From Gameboys to Veneno.
Queer TV is kind of like a bus. You wait decades for one good gay show, and then suddenly, a million come along at once and you can’t keep up. Or, at least, that’s how it feels sometimes, especially if you remember how sparse meaningful LGBTQ+ representation was a few decades ago compared to now.
Having too many queer shows to choose from can only be a good thing, although the FOMO is real when you realise just how many great stories you might be missing out on. That’s where we come in.
It’s time you call in sick and take the whole of Pride Month off work so you can kick back and enjoy twelve of the best LGBTQ+ shows you haven’t watched. Probably. But if you have, that’s ok. Replace any one of these picks that you’ve already seen with a quick Golden Girls binge and you’re good to go.
12. Gameboys (2020-2021)
No one wants to relive the pandemic, but here I am suggesting you do exactly that through a Filipino YouTube show called Gameboys, which became so popular that Netflix picked it up for international distribution.
The story revolves around two teenage gamers who fall in love online and try to make it work despite the distance and extra COVID-related obstacles. Gameboys quickly became one of the biggest BL (Boys Love) success stories of the past decade thanks to the sheer earnestness of the love that Cairo and Gavreel embody.
The chemistry that actors Elijah Canlas and Kokoy De Santos share is so pure and wholesome that you’ll find yourself grinning constantly the whole time you’re watching.
11. Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (2020-2021)
If you haven’t watched Please Like Me, a quirky Australian comedy-drama from 2013, go binge that first because it’s a masterpiece. All done? Ok, now it’s time to check out Josh Thomas’s follow-up, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.
This equally bold series stars Josh at his awkwardly charming best in the role of Nicholas, a young man who suddenly ends up becoming the guardian to his two teenage half-sisters in LA after discovering their father is terminally ill. You will laugh and cry constantly throughout this show, and we can’t think of a better endorsement than that.
10. Dickinson (2019-2021)
Like Emily Dickinson herself, Hailee Steinfeld’s gorgeously queer period drama wasn’t appreciated as much as it should have been in its lifetime. But for those who did follow Dickinson’s relationship with Sue, her best friend turned sister-in-law turned lover, the intensity of their love left a poetic mark just as moving as Emily’s own writing.
Dickinson is an anachronistic delight in many ways, except in how queerness is made so integral to this time period. Because queer love isn’t a recent invention, despite what some historians might have you think. This is a love that transcends time, a forever composed of nows, if we’re to paraphrase the real Emily Dickinson herself.
9. Work In Progress (2019-2021)
Comedian Abby McEnany plays a fictionalised version of herself, a self-identified “fat, queer d**e”, in her radically queer series Work In Progress. It’s rare to see queer people in their forties do much of anything on screen, and it’s even rarer to see how struggling with finding your place in the world as a queer person can intersect with mental health issues like obsessive compulsive disorder.
Throw in a beautifully tender yet sadly fraught relationship with a trans man (charmingly played by Theo Germaine) and you’ve got one of the most quietly groundbreaking shows ever made. Do yourself a favour and watch both seasons of this often hilarious yet often uncomfortable show all at once.
8. Cucumber (2015)
Did you know that on the day young men realise they’re gay, they receive a gay card in the post which includes a digital link to every episode of Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin? And did you know that in between these two masterpieces, telly mastermind Russell T Davies also created a lesser seen show named Cucumber, which intersected with Banana and Tofu as a special three series event on Channel 4.
The centrepiece, Cucumber, focuses on a middle-aged man named Henry Best who does his best to cope when things go wrong with his relationship. Packed full of Russell’s signature wit and specific observations on British gay life, this is one show that’s not hard to watch, despite what that erection-themed name might suggest.
7. Vida (2018-2020)
Two sisters, a queer over-achiever named Emma and the selfish, free-spirited Lyn, discover after their mother’s death that Vidalia had a secret life she hid from her two girls.
Together, they mourn and clash as they figure out how to handle her affairs in this incredibly well-received show made by queer Latinx people for queer Latinx people. But that’s not to say creator Tanya Saracho has made something inaccessible to everyone else. In fact, it’s the specificity of Vida that makes it so universal and so special, too.
6. A League of Their Own (2022)
An adaptation of Madonna’s 1992 baseball movie had no right being this good, just as Prime Video had no right to cancel A League of Their Own after just one season. But here we are, with one perfect home run that bettered the original in every way, tackling queerness and race with an authenticity that ’90s Hollywood could never dream of.
Come for incredible performances by Abbi Jacobson, D’Arcy Carden, and Chanté Adams and stay because they’re cool and hot and more than worthy of your time.
5. Eastsiders (2012–2019)
From humble beginnings on YouTube to a Kickstarter campaign that eventually led to Netflix, Kit Williamson’s Eastsiders follows an on-and-off-again couple named Thom and Cal who struggle with infidelity and adult life in general. Supported by Drag Race alum Willam and Crazy Rich Asians star Constance Wu, the central cast are fundamentally flawed and loveable precisely because they’re imperfect.
Few shows feel as intrinsically queer as Eastsiders does, with its unabashed look at the realities of gay dating, and that was especially true back when it first began in the gay wasteland that TV still was back in 2012. Check out all four seasons before Williamson hits the big time with his upcoming adaptation of Jason Henderson’s YA novelty trilogy Alex Van Helsing.
4. Somebody Somewhere (2022-present)
Led by the exceptional Bridget Everett, who just so happened to also co-create the show, Somebody Somewhere follows Sam, who returns to her hometown so she can take care of her dying sister. Joined by fellow outsiders like her gay best friend, Sam navigates the minutiae of life in all its pain and glory with a bittersweet story that’s just remarkable from the get-go.
This is why HBO as a network is so important, not because of their extravagant big budget fare, but because of shows like this that speak to the soul yet are somehow overlooked still every year when the Emmy noms are announced. Maybe Somebody Somewhere will someday get the recognition it deserves beyond lists like this.
3. The Other Two (2019-2023)
Gays just know how to do stuff, and that stuff isn’t just trauma, no matter what older shows and films might have you believe. In fact, queer people are somewhat known for being into culture, apparently, and no show has had its finger on the pulse more than The Other Two.
This criminally under-watched comedy follows two siblings who struggle when their teen brother becomes a hugely successful pop star overnight. What Cary and Brooke subsequently do to try and outshine Chase is whipsmart funny at all times, birthing more memeable moments for gays and gays specifically than perhaps any other show on the planet outside of The White Lotus.
It’s ridiculous throughout — one episode is genuinely called Brooke, and We Are Not Joking, Goes to Space – but the emotional beats that underpin all the insanity are just as affecting as the show is funny.
2. Special (2019–2021)
Ryan O’Connell’s aptly named series stars Ryan himself as a gay man living with mild cerebral palsy. Desperate to no longer be seen as a victim, Ryan ventures into the world of hookups and dating with the support of his best friend, played by the deeply, deeply underrated Punam Patel.
Sex work, body image, and the fetishisation of cerebral palsy are just some of the themes Special explores in ways that have genuinely never been seen on screen before. The second (and final) season increased the length of each episode, allowing Ryan even more space to explore this intersection between disability, sex, and queerness with laughs and gut-wrenching tears alike. For once, it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that there really is nothing else like Special on TV – and if we’re being real, that’s a problem.
1. Veneno (2020)
Widely seen in Spain yet barely mentioned elsewhere, Veneno is the biographical story of Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, a pioneering trans celebrity who inspired huge change from her early start in the ’90s right up until her death in 2016. The series switches between Veneno’s life and Valeria Vegas, the journalist who wrote the biography this show is based on.
Jedet, Daniela Santiago, and Isabel Torres play different versions of La Veneno with great sensitivity and authenticity alike while themes of resilience and defiance ensure that this vibrant, triumphant story of trans strength will forever be one of the key transgender works of the century. And that’s exactly the kind of storytelling we need to uplift – now more than ever.