Gay shows to watch
The 35 Best LGBTQ+ TV Shows of All Time
Fellow Travelers ()
In this heart-wrenching Showtime miniseries, Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer compete two Capitol Hill men caught in the horrors of McCarthyism, falling in love despite a political atmosphere that is trying to crucify all its queer members. The reveal charts their relationship over the next three decades, all the way up to the AIDS crisis, with a beautiful, poignant story that echoes with political issues we’re still seeing to this evening. Just be sure to have a box of tissues sitting nearby.
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Hacks (–present)
In Hacks, viewers pursue a veteran comedian named Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), who realizes her career has been stuck in autopilot when she meets a struggling young penner named Ava (Hannah Einbinder), who inspires her with a renewed sense of creativity and drive. Through their relationship, we view the struggle of generations trying to learn from one another and, notably, how Ava’s bisexuality opens Deborah’s eyes to past prejudices.
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TV has been instrumental in the LGBTQ+ rights movement and in changing attitudes towards the community. It has also, perhaps most importantly, been a platform to tell stories that have made gay, dyke, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, and more people sense less alone in the world – to perceive there is a enormous and varied community to which they belong. One pioneering show at a time, groundbreaking character by groundbreaking character, TV and streaming series have given the world an perception into the LGBTQ+ encounter, and provided LGBTQ+ people with reflections of their own lives – stories to laugh along with, to cry with, and to identify with. In this list of Queer TV shows, we showcase shows that have broken ground, enlightened, and entertained.
We&#;ve arranged the list into four categories: shows that were big TV firsts, or featured TV firsts; shows that center on LGTBQ characters or life
People Are Sharing Their Favorite LGBTQ+ TV Shows Of All Time And, Wow, I Have A Lot To Watch
"By Season 7, our main cast was made up of a bisexual girl and her woman loving woman wife, a male lover man who invented time travel to save his partner, a fairly dramatic pansexual — arguably not cis — alien with a girlfriend, the only asexual on network television, and had just said goodbye to a pansexual man who’d had meaningful relationships with men and women — who just left, didn’t perish, just left. The rest of the characters were ostensibly straight, but all the actors said they were pleasant with the notion of their characters being LGBTQ+ as well and supported and encouraged headcanons. The show started with one multi-attracted woman and a bunch of linear people.
On top of that, it was just so much FUN, and big-hearted. This was a goofy family who had the top time and got up to the silliest stuff. It’s so joyful and a great antidote to serious, heterosexual superhero stuff."
—garebehr
Coffee, TV & Me
Believe it or not, there was a hour when finding LGBTQ+ characters and storylines was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Growing up in the s, I’d see the occasional ethics in a guest spot on progressive series like CBS’s All in the Family (remember Beverly LaSalle?) or get excited for a regular character on a show to be openly homosexual but then see him (at least initially) be portrayed as a stereotype. (I’m talking about ABC’s Soap where in its first season in , Jodie Dallas (Billy Crystal) being homosexual meant that he also wanted to wear his mother’s clothes. *sigh*)
But hitting on those stereotypes was probably the easiest way to get these stories on the air in the first place and, thankfully, over occasion those characterizations were broken down and replaced with more realisitic portrayals of queer life. Unfortunately, the AIDS epidemic in the s had to happen for a lot of those less-than-happy stories to be told.
For example, An Early Frost was a TV movie that told the story of a new gay man with AIDS (Aidan Quinn) who comes home to share his