LGBTQ Literature and Film: Movies & TV shows

A woman passes as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Some thirty years after donning men's clothing, she finds herself trapped in a prison of her own making.

In the 1840s, acclaimed self-taught palaeontologist Mary Anning works alone on the wild English coastline. She hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists to support herself. When one such tourist arrives in Lyme, he entrusts Mary with the care of his young wife Charlotte, who is recuperating from a personal tragedy. Despite their differences, it is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.

Set in 1985. Revolves around two very different men with AIDS, one fictional, one fictionalized. Roy Cohn, personifies all the hypocrisy, delusion and callousness of the official response to the plague. Nothing shakes Roy's lack of empathy: even on his death bed, he's fighting with his gay nurse and taunting the woman he helped put to death, Ethel Rosenberg. The other patient is Prior Walter, who is visited by an angel and deserted by his self-pitying lover, Louis. Louis moves on to a relationship with Joe Pitt, a Mormon lawyer whose closeted homosexuality drives his wife to delusions and brings his mother to New York.

The crown jewel of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Agent Lorraine Broughton is equal parts spycraft, sensuality and savagery, willing to deploy any of her skills to stay alive on her impossible mission. Sent alone into Berlin to deliver a priceless dossier out of the destabilized city, she partners with embedded station chief David Percival to navigate her way through the deadliest game of spies.

A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.

When seven cash-strapped seniors decide to 'outsource' their retirement to a resort in far-off India, friendship and romance blossom in the most unexpected ways.

The colorful, electrifying romance that took the Cannes Film Festival by storm courageously dives into a young woman's experiences of first love and sexual awakening.

An enthralling celebration of Queen, their music, and their extraordinary lead singer Freddie Mercury, who defied stereotypes and convention to become one of history's most beloved entertainers. Following Queen's meteoric rise, their revolutionary sound and Freddie's solo career, the film also chronicles the band's reunion, and one of the greatest performances in rock history.

An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution. The story is a time-shifting weave of six interlinking narratives, with diverse settings from the savagery of a Pacific Island in the 1850s to a dystopian Korea of the near future.

A small town smack bang in the American Midwest. Suzanna, aged 23 and using the name Coby, transitions into a man: Jacob. His transformation deeply disrupts the lives of all who love him; ultimately, Coby's chrysalis morphs into the transformation of a whole family compelled to modify their own perspectives. Not only a physical metamorphosis is at stake here, but also a spiritual one that eventually takes place under the director's bright, unusual eye.

Maya, a queer teenage artist, meets and falls madly in love with her crush: the sexually fluid designer, Jasmine. It's all gumdrops and fairytales until Maya discovers Jasmine's passionate relationship with a secret sugar daddy.

Texas cowboy Ron Woodroof's free-wheeling life was overturned in 1985 when he was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Shunned and ostracized by many old friends and bereft of government-approved medicines, he decided to take matters in his own hands, tracking down alternative treatments from all over the world by means both legal and illegal. Bypassing the establishment, he joined forces with an unlikely band of renegades and outcasts and established a hugely successful "buyers' club."

The remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

A sharp and funny comedy about a group of African-American students as they navigate campus life and racial boundaries at a predominately white college. A sly, provocative satire about being a black face in a white place.

A contemporary LGBTQ comedy loosely based on the epic romance of Roman Emperor Hadrian and his teenage lover Antinous. Set over Labor Day Weekend in coastal New England, a middle-aged playwright invites longtime friend, legendary TV diva, Charlotte Christian, and occasionally-working actor friend, Jay Mulch, to read his latest dramatic effort, a mythological comedy based on the epic romance of Roman Emperor Hadrian and his teenage lover Antinous. But when Jay brings along his new (and younger) lover Callisto, the feedback is spectacular.

A man's estranged father unexpectedly dies, so he goes home to Cape Cod and prepares the house for sale while sharing it with his father's temperamental live-in boyfriend. Grieving, they circle each other, butt heads, and negotiate how to remember the different man they both loved, and the significance of what he left behind.

A true story of a spectacularly charismatic con man's journey from small-town businessman to flamboyant white-collar criminal, who repeatedly finds himself in trouble with the law and on the lam, all in the name of love.

During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician, cryptanalyst and war hero Alan Turing to investigate a reported burglary. They instead ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of "gross indecency," an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality - little did officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing. Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany's World War II Enigma machine. An intense and haunting portrayal of a brilliant, complicated man, "The Imitation Game" a genius who under nail-biting pressure helped to shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives.

Young soccer star Charlie has the world at his feet. With a top club desperate to sign him, his future is seemingly mapped out. But the teenager sees only a nightmare. Trapped in the body of a boy, Charlie is torn between wanting to live up to her father's expectations and shedding this ill-fitting skin. Charlie's next move will tear the family apart and threaten everything they hold dear.

Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. They have two teen-aged children, Joni, who is Nic's biological child, and Laser, who is Jules' biological child. A big-hearted, sexy and uproariously funny movie that combines comedic surprise with poignant emotional truth.

A true story of friendship, love and murder ... recounts the pivotal year that changed Allen Ginsberg's life forever and provided the spark for him to start his creative revolution.

At 29, the most long-term relationship Sasha and Paige have ever been in is with each other, using their co-dependent friendship as an excuse not to venture out into the dating world alone. But when Paige meets nerdy Tim and starts to get serious for the first time, the nature of their friendship begins to shift. Fearing she's being cast aside, Sasha tries to keep their relationship the same, but does growing up also mean growing apart?

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for seventeen year old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life changing.

After nearly four decades together, Ben and George finally tie the knot in an idyllic wedding ceremony in lower Manhattan. But when George loses his job, the couple must sell their apartment and temporarily live apart until they can find an affordable new home. George moves in with two cops who live down stairs while Ben lands in Brooklyn with his nephew, his wife, and their teenage son. While struggling with the pain of separation, they are challenged by the tensions and capricious family dynamics of their new living arrangements.

His life changed history, his courage changed lives. Harvey Milk is a middle-aged New Yorker who, after moving to San Francisco, becomes a Gay Rights activist and city politician. On his third attempt, he is elected to San Francisco's Board of Supervisors in 1977, the first openly-gay man to be elected to public office in the United States. The following year, both he and the city's mayor, George Moscone, are shot to death by former city supervisor, Dan White, who blames his former colleagues for denying White's attempt to rescind his resignation from the board. Based on the true story of Harvey Milk.

Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary teenager, discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother, Clary joins forces with a group of Shadowhunters who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York City called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.

A Jewish family struggles to come to terms with the fact that their son is gay after he comes out of the closet at his cousin's wedding. Every attempt to understand their son's lifestyle and keep it a secret ends in failure when he and his partner try to adopt a child, blowing the lid off the closet door.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is based on the wildly popular novel by Stephen Chbosky about a freshman named Charlie who is always watching from the sidelines until a pair of charismatic seniors takes him under their wing. Beautiful, free-spirited Sam and her fearless stepbrother Patrick shepherd Charlie through new friendships, first love, burgeoning sexuality, bacchanalian parties, midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the quest for the perfect song

Based on the 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, PHILOMENA focuses on the efforts of Philomena Lee, mother to a boy conceived out of wedlock--something her Irish-Catholic community didn't have the highest opinion of--and given away for adoption in the United States. In following church doctrine, she was forced to sign a contract that wouldn't allow for any sort of inquiry into the son's whereabouts. After starting a family years later in England and, for the most part, moving on with her life, Lee meets Sixsmith, a BBC reporter with whom she decides to discover her long-lost son.

U.K. gay activists work to assist miners during their extended strike of the National Union of Mineworkers in the summer of 1984.

An epic musical fantasy about the uncensored human story of Sir Elton John's breakthrough years.

After their car breaks down during a storm, straitlaced couple Brad and Janet find themselves at the eerie castle of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. The innocent duo's mind-bending adventure escalates when their host, a sexually ambiguous mad scientist, unveils a stunning creation, a buff bodybuilder designed for her pleasure.

After the death of his longtime partner, a British college professor in Los Angeles struggles to find meaning in his life. As he dwells in the past, he begins to contemplate suicide. A series of events and encounters will lead him to question if there really is a meaning to his life after all.

Maggie and Milo are estranged twins who are reunited after ten years of being apart. Follow their unforgettable journey to reconnect, as they realize that the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.

Todd is a hyper-articulate, obsessive compulsive gay twentysomething whose fear of dying alone leads him to a baffling conclusion: he might not be gay after all. When he meets Rory, a whip-smart struggling actress with her own set of insecurities, the two forge a relationship that's all talk and no sex.

A gay couple, one a musician, the other a novelist, embark on a road trip as dementia starts to take hold of one of them.

It's Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn't been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles.

Laure is 10 years old and a tomboy. On arrival in a new neighborhood, she lets Lisa and her crowd believe that she is a boy. Summer becomes a big playground and Laure pretends to be "Mikael", a boy like the others, different enough to get the attention of Lisa, who falls in love with him. Laure takes advantage of her new identity as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret.

A fun and tender story about friendship and the complications of young love. Leo is a blind teenager who's fed up with his overprotective mother and the bullies at school. Looking to assert his independence, he decides to study abroad to the dismay of his best friend, Giovana. When Gabriel, the new kid in town, teams with Leo on a school project, new feelings blossom in him that make him reconsider his plans.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Emily Dickinson is writing prolifically and enjoying a passionate, romantic relationship with her friend and sister-in-law Susan. While seeking publication of some of her poems, Emily finds herself facing male literary gatekeepers too confused by her genius to take her work seriously. Instead, her work attracts the attention of an ambitious woman editor, who also sees Emily as a convenient cover for her own role in buttoned-up Amherst's most bizarre love triangle.

In this madcap and lighthearted comedic romp, introverted optometrist Weichung begins to question his marriage with his wife Feng, upon learning of her desire to have another baby. At his sister's engagement party, Weichung bumps into an old friend, Stephen, a wedding photographer who, though also married, is living the high life of a younger, single gay man. When Stephen teases Weichung for his newly straightlaced lifestyle, dormant emotions are awakened in Weichung, setting him off on a quest for true romance and desire.

Somewhere along the mid-nineteenth century American East Coast frontier, two neighboring couples battle hardship and isolation, witnessed by a splendid yet testing landscape, challenging them both physically and psychologically.

After Ray decides to transition from female to male, Ray's mother, Maggie, must come to terms with the decision while tracking down Ray's biological father to get his legal consent.

Jake Peralta is a Brooklyn detective with a gift for closing cases and little respect for authority. When no-nonsense commanding officer Raymond Holt joins the 99th precinct with something to prove, the two go head-to-head.

Enter the complex world of the Walkers and explore what it means to be an American family in the 21st century. Though they live very different and conflicting lives, the Walkers find unity under the family roof. Relationships bend but never break as they strive to find their own identities and embrace each other's differences.

Buffy's initial trouble adjusting to college life is soon overcome when she discovers the only difference between high school and college is that the monsters are bigger and badder.

When heroes alone are not enough, the world needs legends. Having seen the future, traveling rogue Rip Hunter assembles a disparate group of both heroes and villains to confront the unstoppable threat of the immortal Vandal Savage, a threat which not only puts the planet at stake, but all of time itself.

Centers around the lives of students who attend the Degrassi Community School and deal with the trials and tribulations of adolescence.

A talented group of high school misfits transforms into a performing sensation with the help of a dedicated teacher. Through laughter, tears, irreverent humor, and unforgettable music, they learn to follow their hearts and chase their dreams.

For as long as they can recall, Grace and Frankie have been rivals. Their one-upmanship comes crashing to a halt, however, when they learn that their husbands have fallen in love with each other and want to get married. As everything around the ladies is coming apart, the only thing they can really rely on is each other.

A couple who break up on their wedding day force their friends to pick a side.

Childhood sweethearts Alan and Celia, both widowed and in their 70s, fall for each other all over again when they are reunited on the internet after nearly 60 years. Their relationship is a celebratory tale of the power of love at any age. But this is also a story about family, and with family comes baggage. Celia's respectable, head teacher daughter Caroline is juggling bringing up two boys and dealing with her husband's infidelity, while Alan's daughter Gillian works to make a living on her farm.

A group of lesbian and bisexual women experience life in Los Angeles.

This season follows the intermingled lives of Bette Porter, Alice Pieszecki, and Shane McCutcheon, along with Dani Nunez, Micah Lee, Finley, Sophie Suarez and Gigi as they experience love, heartbreak, sex, setbacks, and success in L.A.

In the glamorous and ego-driven world of advertising, everyone is selling something and nothing is ever what it seems. Set in 1960 New York, this series reveals the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue's "Golden Age," where key players make an art of the sell while their private world gets sold. And no one plays the game better than Don Draper, the biggest ad man--and ladies' man--in the business.

Chronicles the lives of sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson. Masters, a successful OB/GYN, is conducting a secret study of human sexuality. Soon, he meets Virginia Johnson, a former nightclub singer who is now part of the hospital secretarial staff. He enlists her help with his study, and she quickly proves to be an asset to Masters' work. Together, they delve deeper than anyone before them into the science of sex and later become participants in their own research.

Modern Family takes a refreshing and funny view of what it means to raise a family in this hectic day and age. Multicultural relationships, adoption, and same-sex marriage are just a few of the timely issues faced by the show's three wildly-diverse broods. No matter the size or shape, family always comes first in this hilariously 'modern' look at life, love, and laughter.

Brooklynite Piper Chapman, whose wild past comes back to haunt her and results in her arrest and detention in a federal penitentiary. To pay her debt to society, Piper trades her comfortable New York life for an orange prison jumpsuit and finds unexpected conflict and camaraderie amidst an eccentric group of inmates.

Sarah is on the run from a bad relationship when a lookalike stranger commits suicide right in front of her. Sarah sees a solution to all her problems by assuming the dead woman's identity and clearing out her bank account. Instead, she stumbles into a thriller mystery, and uncovers an earth-shattering secret: she is a clone. She learns there are more like her, genetically identical individuals, nurtured in wildly different circumstances, and someone is trying to kill them off, one by one.

Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets.

Meet the fabulously dysfunctional Gallagher family. Dad's a drunk, Mom split long ago, eldest daughter Fiona tries to hold the family together. Eldest son Philip (Lip) trades his physics tutoring skills for sexual favors from neighborhood girls. Middle son Ian is gay. Youngest daughter Debbie is stealing money from her UNICEF collection. Ten-year-old Carl is a budding sociopath and an arsonist, and toddler Liam is, well, he might actually be black, but nobody has a clue how.

Follows a group of raucous teenagers who get high, get drunk, get laid and then, get up for school. Tony is the best looking boy in town. Sid is his sidekick who is less successful with the ladies, that is until bonkers anorexic case Cassie turns up. Sid's in love with Michelle, the school fittie, who goes out with Tony. Jal is a sassy musician who likes to party with Chris, Maxxie and Anwar.

The adventures of Superman's cousin in her own superhero career, supported by her adopted sister, Alex Danvers and the DEO.

Separate from the government, outside the police, beyond the United Nations: Torchwood sets its own rules. Led by the enigmatic, ever watchful Captain Jack Harkness, the Torchwood team delves into the unknown and fights the impossible."--

The small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana boasts a wide array of colorful locals. Sookie Stackhouse is a sweet and innocent waitress who hides her powerful ability to read minds. Bill Compton is a 173 year-old vampire who's just moved back to town. Sookie's brother Jason is a ladies' man who can't seem to stay out of trouble. Tough-as-nails Tara is Sookie's loyal best friend and Sam is the owner of Merlotte's who tries to keep his feelings for Sookie to himself. Lafayette is a man about town who's always cooking up something illicit.

Tara Gregson is a wife and mother with dissociative identity disorder (DID). After deciding to go off her medication to discover the real cause of her disorder, her alternate personalities re-emerge. T is a wild and flirty teenager; Alice is an old-fashioned housewife; and Buck is a male, loud, beer-drinking Vietnam Vet. Tara is supported by Max, her calm and level-headed husband; Kate, her somewhat troubled teenage daughter; and Marshall, her quirky, good-hearted gay son. Her sister, Charmaine, is not so supportive, often expressing her doubt about the validity of Tara's disorder.

Tells the comedic story of ageing partners Freddie and Stuart, two men who have lived together in their Covent Garden flat for nearly 50 years. Freddie was a budding actor and Stuart worked in a bar when they first met, but their careers are pretty much over and their lives now consist of entertaining their frequent guests, making sure that their aged dog Balthazar is still breathing, and hurling caustic insults at each other.

After saving the life of the president, two top Secret Service agents find themselves abruptly transferred to Warehouse 13, a massive, top-secret storage facility in the badlands of South Dakota that houses U.S. government. Now the pair, off-the-cuff Agent Pete Lattimer and by-the-book Agent Myka Bering, must chase down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects for their eccentric new boss, Artie Nielsen, to safeguard at the Warehouse.

Explores the LGBTQ video game community, "gaymer" culture, and role of video games in the lives of sexual minorities.

An intimate exploration of the struggles and choices facing transgender kids and their parents. Through moving, personal stories of children, parents, and doctors, this installment of Frontline examines new medical interventions increasingly being offered at younger ages.

Homophobia didn't just happen: orchestrated campaigns by cultural institutions and public figures have systemically instilled anti-LGBTQ prejudice into American culture by shaping public opinion. Although the LGBTQ+ community has witnessed progress with the Marriage Equality Act and award-winning LGBTQ+ shows and films, the psychic damage to gay people is deep and events like the tragedy that struck the Orlando PULSE nightclub is a reminder that hateful propaganda can sometimes be deadly.

Former U.S. Navy SEAL Christopher Beck embarks on a new mission as Kristin Beck. Kristin's journey in search of the American ideals that she protected has a whole new meaning as she lives her life truthfully as a transgender woman. After a lifetime of service, Kristin has learned that her fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not end on the battlefield.

True story about a man whose two defining passions the world cannot reconcile: his love for God and for his partner Mark. It is about church and state, love and marriage, faith and identity-and one man's struggle to dispel the notion that God's love has limits. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to be elected bishop in the high church. He confronts those who use religion as an instrument of oppression, and claims a place in the church and society, not just for LGBT people, but for all.

Nothing in society today is changing more than gender terminology, from LGBTQ, gay, homosexual, transsexual, transgender and more the terminology is changing constantly. Lift the veil on the world and explore the secrets of a world most misunderstand.

At a time when transgender people are banned from serving in the U.S. military, four transgender troops risking discharge fight to attain the freedom they so fiercely protect.