【2022 Archives】

If you're thinking about watching a movie022 Archivestelevision series Netflix has tagged LGBTQ, proceed cautiously. Historically, they're mostly trash.

Exceptions do exist. You just need know where to find them and what you can reasonably expect from a movie called Unfreedomor Margarita with a Straw.

Let us help.

Below are a list of LGBTQ-themed streamable movies that won't destroy you this Pride season. Some are good simply because they're accurate, others just have decent boning scenes. Either way, I promise they won't be so bad they'll turn you straight.

Enjoy.

1. Paris is Burning (1990, dir. Jennie Livingston)

If you're queer (or straight) and don't love this movie, I can't help you. Paris is Burningis the epic documentary that introduced '80s New York's queer ballroom scene to the mainstream. Populated largely by queer and trans performers of color, the film stunned audiences in 1991, scoring the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, among dozens of other smart people awards. It has since been added to the United States Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" i.e. "good."

2. Tangerine (2015, dir. Sean Baker)

Directed by Sean Baker of The Florida Project (2018's most offensive Oscar snub), Tangerineexplores the average day in the lives of two trans sex workers in Los Angeles. It's as painful as it is loving and -- I'm not just saying this to be nice -- hilarious. You laugh. Tangerinewas filmed on an iPhone, but it didn't make me throw up, and the narrative is so earnestly expressed the entire picture feels like documentary.

3. Pariah (2011, dir. Dee Rees)

This movie is so wonderful, I'm surprised to see it on Netflix, my go-to spot for the worst on TV. Adepero Oduye stars as Alike, a teenager growing up gay in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The film has everything you could want out of a coming-of-age narrative: an attractive teacher, a rejecting crush, emo teen poetry. It won the Excellence in Cinematography award at Sundance but no actual Oscars, because Oscar voters are lame.

4. How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) (dir. 2015, Josh Kim)

How to Win at Checkerspulls from Thai-American author Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s famous 2004 collection Sightseeing. Set in Bangkok, it tells the story of Oat (Ingkarat Damrongsakkul) an orphan living with his aunt on the outskirts of the capital and his relationship with his older gay brother, who's at risk of being conscripted into the military. Like so many other films in this genre, it's also a coming-of-age story, full of all the tenderness you could ask for.

5. Blue is the Warmest Color (2013, dir. Abdellatif Kechiche)

Outside of the controversial scissoring scenes, Blue is the Warmest Coloris the most true-to-life lesbian coming-of-age drama I've seen, uh, ever. It's so realistic I had to walk out of the theater three times when I watched it just so I didn't get hysterical and slobber to my exes on the phone. Be forewarned: it's French and super long, plucking at every feeling you've ever had until you're fully vacuumed of emotion.

6. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017, dir. David France)

If all you ever watched was Roland Emmerich's Stonewall, you'd think that the riots were started by a bunch of middle class white gay men living in the Village. Wrong! Transgender activist and woman of color Marsha P. Johnson was a principal in the riots and subsequent liberation movements. She died in 1992, and France's film explores her brief life as well as her tragic unsolved death. Required wrenching viewing.

7. Queer Eye for the Straight Guy: Season 2 (premieres June 15th)

June 15 for Season 2 y’all @QueerEye #queereye pic.twitter.com/fhT8YIyEwC

— Jonathan Van Ness (@jvn) May 24, 2018

A new season of Queer Eye for the Straight Guywill be available for binge-watching right at the height of Pride season. Apparently, one of the episodes includes Pete Davidson, who we all love because (1) he posted a photo of himself in a Gryffindor t-shirt next to his new celebrity boo and (2) he agreed to do this corny-ass show.

Bonus: This series is a great excuse to sit in your apartment watching TV and still technically be celebrating Pride.

8. Princess Cyd

Most good LGBTQ movies are coming-of-age movies, because that's when most people are first asked to reckon with their sexualities (and we're at our most emo). The competition in this subgenre is stiff, which is why Princess Cydcomes across so beautifully: it had to werk to be this tender.

The film stars Jessie Pinnick, who is forced to live with her aunt Miranda (Rebecca Spence) for a week in the summer for a relief for some drama with her father. Vulture called it an "eloquent, open-hearted coming-of-age story" so that should be enough to make you cry.

9. Carol (2015, dir. Todd Haynes)

Who better to star in the 1950's Douglas Strickland-inspired melodrama than Cate Blanchett? (I know, I know, someone who openly identifies as queer -- whatever). Carolis a textbook lesbian romance, featuring Rooney Mara as her working-class lover. I'm not sure what's more erotic than a luxury New York department store lesbian romance, but if there's anyone who can direct it, it's Todd Haynes.

10. God's Own Country (2017, dir. Francis Lee)

A 2017 British drama about a heavy-drinking, promiscuous gay Yorkshire farmer who meets a Romanian migrant and falls in lub. Nothing compliments a Wuthering Heightsbackdrop more than a man who struggles to emote. And is there anything better than a dysphoric countryside queer romance? Not that I'm aware of.

11. Milk (2008, dir. Dustin Lance Black)

I apologize for putting anything on this list that features Sean Penn, but when a movie is this important, you have to. Widely considered to be one of the best biopics of the past twenty years (admittedly, not a category rife with competition), Milktells the story of Harvey Milk, the City of San Francisco's first openly gay mayor and the first openly gay official in the country. You're going to weep, but the movie earned those tears.

12. The Fosters (2013-present, dir. Peter Paige)

The Fostersaddress every possible "Intro to Gender Studies" issue I could imagine in 2018, and you know what? We need it. It's a television family drama featuring trans teens, queer relationships, foster care families, and an interracial lesbian couple, one of whom is a cop (!) the other of whom is a teacher. The show ended this year and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my life, except watch it over and over again.