Queer content is, fortunately, becoming more accessible in film and television. Numerous movies are readily available on streamers like Netflix, from Oscar-nominated originals to critically acclaimed classics, thoughtful romantic dramas, and sweet romantic comedies. And with new movies coming to Netflix all the time, there are even some quality thrillers and steamy films in the mix, too. Indeed, Netflix’s collection of LGBTQ+ is one of the best you’ll find on any streaming platform. But because it’s so broad, it can be hard to find something worth your time. So, to help you out, we’ve pulled together the best LGBTQ-themed movies on Netflix right now.
When you’re done going through this list, check out the best LGBTQ films to stream right now on multiple services, the best new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and HBO, and the best Netflix original series you can stream right now.
Recently added to Netflix
-
Call Me by Your Name2017 - Disobedience2017
134m
Genre Drama, Romance
Stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams
Directed by Ang Lee
Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning epic romantic Western Brokeback Mountain is among the best films of the new millennium. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal star as Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two cowboys who carry on a passionate but sporadic romantic affair over the course of 20 years. Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, and Linda Cardellini co-star in this groundbreaking drama that revolutionized queer depictions in mainstream cinema.
119m
Genre Comedy, Crime, Thriller, Drama
Stars Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González
Directed by J Blakeson
Rosamund Pike delivers a wickedly-delicious, Golden Globe-winning performance leading an ensemble including Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Chris Messina, and Diane Wiest in J Blakeson’s scathing satirical comedy I Care a Lot. The film centers on Marla Grayson, a court-appointed guardian who exploits her elderly charges while putting them in involuntary assisted living facilities. However, things get complicated when she tries to scam the mother of a dangerous gangster, putting her in a potentially deathly situation.
99m
Genre Romance, Comedy, Drama
Stars Michael Urie, Philemon Chambers, Luke Macfarlane
Directed by Michael Mayer
Who doesn’t love a great Christmas movie, even if it’s not yet Christmas? Single All the Way stars Michael Urie as Peter, a recently-separated man who wants to avoid his family’s scrutiny over being single during the holidays. Persuading his best friend, Nick, to pose as his boyfriend for the trip, the two travel to Peter’s family’s home. However, their ruse soon reveals the lingering feelings between them. Philemon Chambers, Like Macfarlane, Kathy Najimy, and Jennifer Coolidge also star.
104m
Genre Comedy, Drama, Romance
Stars Chris Stafford, Tina Holmes, Andersen Gabrych
Directed by David Moreton
Edge of Seventeen is a classic coming-of-age story with an LGBTQ+ twist. The film, directed and co-written by David Moreton, follows Eric Hunter, a teenager struggling with his sexuality and identity during the last day of school in the summer of 1984. Influenced by androgynous artists like Boy George and Annie Lennox, and at a crossroads in his life, Eric experiences a day that will have life-changing consequences for the rest of his life.
129m
Genre Drama
Stars Halle Berry, Adan Canto, Sheila Atim
Directed by Halle Berry
Halle Berry delivers her finest performance in years with her directorial debut, Bruised. The Oscar-winning actress stars as Jackie, an aging and disgraced former MMA fighter forced to face the consequences of her life’s choices when the son she hasn’t seen for years shows up at her doorstep. With one last shot to get her life back on track, Jackie starts a new chapter in her personal and boxing journeys, but the demons of her past refuse to let go.
132m
Genre Romance, Drama
Stars Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg
Directed by Luca Guadagnino
Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer deliver extraordinary performances in this romantic drama set in 1983 Italy. 17-year-old Elio Perlman (Chalamet) is wise beyond his years and enjoys a close relationship with his Greco-Roman professor father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and translator mother Annella (Amira Casar). Elio is also savoring the fruits of high culture and the natural delights of an Italian summer. But despite his sophistication, Elio is still a child in many ways, which he soon realizes when he meets his father’s new summer intern, Oliver (Hammer). Through one magical summer, the two men discover an awakening desire and form a life-changing relationship.
114m
Genre Drama, Romance
Stars Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola
Directed by Sebastián Lelio
As a child, Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weisz) developed an attraction to a childhood friend, another girl. Shocked by her affection for another girl, Ronit’s Orthodox Jewish community casts her out. Decades later, when an adult Ronit learns of her father’s death, she returns home only to reconnect with Esti Kuperman (Rachel McAdams). Their romantic feelings are quickly rekindled, testing the boundaries of the two women’s faith and sexuality.
100m
Genre Drama, War, Romance
Stars Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lucas Bond
Directed by Jessica Swale
As World War II rages across the English Channel, Alice (Gemma Arterton) leads a solitary, quiet life on the seaside cliffs of Southern England. The writer is peacefully, happily alone. But when she finds a young London evacuee on her doorstep with orders to adopt him, she is not pleased. The two soon find, however, that they have a more similar past than expected.
97m
Genre Drama, Comedy
Stars Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon, Bradley Whitford
Directed by Chris Kelly
Fresh off breaking up with his boyfriend, David (Jesse Plemons) moves from New York City home to Sacramento to help his sick mother. Forced to move in with his conservative father and much younger sisters for the first time in a decade, David feels like a stranger in his own home. Desperate to extract meaning from the experience as his mother’s health declines, David insists to everyone (including himself) that everything is okay.
110m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Danielle Macdonald, Jennifer Aniston, Odeya Rush
Directed by Anne Fletcher
Willowdean (Danielle Macdonald) is the plus-sized, teenage daughter of her small Texas town’s most legendary beauty queen (Jennifer Aniston). Today, her mom runs that local pageant and, just to prove how shallow-minded the pageant is, Willowdean signs up to compete. What starts as a mother-daughter spat, however, escalates into a full-on protest as other outcasts follow Willowdean’s steps to enter the pageant — all spurred on by a group of drag queens who refuse to let the girls settle for less.
132m
Genre Comedy, Music, Romance
Stars Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman
Directed by Ryan Murphy
It’s not as good as it should be given the outrageously talented cast, and James Corden got perhaps one of the most undeserved Golden Globe nominations ever for it, but The Prom is nonetheless fun in a Ryan Murphy all-out glitz and glam sort of way. When a group of Broadway has-beens sees a news story about a small Indiana town that won’t let a teen go to the prom with her girlfriend, they flock to the town in an attempt to revitalize their careers through some performative activism. But soon, they find they might have more depth than they even realized themselves.
101m
Genre Documentary
Stars Julie Rodgers, Randy Thomas, Yvette Cantu Schneider
Directed by Kristine Stolakis
A grim examination of the Evangelical church’s war on homosexuality, Pray Away follows five Evangelical men in the 1970s who struggled with being gay in the church. After forming a bible study to help one another, they received more than 25,000 letters from people asking for help, leading to the formation of Exodus International, the world’s largest conversion therapy organization. The leaders, however, could never “pray the gay away.” Today, many of the founders of the conversion therapy movement are now out and openly disavow the movement. Pray Away is the story of their evolution, as well as a look at the profound damage inflicted by the notorious practice.
81m
Genre Crime, Drama, Romance
Stars Vanessa Allen, Hannah Brooke, Chris Dettone
Directed by Aly Hardt
Based on the manga series of the same name, Ride or Die stars Kiko Mizuhara as Rei Nagasawa, a Japanese woman who discovers her friend Nanae (Honami Sato) is suffering from domestic abuse at the hands of her husband. To prove her love to Nanae, Rei murders her spouse, sending the two women on the run from the law. A gutsy road film featuring unmistakable shades of Thelma and Louise, Ride or Die is a pulse-pounding blend of drama and romance led by the powerful dynamic between Mizuhara and Nagasawa.
93m
Genre Romance, Comedy
Stars Joan Cusack, Isabela Merced, Odeya Rush
Directed by Luke Snellin
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Maureen Johnson, Let It Snow is the story of a small town called Waffle Town. Julie Reyes (Isabela Merced), a high school senior who has been accepted to Columbia University, is nervous to leave her ailing mother alone in W.T. When a snowstorm hits the community on Christmas Eve, Julie and her circle of acquaintances will discover the true meaning of the holiday when relationships crack open, romances are revealed, and new futures are created. A pleasant watch for the holiday season and any other time of year, Let It Snow will win you over in more ways than one.
94m
Genre Drama, Romance, Comedy
Stars Alia Shawkat, Laia Costa, Mae Whitman
Directed by Miguel Arteta
Naima (Alia Shawkat) and Sergio (Laia Costa) are growing tired of loving connections that simply don’t make the grade. An aspiring film actress, Naima heads out to a gay bar with a friend where she first meets Sergio. After conversation and flirtation, the two decide to embark on a 24-hour bout of intimacy, an experiment Sergio believes will “fast forward” through the many beats of a romantic relationship. Led by raw performances from both Shawkat and Costa, Duck Butter is not your typical rom-com by any means, and what it may lack in complete originality the film makes up for with its tender tone and earnest acting.
110m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Molly Nutley, Christopher Wollter, Fredrik Quinones
Directed by Helena Bergström
It’s a modern-day Cinderella story with an LGBTQ twist. Dylan is a 23-year-old young woman from a small island who starts to work as a cleaner in a struggling drag club. But she harbors a secret: She wishes she could become a dancer. When the club’s star dancer learns of Dylan’s dreams and discovers she actually has talent, the question becomes: Is it OK if she disguises herself as a man to dance in drag when she’s biologically a woman? Hailing from Sweden, the light-hearted film is dubbed a comedy, making it a fun watch with a group of friends.
104m
Genre Comedy, Romance
Stars Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire
Directed by Alice Wu
Dubbed a loose retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac adjusted to fit the times, Ellie is a shy and lonely teenager who is often commissioned by fellow students to do their homework. She’s more than happy to do so and charges a fee to help her family make ends meet. But she gets a strange request when the school jock, Paul, asks her to ghostwrite love letters on his behalf to his crush, Aster. It works well at the start until Ellie begins to fall for Aster herself, which complicates the situation for everyone involved. It’s a sweet story of what truly makes people fall for one another and the importance of being true and honest to oneself.
94m
Genre Drama, Music
Stars Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman
Directed by George C. Wolfe
This multi-Oscar-nominated film based on the August Wilson play of the same name stars Viola Davis as the title character, a blues singer from the 1920s. Davis mesmerizingly transforms into the influential woman who was not only a talented singer but also an advocate for Black and LGBTQ+ rights, even if she wasn’t as overtly outspoken as others. Rainey made no apologies for her lifestyle, openly dating women at a time when the mere thought was taboo, particularly for a woman of color. While the movie is worth watching for the incredible performances alone, including the late Chadwick Boseman as the ambitious trumpeter Levee Green, it’s an important film that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.
108m
Genre Documentary
Stars Laverne Cox, Bianca Leigh, Jen Richards
Directed by Sam Feder
This documentary takes a deep dive into the depiction of transgender people in Hollywood and how the stories told through film and television impact transgender people in real life, as well as how they shape and influence the overall cultural landscape. Disclosure features interviews with well-known transgender celebrities, such as Laverne Cox, Candis Cayne, Brian Michael Smith, Chaz Bono, and Lilly Wachowski. It has an almost perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating, with critics praising the documentary for shining a spotlight on the fact that we still have a long way to go for fair and honest representations of LGBTQ individuals on screen.
121m
Genre Drama
Stars Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer
Directed by Joe Mantello
As important as the message this film portrays is the fact that the cast is made up entirely of openly gay actors. They play a group of gay friends who get together to celebrate a birthday in an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. But things go awry when the host’s former college roommate, who happens to be straight, shows up uninvited. With an eclectic group of characters and personalities, the 1968-set, Ryan Murphy-produced drama explores the age-old issue of dealing with societal rejection and coming to terms with one’s truth and self-worth. The film is based on a Mart Crowley off-Broadway play from 1968, which was made into a movie in 1970 starring the same cast. The full cast of this new film played the same roles in a Broadway revival of the play in 2018 as well.
118m
Genre Romance, History, Drama
Stars Edward Chen, Jing-Hua Tseng, Leon Dai
Directed by Kuang-Hui Liu
Set in 1988, two young men who have survived martial law in Taiwan discover that they are in love. But they don’t act on it for fear of pressure from their respective families and outright homophobia. The romance film, which was originally titled The Name Engraved in Your Heart, demonstrates the all-too-familiar journey of two men destined to be together but having to deny their truths in light of social stigmas. The movie was actually inspired by real events. The fact that Taiwan was the first Asian country to legalize gay marriage makes this an important film for the LGBTQ community.
92m
Genre Documentary, History
Stars Rachel Mason, Josh Mason, Larry Flynt
Directed by Rachel Mason
This documentary by artist Rachel Mason is a riveting look at the popular and long-running bookstore and gay pornography shop, Circus of Books, in West Hollywood and in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The store was first established in the ’60s as Book Circus. Rachel’s parents, Karen and Barry Mason, who were working with Hustler publisher Larry Flynt at the time, took over the store in the early ’80s and renamed it Circus of Books. The straight, religious couple with kids, however, kept the nature of their work a secret from family and friends. The business went through many challenges, from being caught in an FBI sting during President Ronald Reagan’s crackdown on pornography, to gaining a reputation for attracting hustlers in the wee hours of the morning. The store served as a refuge for LGBTQ community members during the height of the AIDS crisis, and the film highlights Karen and Barry’s struggles with being so heavily immersed in LGBTQ culture at a time when it was not socially accepted. Rachel’s doc tells the fascinating story of the store’s historical significance for the LGBTQ community, her parents’ role as unintentional activists, and how the internet destroyed the business.
105m
Genre Drama
Stars Victor Polster, Arieh Worthalter, Oliver Bodart
Directed by Lukas Dhont
The story was inspired by Nora Monsecour, a trans female dancer who director Lukas Dhont met when he was a teenager. In the film, Lara (Victor Polster) is a 15-year-old trans girl, just like Monsecour, who aspires to be a professional ballerina. While she has support from some important people in her life as she deals with her gender dysphoria, attending a new school and going through puberty presents its own set of challenges. While the film received some criticism for portrayals of gender dysphoria and self-harm, Monsecour, who provided insight for the film, spoke out in support of it.
111m
Genre Drama
Stars Elliot Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard
Directed by Siân Heder
Get ready to laugh with this film about Tallulah (Elliot Page), a young woman who ends up caring for a toddler whose mother, Carolyn (Tammy Blanchard), has no interest in raising. With nowhere else to go, Tallulah shacks up with her ex’s mother, Margo (the fantastic Allison Janney), and pretends the child is hers, and thus Margo’s granddaughter. The two women form an unlikely bond, revealing painful secrets as Tallulah tries to hide from both Carolyn and the police.
83m
Genre Documentary
Stars Terry Donahue, Pat Henschel, Diana Bolan
Directed by Chris Bolan
The newest film on this list, this documentary is already receiving tremendous praise after being released in April 2020. Produced by Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy, A Secret Love tells the story of a pair of All-American Girls Professional Baseball League players who kept their romantic partnership a secret for almost seven decades. Based on the true story of director Chris Bolan’s two aunts, the tremendous sacrifice and weight the two women held on their shoulders for three-quarters of a century will both warm your heart for their intense dedication to one another and make you angry that they felt that couldn’t be freely and openly in love.
99m
Genre Drama, Comedy
Stars Hsieh Ying Shiuan, Roy Chiu, Joseph Huang
Directed by Mag Hsu, Chih-yen Hsu
This black comedy-drama from Taiwan is about Song, a teenager who discovers that his recently deceased father was living a secret life when, after his passing, a strange man named Jay shows up. Not only is Jay listed as the life insurance beneficiary on Song’s father’s will, but he was also apparently his lover. Now Song finds himself caught between his mother Liu, who must deal with the reality that her husband was unfaithful and a closeted homosexual, and the free-spirited Jay, who has turned their lives upside down. The film was selected for the International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards but was not nominated.
99m
Genre Comedy, Drama
Stars Daniel Doheny, Madeline Weinstein, Antonio Marziale
Directed by Craig Johnson
This rom-com follows one seemingly straight teenager’s journey in exploring his sexuality. While still a virgin and with a girlfriend, Alex meets another openly gay teen who has a crush on him and begins to question if he might be bisexual. The film has been praised for taking a refreshing and progressive look at the topic of teen sexuality.
Editors' Recommendations
- Bayern Munich vs Union Berlin live stream: Watch Bundesliga now
- The best documentaries on Netflix right now
- Leicester City vs Arsenal live stream: Watch the game NOW
- Where to watch M3GAN (including the gorier unrated version)
- The best new shows to stream on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and more
