Put the Queer Rep in your Netflix Binge
/As we prepare to spend more time at home over the next few weeks due to COVID-19, you might be wondering what shows and movies to finally get around to watching.
We got you covered. Here’s what to watch and all of it has LGBTQ+ characters!
1) Pose
Season 1 of Pose is on Netflix now! Pose follows the lives of Black and Latinx queer folks in the ballroom scene in 1980s New York. They face transphobia, homophobia, racism and the AIDs epidemic but strive to keep their close-knit crew together through community, dancing, activism, and all-round fierceness.
2. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
This interesting biographical movie is about the American Psychologist who created Wonder Woman and the unconventional family structure he was apart of. Showing sapphic love and poly life, this movie is all the more touching for being a true story.
3. Sex Education
Seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix. Sex Education is about teenage sexuality and all the nuances therein. Staring the unsure but knowledgable Otis as he provides a service of sex advice to his classmates. This show treats the spectrum of identities with such care and kindness it’s like a balm for the soul. Also, Gillian Anderson is in it, so.
4. One Day at a Time
A Cuban family and their goofy neighbour make this delightful sitcom. There are gay and non-binary characters throughout, and honestly, it’s just lovely. One Day a Time wasn’t continued for a 4th Season by Netflix and the fan outcry was so loud that another network picked it up!
5. Paris is Burning
A documentary about the real-life people of the Ballroom culture in NYC which explores race, class, gender and sexuality. This one is a pretty sad watch so mind yourself!
6. I’m not OK with this & Trinkets
This is a two-for. I’m not OK with This and Trinkets are both coming of age shows about troubled teens, the former with spooky powers and the later with a shoplifting habit. Both include lesbian characters! They have similar vibes but the characters are definitely different, you’ll gobble up both series quick!
7. Glow
The gorgeous ladies of wrestling! The 1980s was the golden age of perms, spandex and storyline wrestling shows. A band of misfits create a wrestling team and much drama, laughter, tears, romance and heartbreak ensues.
8. Tales of the City
O.K. The acting is patchy, we’re not going to lie. BUT this show has enough queer delights to make up for some forced dialogue. It centres around a big house in San Francisco and the people who have lived in it over the years. The house matriarch is the trans grandmother we all wish we had.
Not on Netflix, but honourable mentions must go to the following international pictures: Please purchase these movies to support queer filmmakers!
Rafiki
A Kenyan Drama about a lesbian couple. Rafiki was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board due to the “homosexual content” and the director successfully sued the government!
A Fantastic Woman
This Chilean film follows the protagonist, Marina, a singer and actress who is trans and how she deals with the untimely death of her lover.
Happy Together
From Hong Kong, this touching and heartbreaking film about two lovers, Ho Po Wing and Lai Yiu Fai, won the 1997 Cannes Film Festival.
