December 2021: Whats New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, HBO Max and Peacock
Tis the season for a new batch of LGBT content to land upon Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Peacock and we have a real smorgasbord this month, my friends!
Feature image includes “Sara Ramirez on the set of “And Just Like That…” in Foley Square on November 22, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bobby Bank/GC Images)”
Who All’s Gay Here On Netflix for December 2021
Honestly Netflix did a lot for us last month so I will give them a pass on this month’s poor showing. However they’ve got a lot of new stuff there’s not much info on yet, so who knows what could turn up!
Chloe (2009) – December 1
Another entry in the “problematic when it was all we had but kinda fun in the 2020s” is this stupid thriller starring Amanda Seyfried as Chloe, a sex worker hired by gynecologist Catherine (Julienne Moore) to find out if her husband is having an affair
Wild Things (1998) – December 1
This movie is bad in a very fun way and there is girl-on-girl action that was honestly inspirational in 1997 and I will likely never discover if it holds up!
Elite: Short Stories – December 15 – 23
A new set of shorts about our favorite murder-adjacent teens will roll out through December. None of the queer female characters are the focus of these particular stories but they will however it seems make an appearance.
Schitt’s Creek: Seasons 1-6 – December 22
Noted fave comedy about a rich family who finds themselves stripped of their fortunes and running a motel in a small town will land in its entirety upon Netflix this December.
Emily in Paris: Season Two – December 22
One of the worst shows to ever grace our horrified screens is returning for Season 2. Rumor has it that the actors who played Emily and Camille are “open to” the idea of being in a throuple with Gabriel or otherwise “exploring their feelings for each other” and the trailer shows them both on vacation with Mindy. Apparently “it was evident in the first season that Camille and Emily have some strange bisexual energy going on.” They do appear to kiss briefly in the trailer but like…. BRIEFLY? I am assuming if anything bisexual happens in this show it will be handled as badly as the show handles everything else, including clothing.
Queer Eye: Season 6 – December 31
The dream team returns, including noted non-binary queen Jonathan Van Ness, to Austin,Texas just in time for probably somebody in some part of this country to find themselves snowed in!
Lesbians and Bisexuals On Hulu in December 2021
Her Smell (2019) – December 1
Elisabeth Moss plays an unhinged egomaniac riot grrrl rock star amid a mental breakdown. At one point she collaborates with the very loyal bass player Marielle Hell who Indiewire describes as “a cross between Joan Jett and Shane from ‘The L Word.'” Queer actors Cara Delevingne, Amber Benson and Amber Heard also play musical parts in the film!
All Rise, Seasons One & Two (CBS) – December 1
This drama about all the players in an L.A. court system is centered on new judge Laura Carmichael. Her mentor Lisa is a lesbian and there’s also a bisexual clerk who goes our with a lesbian clerk.
We Need to Do Something (2021) – December 3
This one-room horror film traps a family in their bathroom during what seems like a storm that turns out to perhaps be something much worse. Through flashbacks over the course of the film, we learn that the daughter, Melissa, had been dabbling in witchcraft with her girlfriend Amy, which she suspects may be causing their current problems.
Creamerie: Season One (TVNZ 1) – December 9
The three Kiwi-Asian women who wrote and star as organic dairy farmer sisters in “Creamerie” created this dystopian series to give themselves better roles than they were offered in other people’s shows. Creamerie is set in New Zealand, eight years after a virus wiped out all the men of the world, where now a “wellness-based” fascist government has taken over, run by a health guru. The sisters accidentally run over a real live man and uncover a conspiracy!
The Nowhere Inn (2020) – December 17
St. Vincent enlists her bff Carrie Brownstein to make a documentary about her music to reveal her on-and-off-stage personas. But eventually “notions of reality, identity and authenticity grow increasingly distorted and bizarre.” Also Dakota Johnson plays her? Girlfriend?
Letterkenny: Complete Season 10 – December 26
Another season of this series that showcases the antics of a small rural community in Canada with a specific focus on siblings Wayne and Katy. Katy is bisexual!
Amazon Prime Queer Shows and Films for December 2021
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – December 1
Of this campy film, Erin wrote, “This film explores some of my favorite themes all in one glossy, campy, self-aware package: misandry, women being extremely gay together, principled revenge, and the triumph of aught culture. ”
Harlem: Season One – December 3
This series starring Meagan Good that we are VERY excited about follows “a group of stylish and ambitious best girlfriends in Harlem, New York City, the mecca of Black culture in America. Together, they level up from their 20s into the next phase of their careers, relationships, and big city dreams.” Jerrie Johnson is Tye, the inventor of an actually good queer dating app “who prefers keeping vulnerability — and romantic partners — at arm’s length.”
The Expanse: Season 6 – December 10
Set in outer space way in the future when humanity has colonized it, The Expanse added a lot more queer characters after being saved from cancellation by Amazon after its first three seasons on SyFy. Season 6 will be its final bow!
With Love: Season One – December 17
One Day at a Time‘s Gloria Calderón Kellett,’s new romantic comedy series, following a tight-knit Latinx family across the holidays that punctuate a calendar year, includes trans actress Isis King as trans character Sol Perez, an oncologist who is “the one who has their shit together.” “You can tell that someone queer was in the writer’s room,” King told Metroweekly. “It just felt honest and real.”
Christmas is Cancelled (2021) – December 17
Trans actor Emily Modaff is the quirky queer best friend of Christmas is Cancelled’s protagonist, Emily (Hayley Orrantia), who is horrified to find out that her widowed 52-year-old father (Dermot Mulroney) has been dating her high school nemesis (Janel Parrish aka Mona from PLL) and will stop at nothing to break them up.
Yearly Departed (2021) – December 23
This annual Amazon Prime Video comedy special is doing an all-female line-up for 2021, including queer comic Meg Stalter. Other performers include Jane Fonda, Dulce Sloan, Chelsea Peretti, X Mayo, Yvonne Orji and Aparna Nancherla.
HBO Max LGBTQ+ Content of December 2021
Perfect Life (Vida Perfecta): Season Two Premiere – December 2
Somehow Season One of this series about three forty-something women forging new paths in mid-life escaped my notice but there’s still time to remedy that. In Season One, which debuted in January, Esther is introduced as a “40-year-old who lives like a teenager” and is passionate about painting but not making money at it. In Season Two, HBO says that “Esther’s wedding with her new partner Julia is coming up but she can never find the right moment to tell her that she’s not ready yet.”
Santa Inc: Season One – December 2nd
Developed by and starring Jewish actors Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman, this adult animation film is set in the North Pole, where Candy Smalls, a female elf, is aiming to become the next Santa Claus, an institution historically dominated by, you know, white men. Gabourey Sidibe plays Goldie, an openly bisexual reindeer on Santa’s reindeer “B-Team” who doesn’t get the credit she deserves for her work. YouTube had to remove the dislike button for the preview because of people who accused it of being part of the war on Christmas.
And Just Like That: Season One – December 9th
The trailer and photos from set have already sparked speculation about even more gayness in the much-anticipated reboot of Sex and the City than anticipated — although what we’ve anticipated is pretty incredible in and of itself! Sara Ramirez will be playing podcaster Che Diaz, “a nonbinary, queer, stand-up comedian who often hosts Carrie Bradshaw (Parker) on their show. Che, who uses the pronouns they/them, is described as a big presence with a big heart whose outrageous sense of humor and progressive, human overview of gender roles has made them and their podcast very popular.” But it kinda seems like Miranda (played by queer actress Cynthia Nixon) is giving Che some very suggestive eye contact, so!
Matrix Resurrections (2021) – December 22, 2021
The Matrix films, which put the Wachowskis on the map many moons ago, long before they both came out as trans women, has often resonated deeply with its queer audience — who likely weren’t surprised when Lana confirmed the film was in fact intended as a trans allegory. (This topic is also explored by trans writer Andrea Long Chu in her book “Females” and by trans writer and critic Emily VanDerWerff ) Wachowski said at the time that “the corporate world wasn’t ready” for anything beyond subtextual nods to transness and/or queerness. Are they ready for it in 2021? We will certainly find out! Lana Wachowski is directing solo, without her sister, and co-wrote the film with two others. Two queer actors, Jonathan Groff and Neil Patrick Harris, are joining the cast. Jessica Henwick’s character, with her spiky blue hair and leather vest-jacket situation, looks queer as heck??
Queers on Peacock In December 2021
Chucky: Season One (USA/SYFY) – December 1
After the events of “Cult of Chucky,” a 14-year old boy discovers that his Good Guy doll is possessed by the soul of Chucky. Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) remains Chucky’s lover, but in this series they have a gender-fluid puppet child and also she is in love with Nica, a woman possessed by a portion of Chucky’s malevolent spirit.
Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four (2016) – December 2
A documentary about four queer Latinx women falsely accused of and imprisoned for child abuse amid the “Satanic Panic” of the era.
The Real Housewives of Miami: Season Four – December 16
As announced in the press release: “Joining the ladies is Julia Lemigova, a former Russian beauty queen and the first LGBTQIA+ Housewife who is married to pro tennis player Martina Navratilova. Opposite of her city-slick Housewife friends, Julia runs a small farm outside of Miami and can often be found on the farm feeding the chickens or milking goats, amongst the menagerie of animals found on her property.”
Vigil: Season One (BBC One) – December 23
Best known to you as “the show where Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie are making out,” Vigil is a police procedural set in Scotland that takes place on a fictional ballistic missile submarine of the Royal Navy.
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.”
The 25 Most Fan Fic-ed Lesbian and Bisexual TV Couples of All Time
Every time we do a fundraiser we start feeling a little bit nostalgic around here because it never stops being surreal that y’all have kept us alive for over 12 years. 12 years! That’s a lot of time in the regular world but it’s multiple lifetimes in the internet world, where the only thing that ever really stays the same is that Facebook is the worrrsst. This year’s fall fundraiser is coming to a close — we only have a few thousand dollars left to raise! — so we’re looking ahead, of course, but also fondly remembering how far we’ve come. And really what better way to do that — for a publication that launched and is still carried on the back of Riese’s The L Word recaps — than to count down the most fan fic-ed lesbian + bisexual TV (and web series) couples of all time? Gay fan fiction is the internet at its very best!
If you haven’t yet given to our fundraiser, maybe consider a donation so we can keep giving these couples — and all the ones that will follow them — life in our recaps, reviews, Gay Emmys, year-end lists, interviews, and personal essays! Our TV Team works tirelessly to cover literally every gay thing we can. And either way, we’d love to hear your favorite memories of these babes in the comments!
For your records, there are 14 canon ships here, and 11 femslash ships, making 2021 the first year ever that there’s more canon couples represented in fan fiction’s top tier than non-canon couples.
This list was compiled with data from AO3, FF.net, and Tumblr.
25. Beauregard Lionett/Yasha, Critical Role
24. Allison Argent/Lydia Martin, Teen Wolf
23. Ivy/Harley, Harley Quinn
22. Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Riverdale
21. Peggy Carter/Angie Martinelli, Agent Carter
20. Lapis Lazuli/Peridot, Steven Universe
19. Thirteen/Yasmin Khan, Doctor Who
18. Eve Polastri/Villanelle, Killing Eve
17. Rachel Berry/Quinn Fabray, Glee
16. Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe, Legends of Tomorrow
15. Serena Campbell/Bernie Wolfe, Holby City
14. Asui Tsuyu/Uraraka Ochako, My Hero Academia
13. Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce, Glee
12. Kara Danvers/Cat Grant, Supergirl
11. Root/Shaw, Person of Interest
10. Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, The Owl House
9. Jirou Kyouka/Yaoyorozu Momo, My Hero Academia
8. Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, Homestuck
7. Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein, Carmilla
6. Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp
5. Korra/Asami Sato, Avatar: Legend of Korra
4. Adora/Catra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
3. Clarke Griffin/Lexa, The 100
2. Regina Mills/Emma Swan, Once Upon a Time
1. Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Supergirl
Any of these couples surprise or delight you? Any fan fics to share with the class?
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!
30 of the Best Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Animated TV Episodes
I’ve never grown out of my love for cartoons, and it’s a good thing because I firmly believe some of the best LGBTQ+ storytelling to ever grace our teevees has happened in animated series. When I started writing about gay TV, there were no queer characters on all-ages TV at all, and now there’s more than I can even keep up with. And so I’ve done a deep dive and assembled a list of 30 of the best lesbian, bisexual, and queer episodes of animated TV. I hope you’ll add your favorites in the comments!
Adventure Time, “Sky Witch”
“Sky Witch” confirms what Adventure Time‘s queer fans long believed: that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum are ex-girlfriends whose present day animosity is rooted in broken hearts. PB gives up her most sentimental possession — a t-shirt given to her by Marcy — to get Marcy’s most sentimental possession (her teddy bear!) back from the bog witch who stole it. The episode also features the super gay break-up anthem “I’m Just Your Problem.”
The Legend of Korra, “The Last Stand”
The Legend of Korra‘s series finale is often considered the modern day kick-off of queer animation. Queer fans speculated about Korra and Asami’s relationship for most of the later seasons of the show, and when they walked off together, hand-in-hand, and the show’s writers confirmed it was a gay walk-off, it launched half a dozen more queer cartoon ships and paved the way for Korrasami’s very canonically queer comic book series.
Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown
Did you know the flag Peppermint Patty sticks on top of her all-girls team raft in Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown is the Women’s Liberation Flag? Which makes perfect sense when you consider that Peppermint Patty’s whole deal was inspired by Billie Jean King, whom Charles Schulz met and said was one of his top three heroes, and whose real life work featured heavily in his Peanuts comic strips and animated series. In fact, Race For Your Life was the precursor to Schulz’s extensive work around Title IX. In case there was ever any question in your mind that Peppermint Patty is gay.
Steven Universe, “A Single Pale Rose”
“A Single Pale Rose” is easily the most heart-stomping episode on this list. It unravels so much of Steven Universe’s backstory, including the long-kept secret of Rose Quartz’s identity, which sends nearly every character on the show into an emotional spiral. It also confirms Pearl’s deep, eternal, and unrequited love for Rose. Something she never recovers from, which is also one of the gayest things on this list.
The Owl House, “Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door”
After (literally) dancing around their feelings for each other for nearly an entire season, Luz and Amity are forced to confront their affection when Hooty sends them on a horrifying / romantic trip through the tunnel of love he builds in The Owl House’s basement. It seems like it’s going to end in disaster, like most of their other psuedo-dates and flirting, but at the last minute they each blurt out their desire to go on a date and even hold hands.
Loud House, “L is for Love”
With ten Loud House sisters, at least one of them has to be gay, right? Just, statistically? Yes, actually! Her name is Luna and in 2017’s “L Is For Love” episode, the show explores her crush on a friend named Sam, who just happens to be a girl, and the show just happens to pay off the mystery like it’s no big deal. It’s adorable, and overt in its gayness (which wasn’t true of all cartoons five years ago), and it’s aimed at a younger audience than so many of the shows that have repeat episodes on this list.
Danger & Eggs, “Chosen Family”
Amazon Prime’s series, which was co-created by queer and trans artist and writer Shadi Petosky, features more queer voice actors than any show ever, including: Stephanie Beatriz, Jasika Nicole, Angelica Ross, Cameron Esposito, Rhea Butcher, Tyler Ford, Jazz Jennings, Laura Zak and also Petosky. “Chosen Family,” the show’s Pride parade, also showcases animations of Gaby Dunn and Jen Richards in an episode that focuses on a young trans girl finding her way toward being herself.
Sailor Moon, All Of It Honestly
U.S. networks tried so many ways to make Sailor Moon not gay, but it never worked. Take, for example, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus here. They’re GAY but the U.S. dubs tried to pass them off as cousins. COUSINS! They also tried to erase Uranus’ and Zoisite’ genderqueer-ness, Sailor Mars and Sailor Venuses declaration that they don’t need boys, and Fish Eye’s trans-ness. The show was so gay in season five, there was no way to dub it out, and so the U.S. didn’t even try to air it.
Steven Universe, “Alone Together”
Steven Universe is in the run-off with She-Ra for being the gayest show ever — not gayest cartoon ever, gayest show ever — and one of the most celebrated characters is Stevonnie, the fusion of Steven and Connie Maheswaran, who appears for the first time in “Alone Together,” bending the heck out of gender and using they/them pronouns. Garnet is delighted, and names them, and they set out on an adventure together. First stop: Donuts!
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, “Perils of Peekablue”
To be honest, ten more She-Ra episodes could easily fit on this list. What makes “Perils of Peekablue” special is that it’s Scorpia at her sexy, awkward, adorable best, singing the classic hit “I’m a Spy” (shhh!). It’s also our first real look at Perfuma falling for Scorpia, conjuring a flower to toss on stage at her, which makes Scorpia blush. And it features the return of non-binary Double Trouble (who is voiced by non-binary Jacob Tobia), with dazzling one-liners and hints of goodness too.
Harley Quinn, “Something Borrowed”
Harley Quinn‘s season two finale finally finds Poison Ivy confessing to Harley Quinn that she loves her back (after the two best friends hook up repeatedly during Ivy’s bachelorette weekend). Harley accidentally crashes Ivy’s wedding when she shows up to save her from Gordon’s ambush and the two end up riding off into the sunset — er, flames — together in an episode that throws back its visuals to their first meeting in Batman: The Animated Series.
Batman, “Bad Blood”
Hey and speaking of Batman, Kate Kane / Batwoman gets her first turn in DC’s animated universe in Bad Blood (which, like Charlie Brown, I am counting as a TV episode ’cause I make the rules). And it’s not just Kate! Her on-again/off-again girlfriend Rene Montoya also makes a major appearance and they go on multiple dates together.
One Day at a Time, “The Politics Episode”
I’m going to go ahead and quote Natalie here: “Putting aside the mechanics of it all, how did ‘The Politics Episode’ work as an episode of ODAAT? Actually, pretty well. One of the things I’d previously been missing from the new iteration of the show was a balance of the serious storylines, like Elena’s coming out, Penelope’s PTSD or Schneider’s alcoholism or Lydia’s near death experience, with the funny. This episode fulfilled that desire beyond my wildest expectations.”
Steven Universe, “The Answer”
“The Answer” is a bedtime story Garnet tells Steven about the way Ruby and Sapphire met and landed on earth and danced and fused together and fell in love. It’s sweet and funny and features Steven’s gayest song, “Something Entirely New,” as well as the actual answer, which, of course, is: love.
Bubble Guppies, “Costume Boxing!”
Oh you know, just RuPaul voicing a characters named RuPearl who judges the fashion of the little fish kids on one of Nickelodeon’s hottest shows aimed at super young viewers, no big deal! (It actually is a big deal, and it led to RuPearl joining a Bubble Guppies video game.)
3Below: Tales of Arcadia, “Asteroid Rage”
Shannon LongHannon has always been coded as gay in a Velma sort of way, and she finally gets her canonical kiss with her best friend as asteroids are heading toward the earth. Her parents are panicked about dying, full stop. Shannon’s just panicked about dying before having her first smooch. So she and her friend go for it. Luckily they also live!
Adventure Time: Distant Lands, “Obsidian”
Obsidian is fan service at its finest. HBO Max’s standalone special about Marceline and Princess Bubblegum shows the couple living a life of domestic bliss, and then sends them out on a quest where their relationship deepens as they remember their pre-series past. We finally get answers to so many questions about their relationship, including the origin of PB’s “Sky Witch” t-shirt and Marceline’s very first love song.
Doc McStuffins, “Emergency Plan/What a Quack”
There are lots of lesbian moms on this list because lots of these shows are geared toward super young kids who might know they’re gay or might not, but TV networks still haven’t begun to grapple with the fact that characters can be gay when they’re little without, you know, introducing sex into it. In this case the moms are Edie and Thea (you know, like Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer), and they’re voiced by Wanda Sykes and Portia de Rossi.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, “The Last Crusade”
Not moms this time, but lesbian Aunts! Aunt Holiday and Aunt Lofty — an Earth Pony and Pegasus couple — are Scootaloo’s adoring aunties who basically adopt her so she can stay in Ponyville and continue her work with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, instead of moving with her parents to to Shire Lanka. In the comic books, Holiday and Lofty also serve as the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ Filly Guides camping chaperones. It’s good to have lesbians in the family!
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, “Return to the Fright Zone”
One of the best things about She-Ra‘s queer couples is they’re all so different! Spinnerella and Netossa, for example, are are a married couple, so they gently clown on each other and console each other in ways no one else can; they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses; and when Netossa makes plans to rescue her wife from Horde Prime’s mind-control, she works out a way to make sure Spinnerella also always has to do the cleaning for the rest of their lives! In the end, though, she is able to rescue Spinny through the power of her love. One particularly adorable thing about “Return to the Fright Zone” is that all of Netossa’s journal illustrations are done in showrunner Noelle Stevenson’s classic doodle style.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, “It’s a Trap”
Non-binary actor and comedian Rhea Butcher voices non-binary character Asher in Netflix’s animated musical masterpiece. They start off looking like their twin, but then get going with an alternative lifestyle haircut, and after that they’re an unstoppable force in the fight to co-exist peacefully with the earth’s mutants!
Cleopatra in Space, “Wednesday”
Hey, it’s more lesbian moms! This time, Pothina and Theoda, Akila’s moms who work as scholars at the Savior Institute where they study the prophecy about Cleo being their, well, savior. Pothina’s the cool mom. Theoda’s the dorky mom. But both of them agree that they’d happily get eaten by a snake to prove their love for their daughter.
Mysticons, “The Princess and the Pirate”
Zarya Moonwolf and Kitty Boon are childhood best friends who’ve loved each other for forever. One’s a princess. One’s a sky pirate. And while Nickelodeon fought off the show creator’s repeated attempts to allow the two to kiss on-screen, the two did confess their feelings for each other, Star Wars-style. “I love you. I always have.” “I know you do.”
OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes!, “Red Action 3: Grudgement Day”
Enid, one of the main characters of OK KO! Let’s Be Heroes!, is bisexual. She’s had a relationship with a guy character on the show, and she’s had a major crush on Red Action for basically ever. They go jelly surfing together. They visit The Danger Zone. And in “Red Action 3: Grudgement Day” they finally kiss right on their cartoon lips. Enid’s also got a real soft spot for Mommis.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, “Heart”
When Catra says, “She’s never going to want me, not like I want her,” it’s confirmation that she’s in love with Adora, and it’s also a giant sucker punch! I gasped out loud! I couldn’t believe the show was really going there! Years later, I still can’t believe they went there! Noelle Stevenson did, in fact, give the gays everything they wanted. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is epic fantasy and sci-fi on par with Lord of the Rings and Star Wars with a queer love story was at its heart. The climax of the entire series is Adora’s confession that she loves Catra too. As a bonus, their love saves all of Eternia.
The Owl House, “Eda’s Requiem”
Raine Whispers is The Disney Channel’s first non-binary character, and they’re voiced by non-binary Latinx actor Avi Roque. When they arrived to help Eda break her curse, they also quickly became a fan favorite, because even though they’re a little timid and easily flustered, they also remind Eda that sometimes “you gotta punch your fears in the face.”
T.O.T.S., “Seas the Day”
About Disney Junior’s animated series, which is aimed at kids ages two to seven, Mombian wrote that while these lesbian mom dolphins were “only onscreen for about 30 seconds and the episodic nature of the show means they’re unlikely to come back as part of a longer story arc—Disney deserves praise for including them in a series built around the idea of family formation.” They’re the only gays on this list who appear on a show for toddlers.
The Dragon Prince, “Breaking the Seal”
The former queens of Duren and the mothers of Aanya are unfortunately already dead when The Dragon Prince start, but, you know how YA stories are: parents gotta get murdered so the orphans can save the world alone. We meet Annika and Neha in flashbacks and they are deeply in love, and brilliant and fair rulers who love their daughter very much and inspire her young queenship throughout the show.
Victor and Valentino, “Band for Life” / “Escaramuza”
Xochi is one of my favorite gay disasters on this list. She’s cool and collected, surly and closed off, and very much in love with Annabel, which she only finally admits when she sees someone else trying to make a move on her. Their love story is only a small side story in Victor and Valentino, but it will be familiar to any gay who’s ever fallen in love with their best friend. So, you know, every gay.
Steven Universe, “Reunited”
Masc Gems in dresses, femme Gems in tuxes, Bismuth in her armor because it’s the nicest thing she owns, Together Breakfast as a wedding cake with literally perfect cake toppers, Peridot wearing a dress she very clearly fashioned on top of her regular Peridot clothes, Peridot executing her flower girl duty with gusto and reporting to “wedding commander” Steven that all the flowers had been deployed, Greg strumming “Stronger Than You” on his guitar for the wedding procession, and Ruby rushing down the aisle so fast she leaves a trail of literal fire behind her, which Amethyst has to rush to stomp out. And the most beautiful treatise on queer love I’ve ever heard on TV.
September 2021: What’s New and Gay on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max
Well it’s September, the start of a fresh fall season of television and you are asking yourself, “where will the gay stuff be?” 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 Gays, Gals and Theys in September 2021
Q-Force: Season One – September 2nd
This concept feels like a genuine hallucination, but here we go: an animated adult gay-spy comedy centered on Steve Maryweather (Sean Hayes), aka Agent Mary, who was the golden boy of the American Intelligence Agency until he came out. Unable to fire him legally, the AIA instead sent him to West Hollywood in hopes that he’d fade into obscurity. Instead, he assembled a MISFIT SQUAD OF LGBTQ+ GENIUSES. This includes Expert Mechanic Deb (Wanda Sykes) and hacker Stat (Patti Harrison). Laurie Metcalf palys V, the AIA’s Deputy Director. The one-minute trailer already inspired ten thousand premature hot takes so we’ll see how this all shakes out!
The Circle: Season 3 Premiere – September 8
Season 2 of The Circle did not have any out lesbian or bisexual contestants (although I think we all knew that Khat was gay) and therefore we are OWED and the preview suggests that the show will indeed be delivering a lady gay pretending to be a straight girl!
Lucifer: The Final Season – September 10
“On September 10th, Lucifer is back for its sixth and supposedly final 10-episode season. I say supposedly because this show has been to hell and back more times than Lucifer himself but I think this time it’s really final. The end of season five saw the return of Eve, and Maze deciding to let down her walls and let Eve back in. And all I know about the sixth season so far is that at one point Maze and Eve kiss while stepping on a man , so you know we’re in for a big gay RIDE.” – Valerie
Sex Education: Season 3 – September 17
Jemima Kirke is joining the cast of our beloved series, as is gender non-conforming recording artist Dua Saleh, who is playing non-binary student Cal. Ncuti Gatwa, who stars as Eric Effiong, told BAFTA last year that Eric will be going “back to his culture” and that “having a set where the majority of people were Black was really great and really powerful and represented Eric’s culture and his family.” Otis has a bad mustache and will be having casual sex, Eric and Adam are officially boyfriends; Jean is PREGGERS; Aimee “discovers feminism,” Jackson gets a crush, and it appears that Ola and Lily are still dating!
Dear White People: Volume 4 – September 22
The final season of Dear White People is going to be a ’90s inspired musical as Samantha White and her friends plow forward into their senior year at Winchester. The series will also flash-forward to a post-pandemic future where the characters will be reflecting on “the most formative (and theatrical) year of their lives.”
What’s Gay and Hot on Hulu in September 2021
Magic Mike (2012) – September 1
I watched this film for the first time last month and you know what it was an absolute DELIGHT?! There’s a bisexual character but it’s nothing to write home about, however what a fun little romp about an experienced male stripper who takes a younger performer under his wing and into the world of a very talented male dance troupe.
Y: The Last Man (2021) (FX) – Three Episode Series Premiere September 13
When all mammals with a Y chromosome — with the exception of one cis man and his pet monkey — are wiped out, what remains is a world mostly dominated by women. And you know what that means!!!! They’re gonna make out with each other. The series is based on a 2002 graphic novel in which all men are wiped out except for the aforementioned, and the showrunner has promised that the binary gender presentation of the source material has been updated for the series. One of the updates is a new character, Sam Jordan, a trans man played by trans actor Elliot Fletcher. There are also several lesbian and queer characters from the novel including geneticist Allison Mann (Diana Bang), Yorick’s ex-girlfriend Beth DeVille (Juliana Canfield) and Hero Brown, played by our beloved Olivia Thirlby.
Collette (2018) – September 13
Keira Knightly stars in this biographical drama about the bisexual French novelist Colette.
The Premise: Season One (FX) – September 16
In an episode of this FX anthology series written by Jia Tolentino and B.J Novak, a young woman (Lola Kirke) with a cute girlfriend (Soko) becomes obsessed with a negative online comment about her appearance and f*cks with her own life in search of the approval of the commenter.
New Seasons of Queer-Inclusive Network Shows That Will Also Be On Hulu:
- 9-1-1: Season 5 Premiere (fox) – September 21
- New Amsterdam: Season 4 Premiere (NBC) – September 22
- Home Economics: Season 2 Premiere (ABC) – September 23
Amazon Prime Video Gay Stuff for September 2021
hot tip that i got the screeners for the LuLaRoe documentary and enjoyed it very much
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – September 1
Demon-possessed high school hottie Jennifer gets hungry for a lot of things in this horror film, including eventually of course her nerdy best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) who is attempting to put an end to the madness. This film notably inspired Erin to declare, “I love cinema!!!!”
The Kids Are All Right (2010) – September 1
Nic and Jules conceived a daughter and a son with an anonymous sperm donor who becomes un-anonymous when the kids decide to meet him and then he starts a little thing with Jules. It is “among the first” wide release mainstream movies to portray a queer family and it was nominated for a lot of awards but a lot of gay people did not like it.
Pretty Hard Cases: Season One (IMDB TV) – September 10
This Canadian buddy cop comedy pairs streetwise narcotics detective Kelly (Our beloved Adrienne C. Moore) with uptight and by-the-book guns and gangs detective Sam (Meredith MacNeill). Lesbian actress/comic Karen Robinson plays (lesbian) Unit Commander Edwina Shanks.
HBO Max Lesbian and Bisexual Content for September 2021
Rent (2005) – September 1
You are likely already familiar with this musical ARE YOU NOT, you know the one that depicts the lives of a group of friends in 1989-1990 who live in the East Village and explore concepts such as sexuality, drugs, art, and life under the shadow of AIDS. This film brought us the unforgettable duet of “Take Me or Leave Me” involving Tracy Thoms and Idina Menzel as dramatic party power lesbians.
Nuclear Family: Limited Series (2021) – September 26
Ry Russo-Young directed and produced this documentary about the lawsuit that threatened to tear her family apart. Ry’s mothers, Sandy Russo and Robin Yang, found gay male donors through mutual friends in the early 1980s, back when fertility clinics wren’t open to lesbian couples — but shit got complicated when Ry’s donor decided he wanted to be a father after all, and sued for paternity rights.
10 TV Shows With LGBTQ Laughs and No Sappy Love Stories
I am very bad at giving advice, but I am very good at suggesting the exact TV show you should be watching. Recently several people in my life have gone through breakups and are interested in watching: 1) gays on TV, that will 2) make them laugh, but 3) without any ooey-gooey love stories. Even just two years ago this would not have been possible! But now it is! And here is a list that will keep your heart safe from feelings!
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Rosa Diaz is my favorite kind of character — a crunchy shell with a gooey caramel center — and she shines in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as a bisexual badass who is kind of terrible at love and kind of awesome at everything else. There’s a very small, mostly off-screen arc with Cameron Esposito as Rosa’s love interest, but there’s no real weight behind it and the various payoffs are some of the funniest moments on the show.
Derry Girls
Derry Girls is one of those shows that makes me double-over with wheeze-laughter every time I watch it (and I’ve watched it a lot!), especially the episode where the gang tries to figure out whomst among them is the wee lesbian.
Fresh Off the Boat
Nicole is a supporting character on Fresh Off the Boat and her coming out story and on-screen lesbian shenanigans don’t happen until the final two seasons, but every episode she’s featured in is full of so much gay 90s nostalgia, and everything about her story is handled with wit and grace. Plus, there’s no love in sight, just one spectacularly failed date.
Girls 5EVA
Even if Paula Pell didn’t play a bad-at-love lesbian in this series, it’d be worth your time. It has flown under the radar, but it’s one of the best things happening on TV this year. It’s smart and hilarious and completely absurd — and while there’s mentions of sapphic romance, there’s nothing here that’ll threaten your heartstrings.
Go On
NBC’s short-lived comedy about a grief support group is actually perfect for breakups, especially because Julie White’s Anne is a deadpan lesbian who has lost her wife and is learning to live and love again without letting go of her misanthropy.
Russian Doll
Izzy is absolutely terrible at love but absolutely the best at being a friend. There’s no gay swooning here, I swear.
A Black Lady Sketch Show
I’ll let A Black Lady Sketch Show speak for itself. Consistently one of the quirkiest, most culturally incisive shows on TV, with standout cast of Black comedic actors and guest stars.
Veep
So technically, Catherine does fall in love with Marjorie and come out and get together with her, but it’s absolutely not a love story because it’s not really about them because everything on Veep is about Selina Meyer. There’s nothing sappy on this series and that’s a promise. It’s brutally funny.
Survivor’s Remorse
M-Chuck remains one of the most important and under-appreciated lesbian characters in TV history. Her storylines on Survivor’s Remorse do pack an emotional punch, especially in later seasons, but she never stops being hilarious, and her sexy hijinks never fully involve her heart (or yours).
Are You The One?
This may be a dating show, but it won’t hurt your queer feelings in any way. It is full of bombastic attempts at connection and complete trainwrecks, and you’ll probably come away from it feeling a lot better about your chances at romantic bliss.
August 2021: Here’s What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Showtime and Amazon Prime Video
It’s that time again: a brand new month and a brand new slate of gay or possibly gay characters showing up on beloved streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Disney+ and Showtime! It appears this month that most TV services have given up on us so that The L Word: Generation Q can premiere in an environment similar to that in which the original series premiered. But let’s discuss what IS happening.
Netflix August 2021 Debuts with LGBTQ+ Characters
Pray Away (Netflix Documentary) – August 3rd
This Ryan Murphy documentary about gay conversion therapy talks to the former leaders and survivors of programs similar to Exodus International that promised to turn gay people into straight people but really just turned them into people who wanted to die.
Cooking With Paris (Netflix Original) – August 4th
My style icon and singer of legendary dance tune “Stars are Blind” has a cooking show and her guests include non-binary queer musician Demi Lovato!
Control Z: Season 2 – August 4th
In Season One of this Mexican drama, havoc descended upon the student body at El Colegio Nacional when a hacker started leaking students’ secrets to the entire student body — popular kids got bullied, outcasts became cool, and everyone was under suspicion. Know-it-all recluse Sofia raced against the clock to catch the hacker beofre more secrets went public. Alex was an out lesbian student trying to fit in, and Isabela De La Fuente was a trans woman outed by the hacker. What will happen in Season 2? Nobody on the internet wants to tell me! But the lesbian is back and making out in the trailer, so.
Alrawbi School For Girls: Season 1 – August 12
There is nothing to suggest that this show will be gay except that it is about an all-girls school and I understand those locations are notorious for this kind of activity. Even if nobody is gay though, it’s gonna be a great watch — the cast and crew is composed entirely of Arab women and it tells the story of how a bullied girl gets revenge on her bullies, only to learn that no one is all bad and no one is all good including herself!
Valeria: Season 2 – August 13
This Spanish series follows writer Valeria and her three best friends; Carmen, Lola and Nerea. In Season 2, Valeria is seeking inspiration after hitting a dead end with her career and relationship. Nerea is a lesbian who in Season One found herself living with her parents she wasn’t out to while she paid them back for her master’s degree.
Untold: Caitlyn Jenner – August 23
This five-part docuseries from the creators of Wild Wild Country “brings fresh eyes to epic tales from the wide world of sports.” The third installment of the Untold documentary series focuses on noteworthy Republican and transphobic trans Olympian Caitlyn Jenner as she recounts major life events like winning a gold medal, raising a family, and her coming out.
Streaming in Lesbian, Queer Et Al on Hulu in August 2021
Hulu is really determined to have as many lesbian films as possible, although I swear some of these they just keep dropping and buying back over and over and over!
All About E (2015) – August 1
E is a sexy DJ who finds a bag of money, goes on the run with her husband of convenience Matt and then flees to her ex-girlfriend’s house in the outback. This Australian film that got mostly bad reviews begs the question: “Can she keep the money, conquer her demons, AND get the girl?”
Black Swan (2009) – August 1
This is a film about swans in the pond who swim around all day long singing songs about swan stuff that we probably couldn’t fully relate to without actually being swans ourselves. Just kidding HAHAHAH it’s about ballet and feathers! There’s a sexual scene with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
The Girl King (2015) – August 1
This mediocre queer film “paints a portrait of the extravagant Kristina of Sweden who fights the conservative forces that are against her.” Also she’s gay.
Liz in September (2014) – August 1
After viewing this film starring lesbian actress/model Patricia Velasquez as a terminally-ill lesbian who bonds with a woman who lost her son to cancer, Erin suspected that the film was aggressively recommended to her by Netflix because it knew she had a column where she recapped usually-very-bad lesbian films. But you can decide for yourself!
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – August 1
When Frances Mayes learns her husband is cheating on her, her gay best friend Patti (Sandra Oh) whisks her off to Italy for a wonderful tour where she purchases a rural Tuscan Villa. This is a classic from the Mommi cannon and Sandra Oh is gay, so.
Princess Cyd (2017) – August 5
In her VERY positive review of Princess Cyd, Heather Hogan describes it as “a character study of two women who clumsily and gently brush up against each other and find new happiness because of it. In the process one of them simply realizes she likes girls.” Also, Ro White who writes for Autostraddle is in it!
The Party (2018) – August 8
This witty modern social satire centers on a party thrown to celebrate Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas), an idealistic politician just announced as the shadow minister for health. Patricia Clarkson is April, Janet’s best friend. Cherry Jones is Martha, a lesbian Women’s Studies Professor who is friends with Janet. Emily Mortimer plays Jinny, Martha’s pregnant girlfriend who is also a chef.
Reservation Dogs: Season One (FX) – August 9th
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo’s new and hotly anticipated half-hour dramedy follows the exploits of four indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma dead-set on doing whatever it takes to get out of their hometown and move to California. Every writer, director and series regular on the show is Indigenous. It promises “rappers, catfish, Indigenous superstitions and spirits both hilarious and terrifying, laughter, tears, unexpected grandmothers, decent people, terrible people and a cavalcade of supporting characters who color and shade this already vibrant world.” According to TV Guide, Paulina Alexis’s character Willie Jack is non-binary. Queer actor Devery Jacobs plays Elora Dananan.
Together Together (2021) – August 10th
“Nikole Beckwith’s Sundance dramedy Together Together is really two movies,” wrote Drew in her review of the Patti Harrison / Ed Helms / Tig Notaro film Together Together. “There’s the movie most people will see — a story of platonic love between a soon-to-be single father and his loner surrogate. And then there’s the movie I saw — the same premise filtered through an awareness that the woman at its center is one of the most talented trans performers working today.”
AWOL (2016) – August 11
This romantic drama follows Joey, an aimless young woman in a small town who thinks she’s found a path through an Army recruiting office visit but when she falls for a girl named Rayna, the path diverges.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 8 Premiere (NBC) – August 13
The final season of Brooklyn 99 starring bisexual legend Stephanie Beatriz as bisexual legend Rosa Diaz has offered us this really fantastic preview of what’s to come: “”In this final season of the series, Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of a very difficult year.”
Disobedience (2018) – August 26
According to Kayla’s review, the Rachels who star in this film best known for its spit play “deliver bruising, dynamic performances as Ronit and Esti respectively, two former friends and lovers from the same tiny bubble of a Jewish orthodox community in the London suburbs.”
All the Gays, Girls and Theys Content Coming to Amazon Prime Video in August 2021
Modern Love Season 2 (Amazon Original Series) – August 13th
Episode 5 of Season 2 of this anthology series based on the New York Times column tells the story of a middle school girl who finds herself having feelings for another girl and turns to social media quizzes for answers.
HBO Max’s Small Offerings of Queer in August 2021
HBO Max has been delivering a lot of queer content since its launch so this month’s weak slate is kinda surprising… so keep your eyes out!
Basic Instinct (1992) – August 1
Famous for its truly appalling bisexual stereotypes, Sharon Stone stars as a depraved bisexual murderer in this ’90s thriller.
Best in Show (2000) – August 1
Christopher Guest’s mockumentary about showdogs presents 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!
Vice (2015) – August 1
Allison Pill plays Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter Mary Cheney in this HBO biopic about Dick Cheney, which positions him as being the actual man pulling all the strings of the George W Bush administration.
The Hype: Season One – August 12
This reality show pits upcoming streetwear designers against each other in front of a panel of judges including A$AP Ferg, Cardi B, Dapper Dan, and Wiz Khalifa.
Disney+ Queer Content in August 2021
Diary of a Future President: Season 2 – August 18
Elena Cañero-Reed will be starting seventh grade while continuing to dream of her eventual position as President of the United States when Season 2 drops on Disney+ this August. Her Mom, Gabi, has a lesbian paralegal named Camila who is a close friend of hers and the kids.
Showtime Anytime Delivering Lesbians and Bisexuals in August 2021
The L Word: Generation Q: Season Two – August 6
Sophie, Dani, Micah, Finley, Bette, Tina, Nat, Alice, Tess, Angie, Jordie and Gigi are back to have crushes and makeouts and business deals and new jobs and fresh drama and extended families and the whole deal. I believe we have spoken of this program at considerable length and will continue to.
Work in Progress: Season Two – August 21
Season Two begins with Abby having determined she’s too busy to kill herself. She’s just starting to get her life together when SURPRISE! A global pandemic and a family emergency arrive to test her delicate equilibrium.
July 2021: What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime!
Good news: it’s July 2021, and that means a new slate of television programs with gay, bisexual and lesbian characters are hitting the airwaves on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video. Which shows are both new and streaming in July 2021? Let’s discuss it together as a family!
New on Netflix in July 2021 for Lesbians, Bisexuals, Gays Et Al
Mother’s Day (2016) – July 1
Cameron Esposito plays Sarah Chalke’s wife in this Gary Marshall comedy full of hijinks and starring very famous white women such as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts!
Fear Street Part One: 1994 (Netflix Original) – July 2
Based on R.L. Stine’s best-selling horror series, the first of Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy is set in 1994, when a group of teenagers accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for 300+ years. Focusing on characters whomst are outsiders, the 1994 lead girls, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), are queer and girlfriends and the creators wanted to “tell a love story” that was “true to the experience of being queer in the 90s.” Due to my love of lesbians and 90s nostalgia I will be viewing this film despite my dislike of horror films!
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17 – July 3
Season 17 (this show will outlive us all) of Grey’s Anatomy still doesn’t live up to the height of the Calzona days, when there were lesbian and bisexual characters showing up in the halls of Grey Sloan with varying frequency, but there is still Dr. Teddy Altman Bisexual to keep us warm. And as she works through the ghosts of girlfriend past, Sherri Saum (Lena Adams-Foster) also makes a guest appearance.
We The People: Animated Music Video Series (Netflix Original) – July 4
Music and animation come together to teach young people about the POWER of the PEOPLE and U.S. history. Artists who contributed original songs to the series include Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile and Adam Lambert.
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (Netflix Original) – July 9
School’s out for the summer and Camp Nightwing is gearing up for a delicious summer when another Shadysider becomes possessed with the urge to kill! Non-binary actor Ryan Simpkins plays Alice, a “manic proto-punk bisexual nightmare.”
Atypical: Season 4 – July 9
In Season 3, Casey started dating Izzie and the trailer suggests that is still going strong with some heartwarming and difficult conversations in store for their final season, which is “full of love and hope” and “dreaming big with your favorite people by your side.”
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) – July 14
If this action thriller starring Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Lena Headey, about three generations of women (wearing well-tailored suits almost exclusively) fighting to take revenge on those who took everything from them is NOT gay at all, the we are going to gather three generations of women to fight and take revenge on this film for taking everything from us. That said action-thrillers are rarely obviously queer so this might just be another Oceans 11 situation.
Never Have I Ever: Season 2 (Netflix Original) – July 15
Devi has to pick a boyfriend and contend with a “hotter, cooler” Indian girl joining her class in Season 2 of this charming series, which featured a little coming out story for her BFF Fabiola in Season One. Fabiola is seen locking lips with a short-haired lady in this trailer, good for her.
This Changes Everything (2019) – July 15
This documentary takes a look at gender disparity in Hollywood. Joey Solloway is featured in the trailer.
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (Netflix Original) – July 16
The origins of Sarah Fier’s curse is revealed in part Three, which hops between fictional 17th century town of Union (inspired by early New England towns). Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch return playing Deena and Sam but also Hannah Miller and the very important Sarah Fier.
Charmed: Season 3 – July 24
Season 3 of Charmed has everything! Queer WOC girlfriends! A bisexual demon! A trans bruja! A surprise/mysterious lesbian pregnancy! And of course, the Power of Three.
Walking Dead: Season 10 – July 26
Zombies, huh? They sure do walk a lot!!
Wynonna Earp: Season 4 – July 26
The fourth season of this sci-fi Western is full of angels and demons and fogs and frogs and stairs. This season of Wynonna Earp very well may be its last, but it also was possibly its best, probably its sexiest, and absolutely its gayest.
All-American: Season 3 – July 27
Coop’s flying high after the success of her summer tour but when she returns home, Tyrone’s sister is ready to bring her back down to earth. If that wasn’t enough, the friendship that’s been the heart of All American since its debut — Spencer and Coop — gets tested like never before in the show’s third season.
The Flash: Season 7 – July 28
Since The Flash refuses to give Killer Frost the bisexual awakening she deserves, the only real queer goings-on in Season 7 is the brief reappearance of Barry and Iris’s daughter, Nora, toward the end of the season. And even though the show might not remember, I have not forgotten that they made her a canon bisexual character back in Season 5.
Content for Girls, Gays and Theys on Hulu July 2021
The Feels (2017) – July 1
The Feels is the story of Andi (Constance Wu) and Lu (Angela Trimbur) and all their friends heading off into the woods of California wine country for a pre-wedding co-bachelorette party, during which Lu reveals that she’s never had an orgasm! There are also a lot of straight shenanigans. Heather describes it as part of the lesbian mumblecore trend “with its boundary-less relationships, improvised dialogue, characters who remind you of your own friends, and those stifled hiccups that give way to just enough drama to make the happy ending rewarding.”
Foxfire (1996) – July 1
Foxfire is one of my favorite queer movies of all time! Teenage girls take revenge upon the men who violate and oppress them! This is the film set upon which Jenny Shimizu and Angelina Jolie met and dated, and then also made me gay. But it’s the ’90s so like, the gay is subtle.
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 7 (2015) – July 1
The seventh season of this popular competition reality program will be in your homes on your TVs.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – July 1
I believe we are as a community familiar with this series, in which Rooney Mara plays traumatized tough bisexual investigator Lisbeth Salander, helping Mikael Blookvist solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece.
Grandma (2015) – July 1
Lily Tomlin is a pot-smoking lesbian poet put in a tough spot when her granddaughter shoes up in need of an abortion and nobody’s got the cash for it. Plus, Laverne Cox!
This Way Up: Season 2 – July 9
The first season of This Way Up followed Aine, an Irish woman living in London, returns from a post-breakdown trip to rehab to convince everyone else in her life that she is totally okay, especially her sister, Shona. Shona is bisexual! Her lesbian co-worker Charlotte who Shona has a thing with is played by Indira Varma, who I love. Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off, with Shona and Charlotte learning to manage a new business together while also having feelings for each other.
In a World…. (2013) – July 9
Written & directed by & starring Lake Bell, In a World is about the niche world of voiceover actors and one woman who wants to get more jobs and is annoyed that men keep getting jobs! Tig Notaro is in it and she met her now-wife Stephanie Allynne on this very set!
Grown-ish (Freeform): Season 4 Premiere – July 9
It’s senior year, bitches! Nomi and the gang return to Cal U to turn up for one last time before they step into the real world. But the real world isn’t waiting until graduation: it drops issues of parenthood, race and allyship on Nomi’s doorstep in grown-ish‘s new season.
Good Trouble (Freeform): Season 3 Premiere – July 14
No one on Good Trouble has grown quite like Alice: she’s gone from letting her ex walk all over her to standing up for herself at the CBTV diversity working. But standing up for herself cost Alice a shot at her dream job and, possibly, her dream girl, so all that’s left to ask is: what’s next?
American Horror Stories (FX) – July 15
Sierra McCormick and Paris Jackson are girlfriends in this new installment of the famous franchise.
New Queer and Lesbian Characters on HBO Max for July 2021
Batwoman: Season 2 (The CW)
After happening on the Batsuit in the wreckage of a fallen plane, Ryan Wilder tries it on for the first time and it doesn’t quite fit. But slowly but surely, over the course of Batwoman‘s second the suit molds to her and Ryan finds her purpose within it. Ryan Wilder is Batwoman and Gotham has the hero it needs.
Nancy Drew: Season 2 (The CW) – July 3
The second season of Nancy Drew proved to be just as full of mystery as the first, this time with 100% more lesbian ghosts. (That is to say, one lesbian ghost.) We also get to know more about corporeal lesbian Bess and her past, and she continues to be an absolute delight to watch.
Shiva Baby (2020) – July 7
I f*cking loved this movie about a Jewish bisexual hot mess at a very consequential shiva her ex-girlfriend is also attending and SURPRISE so is her sugar daddy and his pregnant wife!!!
Gossip Girl: Season One (HBO Max Original) – July 8
The advent of pocket-size social media has undermined two of the original show’s primary threads: the mysterious Gossip Girl blogger (now in teen shows, everyone is Gossip Girl with social media) isn’t all that unusual or intriguing, and “wealth porn” is accessible to all via influencers and stars on Instagram. So this time that mystery won’t be central, and the teens will be “wrestling with privilege” in this “more diverse, more self-aware and far more lavishly produced” series. However, it “remains a show about clout-chasers and backstabbers growing up and growing apart, good sex, bad parents, and carrying the right handbag.” There are “a lot of queer characters on this show but all the clips so far have only shown boy-on-boy action, although damn if these girls aren’t wearing some homoerotic uniform deconstructions. Luna Lu is played by trans actress Zíon Moreno.
White Lotus: Season One (HBO Max Original) – July 11
There are two situations in this new social satire of a limited series that follows a group of rich travelers at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, created by genius Mike White. 1. The Mossbacher family, headed up by Tami Taylor and the guy from Reality Bites, has a young daughter, Olivia (Sydney Sweeny) who has brought a friend with her on vacation, Paula (Brittany O’Grady). 2. Unstable grieving Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge!) seems as though she is asking the spa owner Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) on an actual date after a successful massage.
New Queer-ish Stuff on Amazon Prime video In July 2021
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – July 1
This movie is getting around this month huh!
The Pursuit of Love: Season One (BBC / Amazon Original Series) – July 30
Based on Nancy Mitford’s 1945 book, which fictionalized her actual life, The Pursuit of Love looks at the decadent world of “filthy-rich toffs indulging in sex, drugs and wild partying between the wars,” focusing on Linda Radlett (Lily James) and Fanny Logan (Emily Beechum). The character of Fanny is based on Nancy Mitford’s sister, Pamela, who many believe was gay or bisexual in real life. (She divorced her bisexual husband after 15 years and spent the rest of her life with her “companion” Giuditta Tommasi.) But I believe the series, while homoerotic, is not explicitly homosexual, aside from one obviously gay woman who has a few lines in one episode.
The 11 Queerest Episodes of HGTV
Back in January, the Discovery network launched Discovery+, a streaming service for the bevy of networks under its media umbrella. The service has something for every type of gay. Are you a chef-y gay? Discovery+ offers you all your favorite shows from Food Network and the Cooking Channel. A true crime gay? You’ve got Investigation Discovery’s entire library at your fingertips. An adventurous gay? Visit every corner of the world from the comforts of your couch with the Travel Channel or or Discovery. Are you a gay who’s unsure of where they stand on the question of “is love a lie?” Shows like 90 Day Fiance and Say Yes to the Dress will help you figure out where your allegiances lie.
For me, though, I’m a home improvement gay, determined to watch enough HGTV to one day level up to the DIY gay status. Thus far my love for HGTV just leaves me with a lot of ideas but lacking the capacity to bring any of them to fruition. I can talk a good game, though!
While I love watching HGTV, the network is definitely lacking when it comes to diversity. Its talent is disproportionately white and its out queer talent is disproportionately male. As far as I can tell, the only lady gay to ever host a show on HGTV is Ellen DeGeneres. Those same skewed demographics are reflected in the participants in their shows too. Some of that is the nature of home ownership which is almost inherently discriminatory — only about half of LGBT adults own their homes, compared to 70.1% of non-LGBT adults — but there’s a casting issue too: in a 2017 analysis of House Hunters episodes by the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, just 68 of 1,565 episodes featured gay or lesbian real estate seekers. Of those, only nine featured lesbian couples.
But HGTV is trying to do better…so if you’re looking for something to mindless to binge, and want to see some queer ladies while doing it, here’s a quick list of 11 of HGTV’s best (and queerest) episodes.
Vacation House Rules 203: “Vacation Playground”
Jackie and Teresa have recently purchased a lakefront cottage in hopes of eventually retiring there. In the interim, though, they want to use their new property to generate income… and they call in Scott McGillivray to help them maximize the cottage’s rental potential. Scott seizes upon Jackie and Teresa’s ultra-competitiveness and turns their cottage into a family retreat, perfect for gamers.
House Hunters International 14914: “Staying Calm in Cologne”
Watching HHI is a trade-off: there’s a high probability you’ll stumble on an episode where some obnoxious American moves overseas and can’t fathom why they can’t have all the conveniences of home. That is annoying. But, there’s also the opportunity to play the my favorite House Hunters game: “will this couple survive this move?” Conversations about a rental between one person who wants to be close to work and the other, who begrudgingly gave everything up to move across an ocean, are always especially tense…and it’s not hard to imagine relationships hinging on their outcome.
That said, I think Lydia and Melissa Hartung are safe. Lydia’s new job marks a return to her home country of Germany, only this time its with a new wife and two dogs in tow.
House Hunters 19710: “Make No Mistake in San Diego”
House Hunters episodes themselves are a bit more difficult to watch on the Discovery+ app. Instead of letting you select individual episodes, the app has a channel devoted exclusively to running HH episodes on a perpetual loop. Perfect if you’re looking for background noise to soundtrack your work days, less helpful if you’re on the search for lady gays. But if you’re fortunate, you might happen upon this episode featuring Sophie and Jeannie, a young married couple who are looking to purchase their first condo. The former collegiate rugby players disagree on almost everything: Spanish or contemporary, move-in-ready or fixer upper, city or suburbs and starter or long-term home.
House Hunters 19602: “Putting Out Fires in Knoxville”
Heather and her wife, Kristyn, are looking for a new home in the Knoxville suburbs. Heather’s a real life Maya Bishop/Hen Wilson: a firefighter in Maryville who’s looking to stay close to work, lest she have to repeat her training in a new county. Kristyn, though, is tired of the long commute to the kids’ school in Knoxville and is looking for something to shorten their morning routine.
House Hunters 18201: “Glam vs. Land in New York
What better way to kick of Pride 2021 than with the debut of a House Hunters episode featuring Dominique Jackson, one of the stars behind the acclaimed series Pose. Elektra Abundance Evangelista’s portrayer is on the hunt for a two-story colonial with a pool with an easy commute to New York City. Her fiancé, Edwin, is after a different style of life, though: he wants a farmhouse with some acreage.
I love this episode so, so much. Both Edwin and Dominique have known homelessness so the significance of this purchase isn’t lost on them. As the episode closes, Dominique says, “As a black trans woman, this is something that is absolutely amazing — home ownership is something that my community is not really accustomed to — this shows my sisters that we can own houses, we can be whatever we desire to be.”
Home Town 309: “A Modern Millenial Makeover”
Keri and Laekin are a newly engaged couple who first met in high school and reach out to Home Town‘s Ben and Erin Napier to find their first house together. They’re both just 21 so I spend the entire episode marvelling (or worrying?) that they’re getting married and buying a house so young. Thankfully, they’ve got a reasonable wish list: a master bathroom with a separate shower and tub and a book nook for them to read and study. And, much to my surprise, beneath Keri and Laekin’s genial exterior are two savage negotiators who get the Craftsman cottage under list price.
Property Brothers Forever Home 206: Marrying the Old and the New
When Drew and Jonathan pull up to Kate and Amy’s vintage Toronto home, Amy and her son Edgar are sporting matching walking boots: him, after having broken his leg on a trampoline, and her, after breaking her ankle while carrying Edgar down the stairs. But even with the walking boot, when it comes time for demolition, Amy is gung-ho, ready to turn their main floor into an efficient space to host friends and family. See, this is the kind of lesbian energy that HGTV needs more of.
Tiny House Hunters 206: “Tiny Home, Big Move”
As much as I lament HGTV’s lack of diversity, the one place I didn’t expect black people or lesbians to show up is on Tiny House Hunters. Like Roxane Gay, “I thought this fixation was primarily a ‘white people thing,'” until this particular episode which features an adorable black lesbian couple. Joy is fresh off her service in the Air Force and is moving to California to start school, while her new wife, LaToya, is transitioning into a new career as a blogger. With hopes of achieving financial freedom, the newlyweds look at three tiny houses, each less than 400 square feet.
Design at Your Door 106: “Rooms on Fire!”
Design at Your Door was one of HGTV’s first swings at producing new content during the pandemic. The premise is simple: couples seeking to improve some part of their home gets a virtual consultation from an HGTV designer. The catch? After being sent all the materials they need, the couple is responsible for bringing the designer’s vision to fruition. It literally forces home improvement gays to become DIY gays… or at least it does in this episode. Gina and Denise do a great job bring the ideas of designer Tiffany Brooks to fruition, creating a beautiful guest space for their mom.
Love It or List It 1203: “Constant Construction Chaos”
I am, admittedly, partial to Love It or List It because in 2014, the show lefts its roots in Canada and began taping episodes in my home state of North Carolina. Now, when I watch, I get to see cutaways to familiar landmarks and, in a few instances, even some familiar faces. Now, finally, an episode with some North Carolina gays! I was thrilled.
Jody’s a talented contractor who’s done an incredible job renovating the main floor of their Durham home but her wife, Emilee, is (understandably) tired of living in the middle of a renovation. Emilee wants to move to a new space — with ample space to grow their family and host her mother — and Jody wants to see the project that she started through to the end.
Love It or List It 1712: “No Laughing Matter”
It was love at first sight Jamelle and Lauren when saw their 2400 square foot home but after a few years of dealing with a lack of closet space, falling pieces of ceiling and no space to write without distraction, Lauren’s ready to look elsewhere. Finding a new space for their couple and their daughter is no easy feat, though: Jamelle’s got an exhaustive list of wants, including — oddly — a stove facing the dining area.
Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation 201: “Fishing for a Fixer-Upper”
Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation combines two of my favorite things in one show: the beach and a bargain. Couples and families search for a fixer-upper and use the balance of their home-buying budget to bring their dreams to life. In this episode, Stephanie and Virginia are looking for vacation home on Galveston Island (TX) where they can relax and entertain family and friends. Renovations are tough on any couple but, for Stephanie and Virginia, the process brings them closer together and by the end of the episode, they announce their engagement!
The 15 Stupidest Ways Queer Women Died on TV
My wife and I recently celebrated eleven years of knowing each other, a serendipitous event that happened because I recapped Skins for a different website and she read those recaps and tweeted me a video of Paula Deen getting hit in the face with a ham to get my attention. It worked! Anyway, we were both way into Skins fandom, and we always think back to it whenever an anniversary comes around — and then our sweet nostalgia turns to rage when we remember Skins Fire, the post-Skins mini-series that resurrected Naomi and Emily from their happy ending to commit a hackneyed lesbian murder via Dana Fairbanks-style RapidCancer.
It remains one of the stupidest TV deaths I have ever seen, and as a queer TV critic for over a decade, I have seen a LOT of stupid queer deaths. Here are 15 of the stupidest. Please weigh in with the rage you’re still holding onto in the comments!
Jenny Schecter, The L Word
Imagine getting murdered because your showrunner wanted to turn your primetime scissoring soap into a murder mystery as a backdoor pilot to send the most cartoony character to jail to headline a prison show.
Kate, Last Tango in Halifax
The only reason to run over someone with a car on TV is because you’re murdering them to advance the plots of other characters. In comic books, we call that “fridging.”
Tara Maclay, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
You’re gonna kill one of the only lesbians on primetime network TV with a stray bullet that literally, physically could not have struck her, and exactly the moment she reconciled with one of the show’s main and most beloved characters? This one also kicked off TV’s obsession with burying gays. Thanks, Joss!
Sarah Barnes, Hollyoaks
Her parachute was meddled with by a jealous frenemy. First skydiving death in British soap history! An honor!
Bill Potts, Doctor Who
The first lesbian to be a televised companion, the second Black companion — transformed into Mondasian Cyberman, then shot through the literal heart. And no, knowing she got a happy after life does not soften it!
Silvia Castro León, Los Hombres de Paco
Gunned down on her wedding day, she bled out in her new wife’s arms, turning their white wedding dresses red.
Maya St. Germain, Pretty Little Liars
Maya’s super hippie parents supposedly sent her to some kind of Christian drug camp when they found out she had weed, and there she was murdered by her fake cousin who was later stabbed atop a lighthouse by Emily Fields. Something Bianca Lawson found out from some other actor at a whole different audition.
Susan, Seinfeld
She died by getting poisoned by the glue on the envelopes of her own wedding invitations.
Naomi Campbell, Skins
Naomi and Emily lived happily ever after, joining a very small handful of queer characters at the time. (Or at any time?) Well, and then they were brought back, years later, for a two-part mini-series just to have Naomi die of cancer. One of the cruelest things I have ever seen on TV, to this day.
Tamsin, Lost Girl
Died IN THE FINALE giving birth to Hades’ baby, which she conceived when Hades pretended to be his own daughter, Bo, and Tamsin had sex with him. The baby was conceived and born in the span of about 72 hours.
Kira, The Magicians
A Black lesbian disabled guest character who was mercy-killed by Julia to further Julia’s own storyline.
Peach Salinger, Hashtag You on Lifetime/Netflix
Outsmarted by Dan Humphrey, the greatest insult of all time.
Lexa, The 100
This will go down in history as the historical Bury Your Gays divide, like the BC/AD chasm of TV history.
Mimi and Camilla, Empire
Okay, imagine you’re the most famous lesbian showrunner on earth, Ilene Chaiken, and imagine every decision you’ve ever made to kill lesbian characters has been universally panned. Would your next move be to take over showrunning a whole other show, and bring on two lesbian characters, just to murder them? Surely not. SURELY not! Camilla poisoned Mimi and then Camilla was forced to drink her own poison at gunpoint. Sure, sure, sure.
The 10 Best Fictional Pets Who Started Some Shit
If you were one of the million people who watched Emma Stone in Cruella, the origin story for the 101 Dalmatians baddie, when it came out last weekend, you were also one of the million people who were like “…the fuuuuck” when the film opened with Cruella’s mom getting shoved over the edge of a cliff by a pack of ravenous Dalmatians, and falling to her death on the rocks below! It was the wildest thing I have ever seen in any movie in my entire life! It was not, however, the wildest thing I have ever seen on any TV show in my life. That honor belongs to the moment from One Tree Hill on this list. A moment that also included an adorable dog. Obviously those things got my head spinning and I have assembled a list of the The 10 Best Fictional Pets Who Started Some Shit. I’d love to hear your additions in the comments.
Lord Tubbington, Glee
Lord Tubbington is always up to something. He’s sneaking and smoking cigarettes, he’s addicted to ecstasy, he’s sneaking out to Arby’s even though he’s on the Atkins diet, he has an online gambling addition. A+ cat!
Salem, Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Like Lord Tubbington, Salem is a classic jackass cat! Only he isn’t really a cat; he’s a 500-year-old witch trapped in a cat’s body as punishment for trying to take over the world. But his feline form doesn’t stop him. Over the course of six seasons, he tries to start a war with Pluto, cajoles humans to act on his whims to satiate his megalomaniac desires, steals everything in sight (including cars!), and keeps getting time added to his cat sentence!
Babe, Babe
Babe very nearly gets his owner and best friend Farmer Hoggett committed with his sheep herding hijinks! I mean, at the end of the movie, he saves the day and Farmer Hoggett wins the farming competition, but if Babe hadn’t been able to crack that Bah Ram Ewe code to get the Black nose sheep to talk to him, Hoggett would’ve lost everything! But dang what a cutie.
Little Man, I, Tonya
Alison Janey is an abusive unhinged monster in I, Tonya but this little bird, named Little Man, charmed her so much that she dedicated her entire Golden Globe to him! And he was the fourth bird she auditioned for the role! What a little con artist!
The chick and the duck, Friends
Joey and Chandler’s feathered friends keep them together when they were fighting, survive getting stuck in the VCR, harass each other, and also the chick was really a rooster. Plus they live in an apartment in Manhattan. What a couple of adorable little psychopaths.
Cheddar, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Cheddar is, of course, perfectly behaved — but also, when it’s time to step up and do some hijinks to help Holt win the Halloween Heist for once, he absolutely saves the day. A gentleman and a scoundrel!
Tippi the Bird, Pretty Little Liars
Alison’s bird flaps around in its cage and squawks clues over and over and over and over until Aria and Spencer finally realize he’s better at solving crimes than they are. She knows the phone number of the witch who pulled Alison from her grave the night she was buried alive and the name of one of the dudes that was stalking her. That’s more than the Liars were able to suss out in four seasons.
A pack of Dalmatians, Cruella
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGPH7i2fNaU&ab_channel=DamnClips
There’s nothing else to say about this. Just watch it for yourself.
Goose, Captain Marvel
I know Goose isn’t really a cat, but also there’s nothing more cat than swallowing a glowing orb that houses an ancient stone that can create wormholes and cause catastrophic universal destruction — and then just casually puking it up on top of a stack of important papers on top of his owner’s desk, shrugging it off, and giving himself a bath.
The dog who eats Dan’s heart, One Tree Hill
June 2021: Here’s What’s New and Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO Max
It’s Pride Month and we’re expecting all of the networks to look us straight in the face and say “you exist!” What precisely have Netfilx, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Peacock and HBO Max rustled up for the LGBTQ+ folks this June? It’s time for your monthly streaming guide! Let’s discuss.
Netflix’s June 2021 Lesbian, Gay and Bi Content
Summertime: Season 2 (Netflix Original) – June 3
Season One of this Italian teen series centered on the romance between Ale, a famous motorcyclist and Summer, an introvert working at the Grand Hotel for the summer to support her mother. Summer’s best friend Sofia is queer and has the hots for Summer. In Season 2, we’re returning to the Riviera, where I spy a lesbian with a bleached-blonde alternative lifestyle haircut kissing someone (maybe Sofia?).
Dancing Queens (2021) (Netflix Original) – June 3
Dylan Peterson’s got a job cleaning the drag club Queens where their star choreographer, Victor, spots her dancing and realizes WOW SHE’S A TALENT! She could save the Queens! Except she’s a girl. So she pretends to be a boy so she can be a drag queen?
Feel Good: Season 2 (Netflix Original) – June 4
One of our most beloved shows of 2020 is back with Season 2, in which Mae will attempt to salvage her relationship with George, recover from a relapse, figure out some gender stuff and some career stuff and just generally be really relate-able and weird and I can’t wait!
Workin’ Moms: Season 5 – June 15
In the show’s fifth season, it seems Frankie is on a better path than she’s has been before, with her realty business booming; a far cry from the gay disaster we met in season 1. And yet there are still plenty of shenanigans to be had with her house full of co-parenting queers.
Elite: Season 4 (Netflix Original) – June 18
The first three seasons of runaway hit Elite centered quite a few gay and bisexual male characters, but queer women remained in the background — Polo’s corrupt lesbian Moms and the subtle reveal of Rebeca’s bisexuality. In Season 4, her orientation will be thrust to the forefront at last because she for sure has a girlfriend in this trailer. Netflix has been teasing its first Sapphic storyline on Elite and in the words of so many other gay websites, “we are here for it.”
America: The Motion Picture (Netflix Original) – June 30
This R-rated animated revisionist history of the founding of America features Olivia Munn as Thomas Edison. She has an undercut and just looks really truly incredibly gay, but I have no confirmation of this, just hope.
Hulu’s LGBTQ+ Streaming Content For Girls, Gays and Theys in June 2021
Changing the Game (2021) – June 1
This documentary delves into the ever-present issue of transgender inclusion in sports, following athletes at all stages of their athletic seasons and personal lives — like Sarah, a skier and teen policymaker in New Hampshire and Andraya, a track star in Connecticut openly competing on the girls track team. At the center of the narrative is Mack Beggs, who made headlines when he won the Texas State Championship in girls wrestling.
Jennifer’s Body (2009) – June 1
As Erin wrote of this controversial Megan Fox / Amanda Seyfried vehicle: “This film explores some of my favorite themes all in one glossy, campy, self-aware package: misandry, women being extremely gay together, principled revenge, and the triumph of aught culture.”
Love, Victor: Season 2 – June 11
Victor Salzar came out as gay to his family in the Season One finale of Love, Victor — the Hulu teen romcom spin-off series of the original Love, Simon — and now that he’s out, the whole series gets gayer as Victor builds a larger network of queer friends and tries to figure out what being gay really means to him. If you’re patient and eagled eyed, sources tell me that there’s also some light gay girl vibes to be on the lookout for in Season Two.
Motherland Fort Salem: Season 2 Premiere (Freeform) – June 23
In Season 2, Raelle, Tally and Abigail will be confronting the following: dangerous magic, higher stakes, a new threat from an ancient group of witch hunters called the Camarilla. Their training gets more serious as the girls move up to War College, where everything will be pushed to the limits! We’re also getting a new non-binary character, M, a second-year soldier in War College who is very protective of her comrades.
What Is Amazon Prime Video Offering The Homosexuals In June 2021?
Rent (2005) – June 1
How do you measure your life in love? The only way to find out is to watch this film about a bunch of interesting artists some of whom are queer and/or HIV positive and are all friends with the same annoying white straight cis man. There are songs! One of them is called “Take Me Or Leave Me.” If you ever wanna hear me sing it in my car just let me know.
Black Swan (2010) – June 1
A very intense film in which there is A SEXUAL SCENE involving rapidly unraveling ballerina Natalie Portman and freewheeling dancer Mila Kunis. I feel like they’re gonna put this in the LGBTQ Stories section and I am going to side-eye that.
Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) – June 1
Join us as a gay book (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe) by a gay author (Fannie Flagg) gets turned into an allegedly not-gay movie about tomboy Idgie and her gal pal Ruth who run a diner together and deal with some pretty rough situations!
Grandma (2015) – June 1
Lily Tomlin stars as the titular Grandma, Elle, a lesbian poet and widow who gets a visit from her teenage granddaughter who needs money for an abortion. Thus the two head on an all-day journey into Elle’s past trying to score the cash to make it happen.
Orlando (1993) – June 1
Based on bisexual depressive Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, this film set in the 17th-18th century is the touching tale of a nobleman (Tilda Swinton) who inherits his parents house from Queen Exliabeth I (Quentin Crisp), has a disastrous affair with a Russian Princess and then wakes up ia woman and returns home to see if she can still keep the property.
Saving Face (2005) – June 1
One of the best lesbian movies of all time, Alice Wu’s Saving Face is a tender and very funny love story between two Chinese-American women — one a confident dancer and the other a closeted doctor living with her Mom who also has plenty of her own drama.
Flack: Season 2 – June 11
Anna Paquin is a messy bisexual PR agent in Flack, and Season 2 promises you know, more catastrophes that she will fix. Also I believe her sister shows up and calls her a sex-and-drugs addict and a narcissist, and then Robyn tries to get sober but also maybe gets pregnant? Martha Plimpton joins as Robyn’s Mom.
Bosch: Season 7 – June 25
Apparently in an earlier season of this procedural, the closeted LAPD Homicide commanding officer dated a character played by Rose Rollins!?!?! Anyhow that’s ancient history and Rose has moved but I think that the commanding officer is still in it and so; this show trucks on.
“Manhãs de Setembro” (“September Mornings”): Limited Series – June 25
This project follows “the journey of a trans woman who leaves her hometown” in search of being a free and independent women. Five 30-minute episodes tell Cassandra’s story as she gets a place of her own, a boyfriend she loves, a job as a courier in downtown São Paulo and a shot at fulfilling her dream at being a cover artist of Vanusa. But things take an unexpected turn when her ex, Leide (Karine Teles), shows up with a person she claims is Cassandra’s son.
Also this month on Amazon Prime Video, some premium subscription-channel series are available for free: Stonewall Uprising (2010), Season One of Queer as Folk, Season One of The L Word: Generation Q and Season One of Work in Progress.
Here’s What HBO Max Is Cooking Up For The Gays This Pride Month
Iris (2001) – June 1
A biographical drama about bisexual novelist Iris Murdoch’s relationship with her husband John Bayley, starring Judi Dench as old Iris and Kate Winslet as young Iris.
Kajillionaire (2020) – June 1
Bisexual writer/director/weirdo Miranda July’s third film is “a careful, long-game-playing meditation on how we can learn to parent ourselves when our own families refuse to do the job.” Starring Evan Rachel Wood, the film is both a “dreamy, golden-hour queer love story set amidst the friendly outlandishness of contemporary Los Angeles” and an “unsettling, fluorescent portrait of familial betrayal.”
Feast of Love (2007) – June 1
Based on the Charles Baxter novel I personally loved quite some time ago, this film looks at “love and its many permutations,” set in Portland and centered on local community college professor Harry Stevenson. One of the stories is about Bradley, a cafe owner whose wife of six years (Selma Blair) meets a girl named Jenny (Stana Katic) playing softball and well, you can imagine where that goes. (LESBIANS)
Betty: Season 2 (HBO Original) – June 11
Betty’s long-awaited return sees all our faves returning to their skateboards and New York and being gay and dancing and doing drugs and making mistakes and wearing masks around their chins!
Revolution Rent (HBO Documentary) – June 15
Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Señor Jr., and Victor Patrick Alvarez bring this documentary about Señor Jr’s experience traveling to Cuba and directing a production of Rent, the country’s first Broadway musical by an American company in over 50 years, which involved reimagining the show in a Cuban context.
Genera+ion Season 1: Part 2 (HBO Original) – June 17
The remaining episodes of Genera+ion, the edgy queer teen drama that captured our hearts earlier this year (?!) will drop into your lives on June 17th. With a few very brief exceptions, the trailer is mostly indifferent to the lives of heterosexuals. I truly cannot wait to watch our favorite angsty teens sort through all their messy gay feelings!
LFG (HBO Documentary) – June 24
A “no-holds-barred” inside account of the U.S. women’s national team’s ongoing fight for equal pay, as told by Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald, Kelley O’Hara and others. LFG stands for “Let’s Fucking Go” by the way. Fun fact!
Peacock’s New Queer Content for June 2021
Milk (2008) – June 1
Allison Pill plays lesbian activist Anne Kronenberg in this excellent Harvey Milk biopic.
Rebellion!: Stonewall (2019) – June 1
This film is, I believe, about Stonewall, although somehow its existence managed to eclipse our knowledge at the time and even until this day. IMDB has characters like Sylvia Rivera and “butch lesbian” so um, YMMV. Let’s see what this is!
Transcendent: Seasons 1-2 – June 1
This Fuse reality TV show from 2015-2016 follows a group of trans women who perform at the San Francisco nightclub AsiaSF.
We Are Lady Parts: Season 1 (Peacock Original) – June 3
Amina Hussain is a geeky microbiology PhD student looking for a husband who instead finds herself in a punk band as their unlikely lead guitarist. Lady Parts’ drummer, Ayesha, is queer, as is a culture writer/influencer who wants to help the band grow in popularity. “The brilliance of We Are Lady Parts lies in the sharing of multiple truths of Muslim identity,” writes The Stylist. “From what it’s like to be queer to what it’s like to be a Black Muslim woman and even having parents that encourage Amina’s thirst for punk rock.”
The 50 Lesbian and Bisexual TV and Film Characters With the Dyke-iest Swagger
When our TV Team makes a list, we want guidelines, we want parameters, we want rubrics and precedents and clear explanations and examples. Do you mean X or do you mean Y? Are you talking about this or are you talking about that? What’s disqualifying, what’s a shoe-in, if you’re gonna add so-and-so, you gotta add such-and-such. Like Monica Gellar, we all firmly believe that RULES HELP CONTROL THE FUN. But last week, in her review of The Retreat, Drew wrote, “Tommie-Amber Pirie is a fully committed horror heroine and she carries the story with a dykey swagger.” And so Heather casually asked the TV Team if we wanted to make a list of lesbian and bisexual TV and film characters with the dyke-iest swagger. Within an hour, we had a list of 50 characters and not one single person asked for a definition. Dykey swagger is something you either have or you don’t, it’s something you either know or you don’t. It’s not really definable; it just is. Which is one of the things that makes it so alluring. And so:
The 50 Lesbian and Bisexual TV and Film Characters With the Dyke-iest Swagger
Cay Rivers, Desert Hearts
Coop, All American
Quiet Ann, Claws
Cleo, Set It Off
Emma and Nico, Vida
Hattie, Twenties
Callie Torres, Grey’s Anatomy
Kalinda Sharma, The Good Wife
Corky, Bound
Root and Shaw, Person of Interest
Tasha Williams, The L Word
Angelina Jolie’s Legs Sadovsky, Foxfire
Betty McRae, Bomb Girls
Poussey Washington, Orange Is the New Black
Bette Porter, The L Word
Anne Lister, Gentleman Jack
Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Kat Sandoval, Madam Secretary
Nicky Nichols, Orange Is the New Black
Shane McCutcheon, The L Word
Paige McCullers, Pretty Little Liars
Abby and Riley, Happiest Season
Valkyrie, MCU
Garnet, Steven Universe
Sophie Moore, Batwoman
Peppermint Patty, Peanuts
Santana Lopez, Glee
Dex, Stumptown
Jackie Quiñones, Hightown
Stef, The Fosters
Xena, Xena: Warrior Princess
Pauline Hawthorne, Little Fires Everywhere
Snoop, The Wire
Amanita, Sense8
Lucy Diamond, DEBS
Diggy, Dope
M-Chuck, Survivor’s Remorse
Denise, Master of None
Adena, The Bold Type
Anissa and Grace, Black Lightning
Alex Danvers, Supergirl
Clea DuVall, But I’m a Cheerleader
Those Record Store Lesbians, Carol
Leila, The Bisexual
Jasmine Rawlings, Suicide Kale
Catra, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power
16 Fictional Queer Redheads You Can’t Handle
I was recently doing my quarterly Carol viewing while I was torturing myself around the same time by rewatching Skins, and when Carol asked Abby, “Really? You think you got what it takes to handle a redhead?” my mind jumped to Emily Fitch, and then rapid-flipped through an entire gay Pokédex of fictional queer redheads. I said out loud, “Wow, redheads really are uncontrollable!” and decided to make a list to prove it. I have included shades of red in this list, like pink and purple, because duh, those colors are gay as heck. Also this list is not comprehensive. There are more. Oh ho boi, are there more! Just out there, in the wild, with their hair on fire, being completely and thoroughly unplayable. And so, here are 16 fictional queer redheads you can’t handle.
Willow Rosenberg, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The original fictional queer redhead, Willow Rosenberg. Best friend, witch, vampire, girlfriend who survived the onset of the Bury Your Gays trope and lived to tell about it, hardly even blowing up the entire world one time over it.
Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn
Poison Ivy would sooner kill a man than look at him, especially if she suspects he’s messing with her friends. She’s a Suicide Squad member, a whiz with vegetation, and a rogue psychiatrist. Only sultry jewel thieves in leather cat costumes cause her to lose her composure.
Quinn Fabray, Glee
Pink hair don’t care Quinn Fabray nearly did the impossible: she nearly turned Rachel Berry gay. She certainly made an entire generation of late-aughts queers even queerer. She also walked only in slow-motion while smoking and wearing full leather and sunglasses indoors. What chaos!
Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp
Don’t let that adorable smile and warm face fool you — Puragtory’s resident sheriff/angel shield is more than capable of using her charm, wit, ninja skills, tenacity, and family connections to destroy you.
Fish Mooney, Gotham
An empire builder who isn’t scared to go up against noted crime bosses and supervillains, Fish Mooney is also tenacious enough to be resurrected from the dead after being buried under the literal Arkham Asylum in Gotham City.
Violet, Her Story
I have been in the presence of Jen Richards, who plays Violet on Her Story, on multiple occasions, and I will tell you right now that I do not get starstruck butterflies, but this woman leaves me tongue-tied every time! Imagine if she was looking at you like she’s looking at Laura Zak here, like she wants to gobble her up! You would absolutely not be able to deal with it.
Ryan Wilder, Batwoman
She’s the goddamn Batwoman — what else do you need to know?
Maze, Lucifer
Just the former right hand woman of the literal devil who enjoys some casual bounty hunting on the side.
Toni Topaz, Riverdale
Following in the teenage rebel “pink hair, don’t care” footsteps of Quinn Fabray, Toni Topaz won’t be thwarted by serial killers, psychotic nuns, homophobes, or rival gangs.
Rose, Jane the Virgin
Attorney turned crime lord turned face-swapper — how do you say no to a woman who owns her own submarine?? Sure she’s a “textbook sociopath,” but she’s also a believer in being part of the greatest love story ever told.
Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Loyal, determined, intuitive, relentless, fierce! She owns a motorcycle! And enough leather jackets to be the poster child for television badasses! She’s also heart-meltingly sweet when it comes down to it, and that makes her even harder to handle!
Alex Danvers, Supergirl
A superhero without superpowers who literally never, ever, ever gives up. Ever. Literally ever. You can’t walk this queer redhead back, wear her down, or outsmart her. She can also drink you under the table.
Amanita, Sense8
Amanita is the most resourceful person on this list, and accomplishes more heroic feats than basically everyone else, even though she doesn’t have superpowers or the resources of entire governments at her fingertips. She’s that affable and clever (and in love).
Tess Van De Berg, The L Word: Generation Q
Tess is like the one lesbian in the entire state of California not to be broken by Shane’s whole deal. When Shane did to Dawn Denbo what she did to Tess, Dawn Denbo lost her entire mind and started like a mob. Not Tess. She just went to work.
Emily Fitch, Skins
Some queer redheads on this list you can’t handle because they’re too messy. Some you can’t handle because they’ve got, you know, psychotic impulses or dark magic or bloodlust. But Emily Fitch you can’t handle because she loves with such sincere and earnest wholeness it’ll melt you from the inside out like a sweet little blow torch.
Queen Sophie-Anne, True Blood
Hell hath no fury like a broke Vampire Queen.
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?
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.
March 2021: What’s New and Gay and Streaming on HBO Max, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon?
What’s new streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and HBO for us to watch and be like “yes, they are gay and I, too, am gay”? These are the questions we have to ask ourselves in March 2021, as we approach a new slate of streaming content for our enjoyment or derision.
March 2021 New Netflix Content for Girls, Gays and Theys
Moxie (2021) (Netflix Original) – March 3
A 16-year-old is inspired by her Mom’s Riot Grrrl and zine-making past to strike back against INJUSTICE, misogyny and toxicity at her high school. Josie Totah plays a trans girl frustrated that her classmates and teachers won’t use her name. I imagine there will be a lesbian or bisexual character in this, because feminism?? Amy Poehler directs and stars.
Marriage or Mortgage: Season 1 (Netflix Original) – March 10
This reality show allows couples to choose between their dream home or the wedding of their dreams. Wow!!! Who greenlit this!
The One: Limited Series (Netflix Original) (2021) – March 12
There is a bisexual detective played by Zoe Tapper who, in the trailer, is on her bed smiling while a woman crawls across a bed and kisses her. This show is about a severe woman in powersuits who has discovered a way to genetically match people to their soulmates but I don’t know guys, also there’s murder!!!
Sky Rojo: Season 1 – March 19
From the creators of Money Heist, Spanish action crime drama Sky Rojo seems at the very least highly homoerotic. The series follows three sex workers on the run from their pimp and, according to their creators, the series shows “the impunity, ambiguity and brutal reality of prostitution, and the psychological portraits of those on both sides of the scale.”
New Gay Streaming on Hulu in March 2021
Top Chef: Complete Season 17
Hot lesbian chef Melissa King competes in this “All Stars L.A.” season of the popular competition program which involves food and the preparation of said food.
Ammonite (2020) – March 5
Kate Winslet plays Mary Anning, a British paleontologist known for her work with dinosaur and other fossils, in this film. “This is hardly the first lesbian film starring two straight-identified women,” writes Drew in her review. “This is hardly the first lesbian film to be all-white, to be all-cis, to be a period piece, to be melancholy, to have an age difference, to center a grumpy old lesbian, to introduce a young woman with a husband. It’s not this one film’s fault that it happened to land within just about every lesbian cinema discourse imaginable. It’s not its fault that it comes out on the heels of the very similar and vastly superior Portrait of a Lady on Fire. But when a film chooses to do things we’ve all seen again and again and again, it demands a certain level of quality that Ammonite simply fails to achieve.”
Good Girls Season 4 Premiere – March 4 (NBC)
Beth, Annie and Ruby return for a fourth season of this dramedy about pals who decide to damn the man and launder the money. Isaiah Stannard plays Ben Marks, the trans son of single Mom Annie. “The show is tense, engaging and often fun,” writes Cate Young on Jezebel.
Here Awhile (2019) – March 15
Anna Camp plays a terminally ill (lesbian) woman named … Anna … who returns to her home in Oregon to reconnect with her estranged brother while making the decision to end her life using the Death with Dignity Act.
Sister Aimee (2019) – March 15
Legendary evangelical preacher Sister Aimee is the inspiration for this film from married writer/director team Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann, who focus their story on a one-month period when Aimee went missing, although the story they tell about it is fictionalized! She sets off for Mexico and meets a guide who will take them across the Southwest and through Mexico and the guide is HOT and they have an emotional/physical CONNECTION.
Vikings: Season 2
Inspired by the sagas of legendary Norse hero Viking Ragnar Lothbrok, this series features two queer characters, Lagertha and Astrid.
New Amazon Bisexual and Lesbian Streaming Content
The Returned: Season 1 (Sundance Now) – March 1
The Returned was an adaptation of a French series by the same name, produced by the same guy who did Lost. Sandrine Holt (The L Word) played Dr. Julie Han and Agnes Brucker (Breaking the Girls) played her on-and-off girlfriend Deputy Nikki Banks. Although the basic concept of this show is oddly common (the dead are back! why are they back!), I still loved it, and felt deeply that we deserved like three more seasons of creepy dark complicated episodes.
And She Could Be Next (PBS) – March 1
A PBS documentary series that follows “a defiant movement led by women of color” that is “transforming politics from the ground up,” featuring candidates and organizers and their work around the 2018 midterm elections. I am simply assuming there will be queer people in this.
Gay & Lesbian Streaming HBO Max Content
Pitch Perfect (2012) – March 1
This is a charming little film about paper cups and a capella and girls who can fight but also win, and there is one (1) lesbian, Ester Dean.
Eulogy (2004) – March 1
Famke Jansen plays the “life partner” of Lucy, one of the members of a family who is gathered to bid farewell to the family patriarch and also bicker with each other. Ray Romano stars.
Gone (2012) (HBO Original) – March 1
Kate Moennig plays a detective in this thriller starring Amanda Seyfried.
No Se Aceptan Devoluciones (AKA Instructions Not Included) (2013) – March 1
This Mexican comedy-drama is about a “playboy” named Valentín who leaves Acapulco for Los Angeles in search of Julie, a former fling who left their baby on her doorstep. In Los Angeles, he becomes a stunt man and raises the baby (Maggie), and then at last Julie has returned to be in Maggie’s life and guess what she has a girlfriend named Renee and they live in New York City.
Generation+: Season 1 (HBO Original) – March 11
Genera+ion focuses on a group of teenagers “whose exploration of modern sexuality (devices and all) tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.” The married Dads behind this series invited a third to their writing group to put it together — their 18-year-old bisexual daughter Zelda, who says the show is “deeply autobiographical in spirit, but also definitely fictional.” ! According to Indiewire, it is “filled with queer characters of color who express themselves across the spectrum of gender and sexuality.” This is what I am most excited for this month!
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’80s and ’90s Sitcom Characters, Ranked by Lesbianism
The Punky Brewster reboot lands on Peacock next week, which we were all honestly already pretty hype about — and then we learned that Jasika Nicole has been cast as Lauren, “a fun-loving and self assured lawyer who’s relationship with [Punky’s best friend] Cherie develops throughout the season.” So, now we’re even more worked up! However, while it’s good to see gay characters in comedy remakes, it’s also important to remember that ’80s and ’90s comedies were saturated with LESBIANISM. And to prove it, our team has ranked 25 of the gayest ’80s and ’90s sitcom characters by lesbianism, just for you.
25. Roz, Frasier
Heather: I’m willing to concede that I only think Roz — and everyone else on Frasier — is queer because Daniel Lavery writes so prolifically about the show.
24. Vanessa Huxtable, The Cosby Show
Natalie: Vanessa Huxtable is on my list of the worst TV kids ever, right along with Julie Taylor from Friday Night Lights, Maddie Conrad from Nashville, and Grace Florrick from The Good Wife.
Heather: I went back and forth between Vanessa and Denise, but ultimately it was Vanssa’s endless anxiety that gave her the lesbian edge.
Shelli: I agree with Natalie so hard but also the anxiety is that queer trait that made me think again about her lesbianing.
Carmen: Vanessa wanted to have BIIIIIIG FUN.
23. Lisa Turtle, Saved by the Bell
Shelli: I don’t see it — but I would like to.
Heather: Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine said that Lisa Turtle made her bisexual, so that’s something.
Stef: Honestly there’s gotta be a reason she resisted Screech for so long.
Riese: At the age of 40 she falls in love with a woman for the first time and writes a personal essay for The Cut about it.
Carmen: As a very high maintenance Black femme, let me just say we recognize our own.
KaeLyn: Strong bisexual power femme energy is all I’m saying.
22. Aunt Rachel, Family Matters
Heather: Freelance writer.
Carmen: I feel like I have no proof that Aunt Rachel was a lesbian? But also, given her relatively small role on the series, her staying power in our memories speaks for itself.
KaeLyn: Emphasis on FREELANCE WRITER.
21. Kimber and Storm, Jem and the Holograms
Heather: Okay, Stormer slept with a picture of her and Kimber on her NIGHTSTAND, and Pizazz and the other Misfits had to bribe her with a PORSCHE and a PURSE FULL OF CREDIT CARDS to get her to stop making duets with Kimber and come back to their band.
20. Elaine Benes, Seinfeld
Stef: I nominate Elaine just as a style icon alone.
Nicole: I always got lesbian vibes from her.
Stef: She kept trying to date men but she like truly truly hated every second of it.
Nicole: Just a very tragic case of compulsory heterosexuality.
Stef: Imagine Jerry Seinfeld being the ex boyfriend you kept as a friend.
Stef: She’s gay.
19. Ashley Banks, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Valerie Anne: I feel like there was a period of time on that show where if it had been on now instead of the 90s, Ashley would have dated a girl just to rock the boat/dare people to challenge her about it.
Carmen: What I’m saying is that if someone told me Ashley Banks “experimented in college” after the show was over… I would believe it.
18. Julia Sugarbaker, Designing Women
Shelli: Bare minimum she kissed a girl after Sunday school a few times.
Stef: I didn’t really watch Designing Women even when they ran it right after Golden Girls because like, after Golden Girls what else even IS there? But I feel strongly about these shoulder pads.
KaeLyn: She’s tried it, but she’s not committing to it.
Heather: Okay but name someone with more Bette Porter energy.
17. Alex P Keaton, Family Ties
Riese: Republican.
Carmen: But iconic fashion choices anyway.
KaeLyn: Deeply in the closet.
Heather: Soft butch dreamboat.
16. Chrissy Seaver, Growing Pains
Heather: Chrissy grew up to be Ashley Johnson. You know, Ellie from The Last of Us and Yasha from Critical Role? I rest my case. 🔨
15. Clarissa, Clarissa Explains it All
Abeni: Her best (platonic!) friend was a BOY!!!
Sarah: Gay.
Abeni: I don’t think she ever dated or talked about boys that I can remember. That bedroom, though, wtf? How could you even concentrate on anything with that much stimuli? The 90s were an interesting time.
Riese: We love a maximalist.
Stef: You know what’s really gay, is that little surf-rock musical interlude they play whenever the ladder clunks against her windowsill and she goes, “Oh, hey Sam” WAAOAOOOOAAAAOAAA.
Abeni: She also programmed her own PC games.
Stef: Also she had a pet baby alligator in a kiddie pool? Which seems not thought through especially well, but you know how lesbians love unconventional pets.
Malic: Every picture of Clarissa is straight out of one of those “what gay people wear to brunch” memes.
Adrian: The chaotic gender presentation speaks to my soul.
14. Phoebe, Friends
Riese: There is a zero percent chance that phoebe would say no if a woman asked her on a date.
Stef: Honestly the only person on the whole show I liked.
Heather: She’s like that person who discovers she’s queer and starts hanging out with queer people and wakes up one day and realizes she hasn’t been to Central Perk or spoken to Rachel or Monica in three years.
13. Freddie Brooks, A Different World
Shelli: Free Love Freddie was occasionally in someone’s box in the dorms of Hillman and I shall believe no different.
Riese: Combining the queer ease of a fedora with the queer labor of crochet, straight women simply cannot.
Stef: That vest alone.
Carmen: You will never, not ever, convince me that Freddie Brooks and Kim Reese were roommates for seasons four through six of A Different World and no late night bedsharing was going on!?!? Nuh uh. No ma’m.
KaeLyn: Ahem.
12. Margaret Kim, All-American Girl
Riese: Def pansexual, also got cancelled after one season despite being good, which is gay.
Riese: Also made a joke about being a lesbian in the pilot.
Stef: With a smile that says “I just did something gay.”
Carmen: There is no character Margaret Cho has ever played that did not rank at the top of any gay scale. That’s physics, babyyyy.
11. Donna, That 70s Show
Shelli: My answer is based on the tees alone.
Stef: Eric was definitely a gateway boyfriend.
Adrian: Donna is bi, a hill I will die on.
10. Dorothy Zbornak, Golden Girls
Shelli: Was dykin in Brooklyn for years even when she was with Stan’s cheating ass.
Stef: Nobody wears a billowing vest quite like Dorothy, which isn’t necessarily a gay thing but it’s not not a gay thing.
Riese: I imagine her being like a dyke who wrote a lot of books about activism in the ’90s and now in her elder years is like, honestly who needs girlfriend drama when I have such good friends and so many scarves.
Stef: I will say if she came out Sophia would NOT be surprised.
KaeLyn: The last person in my family I came out to was an older woman who was a retired university dean and professor and who never married despite being engaged more than once. When I came out to her, she shared with me in so many words that she “used to have a special friend, too, when she was young.” Anyway, Dorothy has definitely had some special friends along the way.
9. Kimmy Gibbler, Full House
Shelli: MAYBE her and DJ tucked each other’s hair behind the ears once.
Stef: I relate strongly to how she just keeps showing up somewhere she’s not welcome, pretty sure it’s gonna work out for her this time.
Riese: def kissed DJ during truth or dare and liked it, but it ended there for her.
Stef: I think Kimmy figured it out in college.
Malic: Persistence is gay.
8. Blossom Russo, Blossom
Valerie Anne: I wasn’t allowed to watch Blossom when I was little because the one time I did turn it on Salt-n-Pepa were on singing “Let’s Talk About Sex” but I definitely owned a floppy flower hat like hers and I mean… look at her.
Laneia: I voted 3 on a scale of 1-5 but Valerie makes a good point here. Her khaki shorts are gayer than I am.
Abeni: Once they made a safe sex video in one episode and I will never forget this line one of the boys said: “It’s safe sex or no sex. I’ve been doing one my whole life, iIcan’t wait to do the other.” I may be misremembering somewhat. that show was pretty progressive!
Riese: Looks gay but acts straight: the ’90s!!!
7. Darlene, Roseanne
Heather: Speaking of looking gay and acting straight.
Riese: I feel like Nancy asked Roseanne a lot if she ever wondered if Darlene was gay and Roseanne was like of course not what are you talking about and Nancy like raised her eyebrows and shrugged and drank a sip of coffee and was like “Okay, we’ll see.”
Shelli: I had such a crush on this white woman and that’s mostly because she treated the truly idiotic men in her life like idiots.
Carmen: Facts.
6. Andell, Moesha
Natalie: If I had to pick someone to be gay on Moesha, it would’ve been Andell, right?
Shelli: Oh Andell was dykin’ for sure.
Shelli: At least dabblin’.
Shelli: There ain’t no way that she wasn’t — like, no way.
5. Tori, Saved by the Bell
Riese: l e a t h e r j a c k e t
Riese: Also the actress is gay.
Stef: Also Tori is gay, which makes her gay.
Riese: That’s math.
Stef: Math makes you gay.
4. Punky Brewster, Punky Brewster
Valerie Anne: I’ve been called Punky by family members (and now friends) my whole life and I came by the nickname honestly; I was just like lil Punky when I was little (and am currently wearing mismatched socks) and I grew up to be a lesbian therefore so would/did she. That’s just math.
Shelli: I used to want to be punky so bad — ask my dad.
Riese: My mom didn’t let me watch shows with commercials so i’d go to my friend anna’s house to watch this show because i felt a deep affinity to this tomboy and her sneaks.
Carmen: I know almost nothing about Punky Brewster and have never seen the show, but even I know she’s a lesbian and that’s just lesbian law.
KaeLyn: It’s the pigtails. See also: Pippi Longstocking.
3. Alex Mack, The Secret World of Alex Mack
Shelli: My QUEEN.
Stef: Alex Mack had the ability to actually turn into a puddle, which seems pretty literal but definitely very lesbian.
Valerie Anne: 90% of the queer women i know could put together an Alex Mack cosplay from items in their closet at a moment’s notice.
Carmen: I’m literally dressed like this right now.
2. Jo, The Facts of Life
Tracy: So on the scale of one to five, we can’t give her a ten?
Riese: Literally gay.
Malic: Such a daddy.
1. Khadijah James, Living Single
Editor’s note: I didn’t crop this to the same size as the other pictures because of the belt. And the rings. And the hands on hips. And just… the whole thing.
Carmen: AND NOW WE ARE HOME. Okay. I can rest easy.
Shelli: There it is.
KaeLyn: Um. 😳
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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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