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Queer Media

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Works focusing on LGBT people, themes and relationships as the primary subject matter. This goes beyond media featuring queer characters and/or developing a supporting LGBT Fanbase; the works listed revolve around the lives of LGBT people and experiences. This often takes the form of:

  • Any kind of Coming-Out Story or story focusing on an LGBT Awakening
  • Stories focusing on Gayngst, Trans Tribulations and related tropes
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  • Stories whose central focus is on a Homophobic Hate Crime (not just one or two episodes of a crime series)
  • Documentaries or biopics about queer people with a significant focus on their queerness
  • Stories whose primary message is a Gay Aesop (not just one episode of a show)

Work which are not Queer Media:

  • Works with one of the above subjects as a subplot rather than the main plot
  • Works that are about a romance between queer characters—those are Queer Romance, a subgenre of Queer Media
  • Works with queer main characters or large amounts of queer supporting characters but whose stories are not about being queer.

This is a sub-category of LGBT Representation in Media. See the sub-category Queer Romance for media specifically about LGBT relationships. There is also the sub-category Speculative Fiction LGBT for Speculative Fiction with heavy LGBT themes. See LGBT+ Creators for a list of queer performers and artists.

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These can be contrasted with series which develop an LGBT Fanbase but aren't specifically aimed at one, as well as with genres such as Yaoi, Yuri, and Slash note  which have LGBT romantic or sexual plotlines but are generally meant for a straight audience (even if some series have an LGBT+ Periphery Demographic).

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Examples:

Sub-indexes:
    open/close all folders 
    Anime & Manga 

    Arts 

    Comic Books 
  • Associated Student Bodies
  • Bingo Love: The two main characters are queer (a lesbian and a bisexual woman); subject matter includes queer female romance.
  • Call Me Nathan by Catherine Castro and Quentin Zuttion (transgender male main character)
  • Cheat(er) Code: A gay erotic comic book; the main character is gay, the supporting characters are gay and/or queer men, subject matter includes queer male sex/sexuality.
  • Circles
  • Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles (gay main character, gay supporting characters, subject matter includes homophobia, LGBT acceptance)
  • Fence: LGBT sports series; the two main characters are gay/queer and the vast majority of supporting characters are male and either gay or queer. Subject matter includes queer male romance.
  • The Fire Never Goes Out: An autobiographical comic by comic writer/illustrator Noelle Stevenson who describes themselves as transmasculine and bigender and is married to a lesbian woman.
  • Gender Queer: A Memoir: Autobiographical comic by asexual, nonbinary cartoonist Maia Kobabe, which also features a number of lesbian supporting characters, gay supporting characters, a nonbinary supporting character and Maia's relationships with multiple women.
  • Killer Condom
  • Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (lesbian main character, dating a girl who dates boys and girls, supporting cast includes multiple queer girls)
  • Life Is Strange: A queer female romance story between the main character (a bisexual girl) and the deuteragonist, a lesbian.
  • Life Of Melody
  • The Magic Fish
  • Money Shot: The ensemble cast is sexually-fluid; the plot centers around a bisexual woman, who later gets into a romance with another bisexual female cast member.
  • My Friend Dahmer (gay main character, biopic)
  • The Pride
  • Pride High
  • The Prince and the Dressmaker: A story about a prince who likes to dress in beautiful dresses, the main character describes himself as sometimes not feeling like his assigned gender, subject matter includes gender non-conformity, gender dysphoria, gender euphoria, gender fluidity, transphobia, coming out, LGBT acceptance.
  • Roadqueen: Eternal Roadtrip to Love
  • SFSX (Safe Sex)
  • Snotgirl
  • Stuck Rubber Baby
  • The Witch Boy: A middle grade comic series about a young male witch struggling to fit in with his family and magic clan as only girls are born to be witches; at the heart of the story is a fantastic allegory regarding gender and gender dysphoria, the main character is a gender non-conforming boy, and several queer supporting characters, from other queer youth to a character having two fathers.

    Comic Strips 

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 
  • AJ and the Queen
  • The Assassination of Gianni Versace: A bio-miniseries revolving around the murder of gay fashion designer Gianni Versace, subject matter includes homophobia.
  • Beautiful People
  • Black Mirror: Striking Vipers
  • Bob and Rose (gay main character)
  • Boy Meets Girl
  • El corazón nunca se equivoca
  • Cucumber
  • Dragula: A reality show hosted by the gay drag queen couple Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet, all contestants are LGBT.
  • Ellen: The main character famously came out as a lesbian during the show.
  • Euphoria (lesbian main character, bisexual transgender female supporting character, queer female romance)
  • Faking It (bisexual female main characters, bisexual male supporting character, coming out story, gay supporting characters, LGBT acceptance, LGBT youth, queer female romance)
  • Fantasy Island (2021) (queer female main character, coming out story, LGBT acceptance, lesbian supporting characters, queer female romance)
  • Feel Good (nonbinary bisexual main character, likely bi female supporting character, lesbian supporting characters, gay supporting characters, queer female/nonbinary romance, coming out story)
  • First Day (trans girl main character, trans boy supporting character, coming out story, LGBT acceptance, LGBT youth, transphobia)
  • Finding Prince Charming
  • Fire Island (reality show with gay male cast members)
  • The Fosters
  • Gentleman Jack (lesbian main characters, queer female romance)
  • Heartstopper: A romantic teen drama series about a young gay boy who falls in love with his classmate. Also features a transgender girl, two lesbians and a bisexual boy among the main cast.
  • It's a Sin deals with the AIDS crisis in the United Kingdom during the 1980s, and how it impacts a group of gay men.
  • Koisenu Futari (two aromantic asexual main characters)
  • Lip Service (lesbian and bisexual female main characters, queer female romance)
  • Looking
  • Love, Victor: Sequel television series to the Love, Simon film about a Latino teenager coming to terms with his sexuality; the central character is a gay teenager, additionally there are gay supporting characters; subject matter includes coming out, homophobia, queer male romance.
  • The L Word (lesbian main characters, queer female romance)
  • Metrosexuality
  • My Husband's Lover
  • Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves
  • The New Normal (two gay main characters, subject matter includes LGBT marriage, LGBT parenting/family)
  • Noah's Arc (gay main character, gay supporting characters, queer male romance)
  • Our Gay Wedding: The Musical
  • Playing It Straight
  • Please Like Me (gay main character, gay supporting characters)
  • Pose: Period drama about the lives of NYC's Ballroom community through the AIDS/HIV crisis in the 1980s/1990s. There are several trans women main characters, and gay/queer male main characters, subject matter includes homophobia, transphobia, gender dysphoria, gender euphoria, HIV/AIDS, HIV/AIDS discrimination, LGBT acceptance.
  • Queen of the Universe: A reality singing competition featuring a cast made up entirely of drag queens.
  • Queer as Folk
  • Queer Eye (reality show, gay hosts/personalities)
  • Theres Something About Miriam
  • The Real O'Neals (gay main character, coming out story, LGBT youth)
  • The Rich Man's Daughter
  • RuPaul's Drag Race: A reality show hosted by the gay drag queen RuPaul, most contestants are LGBT.
  • South of Nowhere: Teen drama centered around a lesbian teen and bisexual teen girl and their relationship. There are several lesbian/bisexual female supporting/minor characters; subject matter includes coming out, homophobia, LGBT youth, LGBT acceptance, and queer female romance.
  • Transparent (transgender female main character, bisexual female supporting character, non-binary supporting character)
  • When We Rise (gay main character, several gay and lesbian supporting characters, transgender female supporting character, homophobia, HIV/AIDS)

    Music 
  • David Bowie:
  • Culture Club's Kissing to Be Clever: Most of the album's songs discuss frontman Boy George's relationship with drummer Jon Moss.
  • Gumbi500's "Night Illusion" is about an aromantic woman picking up someone at a club, and trying to make it clear that she doesn't want any romance with their dance.
  • Todrick Hall's Straight Outta Oz has several songs about being gay, drawn from Hall's own experiences. "Color" is about him falling in love with a man for the first time and how it changed his life completely. "Papi" is about him, a gay man, being hit on (and fetishized by) a woman and wondering if it'll affect his career if he says no and his sexuality becomes public.
  • Dev Hynes' Negro Swan's main themes are about gender and sexuality, especially the experiences of queer POC.
  • Lil Nas X:
    • MONTERO: A big theme of the album is Gayngst and the struggles that come with being gay.
  • R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi: "New Test Leper" is about a gay man with AIDS being harassed on live TV by a homophobic host and audience; frontman Michael Stipe based the lyrics on an incident that happened to a trans woman in real life.
  • Lou Reed:
    • Transformer: "Walk on the Wild Side" is an ode to and namedrops various LGBT members of Andy Warhol's inner circle.
    • New York: "Halloween Parade" details the heavy impact of the AIDS epidemic on the LGBT community in New York.
  • serpentwithfeet's soil has several songs about the singer's sexuality, including "slow syrup" (breaking up with a male lover) and "wrong lover" (being in unrequited love with another man).
  • The Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat: "Lady Godiva's Operation" discusses the use of lobotomy as a form of conversion therapy, describing a trans woman who dies from a botched procedure.
  • Vocaloid:
    • minato's "magnet" is about a forbidden romance between two women, and the suffering they have to endure because of homophobia.
    • SLAVE.V-V-R's "God Has Mistaken My Gender." is from the perspective of a closeted transgender girl who is wrestling with gender dyphoria while also realizing she's in love with someone, but feels she can't tell them her feelings because she's trans.
    • Teniwoha's "Villain" is about a transgender girl hiding that she's a girl from the wider world, but how that still brings scorn from people who think that she and her boyfriend are gay.

    Podcasts 
  • Gayest Episode Ever centers around queer themes in television sitoms, in particular their Very Special Episodes on the subject.
  • Moonface is about a gay Korean American man who wants to come out to his mother, but is stopped by the fact that he speaks little Korean and she speaks little English.

    Tabletop Games 

    Television Networks 

    Theatre 

    Video Games 
  • Caper in the Castro
  • Gone Home: Video game about a college student arriving to her family's new home, finding it empty and uncovering her family's secrets and finding her younger sister's relationship.
  • Life Is Strange: Video game about a girl with the power to rewind time and her budding romance with her former friend, the main characters are a bisexual teenage girl and a lesbian teenage girl, subject matter includes queer female romance.
  • The Missing JJ Mac Field And The Island Of Memories revolves around J.J and Emily, who are ambiguously a lesbian or asexual couple. The overarching plot is J.J coming to terms with her identity as a trans woman.
  • Mouth Sweet
  • A Normal Lost Phone (transgender female and bisexual main character, transgender, gay, bisexual and queer supporting characters, LGBT youth, coming out story, transphobia, homophobia)
  • Tell Me Why: Tyler is a gay transgender man, who flirts with (and eventually dates) a gay supporting character. Much of his story involves processing his emotions about returning to the town that mistreated him as child for being trans.

    Visual Novels 

    Web Animation 
  • In a Heartbeat is about a Sherwin, a middle school boy who is struggling to come to terms with his crush on Jonathan, the most popular boy in school. Sherwin must chase after his own heart to stop it from revealing his true feelings to Jonathan, and the entire student body.
  • Queer Duck

    Webcomics 

    Web Videos 
  • ContraPoints: Trans woman creator/host Natalie Wynn talks about a variety of topics from transgender issues to politics to philosophy; subject matter includes transphobia, gender topics, transitioning, LBGT acceptance, LGBT awakening and coming out.
  • Gay Comic Geek: Gay creator/host Paul Charles reviews comic books from a gay male perspective.
  • Needs More Gay: Video Review Show specifically devoted to gay media and media depictions of LGBT people.
  • Out With Dad: A series about a teen then young adult lesbian, who comes out as does her best friend/love interest (as bisexual). Along with the coming out topic, homophobia, general LGBT youth, LGBT people's families, transgender identities (including transphobia), asexuality, queer female relationships and LGBT acceptance by heterosexuals are themes.
  • Philosophy Tube: Trans woman creator/host Abigail Thorn discusses philsophy and politics; subject matter includes coming out, transitioning, LGBT acceptance, LGBT awakening.
  • Queer Kid Stuff: LGBT youth-oriented web series, queer and non-binary creator/host Lindsay Amer, subject matter includes LGBT topics and issues for children.
  • Sassy Gay Friend
  • Tales of a Homoromantic Ace

    Western Animation 
  • Flee: Dutch animated documentary feature, about a gay man from Afghanistan who fled persecution and wound up in Denmark
  • Out, part of Disney/Pixar's SparkShorts (animated short about coming out revolving around two gay men with one coming out to his parents, subject matter includes coming out, and LGBT acceptance)
  • Q-Force (main cast is almost entirely LGBT, both lesbian and gay romances)
  • Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World (two gay main characters, lesbian supporting characters)
  • Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling (reveals that the character formerly known as Ralph Bighead is a trans woman who changed her name to Rachel during a journey of self discovery. A major story element is her father Ed having to accept her new identity)
  • Super Drags (drag queens, three gay main characters)

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