Gay and lesbian TV shows on Netflix 2024
There are many gay and lesbian movies and TV shows you can watch on Netflix. But finding a good lesbian movie is like looking for a famous needle in a haystack. You’re unlikely to see two women or men kissing on mainstream television these days, but there are plenty of lesbian and gay shows on Netflix.
Remember when LGBTQ+ characters were in supporting roles? Stereotypical white gay characters emerging in a repetitive capacity for comedy influence. Or if they were the main characters, their sexuality would be downplayed and there would be no intimacy scenes. Yes, we really do not miss those days. Of course, some of these characters cannot be looked down upon, as many of them paved the way for the queer representation we see today.
In recent years, representation of the LGBTQ+ community in TV shows and movies has never been better. In fact, we’re seeing the number of queer characters on our screens rise by over 100, hitting a new record. It’s impossible to deny the role Netflix has in this. Over the past few years, the streaming service has gained a reputation as one of the most inclusive sources for content, whether it’s originals like Orange is the New Black, Dear White People, or Hollywood, American Horror Story, Pose, or similar network classics.
YOUNG ROYALS
Young Royals is a drama-romance series starring Edvin Ryding as Wilhelm, Omar Rudberg as Simon, and Malte Gårdinger as August. Young Royals is a Swedish television series set in the elite boarding school Hillerska. The series revolves around Prince Wilhelm of Sweden’s budding romance with Omar and the drama that goes with it.
BELOW HER MOUTH
When a woman who questions her sexuality encounters a beautiful and experienced lesbian, the result is quite predictable. The passionate performances of Erika Linder and Natalie Krill create some of the sexiest scenes, and the gritty aspect faithfully depicts the relationship between the two women.
ATYPICAL
Focusing on the life of 18-year-old Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), who has autism spectrum disorder, Atypical has received rave reviews for its groundbreaking title character throughout its three-season run. The latest season also introduced one of the most-referred couples at the moment, with Casey (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Izzie (Fivel Stewart) whose relationships eventually transcend friendships.
AJ AND THE QUEEN
Here, Drag Race HERstory’s Bianca Del Rio sings an amazing musical with some of the most legendary contestants, including Latrice Royale, Katya, Jinks Monsoon and Monique Heart. The Emmy-winning actor co-wrote and produced Lisa Kudrow’s acclaimed satirical drama The Comeback, alongside Michael Patrick King, who directed, wrote and produced the most iconic HBO comedy Sex and the City. Unfortunately, the series was canceled after just one season.
LOVING ANNABELLE
Sapphic student/teacher has some twists. Annabelle Tillman, a smart but rebellious girl, arrives at an elite Catholic boarding school after being expelled from her last two schools. She has no issues with being a lesbian, but trouble begins when she falls in love with her teacher, Simone Bradley, played by Diane Gaidry. Simone tries to resist her relentless pursuits, but Annabelle doesn’t take no for an answer.
PARIAH
As young Alike (Adepero Oduye) discovers, trying to live your life as a butcher lesbian in Brooklyn is no easy task. Pariah is a dramatic coming-of-age tale of a teenager trying to understand how he and his sexual orientation fit in with his friends and family. Navigating these relationships with people who don’t always support her lifestyle often leads to an unpleasant situation. He is desperately trying to cheat his school, family, and friends, and he doesn’t always succeed.
BONDING
Loosely based on creator Rightor Doyle’s experience, Bonding follows psychiatry student dominatrix Tiff (Zoe Levin) who recruits her gay best friend from high school, Peter (Brendan Scannell), as his assistant. Throughout the series, Peter confronts his newfound discovery of sexuality and sadomasochism, while Tiff tries to balance her career with her clients. The second season is expected to begin this year.
EASTSIDERS
Passing through Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Eastsiders follows the couple Thom (Van Hansis) and Cal (Kit Williamson) as they struggle to face their infidelity and substance abuse. The show also stars legendary RuPaul’s Drag Race star Willam as Douglas / Gomorrah Ray, a drag queen and door lady who falls in love with Stephen Guarino’s Quincy character. The Hustlers and Crazy Rich Asian actress Constance Wu stars as Cal’s best friend Kathy. The series received numerous accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Digital Daytime Drama Series for Willam; For the first time, a drag queen was nominated for an Emmy in an acting category.
THE FIREFLY
After tragically losing her brother, Lucia finds solace in her fiancé, Mariana. The two women don’t know each other, but shared grief over a loss brings them together until it’s inevitable and they fall in love. Lucia must choose to either return to her husband or stay in Mariana.
ELITE
Spanish teen drama Elite follows three working class friends Samuel (Itzan Escamilla), Nadia (Mina El Hammani) and Christian (Miguel Herrán) who are sent to an elite boarding school after their previous school was destroyed. Omar (Omar Ayuso) and Ander’s (Arón Piper) relationship has garnered positive online response since its debut, and they even went by the name Omander for their adorable couple. In 2018, Netflix had the best response to homophobic viewers denouncing their love, posting hundreds of rainbow emojis and flashbacks. Netflix renewed the series for a fourth and fifth season.
HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER
Academy Award Winner Viola Davis stars as Annalize Keating, a law professor who gets involved in a murder plot with her five students, one of whom is playboy Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee), who has an affair with computer programmer Oliver Hampton (Conrad). The show’s main couple and one of their stories revolve around a rather heavy topic, something that isn’t often covered in a mainstream show. The series ended with its sixth season last year.
I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS
Based on Charles Forsman’s graphic novel of the same name, I Am Not Okay With This focuses on a teenager named Sydney, played by IT star Sophia Lillis, who is trying to come to terms with her sexuality and her newfound superpowers. It consists of seven 20-30 minute episodes and can be watched for an entire afternoon.
CRASHING
Written, created and starred by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve, Fleabag), this short-lived British drama follows the lives of six people in their 20s living together as property protectors in an unused hospital for a low rent. The series features a great gay romance between Sam (Jonathan Bailey), the group’s sex-obsessed savage character, and Fred (Amit Shah), the quiet and eccentric man who struggles with diabetes.
DAYBREAK
Daybreak is the perfect mix of Mad Max, Zombieland, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (it even plays Matthew Broderick as a cannibal headmaster), based on Brian Ralph’s famous graphic novel of the same name and pop culture enough. The series focuses on high school student Josh Wheeler (Colin Ford) who is searching for his missing girlfriend in Glendale, California. Like many of the big franchises, there are supporting actors that really make the world pop, one of them being Wesley Fists (Austin Crute), a sword-wielding hero; but what really makes Wesley great is that he’s gay. It challenges old stereotypes that being queer means being weak or a victim. Despite receiving positive reviews, the series was canceled after just one season.
THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR
Bly Manor, the sequel to the critically acclaimed horror series The Haunting of Hill House, tells the story of Dani (Victoria Pedretti), a young au pair hired to care for two children in a spooky country house. When he arrives, he begins to see hostile images that continue to haunt the building. Unlike its chillingly terrifying predecessor, Bly Manor was essentially a love story. The relationship between Dani and Jamie (Amelia Eve) has been praised by critics who applaud the show’s uplifting representation of LGBTQ + women. You’ll never hear Sheryl Crow’s I Shall Believe the same way again.
SHADOWHUNTERS
The second adaptation of the novel series, following 2013’s The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, the series follows Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara) who, on her 18th birthday, learns that she is descended from a long line of Shadowhunters, demon-hunting hybrids, human-angels. While the series received mixed reviews, the relationship between Alec (Matthew Daddario) and Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) has become one of the most defended TV relationships in recent memory, generating thousands of fanfictions on Tumblr. Described as one of the most natural and realistic LGBTQ+ romances on the air, the series was canceled in 2018, breaking the hearts of millions of fans.
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
Since its premiere seven years ago, Ryan Murphy’s horror anthology series has garnered universal acclaim, with special praise for performances by Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Frances Conroy and Angela Bassett. Each season focuses on a different horror subplot, including an asylum, haunted house, coven, a cult, and impending doom. There are a lot of LGBTQ + characters in the series, most notably Paulson’s two lead characters Lana Winters and Ally Mayfair-Richards. The series has been renewed for three more seasons, meaning American Horror Story will be on our screens until at least 2023.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
The cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows a team of detectives in the fictional 99th District of the New York City Police Department in Brooklyn. The series received critically acclaimed reviews and won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, particularly for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters Rosa Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) and Captain Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher). The eighth season will begin in 2021.
CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
Netflix’s bold reboot of Sabrina the young Witch stars Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka as a giddy character who must balance her mortal life with her supernatural abilities. There are quite a few awkward moments throughout the series, like the relationship between pansexual magician Ambrose Spellman (Chance Perdomo) and Luke Chalfont (Darren Mann), Susie Putnam (Lachlan Watson) who comes out as trans, and of course this hot sex scene. Unfortunately the series was canceled after only four seasons (or “episodes”, whatever).
DEAR WHITE PEOPLE
Dear Whites tells the story of several Black college students at the University of Winchester, an Ivy League institution based on the 2014 movie of the same name, and often touches on issues surrounding modern American race relations. DeRon Horton’s character, Lionel Higgins, confronts his sexuality and often struggles with being a Black man in the queer community but a queer man in the Black community. The series has been renewed for a fourth and final season.
GLEE
Ryan Murphy’s musical teen drama focuses on several students at the fictional William McKinley High School glee club as they progress on issues like sexuality, race, gender identity, bulimia, pregnancy, and school violence. In the first season, Kurt (Chris Colfer) struggles with his sexuality and feelings for Finn (Corey Monteith), and later becomes romantically involved with Blaine (Darren Criss). They were later called “one of the most beloved television couples of the millennium.” The late Naya Rivera also received widespread praise for her portrayal of Santana, a popular, tough-as-nails cheerleader on McKinley who forms a friendship with cheerleader Brittany (Heather Morris). Glee was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards over the course of its run.
GRAND ARMY
Based on Cappiello’s Slut: The Play, this teen drama takes place at Grand Army High School, a public high school in Brooklyn, New York, about the lives of several teenagers struggling with racism, gender identity, violence and bullying, and rape culture. The diverse cast includes rising stars Amir Bageria as Siddhartha “Sid” Pakam, a highly secretive Indian-American, and Alphonso Romero Jones II as his love interest, John Ellis.
HOLLYWOOD
Created by Ryan Murphy with Ian Brennan, the seven-episode limited series follows a group of young aspiring actors and filmmakers trying to hit their big break in one post. While each character offers their own take on Hollywood’s Golden Age, the show itself highlights the racism, sexism, homophobia, and decades-old power dynamics still prevalent in the entertainment industry today. While the show received a mixed response from critics, it received ample praise from viewers who loved to get a chance to see a more diverse portrayal of Hollywood where everyone got a (deserving) happy ending.
JESSICA JONES
The second in a series of shows set in Netflix’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jessica Jones follows the title character, a former superhero (played brilliantly by Krysten Ritter) in her own detective agency. The first season was universally acclaimed by critics for its approach to sexuality and its portrayal of darker issues such as rape, assault, and PTSD. Carrie Anne-Moss of The Matrix herself plays Jeri Hogarth, Jessica’s lesbian lawyer and ally. Last season of the series also features Marvel Studios’ first major trans character.
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
Orange is the New Black has become Netflix’s most-watched original series since its debut. The critically acclaimed drama follows the many characters in a women’s prison and is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir of the same name. The relationship between lead character Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) has been at the forefront of several stories, and the series features many queer supporting characters, most notably Laverne Cox’s portrayal of trans inmate Sophia Bursett. Her performance resulted in the actress being nominated for an Emmy, making her the first transgender person to be nominated for such an award.
RIVERDALE
Based on characters from iconic Archie Comics, Riverdale is known to provide lots of cute couples for audiences to obsess over, but none of them get us more excited than Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan). The two women, affectionately known as Choni, met at the end of the show’s second season, and Toni helped Cheryl come to terms with her bisexuality and later rescued her from a gay conversion ‘therapy’ camp. The teen drama received overwhelmingly positive reviews for its portrayal of a gay romance in its first season, and its portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters, with a major character appearing in season two.
Tiny Pretty Things
Although the first season of Tiny Pretty Things received mixed reviews upon release, it attained a devoted fanbase in the community for featuring two primary gay characters. Brennan Clost leads the cast as Shane McRae, an openly gay dancer who is secretly sleeping with his roommate Oren Lennox (Barton Cowperthwaite), a fellow dancer struggling with an eating disorder. The first season, consisting of ten episodes, premiered on the streaming service last year. It’s unknown whether the series will be picked up for a second run, but if for some reason it isn’t, we can see a change.org petition making the rounds on social media.
Someone Has to Die
Set in 1950s Mexico, Someone Has to Die tells the story of the conservative and traditional Falcón family whose lives are thrown into turmoil when Gabino (Alejandro Speitzer) – their only son – arrives home after a 10-year absence with Lazaro (Isaac Hernández), a male ballet dancer. Created by Manolo Caro (The House of Flowers), the Spanish-Mexican thriller received positive reviews for its commentary on homophobia during the Franco regime, as well as the cast’s performances.