LGBT Movies and Series That Actually Stick With You
If you’ve ever sat down to look for a good LGBT movie or show and ended up scrolling for half an hour, this list is for you. It’s a small, hand-picked guide to queer films and series that feel real, not tokenistic – with quick descriptions and rough ratings so you can decide what’s worth your time. The guide was put together with help from an LGBT AI companion from https://joi.com/characters/lgbt, but the opinions are very human: a bit emotional, a bit picky, and very honest.
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Movies
Moonlight (2016)
Moonlight is one of those films that doesn’t shout, it just quietly gets under your skin. It follows Chiron, a Black gay boy growing up in a rough part of Miami, in three chapters of his life: as a kid, a teenager, and an adult. There’s bullying, drugs, homophobia, yes – but at its core it’s about one simple question: “Am I allowed to be soft in a world that expects me to be hard?”
The camera stays close, the dialogue is sparse, and a lot is said in small gestures: a hand on a shoulder, a look across a room, a pause before answering. It’s not a “message movie,” it’s just painfully human. Ratings: Critics absolutely adored it – high 90s on most review sites, usually called a modern classic.
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Call Me by Your Name (2017)
This is the “I want to be sad and nostalgic for a summer I never had” movie. Set in northern Italy in the 1980s, it follows Elio, a 17-year-old living with his academic parents, and Oliver, the American grad student who comes to stay with them. At first they circle each other like two cats pretending they don’t care. Slowly, the flirting becomes more obvious, then more serious, then… well, you know where this goes.
The film is all about atmosphere: peaches, bike rides, lazy afternoons, piano music, that slow realization that you’re completely obsessed with someone. By the end, it’s less about who ends up with whom and more about how first love brands itself into your memory.
Ratings: Critics’ scores hover in the mid-90s, and it’s constantly listed as one of the best queer romances of the decade.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
If you like slow burn and tension you can almost taste, this French film is perfection. Marianne, a painter, is hired to secretly paint the portrait of Héloïse, a young woman promised to a man she doesn’t love. The two women are stuck together on a lonely island, walking cliffs, sitting by fires, pretending nothing is happening while absolutely everything is happening.
There’s almost no background music, which makes every bit of laughter, every sharp inhale, every tiny accidental touch feel huge. It’s a love story, but it’s also about memory: what it means to carry someone with you when life doesn’t let you stay together. Ratings: Critics put it in the high 90s, and it’s often called one of the best lesbian films ever made.
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Brokeback Mountain (2005)
You can laugh at the “gay cowboy movie” jokes, but if you actually watch Brokeback Mountain, it hits hard. Ennis and Jack meet while working as ranch hands and start a relationship they themselves don’t fully understand. When the summer ends, they go back to wives, families, and the version of masculinity their world demands – but they never really let each other go.
What makes the film brutal is how ordinary the tragedy feels. There’s no villain twirling a mustache; it’s just fear, shame, and a culture that doesn’t give men like them any safe options. It’s about the love you never let yourself fully live. Ratings: Critics scores are in the high 80s, but its cultural impact pushes it into “essential viewing” territory.
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Series
Heartstopper (2022– )
If you’re tired of queer stories that end in misery, Heartstopper is like a warm blanket. The show follows Charlie, a sweet, anxious boy who’s already out at school, and Nick, the rugby player who ends up sitting next to him. Their friendship slowly, gently, turns into a romance.
The charm of the series is that it doesn’t pretend the world is perfect – there’s bullying, mental health struggles, complicated families – but it also insists that queer kids deserve softness, safety, and happy endings. It feels like the show many queer adults wish they’d had at 15. Ratings: Critics are almost unanimously positive, with scores close to perfect and fan ratings in the high 8s out of 10.
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Pose (2018–2021)
Pose is big in every sense: big emotions, big outfits, big history. Set in New York’s ballroom scene in the late 80s and early 90s, it centers on Black and Latinx queer and trans characters who form “houses” – chosen families run by fierce, protective “mothers.” The show moves between glittery ballroom competitions and the harsh realities of HIV, poverty, racism, and transphobia.
What makes it special is that the trans women of color aren’t side characters or tragic props; they are the leads, with full lives, desires, flaws, and victories. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to yell at the screen, and you’ll probably end up googling the real ballroom history afterward. Ratings: Critics scores sit in the high 90s for several seasons, and it’s widely praised for groundbreaking representation.
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It’s a Sin (2021)
This one is short, but it stays with you for a long time. It’s a Sin follows a group of mostly gay men who move to London in the early 80s, excited for freedom, fun, and big city life. At first it’s all parties, hookups, and dreams of careers. Then the mysterious “gay plague” starts appearing in the background, and slowly, painfully, it moves to the center.
The show doesn’t just focus on the disease; it looks at denial, shame, family reactions, gossip, and the way stigma kills people long before the virus does. It’s heartbreaking, but it also celebrates friendship, joy, and the small rebellions of living loudly in a world that wants you to disappear.
Ratings: Critics put it in the mid-to-high 90s, and many reviewers call it one of the most powerful series about the AIDS crisis ever made.
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This isn’t a complete map of LGBT cinema and TV, but it’s a solid place to start if you want queer stories with real emotional weight. Some of these titles will make you cry, some will make you feel weirdly hopeful, and a few might make you text someone “you have to watch this.” Which, honestly, is the best review any film or series can get.