hooked up with fellow often-gay-for-payer Jamie Murray in Spartacus and was immediately murdered as Isabelle Hartley in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She also played Xena in Hercules the Legendary Journeys and apparently appeared in a short film produced by Tig Notaro about a lesbian telephone hotline that also starred Kate Moennig, Sandra Bernhard, Clea Duvall and Nicol Panoe? Almost feels like someone is playing a trick on me with that one.
16. Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg in “Boys on the Side” (1995)
Whoopi was nominated for an Oscar for her breakout role as Celie in the 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel, The Color Purple. She then lezzed out as Jane in Boys on the Side (1995) and as a lesbian cop in the 1999 film A Deep End of the Ocean. In 2017, she played Activist and Lesbian Mothers Union co-founder Pat Norman in the miniseries When We Rise. Also: the 2003 Broadway revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom starred Whoopi Goldberg as Ma. She produced a documentary about lesbian comic Moms Mabley for HBO in 2013 and a TV movie about a lesbian custody battle in 2001, in which she played a lawyer. She has been a high-profile supporter of LGBTQ rights and AIDS activism since the 80s and won a GLAAD Vanguard award in 1999.
15. Vanessa Morgan
Vanessa Morgan in “Riverdale” (2016 – )
In addition to Pimp, in which Drew says her character’s sexuality is sort of vague but “definitely feels gay,” Morgan has played some pretty major queer TV roles: Toni on Riverdale, Bird Castro on Finding Carter and Lyria on The Shannara Chronicles. “When people see “bisexual,” they still confuse it with promiscuity, which is so wrong,” she said after being cast as Toni. “So I was so pumped to be the first bisexual on Riverdale and just normalize that for viewers.’
14. Sarita Choudhury
Sarita Choudhury in “Jessica Jones” (2019)
Choudhury burst onto the scene in the 1994 flick Fresh Kill, playing one of two lesbian Moms raising their daughter in a converted garage on Staten Island. (!!!?!) She did girl-on-girl Kama Sutra things in the 1996 film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, and had a guest spot as a lesbian who died in Blindspot. In 1997, she turned up in a short by Lisa Cholodenko called “Dinner Party” that won a lot of LGBT film festival awards, although I’m not sure what her role was. (She also worked with Cholodenko in High Art but her character wasn’t gay, she was basically Luce and Greta’s token straight woman friend.) In 2004, she was amongst a cadre of lesbians who sought impregnation the same man in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me, inspiring a line in Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s poem “femme in film stars” in which she recalls having to “sit through She Hate Me for five minutes of Sarita Choudhury.” She also had an affair with Jeri in Jessica Jones.
13. Sandrine Holt
Sandrine Holt in “The L Word” (2007)
Holt’s psychologist character on Law & Order SVU was their first recurring queer woman character, and y’all remember her skinny game of Strip Poker with Helena Peabody on The L Word. Other queer roles include The Returned, The Expanse, and a guest spot on Sanctuary.
12. Yolonda Ross
Yolonda Ross in “Stranger Inside” (2000)
Ross’ gay resume is extensive, beginning with starring in Cheryl Dunye’s Stranger Inside as Treasure, for which she accumulated many awards and nominations. The gay roles did not stop there: she went on to play lesbian rocker Faustus in Shortbus; Whitney Houston’s girlfriend, Robyn Crawford, in Whitney; Ginger in Slippery Slope and a lesbian detective in the gay film noir Kiss Me, Kill Me. AND she had queer roles in the shorts Dani and Alice, Guinevere Turner’s Hung and Happy Birthday. ALSO ALSO ALSO she had been cast to play Wade Dawson on The Farm, the terrible L Word prison spinoff that didn’t get picked up. Luckily I got my hands on enough Farm-related materials to tell you that Wade Dawson was a “cocky and handsome” inmate who is on meds and self-medicates her internal rage with sex.
11. Tracie Thoms
Tracie Thoms as Joanne in “Rent” (2005)
Thoms cleaned up the lesbian floor near the end of the ’10s when she appeared as the wife/girlfriend of a main character in 9-1-1 and The First and had a recurring role as a power lesbian TV executive in UnREAL. But to so many queers, she will always be Joanne in the movie version of RENT — a role she reprised on Broadway in July 2008 as part of its final cast (captured on the DVD Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008)) and for RENT at the Hollywood Bowl in August 2010. “I do play lots of lesbians,” Thoms tweeted in 2017. “Proudly, I might add. I did kiss Idina [in Rent.] And Betsy [in Falsettos on Broadway]. And Eden Espinosa [in Rent Filmed Live on Broadway]. And Nicole Scherzy [in Rent in the Hollywood Bowl]. I’m a lucky girl.”
10. Indira Varma
Indira Varma in “This Way Up” (2019)
Varma played the bisexual bastard daughter of a nobleman in Game of Thrones and appeared in the 1996 film Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, in which a servant and a noble princess grow up together, learn the skills of seduction through the Kama Sutra, and also enjoy sexual activities with each other. Varma also played the lesbian character Charlotte in the Hulu dramedy This Way Up and the malicious Elaine Markham in the 2013 BBC thriller What Remains. In the legal drama For Life she plays Safiya Masry, a prison warden married to a District Attorney played by Mary Stuart Masterson. AND also played gay in the TV show Attachments.
9. Gemma Wheelen
Gemma Wheelan in “Game of Thrones” (2012 – 2019)
“Every single thing I do, there’s a lesbian touch to it,” Wheelan told Gay Star News. “Long may I continue to be typecast, if that’s the way it goes.” She has brought her gay touch to playing Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, a lesbian detective in The End of the F*cking World, as well as parts in the BBC comedy Upstart Crow (she was also in the West End stage production of Upstart Crow, which includes a romantic storyline and A WHOLE ENTIRE KISS for Gemma). She was a cross-dresser in BBC4’s Queers and also a lesbian in the BBC One min-series Mapp and Lucia. I also somehow feel like I owe her gay points for being in Killing Eve and Gentleman Jack, despite playing straight characters in both?
8. Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray in “Spartacus” (2010 – )
Often adorned in a very specific period or otherwise unusual costume, Murray played bisexual time traveler H.G. Wells on Warehouse 13, Gaia in Spartacus and Stahma Tarr in Defiance, as well as a lesbian businesswoman in Ringer and a an arc as a lesbian casino hostess in The Bill. When cast in The Bill, she told The Mirror, “I must have one of those faces. I played a lesbian in a shocking play called Handbag, so by the time I left drama school I’d already kissed three women. Let me tell you, it’s nice than some men I’ve kissed.” Let’s not forget Fright Night 2: New Blood, where she is a vampire who, like all vampires, is pansexual. “It’s an under-representeed demographic and it’s a really loyal fan base and it’s really nice to play those roles without making a big deal about it,” she told the Metro in April 2013.
7. Robin Weigert?
Robin Weigert in “Concussion” (2013)
Robin Weigert’s sexual orientation is a bit of a mystery, so it is anybody’s guess if I should remove this. Weingart starred in lesbian film Concussion, showed up very briefly but gayly in The Politician, fought for her life in Jessica Jones, was nominated for an Emmy for playing Calamity Jane in Deadwood, played Pippa’s kindhearted lesbian aunt in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (married to Julianne Moore) and also had queer parts on Law & Order and ER as well as in the film Synechdode New York. On an unrelated but somewhat related note, she also has intense therapist vibes (and yes, played one in Big Little Lies).
6. Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron in “Head in the Clouds” (2004)
Theron has expressed her disappointment upon discovering that she herself is woefully heterosexual, but! Charlize is an oft-celebrated ally with a trans daughter. She won an Oscar as serial killer Aileen Wournos in Monster, kicked stuff in a trench coat in Atomic Blonde, casually referenced her bisexuality in Tully, and hooks up with Penelope Cruz in 1930s Paris in Head in the Clouds. In 2020, she played bisexual action hero Andy in The Old Guard, with a slightly-too-subtextual-but-fine relationship with Quynh told in flashbacks. She won the GLAAD Vanguard Award in 2006.
5. Julianne Moore
Annette Beninng and Julianne Moore in “The Kids are All Right” (2010)
Julianne Moore has played some very big gay parts in some very big gay movies, including lead roles in The Kids Are All Right, The Hours (for which she earned an Oscar nomination), Freeheld and Chloe. In Rebecca Miller’sThe Private Lives of Pippa Lee, she plays Pippa Lee’s aunt’s lover. In 2014’s Maps to the Stars, she played an actress who has a threesome with her boyfriend and a woman they pick up together. She was the “Final Girl” in Gus Van Sant’s 1998 Psycho remake, a role he says was intended to be a lesbian although it is apparently not apparent to the audience.
Last year she told NBC Out, while reflecting on The Kids Are All Right, “Here we were, in this movie about a queer family, and all of the principal actors were straight. I look back and go, ‘Ouch. Wow.’ I don’t know that we would do that today. I don’t know that we would be comfortable.”
4. Mia Kirshner?
Pictured: Mia Kirshner as Kenya in Defiance (2012) (Photo by: Ben Mark Holzberg/Syfy)
Kirshner’s sexual orientation is a bit ambiguous although she has only dated men, so I’m not sure Where The Community Stand on this one and was unclear if I should include her here or not. However, I am sure that I will get a lot of feedback on this! (Please do note I am a #1 fan of Mia Kirshner and head of the Emmy For Mia campaign via my podcast To L and Back.) Kirshner has said that sex scenes with women are “more fun and easier.” Obviously Mia shone as Jenny Schecter in The L Word, and also played regular queer roles on The Vampire Diaries, 24 and Defiance. She’s played characters one might describe as ranging from bisexual to heteroflexible in films likeThe Black Dahlia, Not Another Teen Movie, New Best Friend and Exotica. Unfortunately a lot of Mia’s characters end up dead.
3. Chloë Sevigny
Chloë Sevigny in “If These Walls Could Talk 2” (2000)
Chloë Sevigny has said she is drawn to LGBTQ roles because they are characters who are often “marginalized [and] misunderstood” and outcasts, which she relates to. Memorably, she played an old school butch with a motorcycle in If These Walls Could Talk 2 and Lizzie Borden in Lizzie, which put her in the enviable position of kissing Kristen Stewart with tongue. She recently played a lesbian army Mom in We Are Who We Are. Other queer roles include a guest spot on Will & Grace and parts in Portlandia, Broken Flowers and Party Monster. Although not included in her tally because they aren’t queer roles, she also (unfortunately) portrayed a trans woman in Hit or Miss (which she says she’d “never do again”) and first emerged into the public queer consciousness when she played Lena, Brandon Teena’s girlfriend, in the 1999 tragedy Boys Don’t Cry.
2. Heather Graham
Heather Graham in “About Cherry” (2012)
There are so many pictures on the internet of Heather Graham kissing girls in movies! The only films on this list that I’ve actually seen are Gray Matters and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues — but her lesbian and bisexual resume also includes The Oh in Ohio, Father of Invention, Bowfinger, Terrified, Kiss & Tell, Compulsion, Broken, Boogie Woogie and About Cherry.
1. Natasha Lyonne
Clea Duvall and Natasha Lyonne in “But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999)
Here is our number one woman and it is also where this whole list began. The conversation has been HAD in MANY locations in recent weeks as the U.S. vs Billie Holliday trailer has caused many queer women to pause and ask, how many gay things has this woman been gay in??? Recently in my group chat a question was posited: why does Natasha Lyonne play so many gay parts, yet somehow is not gay? I do not know the answer to this question, besides that she is always vaguely messy and has a deep voice, which I guess screams “gay” to some people. Her most iconic lesbian roles occurred in But I’m a Cheerleader and Orange is the New Black. Other adventures in queer behavior include the films Sleeping With Other People, American Reunion, Intervention, Modern Vampires, Freeway 2, If These Walls Could Talk 2, and Addicted to Fresno.
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January 2021: What’s Gay and New on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, HBOMax and Apple+?
Another month, another set of questions regarding the intentions of assorted television networks to deliver unto us, worthy subscribers, a bevy of new and original content that we will enjoy because it is gay and goddammit, so are we. What is gay and streaming in January 2021? Let’s discuss!
Netflix Content for Girls, Gays and Theys in January 2021
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – January 5
Hot sad bisexual hacker Lisbeth Salmander (Roony Mara) is enlisted by journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) to track down a Killer of Women who is responsible for the disappearance of a woman 40 years ago. This very intense remake of the excellent original Swedish film which was an adaptation of the book by Stieg Larsson also requires a very intense trigger warning for sexual assault.
History of Swear Words (Netflix Original Series) – January 5
One of the trailers for this six-part documentary series starring Nicholas Cage of all people features a montage of Bitch Magazines, which is enough to warrant its inclusion here. But also, the group of entertainers who make remarks in this film include Patti Harrison and a lot of feminist scholars and linguists so it should be a really good time.
L.A.’s Finest: Season One – January 5
This Bad Boys spinoff stars Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba as …. cops! Neat. Union plays Syd Burnett, a bisexual with an “unapologetic lifestyle” and some skeletons in her closet who’s partnered up with Nancy McKenna, a working Mom who also has a very complicated past.
Pretend It’s a City (2021) – January 8
Legendary Lesbian Fashion Icon and New York Jew Fran Lebowitz is Martin Scorsese following Fran around the city as she delivers her myriad opinions on numerous topics.
Last Tango in Halifax: Season 4 – January 12
Due to the two-part Christmas Special that some refer to as Season 4 and some smash into Season 3, it was not immediately clear to me which season of Last Tango in Halifax we could expect to drop on Netflix this year, but rest assured I’ve settled the matter: it’s Season 4/5. There’s a new relationship for the widowed Caroline. Sally says that Season Five “has a lot to love (if you can forgive it for Season Three).”
The Magicians: Season 5 – January 15
Which activities will the students of the Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy get up to in Season 5? If you’ve already seen it, you already know, but if you haven’t, now’s the time! There’s a lot of sexual fluidity on this show including Margo, who LezWatchTV describes as “the baddest bitch you are ever going to meet.”
Call My Agent! (Dix pour cent): Season 4 – January 21
This French series follows the agents at top Paris talent firm ASK, including Andréa Martel, a lesbian who finds herself in charge of a now-precariously-established agency when season four gets jumping. The series has definitely made some missteps with Andrea’s character in past season. Update: read the comments of this post for the details on whether or not this is worth your time!
So My Grandma’s a Lesbian (2019) – January 22
I am going to go ahead and give this film a pre-emptive Pulitzer Prize for its title. This Spanish comedy follows a young Spanish lawyer whose plans to marry some rich Scottish dude from a conservative family are put into jeopardy when her 70-year-old grandmother, Sofia, comes out and announces her intention to marry her best friend. Good for them.
Hulu Streaming in Gay January 2021
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Season 2 Premiere (NBC) – January 12
Zoey Clark is a smart tech kid who, after a very strange event, finds herself able to hear the innermost thoughts, wants and desires of everybody around her, but as songs! Her neighbor and close pal Mo, played by Alex Newell, is gender fluid.
9-1-1: Season 4 Premiere (Fox) – January 19
We have been told to expect the following: Athena works to put her physical and emotional injuries behind her to get back into the job, Maddie and Chimney prepare to have a baby, and an exploration into Buck’s childhood. What will happen to our beloved Hen (Aisha Hinds)?? We will find out.
9-1-1: Lone Star – Season 2 Premiere (Fox) – January 19
Liv Tyler won’t be returning for Season 2 (she did not want to travel to the U.S. to film during a pandemic) and Gina Torres will be joining the cast. Brain Michael Smith will return as trans firefightere Paul Strickland.
Grown-ish: Season 3B Premiere – January 22
In the back half of Season 3, we will see “the Cal U gang as they navigate the second half of junior year and begin to step out as adults into the real world. After dropping out to focus on her fashion career, Zoey wonders if life outside of Cal U is all it’s cracked up to be or if she still has some growing left to do.” And uh, Nomi has her baby so that’ll be interesting.
Streaming in Queer on Amazon Prime January 2021
Flack: Season 1 – January 22
Anna Pacquin is Robyn, a bisexual and unflappable PR person/fixer with a messy personal life. You know; an antihero! The show was abruptly cancelled by PopTV earlier this year but picked up by Amazon for its first and second seasons. Variety described the show as “often too blunt to be as interesting as it palpably wants to be, burying any shred of nuance by underlining its themes in red marker to make sure you can’t miss them.
Chick Fight (2020) – January 29
This certified hot mess of a film written and directed by men about women punching each other in the face centers on Anna (Malin Akerman), a girl going nowhere with a lesbian police officer best friend, Charleen (Dulce Sloan), who convinces her to join an all-female fight club headed up by Bear (Fortune Feimster). Bisexual actress Bella Thorne stars as Olivia, the fight club’s usual champion. There are also some men who insert themselves into this already muddled narrative full of stereotypes and tired humor.
January 2021 Streaming and Queer on HBO Max
Gossip Girl: Seasons 1 – 6 – January 6
You probably won’t watch this show strictly for the eventual very brief kiss between Hilary Duff and Jessic Szohr (also, Penn Padgley is there, so) but, just so you know, that does happen. It’s there waiting for you. In 2017, the co-creators of the soapy teen drama about rich kids in Manhattan said their only regret about the show was that they didn’t have enough gay or POC representation. So we are all on the same page there.
The Color Purple (1985) – January 1
Alice Walker’s epistolary novel was de-gayed for this wildly successful Steven Spielberg adaptation starring Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Rae Dawn Chong and Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg plays Celie, a teenager in rural Georgia with an abusive family who falls for showgirl Shug Avery, her husband’s mistress who Celie nurses back into health.
Mullholland Drive (2001) – January 1
Drew called this twisty surrealist neo-noir thriller “a cinematic masterpiece and one of David Lynch’s finest works.” Naomi Watts plays Betty, an actress new to Los Angeles who is immediately drawn to and falls for an amnesiac woman recovering from a car crash.
Ready Player One (2018) – January 1
Based on Ernest Cline’s sci-fi novel, Ready Player One is set in a dystopian 2045 where humans escape the real world through the virtual world of OASIS, where they can adopt characters of their choice and compete for elusive escape from their bleak reality. Lena Waithe plays lead character Wade’s best friend, lesbian gamer Aech/Helen Harris, who Heather describes as “[weaving] a magic spell around that audience, ping-ponging them between flashes of awe and fits of giggles.”
V for Vendetta (2005) – January 1
WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THIS MOVIE? Literally every month it is leaving or arriving at a new streaming network. I actually stopped erasing old streaming guides from wordpress after I released a new one specifically because I didn’t want to have to keep writing new blurbs for V for Vendetta. It came to HBO Max in September, must have left at some point (perhaps for its November engagement with Netflix? Who can say), and now it’s back. As aforementioned, V for Vendetta is a dystopian political action film from the Wachowskis starring Natalie Portman. A*terE*len’s Sarah Warn called, in 2006, “One of the most pro-gay films ever.”
Lost and Delirious (2001) – January 12
This objectively terrible film that for some reason remains beloved amongst huge swaths of the lesbian and bisexual population, including by our noted film critic Drew Gregory, will be entering your homes via HBO Max if you desire boarding school lesbians, Mischa Barton, ravens, and mixed metaphors.
Person of Interest: Seasons 1-5 – January 23
This sci-fi crime drama follows a group of detectives and assorted nerds who seek to stop various violent crimes using a computer program that predicts terrorist acts. Computer hacker Root (Amy Acker) joins the crew in Season Two after guesting in Season One and eventually one of the show’s only romantic storylines erupts between her and psychopathic assassin Shaw (Sarah Shahi)
Euphoria: Part 2: Jules: “F*ck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” Special Episode Premiere – January 24
Hunter Schafer co-wrote and co-executive produced part two of Euphoria’s two part special episodes. The first part focused on Rue and her attempts at sobriety, and the second part will be focused squarely on Jules, following her over the Christmas holiday as she “reflects on the year.”
Babylon 5: Seasons 1-5 – January 26
This ’90s series set on a space station had one poorly handled implied relationship between bisexual Space Jew Susan Ivanova and bisexual corporate telepath Talia Winters, but you probably liked it despite that not because of it.
Gay and Streaming on Apple+ TV in January 2021
Dickinson: Season 2 (Apple+ Original) – January 8th
Season Two will continue to explore why Dickinson’s poems were only published posthumously — this time, it’s not just the patriarchy to blame, but Emily’s own “ambivalent relationship to fame.” “Season Two is really all about fame and the attention economy, which was a central concern in Emily Dikcinson’s poems,” said showrunner Alena Smith. You can watch a featurette right here.
Every James Bond Theme Song, Ranked by Their Lesbian Energy
As a kid, I spent a lot of time being the go-between with my feuding parents. When they weren’t telling me how much they didn’t like each other they were probably not talking to me at all. When I was with my mom we were often out running errands and maybe going on “I’m sorry” shopping excursions. When I was with my dad, we watched movies. Mostly horror and action films. The films I enjoyed watching most of all were James Bond movies.
I came to the James Bond franchise when Pierce Brosnan took over the role. All of the other heads of the franchise I had to search out on my own. I loved Bond’s style, the suits, the gadgets, the music, the women! It was a life I couldn’t get over, its sexiness and allure. I wanted that life. The life of a spy tantalized me. I didn’t want to be a Bond girl, I wanted to be Bond.
I knew I was gay young but I should have known the moment I would imagine myself in a suit kissing a beautiful woman in a dimly lit hotel room. The James Bond themes are iconic. There are people I want to see do a Bond theme, I think Moses Sumney would crush it. But we are not here to theorize about who would be the next best lead for the series. We are here to rank every existing theme from 1-25 based on the song’s lesbian energy, with 1 having the most lesbian energy of them all. Doing this required me to listen to every song multiple times so if you see me walking around with a sleeker walk it’s because I’m a spy in my head and you’re all wondering how I’m so mysterious and sexy.
Grace Jones as May Day in A View to a Kill (1985)
25. “The Man With The Golden Gun” — Lulu (1974)
This song is probably my least favorite of all of the Bond themes. It’s frantic, buzzy, and the vocals are screeching instead of the smooth coolness I’ve come to associate with Bond. It’s honestly a little laughable. It listens more like an Austin Powers theme than a Bond theme.
As far as lesbian energy goes, it’s not giving an ounce. Almost all of the Bond themes contain lyrics about Bond himself or a villain he is facing (with notable exceptions). But listening to the lead singer warble about the man with the Golden Gun just dried me right up. The instrumentation is more chaotic bisexual than lesbian, in my opinion. It just doesn’t do a lot for me, moving on.
24. “Live and Let Die” — Wings (1973)
God this song. What a mess. I don’t have a lot to say about it. There are some great drum moments in it, but then it devolves into a manic mess. I normally will consider horns gay but there are not enough in this song to save it. Thankfully this song is as mercifully short as it is heterosexual.
23. “A View to Kill” — Duran Duran (1985)
I like this song, with lyrics like “dance into the fire” my quarantined body can’t help but want to move. Bond themes usually take this sort of dancey-pop route or the gravely serious ballad route. Duran Duran can do a ballad but I think they are far more known for songs like this. It’s not really giving much lesbian energy though, but it’s getting points for the 80’s fashion and hair Duran Duran used to give and that’s at least a little lesbian. Lots of mullets and shoulder pads.
22. “The Living Daylights” — a-ha (1987)
Here’s another song I would choreograph a dance to in my spare time. a-ha’s lead singer Morten Harket’s (yes I had to google this) voice is sort of warbly and has a tinge of longing in it that I can recognize as uniquely dykey. At least more dykey than the songs previous. Combine this with the sax that starts to come in during the final third of this song and we’re starting to ease our way into lesbian territory.
21. “No Time to Die” — Billie Eilish (2020)
The lyrics are beautiful and Eilish really delivers vocally. The orchestral nature of this song is what I love in Bond themes. I love a slow, creeping ballad that leads to a big, high, long-held note.
This is also a song about being fooled and as a lesbian myself I can tell you we don’t get fooled too often because we are great judges of character and emotionally educated. Lesbians get fooled but we know we are being fooled and decide that we’re so in love we’re just gonna let it happen anyway. This song doesn’t have that flavor to it which is why it’s so low on the list. Really beautiful job though.
Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson in Die Another Day (2002)
20. “Die Another Day” — Madonna (2002)
This is one of my favorite Bond themes. It starts in this very dramatic way that leads into a synthy, poppy hit. It gets some lesbian points because randomly at the beginning of the song she says “Sigmund Freud, analyze this” and the lesbians I know are either arguing with Freud’s thought or engaging critically with it in a positive way. Let’s be honest. Madonna is a gay icon. But is she a lesbian icon? Not really! Also, “Die Another Day”? A good lesbian is gonna wanna get right down to work and die as soon as possible. Why put off tomorrow what you can do today?
19: “You Know My Name” — Chris Cornell (Casino Royale, 2006)
There’s something so confident about titling a song “You Know My Name.” Like bitch I don’t even have to say it, perfect, I love it.
This song gives me the energy of an older butch lesbian that has an office job but loves fast cars and her goddamn woman. On the weekends she lets loose with a few beers and her favorite classic rock. Something that was released in 2006 can hardly be called classic rock but it has that feel for me. I have met this lesbian and her name is Deb, she calls her partner Sher and they love sitting in their recliners to take the pressure off their feet after a long motorcycle ride along the coast.
18. “Thunderball” — Tom Jones, Don Black, John Barry (1965)
Why this song is so high is news to me but something about the horns in it gives me sapphic vibes. The horn is an instrument of yearning. This song is heavy with it, and as I have said, I love a ballad that reaches it’s climax with a big note. Lesbians known all there is to know about reaching a climax so there ya have it.
17: “Writing’s On The Wall” — Sam Smith (Spectre, 2015)
Sam Smith is incredibly talented and gorgeous. Their voice is memorable and vulnerable and open. I love listening to this song. With lyrics like:
“How do I live? How do I breathe?
When you’re not here I’m suffocating
I want to feel love, run through my blood
Tell me is this where I give it all up?
For you I have to risk it all
‘Cause the writing’s on the wall”
We are definitely in the realm of lesbian co-dependency. This song is a classic unrequited love song which I am frankly very familiar with. The yearning for someone to be there for you unequivocally feels kind of out of step with traditional Bond themes. It is slow and doesn’t really build in the way I like — but it is giving me some lezzy tinges.
16. Skyfall — Adele (2012)
Adele feels hopelessly heterosexual to me.
This song is hardly pulling through on the lesbian front. It is saved by the chorus “let the sky fall, let it crumble, we will stand tall face it all together.” Is there anything more lesbian than staying in a relationship when everything around you seems to be falling apart? I don’t think so.
Diana Rigg as Tracy Bond in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)
15. “Another Way To Die” — Alicia Keys and Jack White (Quantum of Solace, 2008)
“SHOOT EM UP BANG BANG”
is a lyric that is yelled in this song. But wait! there are other lyrics, like the opening ones for example:
“I know the player
With the slick
Trigger finger
For her majesty”
slick?? fingers??? come on! COME ON! We can look past the fact that this song is usually incredibly low on lists ranking Bond themes from worst to best. That’s not what we are doing here. This song is carried based on the pure lesbian energy of Ms. Alicia Keys. She might be married and a Mrs. but I’m not motivated enough to look. Ms. Keys gives big stemme energy and so does this song. Like a lean, kinda mean, brown-eyed stemme with a smokey gaze looking at you from the corner of a bar.
Did I mention the song ends with Ms. Keys whispering “bang bang bang bang” like lol we get it the man has guns. The voices of White and Ms. Keys always feel a little out of step with each other which isn’t very lesbian of them so this song doesn’t rank higher.
14. “We Have All The Time In The World” — Louis Armstrong (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1969)
This song has more optimism than most Bond themes have but it is injected with a bit of melancholy if you know the movie, and also recognize the slit hint of it in Armstrong’s deep, resonant voice. Being the most famous horn player known to man, one might not think Louis Armstrong exudes big lesbian energy. But it’s less about him and more about the sentimentality of the song.
13. “For Your Eyes Only” — Sheena Easton (1981)
This is one of the slower ballads in the franchise. This song for me calls to mind one of those lesbians who’s newly in love and everything is glittering and sparkling. Everything is for her or about her. If you’re a friend of this lesbian she’s completely fallen off the map, starts saying things like “maybe I’m an open book because I know you’re mine.” Sounds like oversharing on a first date, you can’t tell me I’m wrong. Also, the cover art for this song is giving me a femme who smokes a lot of cigarettes and asks you for your number without hesitation. She’s confident and in love and nothing can get in her way.
12. “All Time High” — Rita Coolidge (Octopussy, 1983)
“All Time High” gives very similar vibes to For Your Eyes Only. It does sound kind of like the theme to a sitcom and is kinda boring but it was in Octopussy…so…
I mean don’t make me explain myself here. Rita Coolidge is super hot and that’s a very dykey name. “Yeah me and Rita are gonna go down to Redondo Beach and spend a few days together.” You see it, you see it!
11. “James Bond Theme” — John Barry Orchestra (Dr. No, 1962)
The icon herself. The original Bond theme. The strumming on that guitar lets me know there was some exceptional finger play at work and that is incredibly sexy. Forget what that mouf do, let’s talk about those fingers dude. This song makes me think about shadows and skulking around corners, it thrills me and excites me.
It also gets major lesbian points for being the only lyrics-less song on the list. Sometimes you gotta say it all by saying nothing at all, you know what I mean?
Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye (1995)
10. “Moon Raker” — Shirley Bassey (1979)
Did somebody say THE MOON, did somebody say SHIRLEY BASSEY. Shirley Bassey has done three Bond themes and all three of them broke the top ten. That’s commitment and we know a thing or two about commitment on this side of the Kinsey scale.
“Moon Raker” is wistful and dreamy, not my favorite bond theme but sounds like something out of Disney movie after the Princess has found her true destiny and decides she doesn’t need to fall in love to achieve it.
9. “You Only Live Twice” — Nancy Sinatra (1967)
Something about Nancy Sinatra just screams lesbian to me. This song is very psychedelic and calls to mind something that I would have heard in Daughters of Darkness. I like the subversion of the popular saying “you only live once.” This song is breaking rules like a gender fucked lesbian who uses they/them pronouns and works at a bike shop.
8. “From Russia, With Love” — Matt Monro (1963)
This one is laughably gay. From “Russia with Love”? Russia is where your long-distance lover that you met on Lex lives. You have to spend all your sky miles to fly to her only to spend a few days with your new true love. My ex once taught herself Russian so she could sing “All The Things She Said” in its original language, so I associate Russian things with big gay commitment energy. Also, Matt Monro has a voice that carries on as a lesbian would.
7. “Nobody Does it Better” — Carly Simon (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977)
This one is for the newly out lesbian that just had sex with a woman for the first time. She had eight orgasms and wasn’t sure that was possible beforehand. Nobody does it better indeed. Simon croons, “why’d you have to be so good” at one point which I think is something I’ve said during sex before. This song is imploring and exalting.
Being a lesbian makes me feel sad for the heterosexual women that seem to exist in circles outside of mine. This song really does give off the intensity of someone that’s just had really great sex and wants to tell you about it right this moment.
6. “Goldeneye” — Tina Turner (1995)
Now this song is sleek and sexy. It again makes me think of skulking around corners but this time I’m in a catsuit with a golden gun. I, of course, am too beautiful to know how to use a gun so it’s merely for effect here. It’s got a great beat and Tina Turner’s voice itself is cat-like and enticing.
This song gives me more villain than a hero and what’s queerer than a villain. The lyrics read like a woman who is ready to get revenge, and my Scorpio placements are all about that.
Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964)
5. “Goldfinger” — Shirley Bassey (1964)
This song starts bold with horns screaming right in your ear. Then Shirley Bassey’s distinct, almost growling voice comes in, at points sounding operatic. It’s got “finger” in the title so we’re already off to the races with the lesbian aura. There’s also talk of a “web of sin” and golden words being poured into your ear. Sounds to me like I’m being lulled into a relationship by an emotionally unavailable stud with a cold heart who will definitely break mine given the chance.
Also, every kiss from a woman is the kiss of death. Have you ever kissed a woman? You’re done afterward. Absolutely spent. And the way Bassey holds the final note is about as close as a song can get to an orgasm so there’s that.
4. “License to Kill” — Gladys Knight (1989)
I love this song. I love this song. It’s so goddamn good.
I would love to see it in the lesbian reboot of a Bond film. For years I’ve been screaming about how I want a movie about a sexy woman spy whose beautiful wife gets kidnapped by one of her rivals and so the whole movie is her getting back to her beautiful wife, culminating with a tantalizing kiss. The lyrics “got a license to kill anyone who tries to tear us apart” gives me two overly-commital lesbians who will do anything for each other even though everyone around them knows they are destined for failure. I just love “gotta license to kill and you know I’m going straight for your heart.” Like HELL YES SHOOT EM UP BANG BANG!!
Gladys Knight is one of our most gifted vocalist, a living legend, the fact that she lent her voice to the Bond franchise should have them on their knees kissing her feet. Again, this song is just so good. It’s got the vehemence of two dykes in love and the whispery background vocals kill me every time.
3. “The World is Not Enough” — Garbage (1999)
The sweeping entrance of this song makes me think of running through a field or up a spiral staircase. The strings are grand and indulgent. The vocals are slithery and seductive. Like a woman in a slip of a dress, this song is super hot. I’m imagining a femme for femme fatale couple, every look they give is deadly and they are clearly so into each other that it makes everyone around them a little horny by association.
2. “Diamonds are Forever” — Shirley Bassey (1973)
I know “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” is a saying that straight women love to put on their Instagram captions or have on tacky home decor. But Diamonds are Forever? Completely different story. Diamonds are Forever is a high femme mistress who probably gets diamonds from her male clients but exclusively loves women.
This song also has one of my favorite lyrics ever: “unlike men, the diamonds linger. Men are mere mortals who are not worth going to your grave for.” The way she says “men” with such disdain! A man-hating lesbians anthem!! Take the money and diamonds and run baby. Shirley Bassey’s voice is so powerful and commanding, the way she purs “stimulate and tease […]touch it, stroke it, and caress it” is just everything you could ever want in a song.
Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
1. “Tomorrow Never Dies” — Sheryl Crow (1997)
This might be my most listened to Bond theme. Something about solo female guitarists gives me big BIG lesbian energy except for Taylor Swift. But 90s female solo guitarists really had it. Rocking vests as shirts! Lots of leather! Big hair and dark lips! Sheryl Crow just kind of sings like a lesbian would, too. You know what I mean, the way she kinda purs “it’s so deadly my dear, the power of having you near” and then launches into full-throated screaming in the chorus.
Why does this song have the number one spot? It’s hard to explain, it’s all in the fashion and the vocal performance. At points Crow is restrained and at an almost whisper, but then that chorus hits, and it’s like she really wants to show you what that mouth can do. She’s oscillating between extremes like a relationship between two mismatched women held together exclusively by great sex. We’ve all been there before.
The song itself sort of reads like an end of a relationship song, unlike many of the other themes that are about being at the start or in the throws of love. This song is great and a favorite of mine for a reason. It’s usually in the top ten for best Bond songs so I’m not the only one that thinks so. But this list, arguably the most hard-hitting and important, is the one that you should be most painfully aware of.
As I said, many of these songs are about being in love and lesbians love that more than anything, so just about all of them have a tinge of lesbian energy. Fight your mama on this one. It made me feel like a hard-hitting journalist as I drank my apple juice with my headphones on full blast listening to these songs. I am a little curious what your ranking would be though, so let me know!
From “Calamity Jane” to “The Prom”: A History of Queer Women in Movie Musicals
Musicals are gay. So why aren’t more musicals gay?
From George Cukor to Jacques Demy to Rob Marshall, many of cinema’s greatest movie musicals were directed by queer men. But few of those films focused on gay characters — the genre simply offering an opportunity for queer aesthetic amidst heterosexual text.
There are some major exceptions — A Chorus Line, the fantastic and underappreciated Zero Patience — but even as stage musicals have become increasingly gay, the budgets required to make movie musicals have kept them consistently straight. Queer people have remained underrepresented in this genre we sustain — and it’s especially true for queer women.
That’s why today’s release of The Prom on Netflix is so exciting. The Prom premiered on Broadway a mere four years ago and it’s already been turned into a major star-studded movie! That’s rare even for a straight musical! So to celebrate here is an exhaustive look at the representation of queer women in the history of movie musicals.
A History of Queer Women in Movie Musicals
1953 — Calamity Jane (dir. David Butler)
This Doris Day starring-musical is absolutely gayer than you’d ever imagine from a major Hollywood musical made in 1953. There’s subtext and then there’s… whatever is going on here. Jane fully checks out a woman’s ass, she moves in with a woman she clearly loves, and she feels butch even when she’s made femme. But while that’s all fun and good, the movie is also as racist as the least self-aware westerns of the time and manages to throw in some random transphobia. Certainly a product of its time and point of view, but any discussion of queer women in movie musicals would be incomplete without starting here.
1972 — Cabaret (dir. Bob Fosse)
Every iteration of Cabaret is super gay because Berlin in the early 30s was super gay. The most recent Broadway revivals have certainly upped the queer energy, but even the masterful film adaptation is inherently queer. There isn’t much in the film about queer women — unless you read bisexual energy into Sally Bowles which, hey, fair — but there is one number that’s explicit. “Two Ladies” finds Joel Grey’s Emcee playfully describing his throuple with, you guessed it, two ladies. Sure, he’s the focal point of the number, but who knows what’s happening under the sheet?
1975 — The Rocky Horror Picture Show (dir. Jim Sharman)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is usually discussed in the context of Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s trans identity, but the fun thing about trans people is we can be queer too! And, oh boy, is Frank-N-Furter queer. Frank has a questionable rendezvous with Janet, he chases her around multiple times, and there’s also mention that Frank used to be with Columbia. Not to mention Columbia and Magenta being all over each other during “Touch Me” or the whole cast making out during “Rose Tint My World.” This is a queer movie in every configuring sense and it, frankly, deserves more acknowledgment as a work of queer woman cinema. Frank may be a sweet transvestite but our language has changed and I think it’s safe to say Susan Sarandon and Tim Curry fucking is gay gay gay.
2002 — 8 Women (dir. François Ozon)
Was it really almost three whole decades? There must be something I’m unaware of to fill the gap. (We love a comments section!) But as far as I know this French murder mystery farce was the next queer woman musical. The influence of queer icon Jacques Demy is felt in François Ozon’s film that’s like musical Clue but entirely women and French. And when I say French, I mean French. This movie feels gay and then it gets explicitly gay and then it gets explicitly gayer. By the end it’s unclear if anyone is straight! Special shoutout to Firmine Richard who is given a sad gay ballad and Catherine Deneuve whose commitment to playing gay despite suing Deneuve Magazine is ever surprising.
2002 — Chicago (dir. Rob Marshall)
A film that certainly inspired more gay feelings than it is actually gay, this Best Picture winner is still worth noting for Queen Latifah’s coded lesbian Matron Mama Morton. I mean, she strokes her feathers while saying, “I love them all and all of them love me” — not exactly subtle! The movie does manage to remove some of the subtext by creating a fantasy sequence where she’s singing to male audience members, but we know what’s really going on. Also she calls Roxie pretty and strokes her hair before saying “I’ll take care of you” and putting a firm grip on the back of her neck. Look, this abusive quid pro quo isn’t something to romanticize, but in 2002 I did not understand the nuances of that!! I just had gay feelings!!
2005 — Rent (dir. Chris Columbus)
Rent is the most prominent queer woman stage show to get a film adaptation and while we can argue about the quality of this adaptation — and Rent itself — that alone is worth celebrating. Rent means so much to so many gays and it’s easy to see why. I mean, Joanne and Maureen! MAUREEN. Idina Menzel reprises her role from the original Broadway cast and what a joy, because of her voice and because of the way she looks in tight leather pants and a tank. “Take Me or Leave Me” is so fun especially when Tracie Thoms is standing on the stairs in her suit all gay and Idina starts crawling towards her. What a moment! What a musical! What a movie! Sort of.
2005 — The Producers (dir. Susan Stroman)
It’s unfortunate the same year that brought us objectively the biggest queer women musical also had this. Maybe this tongue-in-cheek number wouldn’t annoy me so much if this list wasn’t filled with femmes and subtext. But since it is I’m going to be a humorless lesbian and say “Keep It Gay” feels cringey fifteen years later especially the characterization of the butch lighting designer.
2007 — Love Songs (dir. Christophe Honoré)
This is another film that feels like part of Jacques Demy’s lineage — maybe it’s impossible to be a queer French filmmaker making a musical and not be inspired by him. But while 8 Women leaned into the farce, this movie leans into the romantic melodrama. Unfortunately, what begins as a très français throuple story turns tragic and the only remaining gay content is male. But first there’s a good song about being a couple’s third and having to manage their relationship problems!
2007 — Across the Universe (dir. Julie Taymor)
One fun thing about being gay is being obsessed with something as a kid and then growing up and meeting other gay people and realizing they too were obsessed with that same thing. One of those things for me is absolutely Julie Taymor’s Beatles jukebox musical Across the Universe. I remember my dad was thrilled that I was suddenly very into The Beatles but a bit confused why I was most into them when sung by Evan Rachel Wood. This whole movie pulsates with queer energy, and Prudence played by T.V. Carpio is explicitly a lesbian! She pines over a cheerleader in “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and is literally coaxed out of the closet in “Dear Prudence.” She eventually ends up out and proud and dating a contortionist, so a very gay happy ending indeed.
2013 — Frozen (dir. Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck)
Queers have been projecting our feelings onto Disney movies for decades, but the social media response to Frozen showed just how starved we are for some actual representation. “Let It Go” is a phenomenal coming out anthem — even if unintentional — and the reunion of ice queen Elsa (Idina Menzel again!) and her heterosexual sister felt like an allegory for many of us who had to find common ground with straight relatives. Alas, the #GiveElsaaGirlfriend campaign failed and the sequel just brought more subtext, this time in the form of love songs to Elsa’s mother. Okay fine, I guess that is pretty gay.
2014 — Girltrash: All Night Long (dir. Alexandra Kondracke)
I’m sorry, but when I think of queer women musicals, I still think of this wonderful guilty pleasure. Based on Angela Robinson’s web series Girl Trash, All Night Long (which Robinson disowned) is special for its ensemble cast of queer women favorites and the queer women crew who made it. No, it’s not a masterpiece, but it’s silly and the songs are catchy and I get “Fantasy Crush” stuck in my head at least once a month.
2017 — Anna and the Apocalypse (dir. John McPhail)
If you haven’t had enough lesbian Christmas movie discourse this year, how about a lesbian Christmas movie musical? Okay FINE only one of the characters is a lesbian, but she’s played by openly queer actor Sarah Swire! This is a zombie movie musical filled with charm and heart and even a little emotional devastation. It has a very poppy teen vibe and it charmed me completely and I think it might charm you!
2017 — Good Manners (dir. Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra)
Some films on this list are musicals, but only a little lesbian — this is lesbian, but only a little musical. There’s just no way to define this masterpiece by genre. It’s a werewolf horror movie fairy tale that’s part romance and part mother/son tale and it’s about queer motherhood and about race and class in Brazil and that’s a lot for one movie and yet it all works? Oh yeah and there are some musical numbers. To reveal when the first one comes would be to spoil one of the film’s many twists, but it uses music the way some old Disney movies used music — just a few numbers in the emotional moments that most require breaking out into song.
2017 — Hello, Again (dir. Tom Gustafson)
Based on Michael John LaChiusa’s 1994 Off Broadway show, this series of musical vignettes about love and sex misses more than it hits. But in one number Audra McDonald and Martha Plimpton are lovers and that alone is worth watching! It’s a shame the movie as a whole isn’t stronger — if it was it would be way more popular because, again I repeat, AUDRA MCDONALD AND MARTHA PLIMPTON ARE LOVERS.
2017 — Holy Camp! (dir. Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo)
I want to be thorough and sell you on this wonderful Spanish musical, but I also just want you to watch it for yourself so you can experience the same surprise and delight I did. This is really one of the standouts on this list in terms of levels of queerness, quality of musical numbers, and pure exuberant spirit. It’s sacrilege that ends up feeling transcendent. It’s everything I could ever want from a queer musical! And it’s on Netflix!
2019 — Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (dir. Shelly Chopra Dhar)
This is the first Bollywood film to feature a lesbian romance and that is an exciting and noteworthy step towards progress. However, this film is most definitely just a step. For one, it’s not about the lesbians, but about a struggling playwright who decides to help them. The movie very explicitly is for a straight audience to teach them basic gay acceptance and it’s possibly effective in that context, but it’s not the big gay Bollywood movie we’ll hopefully have someday.
2020 — The Prom (dir. Ryan Murphy)
And that brings us to today! The release of The Prom! Here we have a huge star studded Broadway adaptation not just with two queer women in the ensemble cast but two queer women at its center. Sure, the adults — both straight and gay male — are major characters, but the hopeful and out Emma and her closeted but aching love Alyssa are the unruly heart of the film. And they’re played by Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose, two incredibly talented queer actors! Whether you love his work or hate it, Ryan Murphy is a queer artist committed to telling queer stories. He saw a Broadway show about a gay kid living in Indiana and remembered when he was a gay kid living in Indiana and wanted to bring the story to other gay kids living in Indiana and all over. It is not new for a gay man to have power in Hollywood, but it is new for a gay man to be so out and to use that power so openly in putting queer people on screen. This is a corny celebration of musicals, a corny celebration of being gay, and I’m happy to join it in celebration. If you’ve read this far it should be obvious I too am corny and gay.
2021 and beyond — The Future!
So what’s next? Well, next year brings the delayed and much anticipated arrival of the In the Heights movie and while the stage show isn’t gay there are rumors this will be. (Okay, fine, rumors, is what I call me reading into a single shot in the trailer of Steph Beatriz and Daphne Rubin-Vega making gay looks at each other! IMAGINE!) There’s also finally an adaptation of lesbian masterpiece Fun Home in the works from stage director Sam Gold. (I’m not sure about the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal but I’ll keep an open mind!) Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez are working on an adaptation of The Prince and the Dressmaker, a transfeminine lesbian fairy tale that feels ripped straight from my wildest dreams. And finally director Blitz Bazawule and writer Marcus Gardley are working on an adaptation of The Color Purple musical and while the stage show only does slightly better than the movie in portraying the novel’s queerness hopefully this adaption will amend that.
Then there are stage shows that aren’t currently being adapted but could be! The more shows like The Prom that get made and do well on stage the more possibilities there are for musical films. Maybe we’ll get movies of jukebox musicals Head Over Heels or Jagged Little Pill. (Actually, turning Head Over Heels into a movie with Peppermint is a dream of mine…) Or maybe someone will rescue one of my very favorite musicals from obscurity and give Miss You Like Hell the audience it deserves!
And, finally, it’s worth noting that some of the best entries on this list came from independent filmmakers who weren’t afraid of the musical genre despite their limited resources. This is certain to continue as more and more queer creators are given opportunities — or create opportunities — even on a small scale. Just nine days from now Ashlei Hardenburg-Cartagena’s short film A Single Evening (pictured above) will be available to stream. This movie about a bisexual Latina’s romantic woes and the personified dating apps that haunt her was one of the best shorts I saw at Newfest this year. It has all the creativity and heart of the best musicals and you should make sure to watch it when it’s released. Imagine what Hardenburg-Cartagena will do with the genre in the years to come! Imagine what so many other queer creators will do with the genre in the years to come! The movie musical may have excluded queer women for most of the 20th century. But we’re included now — we’re including ourselves now — and, to quote The Prom, it’s time to dance!
Disney Characters, Ranked by Bisexuality
Bisexual Disney characters are a lot more common than you realized when you were watching these animated films as a young queer kid. In the past, we’ve ranked Disney Princesses by lesbianism and Disney Channel Original Movies by lesbianism — and now, in 2020, we’ve decided to open up the entire animated Disney canon to a new interpretation and discover the bisexual Disney characters we’ve overlooked all these years.
Below are the 33 most bisexual Disney characters, ranked by our full Autostraddle team.
33. Sgt. Tibbs, 101 Dalmatians
Stef: ACAB — all cats are bi, I don’t make the rules.
32. Tiana, The Princess and the Frog
Natalie: Tiana is painfully straight… though, in fairness, the only other women in the movie are her mama, her boy-obsessed best friend and a voodoo priestess.
Carmen: She is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, who has played gay twice in the years since this movie premiered (first, Jukebox on Power and then Rose on Little Fires Everywhere), so I’m giving her a bonus point.
31. Belle, Beauty and the Beast
Stef: Personally I am tired of Belle asking me If I’ve ever read Sex at Dawn.
Adrian: I do not think Belle as presented seems bi — but I believe in her potential.
Carmen: I do feel like all nerdy book girls are at least 20% bisexual, but sadly for Belle I believe that’s where the journey ends.
Carolyn: I read Belle as slightlyyyy bi but I think that’s less canonical Belle and more the version of her in Emma Donoghue’s retelling of beauty and the beast in Kissing the Witch.
30. Maximus, Tangled
Carmen: Sorry I am absolutely in it for the pout!!
29. Sally Carrera, Cars
Natalie: If we’re picking a bisexual from the Cars universe, it’s Cruz Ramirez.
Rachel: I feel like I dated her in college and we had zero chemistry but were too young to figure out that was a good enough reason to break it off.
28. Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio
Malic: I’m not convinced that Jiminy Cricket is bi, but they’re definitely non-binary.
Adrian: I am thinking maybe our ol pal JC (omg is Jiminy Cricket a Jesus allegory??? sorry I’ll stop) is more of a “no labels” type of queer.
27. Merida, Brave
Drew: Merida genuinely seems to have zero interest in men. So I’d lean more lesbian than bisexual. But maybe she’s bisexual in the way I’m bisexual — into lots of genders but not men and the internet is telling her that also counts as bisexual if that’s a label she wants for herself and she’s not sure yet?
Valerie: I’m with Merida, I wish there was a good word for “into lots of genders but not men” (though I appreciate you putting that so succinctly, Drew).
Stef: I have definitely swiped past Merida on Tinder.
Carmen: The thing is, I’m actually convinced Merida is a lesbian.
Heather: A bow is a very bisexual weapon! Not as bisexual as like a staff but way more bisexual than a mace! (Everything I learned about bisexual Disney characters I learned from D&D.)
26. Rapunzel, Tangled
Drew Gregory: Mommy issues.
Riese: Not a bisexual bob.
Natalie: Rapunzel was sheltered for so long, I’m convinced she’d try anything. Probably gay til graduation, though.
Valerie: TECHNICALLY she had a bisexual bob towards the end of the movie, once she left the oppressive confines of her Tower of Heterosexuality.
Malic: Okay, but hanging from your hair is technically a circus art, and every circus performer is bi.
25. Anna, Frozen
Drew: Uh yeah pretty sure she’s the “straight” sister who spends a bunch of time with her lesbian sister’s queer friends and one day one of them says something about queerness and she’s like “but I feel that way and I’m not queer” and there’s a pause and then she’s like “oh shit am I??” Kristoff is super supportive of her exploring that, of course.
Carmen: Wow. that’s the best use of “In this essay I will —” that I’ve ever seen, Drew.
24. Te Fiti, Moana
Carmen: I would also like to suggest Te Fiti from Moana because I don’t know, I think she’s gay. This is a lot of flowers. Flowers are gay.
23. Maid Marian, Robin Hood
Stef: To me Marian reads like she’ll make out with you at parties but still dates only guys, which is frustrating.
Adrian: Oh dang, Stef, I was gonna say Marian reads like a femme bi who is always like “well as a bisexual!!!!” because everyone assumes she’s straight. Not that our two reads are mutually exclusive oops.
Stef: I’ve made out with a lot of Marians unfortunately.
Meg: Oh god as a femme bi who is always like “well as a bisexual!!!!” I feel both deeply seen and fully horrified.
22. Jasmine, Aladdin
Valerie: Jasmine had a lot of barriers to break through but you KNOW if she hadn’t had to spend so much time busting through the “I’d like to choose who I marry” wall she’d have been on the “I should be able to marry a man OR a woman, FATHER” train.
Sarah: Bi girls love having cats as pets
Malic: Jasmine seems a little bi, but Raja the tiger is the big ol’ bisexual here.
Himani: I feel like the live action Jasmine has way more queer vibes to me than the animated one.
Carmen: We can think of her as Representative Jasmine of the All Jasmines Delegation of Bisexual Disney Characters.
Himani: Haha that’s fair — I just wanted to note that bc they feel like two very different characters to me.
Carmen: They definitely were!
Sarah: Oh yeah live action Jasmine is so queer.
21. White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland
Valerie: Maybe this is me projecting but I feel like being perpetually late is inherently queer.
Rachel: Yeah I also came here to say I couldn’t figure out why he felt bi to me and then realized it’s because he’s stressed out.
Stef: You oughta see this guy sit in a chair.
Adrian: He’s never gonna be able to keep a brunch reservation with this crowd.
20. Tramp, Lady and the Tramp
Sarah: This bi girl I dated briefly had a huge crush on Tramp so I’m pretty sure that also means Tramp has bi energy?
Stef: Dirtbag with a heart of gold, I relate.
Carmen: I relate because I always date this person and rarely does it ever work out for me.
Carolyn: +1 Carmen
Kayla: EXTREME bi dirtbag energy.
18 and 19. Pumba and Timon, The Lion King
Natalie: The Bert and Ernie of the Disney world.
17. Robin Hood, Robin Hood
Rachel: Feel strongly that Robin Hood is not bi but does exclusively date bi girls.
Stef: Oh I think Robin is a guy who is very comfortable talking about men he finds attractive and I don’t think he’s opposed to hooking up with dudes, he’s just constantly being hit on by women.
Archie: He is def being merry with his band of men in those woods.
16. Remy, Ratatouille
Drew: Pretty sure the plot of Ratatouille is Remy falls in love with Linguini, Linguini thinks they’re just friends and colleagues and falls in love with Colette instead, Remy is sad and jealous and leaves, Linguini starts to miss Remy, Linguini, Remy, and Colette end up in a throuple. No?
15. Hei Hei, Moana
Meg: This may be controversial but I feel like Hei Hei has very chaotic bisexual energy.
Carmen: Profoundly relate to Hei Hei’s anxiety. As queer people, anxiety is our time honored way of being.
Stef: I relate to Hei Hei’s admirable ability to do the same dumb thing over and over and over again, truly makes me feel like he’s one of my people.
13. Jessie, Toy Story
Natalie: I think Jessie is one of those girls who says she’s bisexual in college and then comes out as a lesbian later in life.
Rachel: Museum-quality example of the bisexual horse girl.
Meg: “When She Loved Me” has to be in the top three most queer Disney songs.
13. Megara, Hercules
Valerie: This is a very Bisexual Lean™️ in my humble opinion. Robin Hood does it too.
Rachel: Absolutely The Blueprint for bitchy bisexual women.
Carolyn: The first character I thought of when I saw we were doing this list.
12. Moana, Moana
Drew: Moana is trans and lots of trans people are bi therefore Moana is probably bi. We call that the transitive property.
Heather: Drew. “Transitive property.” *adjusts bisexual monocle*
11. Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty
Drew: I know this is technically a different version of the character. But anyone who is portrayed by bicon Angelina Jolie automatically gets major bi points IMO.
Valerie: Was about to make my case by way of Angelina Jolie but Drew already did it. Also, having a raven familiar is extremely bisexual.
Stef: Maleficent thinks the stereotype of the evil bisexual is harmful but she’s also still maleficent, an evil bisexual.
Carmen: Maleficent is bisexual in every iteration of her character, and in the following order:
1. Animated Original Maleficent, super bisexual.
2. Kristin Bauer Van Straten as Maleficent in Once Upon a Time, supremely bisexual
3. Angelina Jolie in both live action movies of Maleficent, astronomically bisexual.
10. Elastigirl, The Incredibles
Carolyn: Elastigirl’s hair: a take on the bisexual bob??
Valerie: I genuinely can’t remember if she had a canon ex-girlfriend or if I decided it so hard it became true in my mind.
Heather: She had a husband and a girlfriend in Incredibles 2.
Kayla: Elastidaddy (I’m sorry).
9. Mulan, Mulan
Heather: Name a more bisexual activity than cutting off your own hair with a sword.
8. Professor Ratigan, The Great Mouse Detective
Stef: WHERE is Professor Ratigan????
Heather: I was worried I was adding too many villainous bisexuals and people would get mad!
Stef: The amount of time he spends denying his identity as a rat plus his sinister power grabs? BISEXUAL.
Heather: You’re right, you’re right.
Stef: Listen, as a villainous bisexual.
Heather: You’re not—
Stef: I demand representation!
7. Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit
Rachel: “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way” is commentary on biphobia.
Sarah: This is every bi Scorpio I know.
Stef, a bi Scorpio: I don’t want to talk about it.
5 and 6. Lumiere and Cogsworth, Beauty and the Beast
Archie: These two have literal wives in the movie. But also 👀 💅 imo.
Archie, who can only vote as high as a seven: NINE!
Stef: None more bi.
4. John Darling, Peter Pan
Adrian: It’s the top hat/nightgown combo for me.
Stef: Oh the oversized glasses that don’t even have lenses in them.
Adrian: DING DING DING!
3. Evil Queen, Snow White
Stef: Is that like a … gaiter? What is that? I’ve always been obsessed with it.
Heather: It’s like a full balaclava.
Stef: For when you have to be at the palace at 2:00, but you’re meeting with the other foot soldiers at 3:30. I bet her Corona fashion would have been insane.
Malic: The Evil Queen was an early crush of mine, so I assumed that she’s an unavailable straight woman. But now I’m convinced — she is, indeed, bi.
Carmen: Ahem, the Evil Queen, in all of her iterations, is the purest form that hot bisexual who is both smarter than you and also knows how to apply the perfect lipstick and winged eyeliner and definitely also will murder you with a knife and you will somehow like it. This was never more true than when Regina Mills was the Evil Queen on Once Upon a Time, who was so supremely bisexual that it makes one quiver at the knees. HOWEVER, since I was SO RUDELY AND UNFAIRLY forbidden from once again inexplicably squeezing Regina Mills into an Autostraddle television conversation, I will gladly accept the animated original in her place.
Heather: “Once again.”
Stef: If anyone wants to buy me that cloak w the widow’s peak situation I promise to look really good in it.
2. Li Shang, Mulan
Drew: Always identified as bi, but lately he’s been hearing the word pan and is thinking maybe that suits him better.
Rachel: Definitely bisexual, almost bi himbo representation, but I think at the end of the day is a little too smart to qualify.
1. Ursula, The Little Mermaid
Drew: Is she jealous of Ariel or Prince Eric? Does she want to fuck Ariel or Prince Eric? I say, why choose!
Stef: And don’t underestimate the importance of BODY LANGUAGE.
Carmen: My favorite thing about Ursula is that no matter the gay list, no matter the time — she will always top it.
Carolyn: In more ways than one.
Did we miss any of your favorite bisexual Disney characters? Let us know in the comments!
The Best Queer Movies of 2020
2020! What a year! Due to the collective trauma that is this pandemic, our lives were completely changed — and so were our lesbian movies. Theatrical releases were either delayed to next year or turned into online exclusives. Netflix thrived, while other studios scrambled.
But the fact is our movies often get this treatment. There are several films on this list that quietly dropped on streaming after successful festival runs, not because of the pandemic, but because that’s all they were ever going to get.
With every passing year more and more of our films get made. And this year the range of films was particularly exciting. We got superhero movies! Teen comedies! Christmas movies! Oscar bait! Musicals!!!! Not everything was great, but isn’t that lovely? Isn’t it lovely to have so many movies that I actually struggled to keep the list to ten instead of struggling to think of ten?
I’m not sure how optimistic I feel about the world, but I feel extremely optimistic about the state of queer cinema!
Films That Didn’t Make the Top Ten with a Short Review:
Ammonite (dir. Francis Lee) — If we were in 2014 this would be the only lesbian film anyone would be talking about and my God am I happy it’s no longer 2014.
Bit (dir. Brad Michael Elmore) — I’m starved for queer trans women on screen like a vampire starves for blood. Is this movie a masterpiece? No. Does it take some questionable turns? Yes. Do I still love it? Absolutely.
Dating Amber (dir. David Freyne) — A classic boy meets girl story where the boy is gay and the girl is also gay. This is a sweet movie, but there are some transphobic lines that stung.
Happiest Season (dir. Clea DuVall) — Look, even if this movie just had Aubrey Plaza, Kristen Stewart’s outfits, and a Jinkx/BenDeLa cameo that’s more than most Christmas movies. You’ve probably already seen this and probably have strong feelings about it but my only strong feeling is I wish my date to watch it hadn’t ghosted.
Kajillionaire (dir. Miranda July) — Miranda July is a unique artist and this is a unique film. It’s ambitious and unpleasant and I’m not sure it entirely works but I really respect what it’s going for. I look forward to revisiting it someday.
A New York Christmas Wedding (dir. Otoja Abit) — If we must compare lesbian Christmas movies, I prefer this one, not because it’s better but because it’s ridiculous in a way I thoroughly enjoyed. To be fair, I was stoned.
The Old Guard (dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood) — Charlize Theron as a world weary millennia old bisexual mercenary who wants to die hit just right for 2020. Her queerness may not be super explicit but it’s there and the movie’s gay male love story is even better. I’ve loved pretty much everything Gina Prince-Bythewood has ever done and this is no exception.
A Secret Love (dir. Chris Bolan) — Why would you make a movie about two old lesbians who met playing baseball and turn it into a story about the homophobic family?? This is by far my least favorite film on this list.
Summerland (dir. Jessica Swale) — This is a perfectly serviceable, uplifting British lesbian period piece led by a strong performance from Gemma Arterton. It could’ve used more time with love interest Gugu Mbatha-Raw, but I was still charmed.
Unpregnant (dir. Rachel Lee Goldenberg) — Queer actress Barbie Ferreira, Haley Lu Richardson, and a stellar ensemble cast elevate this pro-choice road trip romp. (Yes, you read that right.) It’s about the power of friendship! Betty Who plays Ferreira’s monster truck driving love interest! A great way to spend an afternoon!
Yes, God, Yes (dir. Karen Maine) — A charming coming of age movie that mostly focuses on a presumably straight girl but has one really lovely scene with a lesbian! This probably isn’t gay enough to be on this list, but I promise it’s a really lovely scene.
Movie I Loved That’s Directed By a Lesbian But Only Has a Minor Lesbian Character So I’m Calling It an Honorable Mention:
The Last Thing He Wanted (dir. Dee Rees)
Dee Rees is one of the best filmmakers working today, lesbian or otherwise. Pariah? Masterpiece. Mudbound? Masterpiece. Bessie? The best HBO original movie of all time. (Yes, better than Gia.) And then her fourth film dropped on Netflix this year and…. nothing. Why?? Because some mostly white male critics didn’t like it?? The main critique of this Joan Didion adaptation starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, and Rosie Perez playing a lesbian is that it’s confusing. It’s… not… confusing. I will humor the possibility that I’m just much smarter than Peter Travers, but I have to wonder if what’s really going on is a Black lesbian filmmaker wasn’t given the same benefit of the doubt as the white men who usually make this kind of pointedly convoluted political thriller. This isn’t a perfect film, but it’s thrilling THRILLING to watch Dee Rees’ cinema. She’s a genius and it’s just as exciting to see her reach for new ambitions as it is to watch her masterpieces. I can’t wait for decades more of Dee Rees films!!
The List:
10. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (dir. Cathy Yan)
The first canon queer woman superhero movie lead didn’t get a gay love interest. But she did get a breakfast sandwich and isn’t that just as good? Cathy Yan didn’t just give Margot Robbie’s bisexual Harley Quinn the movie she deserves or bring to life Rosie Perez’s lesbian Renee Montoya, she created a big budget action movie that feels queer to its core. Every single character is either explicitly queer or feels coded in some way! This is what I want from a superhero movie: 1) hot women, 2) one liners, 3) every person regardless of gender feels like they’re a drag performer. Well, Birds of Prey delivers. I’m so glad this was the last movie I saw in theatres before the pandemic.
9. Holy Trinity (dir. Molly Hewitt)
Whenever there’s Twitter discourse about how all queer films are like this or all queer films are like that, it’s clear that people are not seeking out work like writer/director/producer/star Molly Hewitt’s debut feature. All queer films are about a dominatrix who huffs a magic aerosol can and begins communicating with the dead? Nope!! Throw in two nonbinary leads (Hewitt and Work in Progress/The Politician heartthrob Theo Germaine), imaginative low budget production design and costumes, and the setting of Chicago’s queer scene and you get a queer movie that is Q U E E R. It’s funny, it’s sexy, it’s weird, and it’s filled with references and nuance only we’ll understand. Your penance for discourse is ten Hail Mary’s and to rent this movie. You’re welcome.
8. Shakedown (dir. Leilah Weinraub)
The only film this year to premiere on both PornHub and The Criterion Channel, Leilah Weinraub’s Shakedown is a love letter, a time capsule, and a remarkable work of documentary filmmaking. Weinraub’s camera captures the community Shakedown built — a space for Black queer sexuality — as well as the constant police presence that eventually led to its closure. Weinraub was a frequent patron of the club in the late 90s and early 00s and her affection and closeness to the space is felt in every frame. This film was not made for me, and honestly outside the context of a list like this I wouldn’t write about it, but you should watch the film and then read Bailey’s wonderful review!
7. The Daughters of Fire (dir. Albertina Carri)
Summer of 2019 (wow remember that?) I saw this movie at Outfest when all my friends were attending the lesbian short film program. Very quickly I knew I’d made the right call. How rare to collectively watch porn nowadays? How rare to collectively watch porn like this ever? When I say I miss movie theatres I specifically mean the feeling of a dozen shocked viewers leaving the theatre and the rest of us collectively experiencing Albertina Carri’s exploration of queer female sexuality and how it’s captured on screen. But even if you didn’t see the film until it premiered on MUBI this year, it’s still an arresting viewing experience that will overwhelm you with its beauty and hotness. Here’s to listening to poetic meditations on gaze before coming.
6. The Prom (dir. Ryan Murphy)
I love musicals. I love Ryan Murphy. I love being gay. And, as established, I love movies where cishet actresses feel like drag queens. I will apologize for none of those things!! I miss theatre so much and watching The Prom reminded of that rare feeling only a Broadway musical can instill. This is the kind of big budget musical adaptation we rarely get these days — and that lesbians have only received once before. This is a queer celebration with some wonderfully absurd over the top performances from people like Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman and two lovely and grounded performances from queer actors Jo Ellen Pellman and Ariana DeBose. It’s a movie filled with energy and set pieces and silly dance numbers. It’s just very gay in the goofiest, most flamboyant way imaginable. Is the liberal messaging a bit easy? Sure. But I smiled and smiled and smiled and then sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. This was made for all the faggoty Broadway lesbians who didn’t attend their high school prom and I am, in fact, a faggoty Broadway lesbian who did not attend her high school prom.
5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (dir. George C. Wolfe)
If The Prom reminded me what it was like to see a big Broadway musical, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom reminded me what it was like to see a masterful straight play — straight only in the non-musical sense. I’ve been lucky enough to see director George C. Wolfe and screenwriter Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s work on stage and this August Wilson adaptation is clearly made by two artists who understand both mediums. Theatre adaptations can sometimes feel stilted, but this film knows when to expand and knows when to stew in its theatricality. This is not a film about queerness per say — its focus is more the creation and appropriation of Black art — but Wolfe, Santiago-Hudson, and greatest actress alive Viola Davis ensure the queerness of the film. There is no subtext. Ma Rainey’s relationship with Dussie Mae played by Taylour Paige is made explicit and her queerness is made an integral part of her character. Lesbian romance films are obviously great, but I think it’s really worth celebrating a film that focuses on a queer woman’s art and how race, gender, and sexuality impact how she creates and moves through the world. This is another film I wouldn’t write about outside the context of a list, but it’s certainly one that I’m grateful to have experienced.
4. La Leyenda Negra (dir. Patricia Vidal Delgado)
It’s not uncommon for queer films to have a political message. It’s not uncommon for films about any marginalized identity — or intersection of marginalized identities — to have a political message. After all, our very lives are often politicized. But Hollywood’s political queer cinema often manifests in movies like Philadelphia and Freeheld — movies about white people that ignore nuance in favor of empty messages of acceptance. The work ends up feeling less political than your average queer romcom, or even political in a way that’s actively insidious. La Leyenda Negra is an overtly political queer film. It’s an overtly political queer film about immigration with a narrative explicitly responding to Trump ending Temporary Protected Status for 417,000 migrants including 251,000 Salvadoran nationals. We’re informed of these facts in an end title card, but this film isn’t a mere receptacle for information or cheap empathy. First time feature writer/director Patricia Vidal Delgado understands that the most effective political films don’t feel like Political Films — they feel like stories about people. Monica Betancourt gives a phenomenal performance as Aleteia, a teenage girl filled with righteous fury at her circumstances and tender love for her new friend and crush, Rosarito played by Kaileil Lopez. Watching Aleteia and Rosarito find unexpected connection and first queer feelings is a delight. They deserve a world without borders and binaries where they can be free to explore what’s blossoming between them. So much political cinema shouts HEY THIS KIND OF PERSON IS A PERSON TOO, but to even make that statement is an act of dehumanization. Delgado doesn’t need to convince her viewers of anyone’s humanity. She’s just telling a story of two queer Latinx teenagers who deserve better.
3. Second Star on the Right (dir. Ruth Caudeli)
Okay so I’ve reviewed this film, blurbed it for the decade list, blurbed it for the all-time list, and now here I am blurbing it again. And yet almost nobody I know has seen it! That’s probably because it’s only available through Here TV and the Here TV Amazon app. No offense to Here TV, but it’s such a shame one of the very best films I saw during last year’s gay festival circuit is so inaccessible. The good news? You can do a one week free trial and watch the film for free! I know we wish all the best queer films were available on major platforms, but it really doesn’t take that much effort to see Ruth Caudeli’s messy bisexual masterpiece. I want to live in a world where all of queer Twitter is also being traumatized by this character’s bad shame-filled choices!! Co-writer and lead Silvia Varón is such a star and it’s a real joy to spend time in her character’s chaos. This is a wildly inventive film made by queer people, starring queer people, and it’s the exact kind of contemporary-set, slice of life queer woman film everyone claims to be hungry for. So watch it already! I’m tired of repeating myself in blurbs!
2. Alice Júnior (dir. Gil Baroni)
When this first came out I tried to be really delicate about spoilers, because the final twist delighted me into a state I can only describe as a joyous panic attack. But by now you’ve all listened to me and watched it on Netflix, right? Right?? *SPOILERS* Alice is gay! And by gay I mean queer! And by queer I mean who knows! What I do know is Alice is Alice and what a fantastic character I would watch across several more films or an entire TV series. Brought to life by Anne Celestino Mota, Alice is a model/YouTuber with a fabulous Gen Z fashion sense and an equally sharp tongue. She’s everything I wish I could’ve been as a trans teen. She’s fierce yet vulnerable, open-minded yet judgmental when judgement is earned. She’s as committed to her inner sense of justice as she is to fulfilling her romantic fantasies. And while the film focuses on her pursuit of a first kiss with a boy, the fact that her first kiss is instead with a girl is just the loveliest, queerest surprise of the year. The whole cast as friends, as family, as potential lovers all have so much chemistry, and while director Gil Baroni’s style is inventive and screenwriter Luiz Bertazzo’s script is funny and thoughtful, it’s this chemistry that makes the film feel so true. Occasionally a movie or TV show is made that completely elevates my expectations for media about trans people and Alice Júnior is one of those masterpieces. I was asked to guest lecture for a Girl Scout troop of 5th graders and I got to show them a clip from this movie. What a joy to show them this film with an aspirational trans teenager. What a joy that a generation of kids can watch it. What a joy to finally be moving towards the trans media we deserve.
1. The Half of It (dir. Alice Wu)
It’s not lost on me that three of the top four movies on this list are coming of age stories. I love this genre because I’m gay and trans and my adolescence was far from the one I wanted. I love this genre because so often the filmmakers are gay and/or trans and/or their adolescence was far from the one they wanted. Queer people have a lot of trauma! And a lot of that trauma goes back to our younger years! Movies provide an escape, a fantasy, a place to process and confront and feel and move on or go deeper or get whatever it is you need on any given day. They can show you a life you had, a life you couldn’t have, a life you want. They can change the ideas we held about our pasts and ourselves and our futures.
When I first heard the Cyrano-esque logline for Alice Wu’s long anticipated second feature, I knew the film would be more than a teen romcom with a hook. After all, her first film, Saving Face, wasn’t your standard adult romcom with a hook. Alice Wu is the kind of artist who waited a decade and a half between projects because she refused to make compromises in this racist, sexist, homophobic industry. She is an artist who stays true to her vision or doesn’t do it all. And what a vision! Saving Face and The Half Of It might be appropriate for kids and straight parents, but in her own way Alice Wu is as punk in her queerness as the most radical artists. The specificity, the nuance, the detail in her craft, these are queer films born from lived experience and brought to life with genius. Their charm, their humor, their approachability do nothing to diminish their quality. Who decided what genres matter most? Who decided what stories matter most? I love queer coming of age movies. I love The Half Of It. This year, it was the story that mattered to me most.
What hidden gems did I miss? What were your favorite queer movies of the year?
What’s New and Gay in December 2020 in Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO Max?
What’s new on Netflix in December 2020? What’s streaming on Netflix in December 2020? What about Amazon?! HBO Max?!!! Well I have all those answers for you right here right now. Here’s what’s streaming in December 2020 with lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters!
A “(??)” means I’m not sure if there’s anything involving queer women and/or trans people in the film or show.
Netflix Gay Streaming December 2020
The Prom (Netflix Original) – December 11
Based on the 2018 Broadway Musical, The Prom follows a high school student in small-town Indiana who’s been banned from attending the prom with her girlfriend. Two Broadway stars (played by Meryl Streep and James Corden) who recently participated in a major flop, determine this cause is what they need to resurrect their public images and they head to the Midwest with two additional actors (played by Nicole Kidman and Andrew Rannells)
Tiny Pretty Things: Season One (Netflix Original) – December 14
This series about a competitive and prestigious ballet school populated by ruthlessly determined lithe dancers has been compared to Black Swan, Center Stage and Pretty Little Liars. The book actually attracted a bit of controversy for the positioning of its LGBT characters, which did include Sei-Jin, a closeted lesbian dancer, although no character by that name is listed on imdb. Update: Netflix The Most tweeted that “a gay ballerina takes center stage in this thrilling new whodunit.” So…..
Anitta: Made In Honorio (Netflix Original) (2020) – December 16
Bisexual Brazilian pop queen Anitta is the focus of this intimate documentary in which she will open up about fame, family, and her fierce work ethic.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) – December 18
Based on August Wilson’s play, this critically acclaimed film stars Viola Davis as the titular Ma Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues.” The action unfolds over the course of an afternoon recording session in 1920s Chicago, with Ma in a fight with her white manager and trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman, in his final film appearance) setting his sights on Ma’s girlfriend. So far this film has been categorically critically acclaimed!
Bridgerton: Season One (Netflix Original) – December 20 (??)
Shondaland’s first big Netflix production follows the escapades of the eight children of the late Viscount Bridgerton in early 19th-century England and the high society scandal sheet written by the mysterious Lady Whistleon (played by Julie Andrews) that keeps the town a-flutter. The trailer indicates a man-on-man hookup but we’re not sure if there will be any queer lady stuff this season. Look out for Nicola Couglan, who plays Clare on Derry Girls.
The Con is On (2018) – December 21
This film features the one and only Uma Thurman as “queer crime bitch” Harriet aka Harry. Maggie Q plays Irina who is still in love with Harry because they had a thing. Also there’s like, jewel thieves and little witty quips and British men and fancy women and all the things that go into films of this nature you know what I mean.
Dare Me: Season 1 – December 28
This criminally underrated and unjustly cancelled show about All-American yet homoerotic cheerleaders in a small Midwestern town with secret desires and loyalties will hit Netflix approximately one year after its debut on USA. Maybe everybody will fall in love with it and then it will come back, like what happened with You on Netflix, except that Dare Me is better than You.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Season 2, Part 4 (Netflix Original) – December 31
Despite planning for Part Five already being underway, this creepy little show was cancelled in July and Part 4 will be its last dance. This season, The Eldritch Terrors will descend upon Greendale and the coven will have to fight each threat one-by-one on a journey to The Avoid, aka the End of All Things.
Hulu Streaming in Gay December 2020
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
Sandra Oh plays a lesbian named Patti in this mommi-fest about a San Francisco writer (Diane Lane) finds out her husband has been cheating on her takes an Italian vacation with Patti to get over her depression re: her ex husband and writers block.
Nurses: Season 1 Premiere (NBC) – December 8
NBC picked up this medical drama from its Canadian home to have something new for its fall schedule, and we are not complaining because there are girls making out in the trailer. Five young nurses embark on a high-stakes world of nursing in a busy downtown hospital, including Ashley Collins, “a wild and unapologetic adrenaline junkie who lives for the fast pace of the hospital,” who eventually starts a little something with a woman named Caro.
Letterkenny: Season 9 – December 26
The Ninth season of this “Surprisingly Queer Canadian Comedy” is here for your post-Christmas viewing. I’ll have you know that in 2019, a year that took place 20 years ago, Valerie finished all six seasons within one single week and called it her “happy place show.” That bodes very well for you!!! She warns that there are a lot of men in this program, including “self-proclaimed hicks on a farm and hockey bros slinging insults back and forth” but eventually everybody emerges from the Candian stereotypes the show is focused on including Katy, who is sassy, funny, smart and queer.
Streaming in Queer on Amazon Prime December 2020
A League of Their Own (1992)
The gay-but-not-gay film beloved by gay girls all over the world and by that I mean me as a child; is coming to Amazon Prime for you to marvel in how gay this movie is without becoming actually gay!!!!! Can’t wait for the actually gay TV series, it’s gonna be a hoot!
The Wilds: Season One (Amazon Original) – December 11
Here, let me just bestow this synopsis upon you if I may: “Part survival drama, part dystopic slumber party, The Wilds follows a group of teen girls from different backgrounds who must fight for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. The castaways both clash and bond as they learn more about each other, the secrets they keep, and the traumas they’ve all endured. There’s just one twist to this thrilling drama… these girls did not end up on this island by accident!” There is a lot of queer stuff in here too, so.
Blackbird (2019) – December 18
This emotional drama follows Lily (Susan Sarandon) and Paul (Sam Niel), a couple who’ve summoned their family and loved ones to the beach house for a final weekend together before Lily ends her life, and her battle with ALS, on her own terms. But also they have to deal with all their unresolved family shit really fast! Her daughter Anna (Mia Wasikowska), brings her partner, Chris, played by non-binary actor Bex Taylor-Klaus, to bear witness to it all. Kate Winslet and Rainn Wilson are in it too.
Showtime Season Ones: Also in the month of December, you can watch Season One of select Showtime programs for free without subscribing to the Showtime add-on. Those include the first seasons of The L Word: Generation Q, Ray Donovan and Work in Progress.
December 2020 Streaming and Queer on HBO Max
Stylish With Jenna Lyons (HBO original) – December 3
I false alarmed y’all on this last month b/c they changed the debut date in which former J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons, a very fashionable lesbian, debuts her eight-part reality series in which she is building her own brand.
Euphoria Special Episode (HBO original) – December 6
Something related to this program is happening this December on HBO Max. However, “this is not Season 2.” There are two parts. Part one is called “Rue.” Intrepid fans have seen Zendaya and Hunter around L.A. filming. It allegedly resumes shortly after Rue relapsed and Jules left her at the train station, circa Christmastime.
Let Them All Talk (HBO original) – December 10 (??)
I am including this here because one of the characters in this paean to white women of a certain age will acknowledge at some point that she had a threesome in college??? Anyhow, watch Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen and Dianne Wiest improvise on a cruise ship for a week!
Homeschool Musical 2020 (HBO Max Original) – December 17
Laura Benanti was sad about all the kids who had their high school musicals cancelled this year and invited them to submit songs on social media — eventually the project became this documentary, which followed seven aspirants finding their voice in unprecedented times, including a trans teenager.
Wonder Woman 1984 – December 25 (??)
Nobody wanted to wait anymore for this film so HBO Max is bringing it right to our living rooms!! Or apparently it is viewable at a number of movie theaters in various locations, if you want to gamble with your life or whatever. The trailer does apparently hint at something queer maybe possibly happening and Kristin Wiig will be playing Cheetah / Barbara Ann Minvera, who is apparently “a complicated queer villain” but I feel like if this was truly going to be gay somehow Heather would already know?
Here’s What’s New and Gay in November 2020 on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and HBO Max
What’s new on Netflix in November 2020? What’s streaming on Hulu in November 2020? What about Amazon?! HBO Max?!!! Well I have all those answers for you right here right now. Here’s what’s streaming in November 2020 with lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters!
Wanna see what was up in October? Here you go.
LGBTQ+ Women Related Content New To Netflix Streaming in November 2020
A New York Christmas Wedding – November 5
Jennifer is a little wary about her upcoming wedding to a man named David, and then she meets her guardian angel who seems a little gay! Anyhow, he shows her another version of her life wherein her Dad is still alive, her priest is very cool and hip with the modern times, and she’s engaged to her real true love, HER BEST FRIEND GABRIELLA. Which reality will she decide to indulge??!!
American Horror Story 1984 – November 13
Heavily influenced by classic horror slasher films of the ’80s, Angelica Ross is a regular character in this ninth season of the FX horror anthology series.
V for Vendetta (2005) – November 15
Has this movie just been like… making the rounds all year? I feel like I have written a blurb for this film four times for different networks
Lesbian and Gay Content New To Hulu Streaming in November 2020
Skins (UK): Seasons 1-7 – November 1
After being ruthlessly yanked from Netflix at some point in recent memory, the entirety of this highly influential British TV series about messy, inept, angsty, good-looking teenagers in Bristol struggling to find themselves and keep their shit together is coming to Hulu. The third season introduces us to Naomi and Emily, a romance for the ages. Season Five delivers Franky, who becomes a lot less queer in Season Six. Don’t watch Skins:Fire aka Season Seven.
Foxfire (1996) – November 1
This is truly a big month for streaming networks delivering ’90s movies with light lesbian content that absolutely had a MAJOR impact on my personal development. Foxfire is one of my favorite queer movies of all time! Teenage girls take revenge upon the men who violate and oppress them! Jenny Lewis is also in it!
Wild Things (1998) – November 1
Another homoerotic ’90s classic, this neo-noir crime thriller stars Neve Campbell, Denise Richards, Mat Dillon and Kevin Bacon got a lot of attention for a threesome scene that caused me to audibly gasp in a movie theater in Arkansas in 1998.
Killing Eve: Season 3 – November 6
Our favorite black comedy drama spy thriller’s third season finds Eve recovering from Villanelle’s attempted murder of her and adjusting to civilian life while Villanelle finds her lesbian wedding interrupted by Dasha, her trainer and former assassin. The cat and mouse game proceeds all season long with great outfits and sexual tension.
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17 Premiere – November 13
The premiere of Season 17 will be set one month into the pandemic with Seattle Grace handling an influx of patients who have been injured in a fire. Two episodes will air on premiere night, the second being “a lot more character based.”
Station 19: Season 4 Premiere – November 13
Like Grey’s, Station 19’s action will unfold against a resplendent pandemic background, and Season 4 will see love blooming between station captain Maya Bishop who has faced her childhood trauma and is ready to commit to girlfriend Dr. Carina DeLuca.
Burden of Truth: Season 3 – November 21
The CBC legal drama’s third season, which aired in January in Canada and this summer on The CW, will land on Hulu this month. Season Three finds Luna working with Kat, a young associate at Joanna’s law firm. And by “working with” we mean…. working with but also… ;-)
The Happiest Season (2020) Hulu Original – November 25
I have been anticipating this event for what appears to be nearly two years, a lesbian Christmas movie starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, co-written and directed by Clea Duvall and also featuring Dan Levy, Alison Brie and Mary Steenburgen.
Bombshell (2019) – November 26
Heather’s review of Bombshell explains all the reasons why this film is problematic and bad, but honestly I enjoyed it quite a bit despite all that. It tells the story of conservative asshats like Megan Kelly and Gretchen Carlson who came forward to get Roger Ailes ousted from Fox News for being a sexual predator and paid the price. Kate McKinnon plays an actual lesbian working at the network ’cause it was the only job she could get and is undoubtedly a highlight of the whole damn thing.
LGBTQ+ Content New To Amazon in November 2020
Transhood (2020) – Hulu Original – November 12
This documentary was filmed over the course of five years in Kansas City and follows the lives of for young people and their families as they navigate growing up transgender in America’s heartland. You can see the trailer here.
American Horror Story 1984 – November 13
Heavily influenced by classic horror slasher films of the ’80s, Angelica Ross is a regular character in this ninth season of the FX horror anthology series.
Uncle Frank (2019) – November 25
Alas there aren’t any gay women in this film but it’s a gay Alan Ball film so I just wanted to tell you about it. Listen sometimes we enjoy gay male materials. Set in 1973, Uncle Frank follows 18-year-old Beth (Sophia Lillis of I Am Not Okay With This) as a visit to see her Uncle Frank — the family black sheep because he is GAAAAAYYY — turns into a road trip back to South Carolina with Frank and his boyfriend to the family patriarch’s funeral.
Bombshell (2019) – November 26
Wow, Amazon and Hulu are BOTH getting their little fingers upon this film on November 26th. Big day for bombshells.
November 2020 HBO Max Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Content
Cruel Intentions (1999) – November 1
Once again we have a homoerotic thriller from the ’90s! This soapy teen take on Dangerous Liaisons stars Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon, Sara Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair includes one (1) same-sex kiss and a lot of sex, in general.
Now and Then (1995) – November 1
Roberta — played by Rosie O’Donnell as an adult and Christina Ricci as a child — was supposed to be a lesbian in this film, but test audiences were “creeped out” by Roberta, a gynecologist, delivering the baby of another character. Hard to believe some of us grew up during this time period afraid to be ourselves. Anyhow!!! So you will just have to tell this lesbian story in your own head, which won’t be hard because this is up there on the beloved films by girls who turned out gay list. All our favorite ’90s child actresses (Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Gaby Hoffman, Ashleigh Aston Moore (RIP)) play BFFs growing up during an eventful small-town summer in 1970. Riding bikes, sharing secrets, knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe, etc.
Industry: Season 1 – November 9
Lesbian content in this BBC/HBO co-production, which follows a group of ambitious young twenty-somethings competing for jobs at an international finance film after the 2008 financial crash, looks like it might land somewhere between “zero” and “yikes” but um, we’ll see! As is often the case in prestige dramas of the financial nature, there’s a gay male situation for sure, which also lowers our chances but again, truly anything could happen!!!!
Stylish with Jenna Lyons: Limited Series – November 26
Former J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons, a very fashionable lesbian, debuts her eight-part reality series in which she is building her own brand.
10 Twisted, Gory Horror Films to Watch With Your Mean Femme Date
Last year I brought y’all an instant classic in 10 Low Key Horror Movies to Watch With Your Sensitive Butch Date. and since then I’ve been thinking. What if you’re not into sensitive butches? What if, like me, you tend to lean more toward femmes who have the icy glare of someone who knows she’s hot and will ruin you with glee? There are so many cold, cool femmes in my life that I want to make out with, but I also want to test their grit. The best way for me to see if a date passes muster is to watch a fucked up horror film that I really enjoy with them. I currently have been doing this with a friend but these movies could easily translate to date mode. So queue up a text to your hot local femme and dive into this list of films that you’ll both be totally grossed out by.
Green Room (2015)
Green Room is one of my favorite movies to watch by myself. It follows a punk band and its members, Pat, Reece, Sam, and Tiger. They play in a band called Aint Rights that goes on what first appears to be a bad tour, that slowly turns into a hellish nightmare when the band is booked to play at a venue full of nazi skinheads. This movie has got gore, hella kills, music, and chilling performance by Patrick Stewart as papa skinhead. It’s a movie that’s brutality will match the brutal beauty of your date, who this time we’ll call Azalea. She definitely always carries a knife and has a favorite color that she incorporates into all of her outfits.
Haunt (2019)
I said it four times while watching and I’ll say it again: this movie is FUCKED. I kept watching it and thinking: how is this movie not over yet?? It’s only about an hour and thirty minutes but it felt like an eternity. I don’t mean this in a bad way either, it was just like this movie would not take it’s killer heels off my neck. We watch a crew of friends centering around Harper, a girl with glimpses of a traumatic past. Harper goes out to a Halloween party one night and her friends decide it’s a great idea to visit an “extreme haunted house.” Just so you know, that’s never a good idea. The crew are shocked and horrified to find out the haunts are much more real than they seem. You and Azalea will find yourselves rooting for Harper and grabbing at the couch cushions…or each other.
Blood Quantum (2019)
This movie rocked my world in a way other zombie movies haven’t. The movie mostly follows Traylor and his family as they fight their way through a sudden zombie apocalypse on a First Nations Reservation. Blood Quantum has a surprise that made me gasp and laugh when I figured it out and it should get the same reaction out of Azalea if she’s cool enough. Bloody, fast-paced, and pulse-pounding, this movie is sure to leave you both with a lot to talk about, especially after it’s emotional climax.
Bliss (2019)
I watched this movie a while ago with a friend and while it’s not my favorite, it was weird as hell and worth a watch just to talk about how it made you feel. Shout out to Shudder for having the strangest original movies. Dezzy is a painter that’s going through one of the worst creative blocks of her career. As an artist, being on deadline for agents and galleries has her stressed. Instead of actually, you know, working, she turns to drugs and alcohol to find her inspiration, which leads to her getting into some twisted situations. Part of the horror of the movie is not only the murder and mayhem but Dezzy’s spiral and loss of control of her life. There is, of course, plenty of blood and guts, so you both can leave satisfied in that means, and hopefully satisfied in other ways as well.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Ginger Snaps is a classic that has one of the most memorable turning scenes I’ve ever seen. Seriously, I think about the werewolves in this movie often and the kills in it even more. Ginger Snaps is funny, and I don’t normally like to mix up my horror with my comedy, but this movie does it well. Brigitte and Ginger are two sisters that seem to be inseparable. While they can be cruel to each other, they always come back together. If you can’t tell from the title, after an encounter with a werewolf, Ginger… kinda snaps. Things start to get more complicated for the sisters and you as the viewer begin to wonder if their relationship can survive these changes.
Raw (2016)
I was so excited for Raw to come out. I watched the trailer and read the synopsis and couldn’t wait for it to be available. Raw follows Justine as she goes through her first year of college as a strict vegetarian. I know it sounds bland but I’m trying not to give certain stuff away and provide a delicious tease, much like Azalea probably is. If she’s anything like me she’ll show up to this casual movie watching date in a body con dress smelling of amber and the air before sex. Raw is biting, beautiful, and shocking. One of the scenes that I had the hardest time viewing didn’t even have any blood in it. The tension and intimacy of the moment were enough to get me cringing without the threat of guts.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
A fucked-up classic with an iconic ending. Azalea is gonna love the movie’s gross moments and its laughable moments. There’s one scene where the main character is just running and screaming for what feels like 10 minutes. Another scene that made me laugh out loud comes later, but I’ll leave it for you two kids to enjoy. A bunch of nosy teens ends up on the horror ride of their life all because they couldn’t stop walking into a random stranger’s house. Like most thrillers that surround a group of teens to early 20-year-olds, there are bad decisions abound but no shortage of carnage.
Train to Busan (2016)
Train to Busan is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen — not just horror movies, the BEST movies I’ve ever seen. Both of you need to get ready for an incredible emotional roller coaster. I’m not a big “talk to the screen” watcher but with this movie I did. I yelled. I wanted to throw things. I called for the death of some characters and prayed for the triumph of others. I can’t begin to tell you how stressful this movie was! It’s not in English and you will have to read subtitles but we are all adults and big enough to deal with that, okay? Okay.
All Cheerleaders Die (2013)
Not to spoil anything, but I think this might be the only movie on this list that contains some really great lesbian content. It’s on Shudder and is a bit more of a low budget film, but sometimes those are the best movies. This is also another movie that isn’t strictly guts and gore and includes a bit of comedy in it. With witchcraft and lesbianism, what more could you and Azalea ask for? You can get twisted up in each other’s legs and talk about who gets to spit in who’s mouth later. I’m imagining Azalea is not like your soft butch friend Ericka and will not play coy during the duration of the movie. She’s a bitch that knows what she wants. And what she wants is you, you lucky devil.
The Descent (2005)
One time I was watching this movie with a friend and we kept screaming at certain jump scares. Her husband was like “you are scaring the cats!” and she was like “no sweetie we are scaring you” and that was when I knew I would be adding this movie into my regular watching rotation. The Descent follows a group of mostly white women who decide that it’s a good idea to go exploring around underground in tight caves. During their trip, they run into some unsightly creatures underground that threaten to ruin their cute little reunion. A bunch of women getting trapped in a tight cave? Maybe All Cheerleaders Die isn’t the only movie with lesbian content. In any event, you and Azalea can sit and laugh at white women white women-ing and outdoorsy types from the comfort of her velvet couch. I’m also imagining she has impeccable taste in furniture and probably owns a sex swing. Pause halfway through to get railed by Azalea and then resume for another memorable ending that calls to mind another on this list.
What gorefest movies would you add to the list?
What’s New to Stream in October 2020
What new things are coming to your favorite streaming platforms (by which I mean all streaming platforms) to entertain you while you remain indoors for the ten millionth month in a row? What’s streaming on Netflix with gay characters? What’s on Hulu with lesbians? Where are the bisexuals on Amazon? These questions and more: I’m going to answer them. By the way if you want to see all the shows we’ve written about this year, check out the 2020 Television Hub!
LGBTQ+ Women Related Content New To Netflix Streaming in October 2020
Schitt’s Creek: Season 6 – October 7
The final season of this wildly Emmy-laden series drops on Netflix October 7th. Canadian actor Karen Robinson plays Ronnie Lee, a lesbian with a partner and a small business and a spot on the town council, and her role gets a little bigger every season.
Deaf U – Netflix Original Docuseries – October 9
This docuseries follows a tight-knit group of deaf students, including pansexual social activists Renate Rose, who share their stories about life in D.C.’s Gallaudet University, a federally chartered private school fo the education of deaf and hard of hearing students. In the trailer, I think it’s Renate talking about how all the women at Gallaudet are very hot! And kissing some of them!
The Haunting of Bly Manor – Netflix Original Series – October 9
From the people that brought you The Haunting of Hill house comes The Haunting of Bly Manor. We have no idea whether or not it is going to be gay, but they did reach out to Valerie about sending a press kit so …. ??
40-Year-Old-Version – October 9
Upfront I must inform you that the gayness in the film is limited to gay men. However, it’s supposed to be really great! Produced by Lena Waithe, 40-Year-Old Version stars filmmaker Rhada Blank as a playwright once hailed as up-and-coming who feels she’s yet to prove herself worthy of that moniker and decides to pivot to become a rapper named RadhaMUSPrime. She teaches theater to high school kids and shuffles around to events suggested by her (gay) agent played by Peter King. Early reviews are glowing!
Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts: Season 3 – October 12
Netflix’s whimsical post-apocalyptic dreamscape follows the ever optimistic Burrow Girl Kipo and her queer pals as they unravel the next bit of mystery about her identity. I don’t want to spoil you, so I won’t say too much, but you can be sure that Kipo’s hijinks will include found family hijinks, hard-won hope, laugh out loud mishaps, and a new musical genre in every episode. If you like Korra or Adventure Time or Steven Universe or She-Ra — and especially if you love all of those shows — you will be so happy to join Kipo on her adventures to make friends out of every human and mute on (and below) the earth.
A Baby-Sitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting – Netflix Original Movie – October 14
Indya Moore plays glamorous witch “Peggy Drood” in this children’s film about a high school freshman who’s baby-sitting job turns into her getting recruited into an international secret society of baby-sitters who protect kids with special powers from monsters.
Grand Army: Season 1 – Netflix Original Series – October 16
The trailer for this series features girls kneeling for the American flag AND girls kissing each other and is based on “Slut,” a play from activist group Arts Effect All-Girl Theatre Company, that tackled the sexual assault of a teenage girl and slut-shaming culture in high school. However, when the trailer dropped in September, writer Ming Peiffer revealed on twitter that she and the three writers of color who’d worked on the show quit after being subject to racist exploitation and abuse from the showrunner/creator.
Carol (2015) – October 20
It’s Carol. You know. You don’t need me to tell you about Carol.
Rebecca – Netflix Original Movie – October 21
Drew very much loved the original adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s classic psychological thriller “Rebecca” (1965), which told the story of “about a young girl, a brooding man, and a mad woman ruining their tale of romance.” Our number one feeling about the trailer is … why does this seem so straight? “While it’s widely acknowledged that Mrs. Danvers is in love with Rebecca, this lesbian subtext recognized by even the straightest critics,” Drew wrote of the original Hitchcock film, “it’s rarely suggested that Rebecca was in love with Danvers too. But she was. That’s what I’m suggesting.” What will the remake suggest? It should be more gay. That’s what I’m suggesting.
Queer Content New to Amazon Streaming in October 2020
Girl Interrupted (1999) – October 1
This film is… not literally gay, but also it is gay? I feel like everybody has already seen it but JUST IN CASE, based on Susanna Kaysen’s memoir and starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Clea Duvall, Whoopi Goldberg and Britney Murphy; Girl, Interrupted follows the protagonist as she’s checked into an asylum after a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for playing the
The Craft (2020) – October 27
This reboot of the cult classic beloved by queer women worldwide will stick to the original plot and was written by Zoe Lister-Jones (New Girl, Whitney). On Instagram, Michelle Monogan wrote that zoe is “making a tense and provocative movie tackling current social norms” that’s “scary and smart.” Trans actress Zoey Luna plays a 17-year-old Latina punk rocker kicked out of her house by her super-Catholic mother. Gideon Aldon, who played gay in my favorite movie Blockers, also stars, along with Lovie Simone and Cailee Spaney. No photographs or ANYTHING have been released yet.
Queer(ish) Content New to Hulu Streaming in October 2020
Monsterland: Hulu Limited Series – October 1
“Monsterland” is an anthology series of “deeply melancholic, philosophical horror, the kind that imagines a world of creatures in closets and under beds, but posits that humans may be the greatest monsters of all.” Episode 105, “Plainfield, Illinois,” features “a suburban lawyer debating life or death,” and the couple at its center is a lesbian couple, played by queer actors Roberta Colindrez and Taylor Schilling. Episode 107 is directed by our fave bisexual director, Desiree Akhavan.
October 2020 HBO Max LGBTQ+ Content
Best in Show (2000) – October 1
Christopher Guest’s mockumentary about showdogs features Jane Lynch as trainer Christy Cummings, a competitive handler working for poodle-owning couple Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot. But there’s more going on between Sherri and Christy than meets the eye, if you know what I mean and I think you do!
The Color Purple (1985) – October 1
This classic based on Alice Walker’s novel is set in rural Georgia is a raw emotional account of pain, passion and survival told by Celie, who seizes your whole heart with letters that trace her coming of age, falling in love for the first time and breaking free. The film de-gayed the story significantly, but subtext remains loud enough for the queer eye.
Equal: HBO Max Original Docuseries – October 22
A limited series tracing the LGBTQ rights movement, through heroes well-known and unsung, across the United States, made the revolutionary choice of casting LGBTQ+ actors in LGBTQ+ roles. Blending archival footage with scripted drama, the cast includes Heather Matarazzo, Shannon Purser, Sara Gilbert, Anne Ramsay, Alexandra Grey, Theo Germaine, Jamie Clayton, Isis King, Samira Wiley, Elizabeth Faith Ludlow and Haillie Sahar. You can read more about it here.
October 2020 CBS All Access LGBTQ+ Content
Star Trek: Discovery: Season 3 – October 15
The third season of Hot Women in Space finds our intrepid travelers in a sticky spot: nine hundred years in the future, where the Federation still exists but is in a bit of a pickle. Lesbian comic/writer Michelle Paradise has been promoted to co-showrunner for the third season. Tig Notaro returns as sarcastic lesbian engineer Jett Reno and Michelle Yeoh returns as the very mommi pansexual Philippa Georgiou. New characters include transgender actor Ian Alexander (The O.A.) as transgender character Grey, non-binary actor Blu del Barrio as non-binary character Adria, and um, a cat. Like an actual cat. In space?
My Top 10 Favorite Lesbian Films: Valerie Anne, Who Loves a Cheesy Movie and Won’t Apologize For It
In My Top 10 Favorite Lesbian Movies, various members of Autostraddle’s TV Team tell you about the movies nearest and dearest to our hearts and invite you to like all the same things we like. Today, TV Team sci-fi nerd Valerie Anne steps out of her comfort zone to share her feelings about her favorite films of all time.
If this isn’t your first time here on Autostraddle dot com, you know I’m much more of a TV person than a movie person. I’m usually approximately five years behind on seeing movies, even the queer ones, because if I’m going to put on a film it’s probably a horror movie. And those aren’t typically very queer. That said, I haven’t always been this way, and I do eventually usually get around to seeing movies, so I do have some opinions… they just might not be very popular ones. After all, this is a list of my FAVORITE movies, not the ones I think are technically the BEST. :angelic smile:
10. Lost and Delirious/Loving Annabelle
not streaming anywhere free/probably for the best tbh
I’ve lumped these problematic faves together because they fall under the same category for me: movies that were really important to me when I discovered them, but that absolutely do not hold up to the test of time. Now, as an out adult who has learned a lifetime of information in the past decade or so, if I had seen either of these movies for the first time, I’d have some Notes. But when I saw them? I was very closeted and desperate for queer stories that I could convince myself I was watching for the DRAMA and the STORY. Lost and Delirious was the movie I watched when I needed a good cry, and I was 19 when I watched Loving Annabelle; it was a teacher fantasy come true. Of course I know now that these fall into all the wrong tropes, but I cannot deny their importance in my young queer life. Plus, I had already begun my lifelong crush on Piper Perabo, and I’m only human.
9. Anna and The Apocalypse/Girltrash: All Night Long
free on Hulu and Amazon Prime
I jokingly told Riese I was going to put Girltrash on my list but the more I thought about it, and the more I thought about how I genuinely wanted to put Anna and the Apocalypse on this list, the more I decided I had to talk about Girltrash, too. Because to me they both fall into a category that I personally happen to love but that we’re not, as queer people, represented in enough: Cheesy musical movies. I grew up on DCOMs, and while the best ones were more about friendship than het romances (see: The Cheetah Girls), or simply finding oneself with maybe a dash of love on the side (Lizzie McGuire Movie), it doesn’t tend to have canon queers in it. And I love love LOVE a musical that seems like it’s really bad until suddenly I realize I’m obsessed with it (Repo! The Genetic Opera) and these two musicals fit the bill. (Though Anna and the Apocalypse adds a zombie twist, and is a bit higher budget/caliber. Though the low budget chaos of Girltrash is part of its charm.)
8. Booksmart
free on Hulu
I was nervous but excited for Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut because I’ve been a huge fan of her acting and her activism since she swept in to gay up The OC. But my girl did not disappoint. My strongest memory from seeing Booksmart in the theater is LAUGHING. Just out loud, practically non-stop laughter. Amy and Molly’s unapologetic and enthusiastic compliments for each other reminded me so much of what my friends and I call “rage love” where we just shout about how much we love each other. The gay parts were awkward in a real way and even though they were just a side plot they were just as fun and funny as the rest of the movie. And besides, the real love story was a friendship love story, which I may have mentioned, is extremely my jam.
7. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
free on Hulu
I won’t lie, I was hesitant to include this movie. Because when I finished crying, about an hour after the movie ended, I was FURIOUS. How DARE a movie come for my feelings like this! And without warning! I cried so hard I didn’t cry again for like a full month! I thought it broke me forever! FUCK this movie is so tragic!!! But it’s also so beautiful and quiet and simple and there’s hardly a man to be found and despite the unison humming that haunts my dreams, it was truly a work of art. So I cannot deny its importance and its impact on my psyche.
6. I Can’t Think Straight
I was so close to being out of the closet when I saw this movie, back when I swear the Blockbuster cashiers knew I was gay before anyone else in my life, and I found it so exciting and charming. I think saw a bit of myself in Leyla, or wanted to. Not to mention, this duo isn’t exactly hard on the eyes. (Like Natalie did in her movie list, I sometimes link this movie and The World Unseen in my mind.) Plus, the title alone is golden; my mom gave me a keychain that says “I can’t even think straight” for a Pride gift just this year.
5. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
free on Hulu
This movie was just so… UNIQUE. Not only did it combine a lot of my interests (human psychology, queer women, comic book heroines) but it did it in such a caring, approachable way. Parts of the movie were literally about kink and fetishes but somehow managed to not fetishize the topic. People like to think of things like polyamory, or sometimes even queerness, as new, when what’s actually new is people talking so openly about it, so I genuinely enjoy learning about how people from past eras tackled “queerness” and whatever that meant to them. Plus, I already loved Wonder Woman, so watching this (mostly) true origin story unfold only deepened that love.
4. Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
I remember when I was watching Mad Max: Fury Road for the first time and I had a realization, like an actual light bulb moment. “Oh. I don’t hate action movies.” I just had never seen one that kept my interest. (Read: Featured women heavily in the action portion of the movie, not just the sexy sidekick/love interest roles.) I felt the same way about the superhero genre for the longest time; I used to think they just weren’t for me, because Batman bored me and Superman was a snooze. But then things like Supergirl and Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel came and opened my eyes to a world of fierce lady heroes and queer caped crusaders that have been here the whole time, I just hadn’t found them yet.
Harley Quinn is special, too, because she’s not a “hero” in the traditional sense of the word. She is chaos. She’s been through some shit, but it only makes her stronger. She’s not a “good” guy, not necessarily, but we love her anyway. I loved this movie because not only did it not shy away from overt queerness, but it also let the Birds play around in the grey areas of queerness along the way. But I also love that Harley Quinn’s stories that are being told more and more aren’t love stories. They’re about who Harley can be once she frees herself from the metaphorical vat of acid the Joker kept her in after she got out of a literal vat of acid. And I am here! for! it!
3. Imagine Me & You
I am not typically into the cheesy romcom, but much like how I didn’t think I liked action movies, I think maybe if I saw more queer cheesy romcoms, maybe I’d be more into this genre, too. Imagine Me & You is quintessential cheesy romcom. But it was GAY. I remember so viscerally doing my standard sweep of the New Release wall before ducking into the Gay & Lesbian aisle to swipe what I really wanted when I saw this movie, right there where any ol’ person could see it, with Lena Heady and Piper Perabo holding hands on the cover. I watched the movie with a hopeful but wary heart, expecting it to say GOTCHA GAY IS GROSS at any minute. But it never did! It was gooey and perfect all the way through.
2. The Half of It
free on Netflix
I’m actually surprised so many new movies made my list because usually it takes a long time for things to sink into my bones and my brain allows me to call them a “favorite.” But The Half of It was everything I could have wanted in a teen coming of age movie! It had some classic tropes, like the Cyrano plot, the describing-minute-details-you-noticed-about-someone-you-totally-love, the “I know a place” Skins trick. BUT it had a twist that I won’t spoil but all I’ll say is that the ending was satisfying in a whole new way, a more realistic way, a hopeful but realistic way, a way I wish I had seen when I was much younger.
1. D.E.B.S.
Another one from my Blockbuster years, this movie is full of undeniable campy fun and I still feel the butterflies in my chest when I think of Lucy Diamond and Amy Bradshaw coming face to face like it’s the first time all over again. (Side note: “Good guy” who was so infatuated with/studied a “villain” so much that it bordered on respect so when they finally met sparks flew??? Amy and Lucy walked so Eve and Villanelle could run.) It’s the cheesy parody of my dreams, but make it gay! I love, love, love a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I love a forbidden romance that has nothing to do with the pair being two women, and I love a gay happy ending. Also, it holds up! I watched it again a few years ago and it was as delightful as ever, now with a greater appreciation for Holland Taylor’s appearance in the film. This has been my go-to answer when someone asks me what my favorite gay movie is for about 15 years now and I don’t anticipate that changing any time soon.
Movies that almost made the list: The Runaways, Nina’s Heavenly Delights, RENT, Blockers, Life Partners, Saving Face, A Simple Favor, Bit (which I still haven’t seen yet but I love the concept so much I feel confident putting it here)
Want more movies? Check out Autostraddle’s 200 Best Lesbian Movies of All Time.