Hulu has created a hub for LGBTQ+ films and series that lists films and videos starring LGBTQ+ individuals and featuring LGBTQ+ stories. You need to have a Hulu subscription to view the page and to watch videos. Trailers for a few of these films are highlighted below.
A romantic comedy directed by Alice Qu, this film tells the story of Dr. Wilhelmina "Wil" Pang who is a successful surgeon and closeted lesbian. When her pregnant, unmarried mother moves into her apartment Wil works to balance family and her ballet dancer crush, Vivian.
Duration: 96 min.
Two closeted teens from Bedford-Stuy neighborhood in New York City unwittingly find themselves in the crosshairs of the FBI when surveillance footage of their secretive and tense behavior is wildly misinterpreted in this indie drama-comedy.
Duration: 85 min.
Adam, a small-town mechanic, decides it’s time to tell his friends and family he’s gay. Will his straight-as-an-arrow best bros have his back? A lighthearted and unexpectedly subversive comedy about coming out of the blue-collar closet.
Duration: 86 min.
In Montana, a father tries to liberate his young transgender son by taking him to Canada, but as a frustrated female detective spearheads an investigation, she discovers that the child’s family situation is more complicated than she thought.
Duration: 86 min.
This coming-of-age LGBTQIA+ drama takes place in a rural east-coast trailer park, where Link lives with his toxic father and younger half-brother. When Link discovers his Mi’kmaw mother could still be alive, he and his brother make a run for a better life. On the road, they meet Pasmay, a pow wow dancer drawn to Link. As the boys journey across Mi’kma’ki, Link finds community, identity and love in the land where he belongs. Available to stream June 24.
Duration: 100 min.
Starring Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, and Alessandro Nivola, a woman returns to a strict Orthodox Jewish community for her father's funeral after having been estranged and ostracized by the community for her sexual identity.
Duration: 114 min.
Other Hulu videos featuring LGBTQ+ creators, actors, and stories include:
Netflix offers many movies and shows with LGBTQ+ creators, actors, topics, and themes. A few are highlighted below. Viewing Newithtflix videos requires an account.
Heartstopper is a teen romantic comedy LGBT+ television series adapted from the webcomic and graphic novel of the same name by Alice Oseman. The series primarily tells the story of Charlie Spring, a gay schoolboy that falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson, who is coming to terms with his own sexuality. It also explores the lives of Charlie and Nick's friends: Tao, Elle, Tara, Darcy, and Isaac who are on journeys of their own.
Duration: approximately 30 min episodes
The Fear Street Trilogy is an American horror film series directed by Leigh Janiak from scripts and stories she co-wrote with other contributors. The films are based on R. L. Stine's book series of the same name. The three interconnected plot lines revolve around teenagers who work to break the curse that has plagued their town for centuries.
Duration: each film is approximately 110 min. Rated R for violence and language.
Halston is a 2021 American biographical drama series based on the life of renowned fashion designer Halston, starring Ewan McGregor. Born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa before eventually moving to Chicago and New York, the show chronicles his fame during the 1960s-80s, as well as his personal struggles.
Duration: approximately 50 min episodes.
Adapted from the internationally best selling novel series by Chinese author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, Heaven Official's Blessing is a historical fantasy story that follows former prince and god, Xie Lian. While on his third ascension to the heavens following prior banishments, he meets mysterious a ghost king that establishes himself in Xie Lian's supernatural investigations and hints that the two may have an intertwined past.
Duration: approximately 25 minute episodes
Untold: Deal with the Devil is a 2021 American biographical documentary made for Netflix and directed by Laura Brownson. The film is the second installment in the five-part Untold: documentary film series and focuses on the career and personal life of former professional boxer champion Christy Martin. While her well-known performances lead to numerous accolades and a rapid rise to fame, Martin struggled with domestic violence and acceptance of her sexual identity behind the scenes.
Duration: 67 min. Rated TV-MA for violence and language.
Other films and shows include:
ISU Library subscribes to Kanopy, a vast and eclectic collection of documentaries and feature films. Strong focus on educational resources, social, political, and cultural issues, and numerous international film classics. Films include closed captions.
This documentary film features raw, powerful interviews with 18 diverse cisgender and transgender women about their sexual & reproductive health histories. Women from a variety of racial and ethnic, age, sexual orientation, and class backgrounds candidly recount their histories with sexual education, early sexual experiences, abortion, birth control, relationships, gender transition, menstruation, STIs, gynecological exams, sexual assault, pregnancy, pleasure, and much more.
Duration: 59 min.
This film festival favorite follows a group of African-American gay and transgender youth in one of Washington D.C.'s most violent neighborhoods. After being subjected to constant torment and assault, the group formed their own gang for camaraderie and protection. An official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Duration: 91 min.
An intimate glimpse inside the life of internationally acclaimed drag performer Jinkx Monsoon. The film follows the passionate pursuits that transformed a working class boy in a struggling family to an illustrious performer on a global stage.
Duration: 81 min.
A compelling documentary about lesbians who discriminate against other lesbians based on gender roles. Director Nneka Onuorah takes an in-depth look at the internalized hetero-normative gender roles that have become all too familiar within the African American lesbian and bisexual community. This film features many queer celebrities, including actress Felicia “Snoop” Pearson from the critically acclaimed HBO drama The Wire, and Lea DeLaria from Orange Is the New Black, living daily with opinions about how identity should be portrayed. Onuorah's engaging documentary shines a light on the relationships and experiences within the queer black female community, intersecting race, gender and sexuality.
Duration: 66 min.
On March 11, 1959, Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun opened on Broadway and changed the face of American theater forever. As the first-ever black woman to author a play performed on Broadway, she did not shy away from richly drawn characters and unprecedented subject matter. The play attracted record crowds and earned the coveted top prize from the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. While the play is seen as a groundbreaking work of art, the timely story of Hansberry’s life is far less known. The documentary portrays the writer’s lifetime commitment to fighting injustice at a crucial time for black civil rights while also exploring her concealed identity as a lesbian and the themes of sexual orientation and societal norms in her works.
Duration: 117 min.
This film tells the story of how corporate sponsors coopted the concept of LGBTQ pride, turning it into a feel-good brand and blunting its radical political edge. The film locates the origins of pride in sites of grassroots resistance and revolt, going back to the anti-police Stonewall uprising led by queer and trans people of color in 1969. It then traces how the deeply political roots of pride morphed into the depoliticized big-business PRIDE™ spectacles of today -- multimillion-dollar events designed to project an image of tolerance and equality rather than calling attention to the relationship between normative identity, power, and sexual repression.
Duration: 62 min.
From Emmy nominated filmmaker Chris Moukarbel (Gaga: Five Foot Two, Banksy Does New York, Me @ the Zoo), this feature documentary offers a vibrant cultural history of drag and the annual outdoor festival that came to epitomize it: Wigstock. Drawing on unfiltered access to some of New York’s most famed drag artists – tenured veterans and talented newcomers alike – WIG follows legendary drag queen Lady Bunny as she aims to resurrect Wigstock for a new generation.
Duration: 90 min.
While the LGBT community has long had to struggle with stereotyping by outsiders, gay men also have to deal with widely held perceptions from their peers that they're supposed to fit a certain image - men who are stylish, carefully groomed, trim and to a certain degree effeminate. But not all gay men fit this profile, and this has led in part to the rise of "Bears" - gay men who are stocky, hirsute, outwardly masculine and proud of it. And as gay culture has moved closer to the mainstream, Bears have come out of the closet (or the woods) and become one of the more visible and active subcultures within the LGBT community.
Duration: 72 min.
A few humorous lgbtq+ TikToks are highlighted below. Other hashtags that may be of interest include #lgbtq, #queer, #lesbian, #bitok, and #trans. Videos can be viewed without a TikTok account.
