Queer Streaming Guide 2025: Your complete list of new LGBTQ+ TV shows and where to find them
A full list of every new TV show that came out in 2025 on streaming with lesbian, gay, trans, bi, and other queer characters.
A full list of every new TV show that came out in 2025 on streaming with lesbian, gay, trans, bi, and other queer characters.
How queer the show is:
- 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈: It wouldn’t exist without queer characters
- 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈: There is an essential queer storyline spanning across multiple episodes, but it’s not the entire plot
- 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈: At least one of the main characters is openly queer but mostly doing non queer stuff, or it has a smaller queer side plot involving recurring characters
- 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈: There is at least one recurring queer character, but most of their plot lines have nothing to do with their queerness, or there are multiple queer guest characters with plot lines addressing their queerness
- 🏳️🌈: There is at least one guest queer character making an appearance during the show, but very little importance is given to their storyline or queerness
- 🚩: There are hints or sprinkles of queerness, but it mostly ends up being negative. This could be queerbaiting, where some characters are hinted to be queer without ever confirming it, or just negative treatment of a queer character or storyline, where there is little to no positive representation to get from it
Other details
- ❤️: The show features at least one queer romance storyline or queer couple (👭: WLW (woman love woman) couple | 👬: MLM (man love man) couple | ♾️: Polyamorous couple | 🧑🤝🧑: Non-binary couple)
- 🏳️⚧️: The show features at least one trans character
- 🫱🏽🫲🏿: The show features queer characters of color
Final Note
I keep the list updated with new shows once I can verify that they include queer representation. This often means I update with a 1-month or more delay to account for weekly releases. I haven’t seen all the shows listed, but I only include shows for which I can verify the queer representation from trustworthy sources. I also only include returning shows I’ve watched so don’t expect that section to be exhaustive. Mainly because it’s just too much for one person to follow everything 😅. If you see something that doesn’t sound right, let me know in the comments!
Newly added
- The Monster of Florence • Season 1 • 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
- The Road • Season 1 • 🏳️🌈
- Hal & Harper • Season 1 • 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
My top 10 queer shows of the year (so far)
✨ Identifies new shows that premiered in 2025. Others are returning shows.
- Hacks • Season 4: It wasn't the queerest season of Hacks, but it was such a great season. Episode 9, "A Slippery Slope" is my favorite episode of the show and might be my favorite episode of any show ever. Every single minute of that episode is amazing, and Deborah's speech at the end still makes me emotional just thinking about it
- Black Mirror • Season 7: I'm huge fan of dystopian scifi so I'm biased but hear me out. "Hotel Reverie" (Episode 3) has an amazing lesbian romance set in an old black and white movie. It's the second time Black Mirror gives us a positive lesbian love story (the other being San Junipero). I'm beginning to think a dystopia might bring some good for us lesbians.
- ✨ Boots • Season 1: It's a beautiful comedy series about a gay teen who struggles to find his place in the world and ends up finding a community in the Marine Corp. Unfortunately, it's a place where he cannot fully be himself due to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies still in place at the time. I was expecting to love it but I wasn't expecting to love it that much!
- The Last of Us • Season 2: I know the new season wasn't for everyone and I have a lot of complaints about how they handled Ellie's love storyline with Dina. The Last of Us: Part 2 game is my all time favorite game and I still really enjoyed the show so it ranks high and I'm really looking forward to season 3.
- Love on the Spectrum U.S. • Season 3: Love on the Spectrum is such a feel good show. It the type of show I want to watch when it's raining outside and I'm exhausted from a long day at work. This season also features a very sweet WLW couple who went on a few date and ended the season together.
- ✨ Clean Slate • Season 1: It's a real shame Amazon cancelled the show after only 1 season. It's a wholesome show with great trans representation and, above all, a great example of allyship from people living in a small southern town.
- ✨ Murderbot • Season 1: If you're in the mood for a quirky and goofy sci-fi show, Murderbot is for you. The entire crew is some type of queer, there is a brief polyamorous relationship and the entire society it's set in just doesn't seem to follow heteronormative norms.
- Poker Face • Season 2: It's become my ultimate comfort show. Every episode follows the exact same structure: a crime happens, Charlie is there somewhere in the background, she calls bullshit on someone, case closed. Natasha Lyonne unfortunately plays a straight woman but season 2 has 2 queer centric episodes: 8 & 9. My personal favorite was episode 8, where a couple of rough-looking gay guys help Charlie expose a scammer.
- ✨ Overcompensating • Season 1: Benito Skinner plays the perfect gay guy in college, trying to pretend he's a straight douche. Honestly, this show is made for queer people like me who went to college in the 2010s and were still closeted for a big part of the experience. It has a ton of pop culture references from the era (Glee, hello!) and just felt really relatable.
- Nine Perfect Strangers • Season 2: This show keeps serving great episodes and then messing it all up with a weird ending. Season 2 got slightly better, which is why it still lands in my top 10. If you don't know about it, the show follows Nicole Kidman's character as she runs a psychedelic retreat for people with a messed-up past. This season features a lesbian couple among the "patients". They clearly have issues like everyone else in the show, but the representation felt authentic, and I really enjoyed watching them
New Queer Shows
All shows that debuted in 2025 and featured at least 1 queer character
Clean Slate • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Prime Video • Family Sitcom • 🇺🇸 United States • Cancelled
Comedy starring Laverne Cox and George Wallace about a conservative Alabama car wash owner who reconnects with his estranged daughter after she transitions. If you’re into shows that mix heart and humor with social relevance, this one’s worth checking out.
- Queer representation: Desiree (played by Laverne Cox) is a trans woman, and her gender identity is an essential part of the show. Most people in her small town don’t take issue with her being trans outside of the pastor. The show also features Louis, a friend of Desiree and a closeted gay man. He starts a relationship with a guy he met on Grindr in the last few episodes, but the guy ends up breaking up with him because he’s not out of the closet yet.
- Beyond the rainbow: Most of the cast is Black, and the show is set in Alabama. It has many references to southern traditions but generally avoids any more profound commentary on racism and challenges faced by characters due to their skin color.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
The Fox Hollow Murders: Playground of a Serial Killer • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Hulu • True Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
A docuseries that revisits the case of Herb Baumeister, a seemingly ordinary Indiana man whose property was found to contain over 10,000 human bone fragments in 1996. It’s an unsettling watch, partly focused on identifying the victims and bringing families closure, and partly featuring weird paranormal segments.
- Queer representation: The victims were gay men, usually disappearing from gay bars and clubs. A big part of why the investigation was botched had to do with the attitude toward homosexuality at the time, and the assumption that the men who disappeared were just victims of the AIDS epidemic.
Mid-Century Modern • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Friends Sitcom • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Breezy sitcom about three longtime gay friends who decide to “retire” together in Palm Springs after an unexpected death. It’s a throwback that channels Golden Girls energy, perfect for fans of classic sitcoms.
- Queer representation: The three main characters are gay, and their sexuality is a central part of the plot and humor of the show. All three men have different approaches to love and dating. The show doesn’t get super heavy, but it acknowledges identity in a way that feels intentional and adds depth to the comedy.
- Beyond the rainbow: Arthur is an older Black gay man, which is not something we see portrayed very often. While the show has been compared to Golden Girls, Jerry is younger than the rest of the group and still works as a flight attendant, giving us interesting dynamics between different generations.
Overcompensating • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Prime Video • College Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Typical college comedy with frat parties, horny students, new friendships, lots of alcohol, and a good dose of wholesomeness. The twist is that it follows a closeted gay guy as he tries to navigate his freshman year by pretending to be straight.
- Queer representation: The show revolves around Benny, a closeted college student who tries his hardest to act straight but ends up failing miserably. I found the show did a great job at capturing the internal torture of trying to hide your sexuality and being scared to come out. It also has a few secondary queer characters like a lesbian couple and a proud gay guy.
- Beyond the rainbow: The one openly gay kid on campus is Black. He’s mostly shown as confident and judgy of how stupid Benny is acting to save face, which is refreshing, as the gay characters would usually be bullied hard in shows like this.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Boots • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Army Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Fun and heartwarming comedy about a gay teen who joins Marine bootcamp to follow his best friend during the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" era. It has a lot of the usual military tropes with lots of yelling in people's faces, bad jokes, and a weird fascination with violence and guns. But it also had a lot of heart. I didn't expect to get so emotional watching it.
- Queer representation: The entire story is focused on Cam, a gay guy who joins the Marines with his best friend and struggles with hiding his identity. We end up finding out that one of his drill sergeants is also gay and is being investigated for his relationship with another officer. Another gay guy also enters boot camp halfway through and bunks with Cam. It's a beautiful story about a guy who struggles with his own sexual orientation during a time when the army dedicated time and resources to prosecuting people for being gay. It paints boot camp as a place filled with toxic masculinity, homophobic jokes, and guys who like to yell at other guys to make themselves feel important. But in the end, it's also a bonding experience and a found family for Cam, even if he can't be fully himself.
- Beyond the rainbow: Cam's best friend is asian and gets a lot of racist jokes thrown at him. He also suffers from panic attacks and anxiety, which gets addressed in the show.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Cassandra • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Robot Scifi Horror • 🇩🇪 Germany • Ended
Creepy German sci-fi thriller about a family who moves into an old smart home and accidentally reactivates its AI caretaker, Cassandra. At first, she seems helpful, but things get dark as she tries to insert herself into the family’s life.
- Queer representation: Fynn, the son, has a romance plot line with one of his closeted schoolmates, Steve. I haven’t seen the show yet, but there are clips of their relationship all over YouTube.
- Beyond the rainbow: Fynn is bi-racial. His dad is white, and an actress of Afghan origin plays his mom.
Running Point • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Sports Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Lighthearted sports-comedy following Isla Gordon, the overlooked daughter who suddenly takes over her family’s pro basketball team after her brother hits a bump in the road. The jokes aren’t always the most subtle, but it has a lot of heart and potential for a great season 2.
- Queer representation: Sandy, one of Isla’s brothers, is gay and open to his family, although he is hiding his boyfriend from them. His siblings are very supportive of him, and their clumsy attempts at allyship are fun to watch. There is also an important subplot following his romance with Charlie that has a big rom-com happy ending.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
The Four Seasons • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Friends Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Dramedy that follows three longtime couples reconnecting on quarterly getaways that unravel as one couple divorces and brings along a much younger partner. The series is quite different from the typical comedy work of Tina Fey and blends sharp mid‑life comedy with poignant drama.
- Queer representation: One of the couples features two guys who have an open relationship but are still romantically committed to each other. They also have one of the sweetest endings. The show uses a few light stereotypes, like the dramatic gay guy or the fact that gay guys like to party, but it moves beyond those quickly and never makes it the butt of the joke. Both are complex characters with flaws and qualities that make them very relatable and likable.
- Beyond the rainbow: One of the guys is Italian, and the other is a Black American.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Murderbot • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️♾️🧑🤝🧑 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV+ • Scifi Space Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Quirky, deadpan comedy about a sarcastic, TV‑obsessed security robot named Murderbot who hacked its governor module so it can binge its favorite soap operas in peace. That’s until he’s tasked to protect a group of earnest space scientists and begrudgingly bonds with them.
- Queer representation: It’s one of those shows where everyone turns out to be a little queer. The scientist crew includes a nonbinary character who is in a polyamorous relationship with a man and a woman. The captain of the crew also talks about having multiple spouses at some point.
- Beyond the Rainbow: The crew is very diverse in terms of ethnicities. The captain is a Black woman, and the rest of the crew features multiple people of color from different undisclosed backgrounds. The society represented in the show doesn’t seem to have struggles related to race or sexual orientation. The only inequalities mentioned are around how bots are treated compared to humans.
Pee-wee as Himself • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
HBO Max • Celebrity Autobiography Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Poignant, funny documentary that follows Paul Reubens as he reflects on his life, career, and the complicated legacy of his iconic character, Pee-wee Herman. It gives a unique insight into his life, with interviews recorded shortly before his death.
- Queer representation: Reubens comes out as gay in the interviews featured in the documentary
Olympo • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Sports Drama • 🇪🇸 Spain • Fate Unknown
Sweaty, tension‑charged sports drama set at a high‑performance Olympic training academy in the Spanish Pyrenees, following ambitious young athletes as they chase glory, sponsorships, and personal freedom.
- Queer representation: The show features a wide range of queer characters, including Zoé, a Black gay heptathlete, and Roque and Sebas, two gay athletes who have a romance storyline. It tackles themes of homophobia and also introduces an intersex character, exploring the challenges of sex and gender in competitive sports.
- Beyond the Rainbow: The cast of athletes is diverse, and many social issues are addressed in the show. For example, Zoé is a complex character who has to navigate discrimination for both her sexual orientation and race. There are also themes around mental health struggles in the high-stress environment that the athletes have to navigate.
Back to the Frontier • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
HBO Max • Social Experiment Reality • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Back-to-basics social experiment where three modern American families forsake running water, electricity, and smartphones to live as 1880s homesteaders for eight weeks. They must build shelter, tend livestock, grow food, and manage resources. Ultimately, racing against a winter-survival deadline.
- Queer representation: One of the three couples participating in the show is a same sex couple of two dads with their 10-year-old twin sons. There were a lot of criticisms from Christian fundamentalists when the cast was announced, but the show creator strongly defended his casting decision with this perfectly shady post: "Talk, ask qustns, listen.. maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture. Judge 1st, understand later/never"
- Beyond the Rainbow: The show has a surprisingly diverse cast considering the "frontier" topic. In addition to our gay dads, the show also features a Black family.
Want to read more about the show?
Judy Berman
Amy Bradley Is Missing • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Netflix • True Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Typical true crime docuseries that revisits the disappearance of Amy Bradley during a Caribbean cruise in 1998. The series features interviews of Amy's family as well as people who worked on the ship at the time and people who believe they saw Amy around the Caribbean years after her disappearance.
- Queer representation: The series reveals that Amy was gay and interviews two of her ex-girlfriends. It also addresses the fact that her parents were not exactly supportive when she came out shortly before going on the cruise. I found it interesting because I had listened to an hour-long podcast about the case that did not once mention her sexual orientation. It seems like an important detail considering that she was supposedly last seen dancing with a guy on the boat.
Want to read more about the show?
Gabe Dunn
The Hunting Wives • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Netflix • Soap Opera Crime Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Over-the-top drama following rich women in Texas with crime, romance, guns and a lot of sex. It follows typical soap opera topes with affairs, betrayals, a drug addict family member, a murder, an abortion story and pretty much any scandalous thing you would imagine could happen behind the perfect facade of rich Texan families.
- Queer representation: Let me tell you, the women in this show sure love to sleep with each other. The two lead characters, Margo and Sophie, have an overarching steamy romance storyline that unfortunately gets messy because of a crime. Margo is the rich wife of a Texas politician and we find out she was also having an affair with one of her lady friends before Sophie comes into the picture. All of this to say, there is a lot of lesbian action and a lot of spice.
- Beyond the rainbow: Characters are very stereotypical white, rich, conservative Texans. Read that as, they make a lot of noise to tell everyone they are anti-abortion, anti-immigration and pretty much anti everything but then proceed to ignore all of their own advice in the privacy of their own home. Just don't expect a lot of depth from this show. It's meant to entertain, not educate.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Taurasi • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Prime Video • Sports Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Inspiring sports docu-series about the incredible career of basketball player Diana Taurasi as a time when the WNBA was not as popular as today. The series includes interviews with Taurasi herself and people around her.
- Queer representation: Taurasi is married to her former teammate Penny Taylor, and they have two kids together.
- Beyond the rainbow: The series covers some struggles the player encountered through her career, like doping accusations or her time playing in Russia.
In The Mud • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Prison Drama • 🇦🇷 Argentina • Fate Unknown
Gritty prison drama in the vein of Orange is the New Black that follows inmates at a women’s facility as they navigate violence, power struggles, and unexpected alliances. Amid shifting loyalties and fraught relationships, the series exposes both the brutality and intimacy that shape life behind bars.
- Queer representation: The show features a lot of lesbian inmates making out within the prison. It also has a more focused storyline featuring a lesbian couple, but it seems to be more secondary. In episode 1, one of the inmates is introduced to a trans inmate named Coco Viridi who acts as the prison's councelor.
Love Thy Nader • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Family Reality • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Reality series that follows four sisters (Brooks, Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane Nader) as they leave their conservative Louisiana roots and try to navigate modeling, relationships, and life in New York City. The Nader family also has Lebanese roots which makes for an interesting mix of cultures.
- Queer representation: One of the sisters, Sarah Jane, identifies as queer, and a lot of her storyline apparently revolves around her identity and her dating journey in New York City.
- Beyond the rainbow: The four sisters' Lebanese roots and origins in the more conservative South make for an interesting exploration as they move to New York City.
Want to read more about the show?
Giana Levy
The Lowdown • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Hulu • Quirky Crime Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Quirky Neo-noir crime comedy where Ethan Hawke plays a chaotic Tulsa journalist and rare book owner whose relentless, and frankly messy, pursuit of the truth gets him repeatedly beaten up while trying to solve a local conspiracy. It's a stylish, funny, and well-reviewed show, though some users find the characters a little too eccentric, and the plot relies a bit heavily on convenient crime-fiction tropes.
- Queer representation: Dale Washberg is revealed to have been secretely gay in episode 4. His sexual orientation is an important part of the plot. There is also a small character named Ray described as a savvy gay antiques dealer.
- Beyond the rainbow: The series is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and incorporates Indigenous representation. The creator, Sterlin Harjo, is himself Indigenous and the cast features Indigenous actors (for example, Kaniehtiio Horn plays Samantha) which helps bring authentic regional and cultural voices forward.
House of Guinness • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Historical Drama • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Sleek period drama where the Guinness siblings squabble over their father’s brewery empire like it’s the last pint at the bar. It’s got all the Peaky Blinders vibes (sharp suits, sharper knives), and enough family drama to make you wonder if beer is really the only thing brewing in Dublin.
- Queer representation: The series reveals that Arthur's sexuality is a highly dangerous secret, as homosexuality in 19th-century Ireland was a crime punishable by life imprisonment. He's forced into a lavender marriage, but he remains proud of his sexuality and has a positive relationship with his wife. Other characters exploit Arthur's sexuality for leverage, setting off a season-long plot involving attempts at blackmail and political and social maneuvering to keep his identity concealed from the broader public. There were some criticisms around historical accuracy (as there always are with gay characters) but there are historians who speculated that the real Arthur Guinness was likely gay.
Wayward • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🏳️⚧️
Netflix • Psychological Thriller • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇬🇧 United Kingdom / 🇨🇦 Canada • Ended
Unsettling psychological thriller, Wayward stirs up small-town Vermont with cults, crooked cops, and teens way too clever for their own good as a trans police officer and his wife wrestle with the town’s darkest secrets. It’s like if Stranger Things grew up, got anxious, and moved to a Vermont wellness commune. It's definitely gripping, occasionally bonkers, and blessed with just enough dry wit to keep you from rage-quitting your TV.
- Queer representation: Alex and his pregnant wife, Laura, form a unique queer family unit that is embraced by the supposedly idyllic but secretly sinister town. Alex's trans identity is openly discussed, shown in routine moments (his T shots, nudity), and not made a “problem” but an authentic feature of his life. There is also a bisexual character named Leila who is sent to a "troubled teen" academy for reasons other than her sexuality. Leila begins a relationship with her female roommate, Ello, though Ello later relapses, showing a relationship facing external pressures (drug use and the cult) rather than internal homophobia.
- Beyond the rainbow: The show features some racial diversity primarily in supporting roles, like Brandon Jay McLaren as Alex's Black police partner, Dwayne, and Byron Mann as Abbie's Asian father, Brian, which helps reflect the diversity of the surrounding world. However, the biggest theme beyond queer identity is the focus on class and the troubled teen industry, using the town to explore how a superficially progressive, all-welcoming community can still be a deeply abusive cult.
Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Peacock • Serial Killer Crime Thriller • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Chilling true-crime drama that tells the story of notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who murdered at least 33 young men and boys in the 1970s while maintaining a public persona as a beloved community member and "Pogo the Clown." The series focuses not only on the grotesque double life and eventual capture of Gacy but also on the devastating grief of the victims' families and the societal prejudices and systemic failures that allowed him to evade suspicion for years.
- Queer representation: Many of Gacy’s victims were young men, and their sexual orientation (often gay or queer) is a significant focus. The show’s narrative gives space to several characters who navigated stigmatized identities as queer individuals in the 1970s, presenting their experiences and struggles beyond victimhood. According to a review, the series highlights how homophobia within institutions (especially the Chicago Police Department) led to neglect: the police repeatedly ignored disappearances of queer youth or marginalized young men.
Hal & Harper • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
MUBI • Family Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Messy family dramedy revolving around two codependent siblings processing grief, love, and their flawed relationships through a time-hopping narrative. It unpacks their emotional baggage, heartbreaks, and deep reliance on each other after losing their mother, all while navigating complicated romances and a shifting family dynamic.
- Queer representation: Hal & Harper has some great and upfront queer rep. Harper, one of the main characters, is gay and her sexuality is just a normal part of her story (it's not a big reveal or drama point). Her relationship with her girlfriend, Jesse (who's Black), plays a central role early in the show, and you get a real sense of their long-term couple vibes. Things also get complicated when Harper starts catching feelings for Audrey, her coworker. So there’s a main queer couple, some romantic tension with another woman, and it's all treated pretty naturally in the story.
Missing You • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Crime Thriller • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Ended
Crime thriller based on a book by Harlan Coben that kicks off when Detective Kat Donovan spots her ex-fiancé, who vanished 11 years ago, on a dating app. It’s a show full of twists and turns that’s not the best thing you’ll ever see, but is highly bingeable on a rainy day.
- Queer representation: One of the main characters’ friends is a trans woman named Aqua. She plays mostly a background part but has a small involvement in the main crime plot. The second queer character is the protagonist’s dad, who had an affair with a man. His internalized homophobia plays a significant role in the main crime plot and honestly makes the queer representation in the show borderline negative.
- Beyond the rainbow: The dad and the guy he had an affair with are both Black. So is most of the main cast.
The Crow Girl • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Netflix • Crime Thriller • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Ended
Twisty psychological crime thriller that follows the intertwined stories of a detective, a psychologist, and refugees. It’s a good thriller with a very satisfying twist ending, but it has some very heavy storylines of sexual assault and torture, so it might not be for everyone.
- Queer representation: The two main female characters have flirty vibes and an overarching will-they-won’t-they storyline throughout the show. They’re both initially in relationships with men, but the good news is that they eventually do hook up! They also separate from their male partners before they do.
Scam Goddess • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Travel / Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Lighthearted episodic true crime docuseries based on a famous podcast of the same name. The show follows the host, Laci Mosley, as she travels around the US covering fascinating and unusual scam stories.
- Queer representation: Laci identifies as bisexual. I watched one episode, and it hasn’t come up so far, but it’s nice to see such a positive, openly queer woman leading a crime show.
- Beyond the rainbow: Laci is a Black woman from Texas and has spoken a few times online about the importance of Black representation in media. She also features a diverse range of regular people from smaller cities across the US, where the scams occur.
Prime Target • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV+ • Crime Thriller • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Crime thriller centered around a genius mathematician researching prime numbers. Since we all know prime numbers are essential to our security (just kidding, I didn’t know), his research is being closely monitored by different government agencies, and he ends up at the center of a string of deaths.
- Queer representation: The main character, played by Leo Woodall is gay and quickly gets involved with a bartender from his university campus. There is also a guest gay character who ends up dead after going to a gay bar in Baghdad.
- Beyond the rainbow: Part of the show is set in Baghdad, where some of the guest cast members are Arab, including the dead gay man who dared to venture into a gay bar.
No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
National Geographic / Hulu • Travel Food Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Warm and heartfelt food‑travel docuseries where Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski joins celebs like Florence Pugh, Issa Rae, Awkwafina, Henry Golding, Justin Theroux, and James Marsden to dig into their family histories by cooking ancestral dishes in their homelands.
- Queer representation: Antoni is gay and known for being part of the Queer Eye reboot.
Dabba Cartel • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Survival Drama • 🇮🇳 India • Renewed
Colorful Indian crime-drama set in 1960s Mumbai, where five middle-class women launch a lunchbox service that secretly doubles as a drug cartel. It’s got sharp twists, powerful chemistry, and a satisfying dose of woman empowerment
- Queer representation: There is a small romance subplot between Shahida and another woman. I haven’t seen the show, so I don’t know how far it goes, but it’s been positively called out on social media.
- Beyond the rainbow: All the characters are Indian, and the fact that the show takes place in the 60s makes it even more special to have queer representation.
Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🏳️⚧️
Netflix • True Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Messed up true crime documentary about YouTube influencer Piper Rockelle and how her mom exploited other kids to build up her following online. The series features families and kids who were part of the influencer crew at some point and are looking to expose the abuse still happening.
- Queer representation: Piper’s aunt, her wife, and their kids are part of the main people telling their story. The show never highlights them as a same sex couple and just treats them like any other family. The series also interviews a trans man who was abused by Tiffany (Piper’s mom). The abuse is treated extremely seriously, and his story is told with respect.
Dying for Sex • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️🧑🤝🧑 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
FX / Hulu • Sex Centered Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Innovative dramedy centered around Molly, a woman who was just diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and decides to explore her sexuality. It’s hard to give this show a genre because it’s so unique. It mixes deep reflections around dealing with a terminal illness and a very open portrayal of sex exploration.
- Queer representation: Sonya, a palliative care social worker who assists Molly, is queer and used to date a non-binary character named G. Both Sonya and G help Molly with her sexual exploration.
- Beyond the rainbow: Sonya is Black and comments on how women, and especially Black women, tend to be dismissed and not treated seriously by healthcare workers. She mentions that it’s what made her want to work in the medical field.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Étoile • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Prime Video • Dance Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Cancelled
Dramedy from Amy Sherman‑Palladino and Daniel Palladino that follows two elite ballet companies in New York and Paris as they swap their top dancers in a bold stunt to save their art amid post-pandemic challenges.
- Queer representation: Gabin and Tobias have a gay romance storyline.
Wear Whatever The F You Want • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Prime Video • Makeover Reality Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Modern makeover series on Amazon Prime reuniting Stacy London and Clinton Kelly as they guide self‑selected clients to express their true selves through clothing and personal style, rather than enforcing fashion rules.
- Queer representation: Both hosts are openly queer. While it’s very common to see gay guys featured as fashion experts, it’s a lot rarer to see queer women in this role, so the duo is a refreshing one!
The Royals • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Romcom • 🇮🇳 India • Fate Unknown
Lighthearted romantic comedy following Sophia, a driven startup CEO, and Aviraaj, a carefree royal unexpectedly made maharaja, as they team up to transform his ancestral palace into a luxury B&B, sparking romance and family drama.
- Queer representation: The show features a lesbian relationship, but there seems to be criticism about how little importance it’s given. I haven’t seen the show, but I’d say to proceed with caution.
- Beyond the rainbow: Both queer characters are Indian.
Snakes and Ladders • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Dark Humour Dramedy • 🇲🇽 Mexico • Fate Unknown
Tense dark comedy set in an elite Guadalajara elementary school, it follows ambitious prefect Dora as she navigates a scandal sparked by a playground fight among children of powerful parents. As she vies to become headmistress, Dora must compromise her ethics amid bribes, political maneuvering, and her son’s gambling debts.
- Queer representation: There is a plot centered around a closeted gay teen who enters a relationship with another man and slowly comes to terms with his sexuality.
- Beyond the rainbow: The show is set in Mexico, with Mexican characters.
Adults • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
FX / Hulu • Friends comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Ensemble comedy set in Queens, following five Gen‑Z friends cramming into Samir’s childhood home as they stumble through work woes, dating disasters, and roommate chaos. The show has often been compared to FRIENDS or Girls.
- Queer representation: Anton, one of the roomates, is gay and openly flirts with one of his roommates’ boyfriend.
- Beyond the rainbow: Anton is Black, and most of the roommates are from different ethnic backgrounds.
Stick • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️🧑🤝🧑 | 🏳️⚧️
Apple TV+ • Sports Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Ted Lasso style dramedy with a lot of heart centered around an ex-golfer who finds a new wind in life coaching a troubled teen prodigy after his wife leaves him.
- Queer representation: Zero is a non binary character who works at the country club and has a romance storyline with Santi, the prodigy kid golfer. Zero is played by Lilli Kay who uses she/they pronouns.
We Were Liars • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Prime Video • Rich People Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Moody teen mystery set on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, following Cadence Sinclair and her cousins as they unravel the secrets behind a tragic summer accident. With its dreamy visuals and crazy twists, the show blends rich-family drama with slow-burn suspense and emotional depth.
- Queer representation: Johnny Sinclair, Cady’s cousin, is openly gay. I haven’t seen the show yet, but different sources mention storylines of bullying and coming out.
Young Millionaires • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Friends Dramedy • 🇫🇷 France • Fate Unknown
Creative French dramedy about a group of 17-year-old friends from Marseille who suddenly become rich after winning the lottery. The show has a lot of heart, the friends all have unique personalities that bring a lot to the table, and it's pretty funny.
- Queer representation: In the first episode, David, one of the guys in the friend group, hooks up with a guy when they go to a club to party. His sexuality is not really commented on, and the friend group seems very accepting of him. He's also a pretty average guy who fits none of the usual gay stereotypes, which makes the representation surprisingly refreshing.
- Beyond the rainbow: The friends are from more modest backgrounds, they are seen counting money for gas at the beginning of episode 1, and sharing one scooter to ride to school. The group is very diverse, and the show creators are clearly making an effort to go against stereotypes. One of the women in the group gets a professional football contract, the Black kid is more of a studious type who wants to save the environment, and the girl playing the bimbo does very well in school. It's all done so well that it doesn't stand out as trying to hard like some other shows.
The Runarounds • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Prime Video • Musical Teen Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Typical teen show about this scrappy group of teens trying to make it big as a band, even though they’ve got zero industry connections and way too much drama. It’s messy, funny, and kind of chaotic in that “do they actually have a chance or are they just delusional?” way.
- Queer representation: One of the characters, Amanda, realizes she is gay during the show. She is initially in a couple with Topher, but comes out at some point in the show. One source online also mentions that one of the teens has 2 moms but I couldn't find much about it.
NCIS: Tony & Ziva • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Paramount+ • Spy Action Thriller • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Part spy thriller, part second-chance romance, basically everything longtime fans have been waiting for. The show picks up an NCIS fan-favorite duo years after they left the main show, now raising their daughter and getting pulled back into danger in Europe.
- Queer representation: There are side queer and guest characters, and some romance. Claudette and Sophie have a romance storyline. Dr. Lang is mentioned to have a partner, although I can't find much info about it. And there are background gay characters, like a couple at a retreat.
- Beyond the rainbow: The cast overall is quite diverse, and the queer characters mentioned above are all people of color. The main character Ziva is Israeli.
The Girlfriend • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Prime Video • Psychological Family Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Messed up psychological family thriller that will make you doubt everything and probably develop trust issues. It follows a mother and girlfriend fighting over a very mediocre guy, and doing increasingly messed-up things to keep him to themselves.
- Queer representation: The mom reveals to the girlfriend that she had a lesbian romance when she was younger. Later in the season, she reconnects with her lesbian lover, and they share a kiss and a night together before the lover realizes how insane the mom is. I don't say this often, but the queer romance was one of the least interesting and most poorly executed parts of the show.
Celebrity Weakest Link • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
FOX/Hulu • Trivia Game Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Campy celebrity trivia show where eight stars work together to bank money for charity, only to immediately turn on each other in a fierce vote-off. The real entertainment is watching the Glee alum and host, Jane Lynch, effortlessly roast the contestants after they get a question hilariously wrong.
- Queer representation: The host, Jane Lynch, is a lesbian icon, and the show features a wide range of queer contestants: Luke Macfarlane, Jonathan Bennett, Laverne Cox, Joel Kim Booster, Alex Newell, Gus Kenworthy, Carson Kressley, Margaret Cho, Dot-Marie Jones.
The Ba***ds of Bollywood • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Comedy about the media • 🇮🇳 India • Fate Unknown
Savage industry satire starring an outsider actor who gets a hit and is immediately plunged into a chaotic war between a predatory producer and the reigning superstar whose daughter he’s falling for. It's a wildly meta ride that roasts Bollywood's toxic elite and nepotism, packed with many celebrity cameos and jaw-dropping family drama.
- Queer representation: In episode 3 or 4, there is a lesbian kiss between Sanya and another woman, which is referred to as the LGTV scene. It's unclear whether there is much of a storyline beyond the kiss.
- Beyond the Rainbow: This show tackles diversity right in its central theme by making the protagonist an "outsider" from Delhi (Aasmaan Singh), fighting against the established Bollywood elite who are obsessed with nepotism. Furthermore, the core trio of friends/team supporting the lead includes a loyal best friend, Parvaiz, who is written as a positive Muslim character, and the brilliant manager, Sanya, who adds a strong, non-stereotypical female lead to the main narrative.
Black Rabbit • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Family crime thriller • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Toxic family thriller about a successful New York City restaurateur whose chaotic, estranged brother shows up, immediately dragging them both into an escalating crime spiral to pay off a huge debt. The whole mess is a tense, pressure-cooker dive into brotherhood, addiction, and how deep family secrets can ruin everything you’ve built.
- Queer representation: Roxie, one of the main characters and Black Rabbit's head chef, is a lesbian. In episode 4, she confides in her ex-girlfriend after vandalizing Jules' art gallery.
- Beyond the Rainbow: The show features significant racial diversity in its supporting cast, particularly among the inner circle of the Black Rabbit restaurant and the antagonists. Sope Dirisu (as Jake's best friend and business partner, Wes), Cleopatra Coleman (as Wes's fiancée, Estelle), and Amaka Okafor (as the head chef, Roxie) are all prominent characters of color, and Oscar-winner Troy Kotsur features as the deaf mob boss, Joe Mancuso, bringing a rare level of visibility for a deaf actor in a crime drama.
Billionaires' Bunker • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Netflix • Apocalypse Sci-fi • 🇪🇸 Spain • Ended
Claustrophobic dystopian thriller where a bunch of ultra-rich European elites retreat to a luxury underground bunker, only to find the "apocalypse" is a massive scam and their secrets are now trapped with them. The tension gets ramped up by the toxic, long-running feud between two prominent families forced to coexist in their supposed safe haven.
- Queer representation: Victoria, the elderly matriarch of one of the wealthy families is described as being pansexual. Victoria's sexuality is mostly part of her illness storyline, addiction to morphine, and exploitative behavior. There is also a lesbian couple: Julia and Minerva. Julia leaves Minerva early on and is then killed by Minerva’s brother in a power-move rather than a queer-relationship-focused story.
Riv4lries • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • School Teen Drama • 🇮🇹 Italy • Fate Unknown
Light-hearted teen dramedy that takes place in a middle school in Pisa where newcomer Terry shakes up the pecking order of the cool kids and the overlooked outsiders. It’s sweet, mildly chaotic, and genuine about friendships and identity, though the “wall dividing the school” metaphor is a tad on-the-nose.
- Queer representation: Marzia is the only LGBT character in the show as far as I can find, and she has a cute romance with another girl, but it seems to be more of a background plot
- Beyond the rainbow: In addition to being the only queer person in the show, Marzia is also one of the only characters of color.
9-1-1: Nashville • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Emergency Services Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Chaotic emergency services drama that’s equal parts ridiculous soap opera and accidental comedy, perfect if you like your rescues with a side of melodrama and Nashville clichés. Despite the decent cast, the over-the-top writing and awkward accents make it a punchline for anyone hoping for a serious addition to the 9-1-1 franchise.
- Queer representation: Roxie Alba is explicitly described by the showrunner as "a lesbian from New York who came to Nashville due to her past backstory, and she's finding refuge here."
- Beyond the rainbow: Beyond queer representation, 9-1-1: Nashville features a racially diverse cast that includes people of color such as Juani Feliz and Hailey Kilgore, who bring visibility to women of color in first responder roles. The show explores themes of family, mental health, and resilience, portraying characters from various ethnic backgrounds dealing with personal and professional challenges, all while aiming to avoid tokenism by giving each character depth and purpose within the story.
The Chair Company • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
HBO Max • Dark Humour Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Surreal workplace comedy-thriller about a middle-aged manager, Ron Trosper, whose life spirals into chaos after an embarrassing incident at work triggers an obsessive investigation into a bizarre corporate conspiracy involving seemingly ordinary office chairs. Equal parts cringe comedy and suspenseful mystery, it’s perfect if you enjoy dark humor with a Kafkaesque twist.
- Queer representation: Ron's daughter, Natalie, is an out lesbian and a main supporting character on the show. One of the storylines throughout the show revolves around Natalie’s relationship with her fiancée, culminating in their upcoming wedding.
- Beyond the rainbow: The Chair Company doesn’t just tick the box for queer representation; it’s pretty solid on diversity overall. You’ll see a good mix of ethnic backgrounds, including some great roles for people of color, like Ron’s boss and assistant. Women get some strong moments too, with Ron’s wife and daughter both feeling like real, fleshed-out characters.
The Monster of Florence • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • True Crime Thriller • 🇮🇹 Italy • Ended
Slow-burning true crime drama that delves into Italy's most notorious serial killer case through the perspectives of multiple suspects, exploring a dark web of patriarchy, coercive control, and complex family secrets. The series combines whodunit mystery with a stark examination of toxic societal norms set in the Italian countryside.
- Queer representation: Salvatore Vinci, one of the show's key suspects, is depicted as a closeted gay man or bisexual man whose sexual orientation and repression play a role in his violent behavior. The series is based on a true story, and the real Salvatore was described in court documents as liking both men and women.
Doc • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Fox / Hulu • Medical Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Heartfelt medical drama with a twist where a top doctor loses her memory and has to start over, both at work and in her personal life. It’s a great mix of emotional patient stories and overarching storylines between the main cast. The show also covers heavy topics like assault in a very thoughtful manner.
- Queer representation: The main character’s best friend, Dr. Gina Walker, is married to a woman. We don’t see her on screen, but she references her a few times and shows wedding pictures to Amy after she lost her memory. In episode 6, one of the patients is a young woman who cannot feel pain. She is at a party, making out with another woman, when her medical emergency happens.
- Beyond the rainbow: Both queer women are Black, and while the story doesn’t focus on their race, they’re portrayed as complex, competent, and fully realized characters, offering strong, positive representation.
The Pitt • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭👬 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
HBO Max • Medical Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Outstanding hour-by-hour medical drama that follows the staff of a Pittsburgh emergency department throughout their shift. It’s intense and has been praised by medical staff for being one of the most realistic medical shows on TV. Every character is layered and has a strong narrative arc.
- Queer representation: None of the main staffers are confirmed to be queer, but Santos has flirty banter with other women throughout the show, so let’s see what season 2 brings. The representation in season 1 mostly happens through guest characters who are patients at the hospital. Episode 2 features a loving lesbian couple in a long-term relationship. Episode 4 has a storyline with a trans woman, with a touching moment where one of the staff members quietly lets her know that she’s corrected her name or gender markers on her hospital chart. Episode 11 features a gay couple who are here for the birth of their child via surrogate.
- Beyond the rainbow: The lesbian couple is both Black women, and the gay couple is an interracial relationship between a Black and a White man. As a whole, The Pitt has a lot of very diverse characters with nuanced storylines.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Peacock • Media Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Special behind-the-scenes docuseries to celebrate the 50 years of SNL. It features some of the most iconic cast members and moments of the show in a truly impressive lineup. Each episode shows different parts of the staff recounting some iconic moments or take us through a typical week.
- Queer representation: A few of the cast members interviewed are openly queer including Bowen Yang, Terry Sweeny and Harper Steele. There are some short conversations around being gay and how to integrate that into the show. One of the episodes shows behind the scenes in the writer’s room on a week when the main guest is Ayo Edebiri.
- Beyond the rainbow: There are some comments on race and how certain actors can be typecast into specific sketches because of it. They also have a great diversity of people interviewed, from older generations to the newer cast members.
Celebrity Bear Hunt • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Reality Survival Competition • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Celebrity survival competition where a group of relatively famous people are dropped into a wilderness arena and need to escape from adventurer Bear Grylls. It’s more or less a spin on Survivor, but they get to sleep in a nice hut between hunting sessions.
- Queer representation: The show featured Steph McGovern, who is openly queer, and Mel B, who identifies as bisexual. Steph casually mentions her ex in the first episode and doesn’t shy away from talking about her lesbian identity.
- Beyond the rainbow: Mel B. is Black, and the show has a few other Black contestants.
The Residence • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Murder Mystery Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Darkly comedic look at the messy lives of two suburban couples and their tangled friendships, affairs, and betrayals. Set almost entirely in stark, intimate spaces, the show dissects modern relationships with uncomfortable honesty and biting dialogue.
- Queer representation: The president of the United States is gay and married to another man. They are suspects in the investigation, but their sexual orientation doesn’t play a big part in the storyline.
- Beyond the rainbow: Both gay men are white, but the show features diverse characters in roles not usually played by people of color.
North Of North • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Small Town Comedy • 🇨🇦 Canada • Renewed
Fresh and funny comedy that shines light on a small Inuit community in the north of Canada. The whole show feels very modern, vibrant, and positive. It gives a unique look at the Inuit community by focusing on Siaja as she leaves her husband and builds a life for herself.
- Queer representation: Siaja’s friends at the community center are a gay man and a queer woman. There isn’t a huge focus on their sexual orientation, but there are a few fun scenes that confirm they are queer, like Colin lusting after firefighters or Millie picking up a woman at the airport.
- Beyond the rainbow: Colin is from Hawaii, and Millie is Inuit, like most of the other characters. The show includes many references to Inuit culture and offers a unique perspective on this often underrepresented community.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Súper Sara • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️
HBO Max • Famous Person Documentary • 🇪🇸 Spain • Ended
Vibrant and moving docuseries that celebrates the life of iconic Spanish actress and singer Sara Montiel. Told with flair and intimacy, it reveals how she broke taboos around sex, fame, and femininity during Franco-era Spain. The series offers a fresh perspective on her legacy through rare footage and voices from Spain’s queer and cultural communities.
- Queer representation: Sara Montiel was known as a queer icon, and the docuseries features interviews with Bibiana Fernández, a trans woman, and Supremme de Luxe, a drag performer.
Ballard • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Prime Video • Police Procedural Drama• 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Grounded police procedural that follows LAPD Detective Renée Ballard as she runs an underfunded cold-case unit. Reopening long-forgotten murders, she faces internal corruption and pushback, relying on a small team of misfits to pursue justice with quiet determination.
- Queer representation: Thomas Laffont, Ballard’s retired former police partner, is gay and has a long-term partner. I haven’t seen the show yet, but people compliment the representation and say it’s well done and subtle.
Too Much • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Quirky RomCom • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Quirky and slightly over-the-top romantic comedy following an American woman who moves to England for work and meets a British musician. The show is written by Lena Dunham and clearly adapted from her own life. It could have been a fun show if the main character wasn't so annoyingly aimless and obsessed with her ex's new girlfriend.
- Queer representation: Most of the main character's colleagues are gay. Boss (that's the guy's name not his title) is a gay guy with pink hair and the other colleague is a black woman whom Boss mentions "wants to lick the boss' assistant". I've only seen a few episodes but they are very obnoxious for now. If it doesn't improve, I might have to move this show to the red flag section.
- Beyond the rainbow: Jessica's family and ex are Jewish. They make it clear but it's also not the most important part of the show. On the other hand, dialogues can get quite preachy when it comes to talking about women's experiences. There is a scene at a bar where Jessica starts lecturing a football player about double standards. The message is not wrong but it's delivered in a way that just takes you out of the show entirely. The cast is fairly diverse in terms of race, although it's less of an overt topic of conversation. The lesbian colleague is a Black American woman for example.
Want to read more about the show?
Beth Lisogorsky
Delirium • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Psychological Thriller • 🇨🇴 Colombia • Ended
Slightly over-the-top psychological thriller with intense family drama that explores generational mental illness and elite hypocrisy in 1980s Bogotá. It unfolds through fragmented flashbacks that peel back layers of trauma, taboo, and corruption as the main character races to piece together what drove his wife to madness.
- Queer representation: There is a son in the family, named Carlos (nickname Bichi), who has been exiled because he's gay. He appears only in flashbacks but is portrayed as kind and supportive to his sister.
- Beyond the rainbow: The show is set in Colombia with a Colombian cast. It also centers around mental illness and intergenerational trauma.
For the Win: NWSL • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Prime Video • Sports Reality • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Behind-the-scenes documentary following several players during 2024 National Women's Soccer League playoff. It does a great job at showcasing a variety of veteran and newbie players from different teams. It's focuses primarily on the sport and only briefly touches on social issues like sexual harassment, woman sports pay gap or the player's personal lives.
- Queer representation: The show features Marta who is openly queer. There are generally a lot of out players in the league but the docuseries does not touch on it. You just can see Pride flags in the supporter stands are almost every game they film 😄.
- Beyond the rainbow: Players come from different countries and ethnicities. Marta is Brazilian and another featured player is the daughter of NBA player Dennis Rodman. They also make it a point to highlight the first Black head coach to win a trophy in the NWSL.
Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Netflix • Media Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Shocking and eye-opening docuseries about the reality show The Biggest Loser. The series features interviews from former contestants, producers, and staff who worked on the show, focusing primarily on dangerous moments and abuse the "losers" had to endure. It doesn't bring any big new revelations, but it's still a pretty damning look at how little the people working on the show cared about the contestants' safety.
- Queer representation: The documentary features interviews with trainer Bob Harper, who is openly gay. It also features clips of his co-star Jillian Michaels, who is a lesbian, even though she refused to participate in the series. Their sexuality is not explicitly addressed within the documentary, as it's not the focus of the show. It's also worth noting that Jillian is a pretty despicable person with multiple controversies under her belt. Bob doesn't come off very likable from the documentary either, as he doesn't seem to regret his actions on the show.
- Beyond the rainbow: The true strength of the Fit for TV is the diverse stories from former contestants and how the show impacted their lives.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Rivers of Fate • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Revenge Thriller • 🇧🇷 Brazil • Ended
Tight Brazilian thriller miniseries where a teenager is kidnapped by a trafficking gang, a river pirate is caught between crime and conscience, and a mother goes all-in on vengeance. Their lives collide in the Amazon region, and there’s also this creepy “curse” vibe (called “pssica”) that seems to hang over everything. Definitely not your light watch, but hard to tear away from.
- Queer representation: Mariangel's son, Guilherme, is gay and has a boyfriend called Zé. They are both positive characters in the show and support the women at the center of the story. Unfortunately, I found a comment on Reddit that indicates that at least one of them dies in typical "bury your gays" fashion...
- Beyond the rainbow: Rivers of Fate puts the spotlight on Brazil’s Amazon region, with Indigenous, Black, and rural communities at the center of the story rather than the margins.
The Paper • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Peacock • Workplace Mockumentary Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Mockumentary-style comedy set at a small local newspaper that’s barely hanging on in the digital age. You’ve got a bunch of quirky journalists trying (and mostly failing) to stay relevant, with the same kind of deadpan humor and awkward workplace chaos that The Office nailed. Reviews have been relatively positive so far, which is no small accomplishment for a spin-off of one of the most beloved comedies.
- Queer representation: Oscar, the gay accountant, is back, but I didn't find much about the other characters so far. It's on my watchlist, so expect an update soon.
- Beyond the rainbow: The main cast is much more diverse than The Office which a few Black characters in important roles.
aka Charlie Sheen • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Celebrity Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Celebrity docuseries where Charlie himself digs into his life: from growing up, breaking into fame in the ’80s, to all the public meltdowns, addictions, relationships, and his path toward sobriety. With interviews from ex-wives Denise Richards & Brooke Mueller, co-stars like Jon Cryer, friends, family, and even his former drug dealer, it’s pretty raw and unfiltered.
- Queer representation: Charlie Sheen talks about sexual encounters with men in the series. From what I gather, it's most drug-fueled and not much deeper than sex.
Chad Powers • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Sports Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Ridiculous sports comedy where a disgraced, arrogant college quarterback adopts a wacky prosthetic disguise to walk onto a small, struggling team and reclaim his glory. It's a surprisingly fun time, even if the premise feels a little over-the-top for an entire series, and the emotional bits don't always land.
- Queer representation: The mascot guy, Danny, is gay, and it seems like they might be going for him falling in love with Chad/Russ, which I really hate. It's giving "gay guy falls in love with straight guy and acts weird about it" for now, so I hope they eventually give him his own love interest. I also like the idea of a friendship between the douchy quarterback and the nerdy gay kid who knows a lot about make-up.
- Beyond the rainbow: Danny is Latino, and some of the team's players are Black, but not much attention has been given to racial diversity so far. Most of the primary characters are White and wealthy.
Genie, Make a Wish • Season 1
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Folklore Fantasy • 🇰🇷 South Korea • Fate Unknown
Twisty fantasy dramedy featuring an emotionless, rule-following woman who accidentally frees a powerful, millennia-old genie (who is essentially Satan trying to prove humans are corrupt) during a trip to Dubai. This K-drama has a fun, chaotic premise and great leads, but the plot can get overly complicated and sometimes struggles to decide if it's a dark fantasy or a light comedy.
- Queer representation: Choi Min-ji is explicitly identified as a lesbian dentist and is the protagonist's (Ka-young) long-term friend. Their friendship doesn't seem to lead to a confirmed romance, but a few online reviews mention the show plays on the "lesbian relationships always end up tragically" trope.
On Call • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Prime Video • Police Procedural • 🇺🇸 United States • Cancelled
30-minutes police procedural following a duo of first responders in Long Beach. The two main cops we follow throughout the show make up a strong team, and the woman is in the lead while the guy is a rookie. Long Beach is portrayed as a drug-ridden city controlled by gangs.
- Queer representation: There is a small storyline in episode 3 where a woman catches her husband’s lover running away from their house and accuses him of burglary. While it’s not treated negatively, it gets very little screen time, and this is the only queer representation in the show, which is mostly negative.
- Beyond the rainbow: Most of the characters in the show are Latine, which isn’t always positive, considering most of the characters are also drug addicts and gang members. Diaz, the rookie, is a strong protagonist with a complex family history. He’s portrayed as someone with strong morals who makes mistakes but mostly learns from them.
Prison Cell 211 • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Prison Drama • 🇲🇽 Mexico • Ended
Gritty and violent prison drama where a lawyer gets trapped in a prison during a riot and has to help the prisoners and hide his true identity to not get killed.
- Queer representation: The show features a group of trans women prisoners. They are in the men’s prison, but it’s never really addressed. The show doesn’t necessarily treat the characters poorly, but there are a few shots showing men looking at them weirdly, and it’s unclear why they made it a point to feature trans prisoners at all.
- Beyond the rainbow: Almost all the characters are Mexican, and most of them are criminals since the show is set in prison.
Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
Hulu • True Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Disturbing true-crime docuseries about Ruby Franke, a YouTube mom who went from running a popular family channel to being arrested for horrible acts of child abuse. The show includes interviews with her ex-husband and kids, and reveals a lot of horrifying details about the abuse endured by the younger kids.
- Queer representation: Ruby is rumored to have been in a romantic relationship with “life coach” Jodi Hildebrandt. It’s briefly mentioned in the show, but handled with care and never linked to the abuse the two women inflicted on the children.
Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Talk Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
John Mulaney’s weekly live Netflix talk show with sidekick Richard Kind. Expect quirky monologues, celebrity interviews, sketches, musical guests, and viewer call-ins.
- Queer representation: The season features a few openly queer guests, but I’m not sure if their sexuality is discussed.
House of Knives • Season 1
🏳️🌈
The Food Network / HBO Max • Cooking Competition • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
High-stakes cooking competition show hosted by Scott Conant, where chefs fight for the “House of Knives” throne and a chance at a $100K prize. Each week, one chef claims the ruler’s seat while another is banished and replaced, making it part cooking contest, part strategic game.
- Queer representation: One of the contestants, Anne Burrell, was previously in a long term relationship with a woman. She is currently dating a man, but was very open about dating women.
Last One Laughing UK • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Prime Video • Reality Comedy Competition • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Renewed
Reality game show where a group of comedians is locked in a room with the challenge to make each other laugh. Hosted by Graham Norton, it’s chaotic, silly, and full of weird bits.
- Queer representation: One of the contestants, Joe Lycett, is pansexual.
The Studio • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV+ • Media Industry Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Guest star packed comedy following a Hollywood movie studio executive and his team. It’s hectic, doesn’t take itself too seriously, and has an imposing lineup of famous people playing themselves.
- Queer representation: They are filming a movie with a lesbian kissing scene in episode 2. They also talk about having a same sex couple in the Kool-Aid movie when trying to see how they can bring diversity without being offensive.
- Beyond the rainbow: One of the actresses playing in the lesbian movie is Asian. The Kool-Aid episode is also focused on diverse representation.
Number One on the Call Sheet • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV+ • Media Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Inspiring two-part documentary that celebrates the milestones of Black actors as top-billed stars in Hollywood. Part one focuses on legendary men, while part two highlights women trailblazers.
- Queer representation: The docuseries features Cynthia Erivo and Tessa Thompson, who both identify as bisexual.
- Beyond the rainbow: The show focuses on successful Black actors and how they overcome hurdles to be “number one on the call sheet”.
Your Friends & Neighbors • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV+ • Rich People Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Sharp, dark comedy about a disgraced hedge fund manager who starts robbing his wealthy neighbors to keep up appearances in a posh suburb. As he digs deeper into their lives, he uncovers a web of secrets, betrayals, and a possible murder that could unravel everything.
- Queer representation: Maggie and Suzanne, Mel’s friends, are a lesbian couple
- Beyond the rainbow: Suzanne is Black
Got to Get Out • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Hulu • Challenge Based Reality Competition • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
High-stakes reality competition where 20 players, including reality stars and regular people, are trapped in a mansion with a ticking $1 million prize. They must decide when to escape with the money or stay and risk it all, leading to shifting alliances and surprise betrayals.
- Queer representation: Two of the contestants are openly bisexual women: Kim Zolciak-Biermann and Demi Burnett
Battle Camp • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Challenge Based Reality Competition • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
High-energy reality competition on Netflix where 18 stars from shows like Squid Game: The Challenge, The Circle, and Too Hot to Handle are split into three teams and face physical and mental challenges to avoid elimination.
- Queer representation: The show features Lexi from Ultimatum: Queer Love and Gio from Selling The OC. Both identify as bisexual.
With Love, Meghan • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Lifestyle Cooking Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Hyper produced lifestyle show following Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex as she hosts guest at her beautiful home and cooks beautiful dishes for them.
- Queer representation: In the first episode, she invites her friend and make-up artist Daniel Martin, who is openly gay. They mention his partner a few times.
- Beyond the rainbow: Daniel is of French-Vietnamese descent, Meghan herself is of mixed ancestry and she hosts a diverse group of people in the show. That being said, the whole thing feels very posh, sanitised and slightly out of touch with reality.
Sneaky Links: Dating After Dark • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Dating Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Surprisingly sweet dating show that puts six singles in a motel hoping for new flings. But, surprise! Their ex-hookups are there too. It’s messy, a little awkward, and somehow still kind of wholesome.
- Queer representation: The host, Chloe Veitch, is openly bisexual.
Sirens • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Rich People Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
White lotus-style drama that centers around two sisters who reunite on an island full of pastel-wearing wealthy white people, where the younger sister works for a wannabe cult leader. What starts as a protective older sister intervention quickly snowballs into manipulation, power plays, romantic entanglements, cult-like vibes, and hefty sibling drama that’s as sharp as it is unexpected.
- Queer representation: In episode 4, the cook who works on the island with the younger sister casually mentions that she has a wife.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Dept. Q • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Noir Crime Thriller • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Dark and gritty crime thriller set in Scotland following a newly established police department in charge of solving cold cases. It’s full of loveable grumpy characters with a decent plot around finding a woman who disappeared years ago.
- Queer representation: Two small characters are revealed to be queer in the show. The son of the small island police officer, where the woman has been kidnapped, mentions he’s gay during a car ride with one of the cold case detectives. Merritt’s PA subtly mentions she’s queer when being interviewed by the police about her relationship with Merritt, who unfortunately doesn’t “bat for the same team”.
- Beyond the rainbow: The queer PA woman is Asian. One of the main detectives investigating the case is a refugee from Syria who sometimes mentions his life as a detective back home. He’s a really great character and has fun banter with the British lead detective.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
The Waterfront • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Rich Corporation Family Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Darkly atmospheric family crime drama set in a small beach town in North Carolina, following the powerful Buckley family as their crumbling fishing empire draws them into poorly executed drug-smuggling, toxic betrayals, and moral chaos. The show blends pulpy intrigue with messy emotional arcs.
- Queer representation: Shawn, a bartender at the property, is gay, but it’s not a big deal in the show. He seems to mention it mainly in passing.
Ironheart • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Disney+ • Marvel Superhero Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Action-packed Marvel series set in Chicago, following teenage genius Riri Williams as she builds her own high-tech suit and steps into the legacy of Iron Man. Balancing school, grief, and superhero chaos, Ironheart blends coming-of-age energy with sharp tech battles and rising threats from both science and magic.
- Queer representation: There is a nonbinary character called Slug, played by famous drag performer Shea Couleé. It is also speculated that Riri is bisexual, but I couldn’t find any sources that confirmed it.
- Beyond the rainbow: Slug is a black nonbinary hacker, and a young Black female inventor leads the show. In general, Ironheart features a wide range of characters of colors in roles we don’t often see them play.
Building the Band • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Music Competition • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Reality competition where 50 singers are split into pods and have to form bands without ever seeing each other. The catch is that they only meet face-to-face after deciding to team up, testing whether vocal chemistry can survive the big reveal.
- Queer representation: One of the contestants, Pillow Prince, is openly queer.
- Beyond the rainbow: The cast is fairly diverse in terms of race and gender. This is refreshing to see, considering this is a boy/girl band competition. The bling element also encourages inclusivity by forcing people to choose bandmates without seeing them. Pillow Prince is a black queer guy.
Hitmakers • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Music Competition • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Music docu-reality series that follows a group of accomplished songwriters and producers as they gather for songwriting camps in places like the Bahamas, Nashville, and Cabo San Lucas, creating and pitching original demos to well-known artists.
- Queer representation: Two of the songwriters featured in the show, Ferras and JHart, are openly gay.
Are You My First? • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Hulu • Dating Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Reality dating show where 21 singles who’ve never had sex get thrown together on a tropical island. Instead of the usual hookups, it’s all about awkward flirting, first crushes, and seeing if anyone actually finds their first real connection. It’s part sweet, part messy, and kind of fascinating to watch unfold.
- Queer representation: The singles are all straight, but the show's host, Colton Underwood, is openly gay. This doesn't really affect the show itself, but it's worth mentioning in this list.
KPopped • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Apple TV • Music Competition • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇰🇷 South Korea • Fate Unknown
Music competition show where big-name Western artists team up with K-pop groups to redo their hits in a K-pop style, then perform live in Seoul while the crowd votes. Reviews are split between people who liked the format and those who thought it didn't highlight the K-pop artists enough.
- Queer representation: The show features several openly queer Western celebrities, including Mel B, Kesha, Boy George, and Jess Glynne. Their sexuality doesn't really play a role in the show.
Ruby & Jodi: A Cult of Sin and Influence • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭
HBO Max • True Crime Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Disturbing true-crime docuseries about how Ruby Franke & Jodi Hildebrandt abused Ruby's younger children in the name of religion after meeting Jodi. This docuseries seems to focus more on Jodi than the previous Hulu documentary.
- Queer representation: Ruby & Jodi are rumored to have been in a romantic relationship, but it wasn't confirmed by either of them. I don't know how deep this particular show gets into it, but they definitely touch on the topic.
Dish It Out • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Prime Video • Cooking Competition • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Fun cooking show where Tilly Ramsay opens mystery boxes of ingredients and teams up with celebs, influencers, and her own family to whip up dishes inspired by viral trends and homestyle recipes.
- Queer representation: One of the contestants, Frankie Grande is openly gay.
Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television • Season 1
🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
HBO Max • Documentary about the Media • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Educational two-part documentary that traces the rise of Black representation in American TV, starting from early stereotyped roles (like in Amos ’n’ Andy) to the cultural shifts led by Black creators in the ’90s and onward. It also digs into the behind-the-scenes: who owns stories, who writes them, and how creators like Oprah, Shonda Rhimes, Tyler Perry, Issa Rae, and others have pushed for more authentic, multilayered Black voices both in front of and behind the camera.
- Queer representation: The show features two openly queer women. Lena Waithe is a lesbian who has advocated for more representation for Black queer people, and Janet Mock is a trans woman and prominent activist for trans rights. She was also the first trans woman of color to write and direct for television.
- Beyond the Rainbow: The show focuses on Black representation behind the scenes and in front of the camera.
Next Gen Chef • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Cooking Competition • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Intense cooking competition starting 21 of the hottest young chefs who get thrown into a rigorous culinary bootcamp at the famed Culinary Institute of America. They're all trying to prove they can be the next big food visionary to a panel of legendary judges, with a sweet $500,000 cash prize on the line.
- Queer representation: Two of the guest judges are lesbians: Susan Feniger and Cat Cora. Cat Cora was the first female Iron Chef and has spoken publicly about her sexuality and family life. Susan Feniger is a longtime chef and restaurateur. She’s been open about her wife and activism in the LGBTQ+ community.
- Beyond the Rainbow: Next Gen Chef did a great job casting for racial and ethnic diversity among its 21 young chefs. The contestants bring varied culinary backgrounds (from modern Mexican to fine dining), and the judging panel itself is diverse, featuring Black Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy and prominent female figures in the food world.
99 to Beat • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Hulu • Challenge Based Competition • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Chaotic game show where 100 people frantically try not to come in dead last in ridiculous challenges. Imagine if someone took the “don’t be last” rule from gym class, added awkward team twists, and then let Ken Jeong commentate while your dignity rapidly evaporates. Honestly, it’s goofy, repetitive fun unless you came for prestige TV, then, well, condolences.
- Queer representation: Two of the contestants listed on IMDB are openly queer. Cara Maria Sorbello identifies as bisexual and Tommy Bracco is gay and married his husband earlier this year.
Nightmares of Nature • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Nature Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Dark nature documentary narrated and edited like a horror movie, following small animals trying to survive a "cabin in the woods" or "lost in the jungle" scenario . It’s a fun, spooky concept, though critics noted it can feel a little too staged and struggles to balance genuine facts with its intense, dramatic horror-film style.
- Queer representation: Openly queer actress Maya Hawke narrates the show.
Victoria Beckham • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Netflix • Celebrity Documentary • 🇺🇸 United States • Ended
Polished celebrity documentary that offers an intimate, highly-controlled look at Victoria Beckham's journey from an ambitious, awkward schoolgirl to Posh Spice to a respected fashion designer, primarily focusing on the high-stakes lead-up to her Paris Fashion Week show.
- Queer representation: The docuseries features a few openly gay fashion designers, including Tom Ford and Roland Mouret. It doesn't focus on their sexuality but rather on their connection to the fashion world that Victoria is also a part of.
The Road • Season 1
🏳️🌈
Paramount+ • Music Competition • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Country music-competition reality show following 12 emerging singer-songwriters competing to open for superstar Keith Urban on tour across the U.S. Contestants perform live at venues, the crowd votes, and one musician advances through the tour to win a recording deal, a spot at a major festival, and a $250,000 prize.
- Queer representation: One of the contestants, Briana Adams, is engaged to a woman. Her queerness doesn't seem to be highlighted in the show, but she's open about her sexuality on social media.
Returning Queer Shows
This is not an exhaustive list but I wanted to highlight a few returning shows that had great queer storylines and are worth watching!
The Ultimatum: Queer Love • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Dating Reality • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Season 1 was messy as hell and set the bar high for a second season. Let me just say that season 2 delivered! We had a good range of couples from young love to a 10-year-old relationship, with a good mix of masculine and feminine lesbians. Most of them should not be together if you ask for my opinion, but a surprisingly high number of ladies left engaged. This show proves that we need more lesbian dating shows out there. So much potential…
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
English Teacher • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Education Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
The main character is a gay teacher and season 2 focuses on its relationship with Malcolm. The relationship is struggling, largely due to Evan's over-dedication to his job and his need for control, which clashes with Malcolm's spontaneous nature. Harry, another gay teacher who was a potential love interest for Evan in season 1, still makes a few appearances but takes on more of a background role.
XO, Kitty • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Teen Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇰🇷 South Korea • Renewed
It’s one of those “full of queer characters” type of shows. It has bisexual Kitty trying to figure out her feelings for Yuri, who is in a relationship with another woman at the beginning of the season. She also has a gay best friend who has his own romance storyline. Since the show takes place in South Korea, most of the characters are Korean or Korean-American. Other ethnicities are also represented: Yuri’s girlfriend is Black, the gay BFF Q is played by an actor of Filipino & Iranian descent, and Kitty briefly dates an Indian student. It doesn’t have much commentary around race or Korean culture, but it does a good job at bringing together people from different backgrounds in a lighthearted K-Drama style show.
Black Mirror • Season 7
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Dystopian Scifi • 🇬🇧 United Kingdom • Fate Unknown
Episode 3, called “Hotel Reverie” has a plot centered around a lesbian romance between a popular present-day actress and the female lead of an old-timey romantic movie. There are some moving scenes about the actress from the past struggling because she couldn’t be out. It reminded me a lot of the other famous Black Mirror lesbian couple from San Junipero. The other episodes don’t have any notable queer representation, but the season deserves the four flags rating just for this episode! The present-day actress is a Black woman who’s annoyed at always being cast in the same type of roles and jumps at the opportunity of playing the lead (as in the typically male lead) in a remake of an old romantic comedy. It’s very special to see a typical black and white romance film being reinvented with two women as leads and one of them being Black.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Love on the Spectrum U.S. • Season 3
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Dating Show • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Pari, a train enthusiast and new addition to the cast, goes on dates with another woman. They have a great vibe going on and end up sharing a kiss. Both women are Asian, and Pari’s date has a visual impairment. They openly talk about their journey with autism.
The Last of Us • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
HBO Max • Zombie Apocalypse Scifi • 🇺🇸 United States / 🇨🇦 Canada • Renewed
Ellie, the main character in season 2, is a lesbian and has a romance storyline with Dina, who identifies as bisexual. Dina is Jewish in the game, but I don’t think they’ve established the same in the show.
The two first kiss while drunk at a New Year's party and slowly develop a more serious relationship while they travel together to Seattle. The romance isn’t the main storyline, but it’s at the center of a few episodes. I personally liked the two characters better in the game, and I think the showrunners made a lot of strange, awkward choices in the show. It’s still a good story, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite on-screen lesbian romance of all time.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
And Just Like That… • Season 3
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭👬♾️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿 | 🏳️⚧️
HBO Max • Friends Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
The show feels like the writers were given a checklist of diversity boxes to check and just spend their entire energy making sure they checked as many boxes as possible. Unfortunately, they forgot to write actual characters in the process so we just end up with a mess of token representation.
This season, we have Charlotte’s nonbinary kid, Rock, taking more of a backseat, but her sister (Charlotte’s other kid) is now in a polyamorous relationship with her bisexual Latino dancer boyfriend.
Miranda is looking for love. She has a brief encounter with a nun played by Rosie O’Donnell and a proper romance storyline with a British colleague and her 2 dogs. Honestly, I hope she gets a happy ending after all she went through with Che.
And of course, let’s not forget Charlotte’s annoying, snarky gay best friend who is still dating the well-endowed Italian guy and trying to sell bread to horny gays and middle-aged women.
Yellowjackets • Season 3
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Paramount+ • Survival Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Season 3 doesn’t particularly focus on a queer storyline, but the show still has a lot of main queer characters all openly living their queerness. We have Tai and Van, who continue living their renewed romance while Tai seems to forget about her wife and son. Shauna and Melissa have a weird romance story in the queer timelin,e and adult Melissa is married to a woman. Coach is also present in the teen timeline and makes a few comments about being gay. Tai is Black and is married (or was married, I guess) to a Black woman. They also have a son together. Tai was one of the most successful adults in the earlier season with her political career. Unfortunately, she takes more of a backseat in season 3 and is mostly focused on supporting Van. She also has a strange supernatural storyline about having a dark side to her.
Hacks • Season 4
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️ ♾️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
HBO Max • Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
Ava, one of the leads of the show, is bisexual, and she has a brief polyamorous relationship with a couple she meets at a sex shop. They eventually break up with her because she’s not ready to commit to anything. The show also features two gay guys as secondary characters. One of them takes Deborah to a gay club. The show also takes a strong stance against sexual harassment and consistently comments on the lack of women in comedy.
Nine Perfect Strangers • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Rich People Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Season 2 features a lesbian couple who are both musicians, but one of them is struggling with mental health and is unable to play the piano. They are part of the main ensemble cast, but their storyline takes more of a backseat. They also break up at the end without much of an explanation, but it’s presented as a way for them to move on and be happy. One of them is Black and comes from a poor background. The people around them are very accepting, and there are no issues with homophobia.
Kaulitz & Kaulitz • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Famous Person Documentary • 🇩🇪 Germany • Cancelled
One of the brothers is queer and dates men. He deals with a break-up at the beginning of this season, and his brother tries to hire a matchmaker to help him find a new partner. His sexual orientation is not at the center of the show, but it’s also openly embraced.
Squid Game • Season 3
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | 🏳️⚧️ | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Dystopian Drama • 🇰🇷 South Korea • Ended
One of the main game contestants of seasons 2 and 3 is a trans woman. She dies early in season 3, but she has a very touching and important storyline in the hide and seek episode. Overall, she was one of the best characters of the second game for me, and she is portrayed in a non-stereotypical and 100% positive light. Her transness is not ignored, but it’s also not the main aspect of her personality. This is a pretty rare instance of nuanced representation in a Korean drama.
All that being said, the character is played by a cisgender man, which is a problematic casting choice. The director explained that it was virtually impossible to find a trans actress in South Korea. I definitely believe that, but why go with a cis man instead of a cis woman, considering how far the character was in her transition? I don’t think any of the creators of Netflix did this with ill intent, and they reported having LGBTQ+ and trans consultants working with them, but it doesn’t sit 100% right with me. I still think the character was excellent outside of this, so I decided not to add the season in the red flags section.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Poker Face • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ️❤️👭👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Peacock • Procedural Crime Dramedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Poker Face returned with a season 2 full of incredible guest stars and two episodes featuring storylines with queer couples.
In episode 8, a gay couple helps Charlie expose a conman's crimes. One of the men is part of the conman crew, and his husband poses as a gangster. The show builds the fact that the husband is the opposite of a stereotypical camp gay into a twist.
Episode 9 centers around a con woman who seduces an Asian grandma to get her rent-controlled apartment. The grandma is bisexual, and her granddaughter is supportive of her sexuality but immediately suspicious of the con woman.
Both storylines have central queer characters, but they are treated like any other fleshed-out characters and don’t rely on stereotypes.
Shiny Happy People • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ️❤️👬 | 🏳️⚧️
Prime Video • Cult Docuseries • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
This second season of Shiny Happy People focuses on the Teen Mania organization. Episode 3 focuses on how Teen Mania actively fought against gay marriage and took a strong stance against gay people. In addition to this, the dad of two of the interviewees is gay and has found a new partner.
Finally, Mica, a Teen Mania alumni who took down the organization with zir blog uses ze/zir pronouns and is now a dedicated activist against white evangelism.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Beauty in Black • Season 2
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ️❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Soapy Family Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Season 2 of the show features a romance between two men: Charles and Varney. Charles, the younger Bellarie son, is in a secret relationship with Varney, the family’s lawyer. When Charles’ brother Roy finds out, he confronts them and tells the rest of the family.
Charles struggles with fully embracing the relationship: there are moments of distance, miscommunication, and danger (including threats from family and external violence) that put their relationship under serious strain.
Abbott Elementary • Season 5
🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈 | ️❤️👬 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Hulu • Workplace Comedy • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
In episode 4, Jacob brings his new boyfriend, Elijah, to Gregory's game night. Elijah is an outgoing Black guy who manages to put a positive spin on Gregory's crazy hosting fails.
Other than that, Jacob continues to hold a central role in the show as the goofy, nerdy teacher.
Shows that did not get it right
Shifting Gears • Season 1
🚩 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
ABC / Hulu • Family Sitcom • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
There is a lesbian mechanic at the dad’s car shop who has 2 scenes where all she says is basically that she’s a lesbian. It’s not played out for laughs, but it’s also very unnecessary and feels very much like a token gay character. The lesbian mechanic is Latina. Considering all of the main characters with actual storylines are white and straight, this is slightly ridiculous. But don’t worry, there is also a Black mechanic in a wheelchair to keep her company who has a touch more dialogue.
The White Lotus • Season 3
🚩 | ❤️👬
HBO Max • Rich People Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Renewed
The only two moments of queer adjacent representation in this season were an incestuous handjob between brothers and a hilariously disturbing monologue by a guy about not knowing if he wanted to fuck Asian girls or be an Asian girl. The show has fucked up storylines for everyone, and this season is still worth a watch, but it deserves the red flag for bad queer representation.
Want to read more about the show?
Aurelie Chazal
Unspeakable Sins • Season 1
🚩 | ❤️👬
Netflix • Soap Opera style romance • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
There is a central gay plot, but it revolves around a wife working with a male escort to trap her closeted gay husband and use his gay sexcapades as leverage. If the wife sounds awful, Claudio, the husband, actually sounds worse from the synopsis. He's abusive to his wife and equally horrible to his son. The show sounds like a typical soap opera with much exaggerated drama and stereotypes.
The Guest • Season 1
🚩 | ❤️👭 | 🫱🏽🫲🏿
Netflix • Romance Thriller • 🇨🇴 Colombia • Fate Unknown
Sonia sets out to destroy the life of a man named Lorenzo. In her scheme, she has a romance plot with his wife, Silvia. The romance seems to be mostly part of a revenge plot instead of a genuine connection.
Suits L.A. • Season 1
🚩 | ❤️👭
Peacock • Lawfirm Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Cancelled
There is a lesbian kiss in one of the promos, but it ends up being the main male character's dream about a threesome... Enough said.
I also write a weekly newsletter on Substack, sharing pop culture news and a round-up of new shows (queer and not) I've watched during the week. You can see examples of some of my posts throughout this guide 😃
