Streaming Streaming TV, Movies, & More The 18 Best LGBT Movies on Netflix Right Now (April 2021) Enjoy pride anytime with the best queer, trans, bisexual, lesbian, and gay films by Robert Earl Wells III Writer Robert Wells is a professional writer and amateur game developer. His specialties include web development, cryptocurrency, and cybersecurity. our editorial process LinkedIn Robert Earl Wells III Updated on April 01, 2021 Tweet Share Email Streaming TV, Movies, & More Netflix Hulu Disney+ Prime Video Apple TV+ Favorite Events There are so many LGBT movies on Netflix right now that it's impossible to watch them all in a month. That's why we put together a rundown of the best gay and lesbian movies on the streaming service. On this list, you'll find award-winning films, historical dramas, documentaries, and coming of age stories. 01 of 18 Alice Júnior (2019): Funniest Comedy About Coming Out in the Digital Age Netflix IMDb Rating: 6.9 Genre: Comedy Starring: Anna Celestino Mota, Emmanuel Rosset, Surya Amitrano Director: Josephine Mackerras TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 87 minutes Aspiring social media star Alice (Anna Celestino Mota) announces to the world that she is ready to experience her first kiss, but her plans are thwarted when she gets transferred to a rural religious school. Not to be deterred, Alice decides to document the bullying she faces in her new hometown on YouTube for everyone to see. Alice Júnior is technically a coming-of-age story, but that doesn't mean it's for kids. The humor is dark and irreverent, and the plot takes some unsavory turns near the end. Nonetheless, the tone of the movie is upbeat, and you can't help by laugh at Mota's performance as a social media-obsessed teen. Watch Alice Júnior Now 02 of 18 Tig (2015): Best Documentary About the Healing Power of Laughter Netflix IMDb Rating: 7.4 Genre: Documentary, Drama Starring: Tig Notaro, Stephanie Allynne, Sarah Silverman Director: Kristina Goolsby, Ashley York TV Rating: TV-14 Running Time: 95 minutes In this behind-the-scenes documentary, standup comic Tig Notaro opens up about her struggle with breast cancer while also trying to have a child with her fiancée. All the while, Tig never stops touring, determined to keep herself and other people laughing during her darkest hours. Tig is a testament to the healing powers of laughter and love. Notaro became an overnight sensation in 2012 when her standup set about her cancer diagnosis went viral on the web, but if you go in knowing nothing about her, you'll still likely be inspired by this biography. Watch Tig Now 03 of 18 So My Grandma's a Lesbian (2019): Cutest LGBT Family Dramedy Netflix IMDb Rating: 4.2 Genre: Comedy Starring: Rosa Maria Sardà, Verónica Forqué, Ingrid García Jonsson Director: Ángeles Reiné TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 94 minutes Eva (Ingrid García Jonsson) is stunned when her aunt Sofia (Verónica Forqué) announces her plans to marry a woman named Celia (Rosa Maria Sardà). Although happy for their engagement, Eva is determined to hide the news from her fiance's conservative family. Despite its sensationalistic title, So My Grandma's A Lesbian is a low-key family comedy that's more heartwarming than it is dramatic. It's perfect for when you're in the mood for something light-hearted and uplifting. Watch So My Grandma's a Lesbian Now 04 of 18 Carol (2015): Best 1950s Period Drama About a Forbidden Lesbian Romance Netflix IMDb Rating: 7.2 Genre: Drama, Romance Starring: Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson Director: Todd Haynes Motion Picture Rating: R Running Time: 118 minutes In 1952 New York, recently divorced Carol (Cate Blanchett) finds her passions reinvigorated after meeting a young photographer named Therese (Rooney Mara). When Carol's ex-husband learns about the affair, he threatens to invoke a "morality clause" to obtain full custody of their daughter. Much like director Todd Haynes's 2002 film Far From Heaven, Carol is simultaneously an homage to 1950s American filmmaking and a critique of 1950s American social mores. The movie earned literally hundreds of award nominations, and it won the 2015 Golden Tomato from Rotten Tomatoes for best romance movie. Watch Carol Now 05 of 18 Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall (2017): Best Gay Musical Documentary Netflix IMDb Rating: 6.7 Genre: Documentary Starring: Todrick Hall, Wayne Brady, Brittanie Brant Director: Katherine Fairfax Wright TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 100 minutes Behind the Curtain documents social media darling Todrick Hall's debut on the big stage as he produces his first very own musical, Straight Outta Oz, a semi-autobiographical story about growing up gay and Black in the American south. Viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at all aspects of the production and Hall's life. Even if you're not familiar with Hall's work, Behind the Curtain is worth watching if you're into musicals and stage performances. Director Katherine Fairfax Wright does a terrific job of capturing authentically heart-warming moments. The interactions between Hall and his mother are especially sweet. Watch Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall Now 06 of 18 Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty (2020): Funniest LGBT Standup Special Netflix IMDb Rating: 6.8 Genre: Comedy Starring: Fortune Feimster Director: Krysia Plonka TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 61 minutes In this hour-long standup special, Fortune Feimster reflects on her childhood growing up in North Carolina, including her mother's failed attempts to turn her into a debutant and celebrating her 18th birthday at Hooters. Feimster has been making audiences laugh for years, so you may have seen her on Last Comic Standing, Hulu's The Mindy Project, Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q, or the Netflix series The Standups. If you want something light and uplifting, Sweet & Salty should hit the spot. Watch Fortune Feimster: Sweet & Salty Now 07 of 18 Memories of a Teenager (2019): Best Spanish Language Gay Teen Romance Netflix IMDb Rating: 6.5 Genre: Drama Starring: Renato Quattordio, Thomas Lepera, Malena Narvay Director: Lucas Santa Ana TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 97 minutes Memories of a Teenager (Yo, Adolescente in Argentina) is about a teen boy named Zabo (Renato Quattordio) who struggles to deal with the death of his best friend Tomás (Thomás Lepera). Zabo starts a blog to help sort out his feelings, which leads to him coming to terms with his sexuality. Memories of a Teenager was a hit with South American critics and audiences before it landed on Netflix. English-speakers can now enjoy it too, as long as you don't mind reading subtitles. The movie is aimed at older teens and adults, but themes of self-harm might be triggering to some viewers. Watch Memories of a Teenager Now 08 of 18 What Keeps You Alive (2018): Best Lesbian Horror-Thriller About Unrequited Love Netflix IMDb Rating: 5.7 Genre: Horror, Thriller Starring: Hannah Emily Anderson, Brittany Allen, Martha MacIsaac Director: Colin Minihan TV Rating: R Running Time: 98 minutes The LGBT genre isn't all romance stories and coming-of-age films. For instance, What Keeps You Alive is an excellent example of how to make a good horror movie with gay characters, which is the same way you do with straight characters: Build subtle tension and deliver well-earned shocks and scares. Originally written to be about a wife and her husband, What Keeps you Alive only counts as a "gay movie" in the sense that it features a same-sex couple as the main characters. Considering the limited portrayals of lesbians in mainstream cinema, that's completely fine and welcome. Watch What Keeps You Alive Now 09 of 18 Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate (2018): Best So-Bad-It's-Good Movie With Drag Queens Netflix IMDb Rating: 4.8 Genre: Comedy Starring: Rachel Dratch, Sally Jessy Raphael, Jason Bellini Director: Matt Kugelman TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 85 minutes If you're into B-movies by the likes of John Waters, you'll probably get a kick out of the Hurricane Bianca films. The second entry in the series, Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate, takes our titular heroine to Mother Russia, where she must join forces with her archnemesis Deborah Ward (Rachel Dratch) to save their comrades from a gulag. As you can probably guess, the humor is irreverent, and the plot gets downright silly at points. If you like From Russia With Hate, you can catch the original Hurricane Bianca movie on Hulu, and you'll be happy to know that a third Bianca film is rumored to be in the works. Watch Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate Now 10 of 18 The Prom (2020): Best LGBT-Themed Musical With an All-Star Cast Netflix IMDb Rating: 6.2 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical Starring: Meryl Streep, James Corden, Nicole Kidman Director: Ryan Murphy TV Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 130 minutes An adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, The Prom is about a duo of down-on-their-luck actors who decide to take on a cause in hopes of revamping their public image. They hear about a small Indiana town where the local school board has canceled prom after teenager Emma Nolan (Jo Ellen Pellman) expresses her intent to bring her girlfriend, which seems like the perfect test case. Meryl Streep shines as Dee Dee Allen, and the rest of the cast does a suitable job with the musical numbers. The whole thing is pretty campy, but it has an uplifting message, and the choreography is often mesmerizing. Watch The Prom Now 11 of 18 Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen (2020): Best Documentary About Transgender Representation in Movies Netflix IMDb Rating: 8.3 Genre: Documentary Starring: Laverne Cox, Bianca Leigh, Jen Richards Director: Sam Feder TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 108 minutes For most of film history, transgender people have been depicted in a negative light. Fortunately, that's beginning to change. In Disclosure, transgender actors and film historians share their experiences in the industry and talk about the portrayal of gender non-conforming characters in cinema. It's unfortunate that Disclosure didn't get a proper theatrical release, but its distribution on Netflix ensures that it attracts a wide audience. While there's still a lot of work to be done, seeing how much progress has been made over the past few decades is inspiring. Watch Disclosure Now 12 of 18 I Am Jonas (2018): Best Foreign Gay Romantic Mystery Movie Netflix IMDb Rating: 7.0 Genre: Drama, Mystery, Romance Starring: Félix Maritaud, Nicolas Bauwens, Tommy-Lee Baïk Director: Christophe Charrier TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 82 minutes I Am Jonas is a French coming-of-age film chronicling two periods in the life of Jonas, played by Félix Maritaud and Nicolas Bauwens. As a 15-year-old in the late 90s, Jonas witnessed the abduction of his lover. Eighteen years later, he's haunted by his past and still searching for answers about what happened that night. It may sound similar to Moonlight, but instead of unfolding linearly, the story switches back-and-forth between past and present. The narrative structure, along with strong performance, makes I Am Jonas highly rewatchable. Watch I Am Jonas Now 13 of 18 Dear Ex (2018): Best Taiwanese LGBT Family Drama Warner Bros. IMDb Rating: 7.3 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Starring: Roy Chiu, Ying-Xuan Hsieh, Spark Chen Director: Chih-Yen Hsu, Mag Hsu TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 80 minutes Dear Ex is a Taiwanese comedic drama that explores the complexities of families and parenthood. After the death of his father, young Song Cheng-xi (Joseph Huang) finds himself in the middle of a dispute between his mother (Ying-Xuan) and his dad's departed lover (Chiu). Dear Ex received international acclaim and numerous accolades, including the Best Lead Actor award for Roy Chiu and the Best Lead Actress award for Hsieh Ying-Xuan at the 2018 Faro Island Film Festival. American audiences can watch the movie dubbed in English on Netflix. Watch Dear Ex Now 14 of 18 Transformer (2017): Best Film About a Transgender Athlete Netflix IMDb Rating: 7.5 Genre: Biography, Documentary Starring: Janae Marie Kroczaleski Director: Michael Del Monte TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 78 minutes Transformer documents the gender transition of former U.S. Marine and competitive bodybuilder Janae Kroc. This movie challenges preconceived notions about gender and serves as an inspiration to all competitive athletes. Transformer won audience awards at the 2017 Austin Film Festival, the 2018 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and the 2018 Queer North Film Festival. Editor Graham Withers was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Editing in a Documentary. Watch Transformer Now 15 of 18 Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (2019): Best LGBT Bollywood Movie Fox Star Studio IMDb Rating: 5.5 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Starring: Sonam Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao Director: Shelly Chopra Dhar TV Rating: TV-14 Running Time: 120 minutes Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, which roughly translates to "How I felt when I saw that girl," is a Hindi-language comedy about a young lesbian named Sweety (Sonam Kapoor) who is pressured into dating men by her conservative Indian family. When a charming playwright proposes to her, Sweety must choose between being true to herself or keeping others happy at her own expense. LGBT characters are still rare in Bollywood films, so it's exciting to see more diversity in the genre. Fans of Bollywood may recognize stars like Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla. Watch Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga Now 16 of 18 Moonlight (2016): Best Academy Award Winning LGBT Movie A24 IMDb Rating: 7.4 Genre: Drama Starring: Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert Director: Barry Jenkins Motion Picture Rating: R Running Time: 111 minutes If you're in the mood for a gay-themed movie with a strong black lead, you can't go wrong with an Oscar winner. Moonlight is an emotional coming-of-age tale that covers three defining periods in the life of a gay African American man (played by Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, and Alex Hibbert). It's the first LGBT-themed film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and it's the first movie with an all-black cast to receive the honor. In fact, Moonlight is considered by some critics to be one of the best films of the century so far. Watch Moonlight Now 17 of 18 The Half Of It (2020): Best Lesbian Coming of Age Story IMDb Rating: 6.9 Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance Starring: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire Director: Alice Wu Motion Picture Rating: PG-13 Running Time: 104 minutes In The Half Of It, a high school jock (Daniel Diemer) recruits a shy straight-A student named Ellie (Leah Lewis) to help him win the heart of the girl he has a crush on. Little does he know, Ellie has her eyes on the same girl, causing their unlikely friendship to evolve in unexpected ways. Directed by Alive Woo, The Half Of It received the award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. The film is light-hearted and appropriate for teens, and it brings some much needed Asian-American representation to the LGBT genre. Watch The Half Of It Now 18 of 18 Wanda Sykes: Not Normal (2019): Best LGBT Stand-Up Comedy Netflix IMDb Rating: 7.1 Genre: Comedy Starring: Wanda Sykes Director: Linda Mendoza TV Rating: TV-MA Running Time: 60 minutes One of the funniest comics of a generation offers some much-needed laughs and social commentary with this topical stand-up set. Wanda Sykes isn't afraid to get political, but she doesn't forget to also be funny. This Netflix exclusive won several awards and nominations, including the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Comedy Special. It's only one hour long, so give it a shot. Watch Wanda Sykes: Not Normal Now Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit