These Are the 25 Best LGBTQ Movies You Can Stream on Netflix Right Now
Let’s be honest: LGBTQ+ representation in movies hasn’t always been exactly up to par. For so long, good queer cinema was virtually non-existent or played into tired, tokenizing tropes. Even with that in mind, most mainstream cinema has centered on heteronormative storylines for decades.
However, where such criticisms once arose from a near-barren canon, LGBTQ+ cinema has become widespread enough to bear some award-winning, prestige films. Sure, the scarcity still has you scavenging through some painful storylines from time to time, but with all that digging eventually comes gold. Luckily for you, when it comes to Netflix, we’ve done most of the digging for you.
The beauty of LGBTQ+ representation in film is that, just like the members of its community, there is no “one-size-fits-all” story. This means it’s not just about LGBTQ+ trauma anymore: there are comedies, compelling dramas, adventures, and a few documentaries scattered in, too. Here are the best LGBTQ+ films on Netflix.
Call Me By Your Name
Call Me By Your Name follows an unexpected romance between Elio, a seventeen year old vacationing in Italy, and Oliver, a doctoral student working as an intern for Elio’s father. Over the course of the summer in 1983, the two fall in love. But their connection threatens to change both of their lives.
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Carol
Cate Blanchette stars as Carol, a woman who has a chance encounter with another woman at a 1950s department store. The two women hit it off and form a bond that evolves into love. But their budding romance comes with consequences.
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All In My Family
All in My Family follows a gay man and his partner who chose to have children via-surrogacy. The documentary tracks their path to fatherhood, and forming their own family despite their parents concerns.
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Stand Out, An LGBTQ+ Celebration
Stand Out is a comedy special hosted by Billy Eichner. The show includes over 15 sets, featuring comedians like Margaret Cho, Guy Branum, Sam Jay, and Mae Martin, who’ve all come together to celebrate (and poke fun at) the queer experience.
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Heart Shot
In this short film teenagers Nikki and Sam are head over heels in love. They begin planning a beautiful future together, full of hope and promise, but their plans are cut short when Nikki’s dangerous past comes back to haunt her.
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The Prom
The Prom is based on a Broadway musical. Ryan Murphy directed the film adaptation, which follows a group of washed-up musical theater stars who travel to a small town in Indiana. Their mission is to help a teenage girl take her girlfriend to prom, despite antiquated rules that ban same-sex couples at school dances.
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Hating Peter Tatchell
Hating Peter Tatchell is a documentary produced by Elton John. The project follows Peter Tatchell, a human rights advocate who fought tirelessly for queer rights in London. Over the course of his career, he staged over three thousand acts of civil disobedience and actively protested homophobia within the British government.
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Your Name Engraved Herein
Your Name Engraved Herin follows two men, Jia-han and Birdy, who fall in love after martial law is overturned in Taiwan. Though they can legally be together, they’re forced to confront homophobia, social stigmas, and pressure from their family as their relationship blossoms.
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Funny Boy
Based on Shyam Selvadurai’s novel of the same name, Funny Boy follows Arjie, a young Tamil boy living in Sri Lanka amidst rising tensions leading up to the Sri Lankan Civil War. When Arjie begins to fall for a classmate, his internal awaking intertwines with escalating external conflict.
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Alice Júnior
This Brazilian film is a refreshingly heartwarming coming-of-age film about a young transgender girl determined to land her first kiss while living in a small, conservative town. While on her pursuit, the lovable teenager and Youtuber Alice seeks more than just romance: she seeks acceptance and love.
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Disclosure
If you're looking for a proper introduction into the life of trans people, start with Disclosure. While no one experience can sum up any one group, Disclosure offers an intimate, and hopeful, look at the progress the trans community has made in its journey to be visible, accepted, and respected for the humans they are.
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The Boys in the Band
The trajectory of The Boys in the Band is one of the most beautiful parts to the story. The original, an Off-Broadway play from 1968, was revived and put on Broadway. It received critical acclaim. The same cast adapted it into a film, which now lives on Netflix and captures the essence of being a queer man in the '60s—a time when too many people's identities were erased from the public eyes.
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I Care a Lot
Progress means that LGBTQ people can play any kind of role, meaning villains too! Cut to I Care a Lot, where Rosamund Pike plays an instant gay icon for how deliciously terrible she is as she takes advantage of the elderly... that is, until she gets ahold of the wrong target.
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A Secret Love
Move over A League of Their Own: One All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player and her partner have love of their own not yet portrayed on-screen. Directed by the great-nephew of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, A Secret Love uncovers the two women’s romantic relationship, spanning across decades of secrecy.
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The Half of It
A perfect addition to any Baby Gay™’s coming-of-age canon, The Half Of It tells the tender story of Elie, a bookish high schooler who finds herself in an unlikely love triangle when a jock recruits her help in courting Aster, her own crush. Directed by Alice Wu and starring an Asian-American lead, the film displays some much-needed representation in young adult-oriented queer cinema.
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Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (How I Felt When I Saw That Girl)
This heartwarming Bollywood romantic comedy-drama tells the story of Sweety, a young Punjabi woman and closeted lesbian, on her quest for acceptance from her family. In love with another woman but pressured by her family to marry a man, Sweety finds her fate ironically saved by a potential suitor who assists her coming out by crafting a romantic play about the two women.
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Circus of Books
Circus of Books is a documentary about the West Hollywood bookstore of the same name that became the largest U.S. distributor of gay porn in the 1980s, including its history as a queer social club, and the husband and wife owners who stayed library-hush through it all. A textbook example of allyship, pun intended.
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Dear Ex (誰先愛上他的)
A teenage boy named Song finds himself in a twisted triangle when it is revealed that his late father’s primary insurance beneficiary is his secret male lover. As Song finds his allegiance caught between the battling widow and widower, his mother struggles with her grief and possession, determined not to lose another loved one’s favor to the elusive man.
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Other People
A gay man (Jesse Plemons) returns home to his conservative family to be with his cancer-stricken mom (Molly Shannon) in this sweetly comic semi-autobiographical film written and directed by Chris Kelly.
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The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
A lot of people have heard about Marsha P. Johnson... particularly as the rumored thrower of the first brick at Stonewall. But few people know the story of her death and how many believe it was unfairly ruled a suicide. A pillar of the LGBTQ community, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson is simply required viewing. And that's not a cliché in this case.
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The Perfection
The Perfection is one of those bizarro films that isn't particularly the best-made feature, but damn if it isn't a lot of fun to watch. Starring Allison Williams and Logan Browning, this queer horror film is all about psychological manipulation and a bit of campiness. Always worth it for that, if nothing else.
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Alex Strangelove
This starts out like any other teen movie: high schooler Alex Truelove (Daniel Doheny) wants to lose his virginity to his girlfriend. But this one has a twist. He ends up meeting Elliot (Antonio Marziale) and falling for him. Fear not though—this still has all the teen movie maxims: a little angst, cute moments, and exploration of sexuality.
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Elisa & Marcela
This movie, from Spanish director Isabel Coixet, is about the first same-sex marraige in Spain. The harrowing true story follows Elisa Sanchez Loriga, who took on the identity of Mario Sánchez so she could marry her partner, Marcela Gracia Ibeas. This marriage, which took place on June 8, 1901, was later discovered, but the Catholic church never ended up denouncing the union. The couple did, however, spend the rest of their life running from persecution.
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Tig
This documentary tells the story of lesbian comedian Tig Notaro, who turns a breast cancer diagnosis into a powerful comedy set. The smart comic's journey is as hysterical as it is touching, and man if it doesn't serve a lot of both.
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Duck Butter
Director Miguel Arteta co-wrote the screenplay for this comedy with Alia Shawkat, who stars as one half of a couple (alongside Laia Costa) that meets at a club and discovers intimacy through frequent sex.
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