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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:

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.

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).

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
  • DC Pride 2022
  • Death: The Time of Your Life (lesbian main characters, one is a celebrity who faces resistance from her team about publicly coming out)
  • 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.
  • Iceman (Marvel Comics): The 2017 and 2018 volumes revolve around original 60's X-Men member Iceman/Bobby Drake coming to terms with his sexuality and being an out gay superhero; Subject matter includes coming out and homophobia.
  • Killer Condom
  • Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me (Lesbian main character whose dating a Bisexual girl, 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
  • Lunar Girl and Scarlet Sparrow: The protagonists are a pair of lesbian Superheroes. The comic itself was made to promote a Short Film.
  • The Magic Fish
  • 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 
Animorphs

Ever After High

The Fairly Oddparents

Harry Potter

Kim Possible

The Legend of Zelda

Life Is Strange

Maria Watches Over Us

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

Naruto

The Penguins of Madagascar

RWBY

Sailor Moon

Sonic the Hedgehog

Steven Universe

  • Eyes on Me (Transgender female main character, lesbian main character, queer female romance)

Vocaloid

  • Problems AU (Transgender male main character, lesbian supporting character, intersex and nonbinary supporting character)

Warrior Cats

Crossovers

    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
  • The Bisexual: The plot is centered on Leila having to come out as being bisexual after years of presenting herself as a lesbian to her lesbian friends and ex. She gets some hostile reactions.
  • 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.
  • Drag You & Me: A Filipino dramedy series about a drag competition. Although the protagonist Betty is cis and straight, she is the daughter of two trans people and her family mostly consists of queer people. Almost every other main and recurring character is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
  • Ellen: The main character famously came out as a lesbian during the show.
  • Equal: A docudrama miniseries about the LGBT+ rights movement in the US, from its start to the end of the 1960s with the famous Stonewall Uprising. The institutionalized, rampant homophobia/transphobia they fought is shown, which included very common police brutality and hate crimes toward them. Many LGBT+ activists in these efforts are showcased, some well known and others not, played by actors in different segments from each episode.
  • Euphoria (Lesbian main character, bisexual transgender female supporting character; gender dysphoria, queer female romance, transphobia)
  • Faking It (Bisexual female main characters, intersex female main character, gay main character, bisexual male supporting character, gay supporting characters, trans male supporting character, lesbian supporting characters, coming out story, LGBT acceptance, LGBT youth, queer female romance)
  • First Day (Transgender female main character, trans boy supporting character, queer female supporting character, several minor LGBT+ supporting characters with various identities; 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)
  • The Handmaid's Tale: Two of the main characters on the show are lesbians: Emily/Ofglen and Moira, with supporting characters being lesbians too. On the show, Gilead's treatment of LGBT+ people is explored in greater detail than it was in the book it's based on. This ranges from execution, to enslavement (of fertile lesbians) and FGM being inflicted on Emily, who's caught having sex with another woman, showcasing the extreme homophobia which they face from the Gilead regime.
  • 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)
  • Legendary: A reality competition show whose contestants and judges are all members of the Ballroom queer subculture.
  • A League of Their Own (2022): Follows a woman's baseball team with many queer members. Coming out and homophobia are major themes. There's also a trans man who is a supporting character, who's estranged from his sister as a result of his gender.
  • Looking
  • Love, Victor: Sequel television series to the Love, Simon film about a Latino teenager coming to terms with his sexuality and his working-class family; the central character is a gay teenager, additionally a female supporting character comes out as bisexual, there are other supporting/minor characters on the LGBT spectrum; subject matter includes coming out, homophobia, queer male romance, LGBT youth, queer female romance.
  • The L Word: A series centered on a group of lesbian friends (plus one bisexual woman) living in the Gayborhood of West Hollywood, LA. Many different romances between the characters and other women are featured. Later one turns out to be a trans man, and him transitioning is delved into. Virtually all LGBT+ tropes at some point occur on the show (e.g. Closet Key, Coming-Out Story, homophobia etc). It got a Sequel Series which started in 2019 with new characters being added, mostly women of color but also one Asian-American trans man.
  • 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: Dramedy series about a gay African-American man and his love life and friendships with other gay Black men in Los Angeles.
  • Only Friends
  • 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 (UK)
  • Queer Eye (Reality show, gay hosts/personalities)
  • Theres Something About Miriam
  • The Real O'Neals: Sitcom about an Irish-American family and the secrets they keep from each other, the middle child Kenny comes out as gay; subject matter includes LGBT acceptance, coming out, LGBT youth.
  • The Rich Man's Daughter
  • RuPaul's Drag Race: A reality show hosted by the gay drag queen RuPaul, most contestants are on the LGBT spectrum.
  • South of Nowhere: Teen drama centered around a lesbian teenager coming to terms with her sexuality as her family moves from the midwest to Los Angeles, where she starts a relationship with a bisexual girl. There are several queer female supporting/minor characters; subject matter includes coming out, homophobia, LGBT youth, LGBT acceptance, and queer female romance.
  • Tom Swift (2022): A Spin-Off from Nancy Drew (2019) that reimagines the Tom Swift character as a gay Black man, additionally the main cast includes Rowan, another queer Black male chracter, and Isaac, who is a Black transgender man and pansexual. Subject matter includes homophobia, LGBT acceptance, queer romance.
  • Transparent: A trans woman in her 60s comes out, with the rest of her family struggling with their identities as well; the main character Maura is a trans woman, her eldest daughter Sarah is bisexual, and her youngest child Ali later comes out as non-binary.
  • Uncoupled: A sitcom about a gay man whos dumped by his longtime partner and has to navigate the gay dating scene.
  • When We Rise (Gay main character, several gay and lesbian supporting characters, transgender female supporting character, homophobia, HIV/AIDS)
  • XO, Kitty - Spin-off series to the To All the Boys I've Loved Before films, focusing on Lara Jean's sister Kitty. Yuri is one of the principal characters and she is revealed to be a lesbian in Episode 1 who is dating another girl (Juliana). The main character herself, Kitty, gets feelings for Yuri.

    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.
  • 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.
  • Lady Gaga:
    • "Born This Way" is a Self-Empowerment Anthem for LGBT people and other minorities, and references drag queens.
    • "Americano" is themed around gay love, legal struggles surrounding gay marriage, and the politics thereof. It was influenced in particular by the 2010 repeal of Proposition 8 (a proposition to ban same-sex marriage) in California.
  • Lil Nas X:
    • MONTERO: A big theme of the album is Gayngst and the struggles that come with being gay.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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:
    • 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.
    • 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
  • Desta The Memories Between (non-binary protagonist, themes of misgendering)
  • 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 Max, a bisexual teenage girl and Chloe, a lesbian teenage girl; subject matter includes queer female romance.
    • Life Is Strange: Before the Storm Prequel revolving around Chloe and her romance with Rachel, a bisexual girl.
    • Life Is Strange 2 (Bisexual male main character, queer male romance, gay and queer male supporting characters)
    • Life Is Strange: True Colors has a bisexual female main character Alex who can have a romance with either a lesbian character (Steph) or a male character indicated to be asexual (Ryan). The DLC "Wavelengths" has us play as Steph and discusses her time trying to date WLW in the town, also including a side character coming out as trans.
  • The Missing: J.J. Macfield 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.
  • Moonrise is about sapphic werewolves.
  • 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 a 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 
  • Aces is a sitcom web series about several asexuals and their trials in life.
  • 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, LGBT acceptance, LGBT awakening and coming out.
  • The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo: The main character is the titular Caleb, a gay struggling actor navigating through his friendships and love life. His friend group are mostly queer, both in sexuality and gender expression, themes include queer romance, queer sexuality, and exploring queer identity.
  • Gay Comic Geek: Gay creator/host Paul Charles reviews comic books from a gay male perspective.
  • Husbands: Online web series about two boyfriends who drunkenly marry when gay marriage is made legal in the United States.
  • 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.
  • Pretty Dudes: Most of the cast are queer, with their romantic troubles fueling most of the story.
  • 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
  • UNHhhh: Web series hosted by two drag queens Trixie Mattel and Katya taking about a variety of topics including LGBT-related issues.

    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: The main cast is almost entirely LGBT, features both lesbian and gay romances.
  • Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World: Stop-motion animated series about a married gay couple, additionally there are several gay and 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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