Streaming LGBTQ+ shows is easier than ever, thanks to the killer selection on Netflix. GLAAD has a mission, and it’s to make sure that within the next couple of years, 20 percent of series regular characters on primetime TV are LGBTQ+ to make for a more accurate representation of the world we live in. According to the organization’s 2019 annual diversity report, we’re on the right track, and the study also found that Netflix is still the best streaming platform for diverse representation of characters that openly identified as gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. LGBTQ+ representation is incredibly important, and though we’ve made some awesome strides, here are just a few TV shows you can stream on Netflix that are totally killing the game when it comes to accurate representation. Watch them now!
– Additional reporting by Lauren Harano
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Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
This fun-to-watch show follows an overachieving real estate lawyer, Rebecca, who leaves her job to win back her ex-boyfriend. During the show, one of the best storylines includes a relationship between two men and their trials and tribulations of starting a family. In another storyline, one of Rebecca’s good friends Valencia starts a relationship with a woman called Beth, and it’s about as healthy and beautiful as a relationship can be.
Riverdale
Based on the characters from Archie Comics, Riverdale is a dark and exciting series that covers everything from first loves to chilling mysteries. Two characters from the show, Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch) and Toni Topaz (Vanessa Morgan), get together after Toni helps Cheryl come to terms with her bisexuality. The show also covers a gay romance and the hardships of coming out.
Bojack Horseman
Touching on mental health, sexuality, addiction, sexism, racism, trauma, and more, Bojack Horseman follows a washed-up actor looking to get his job back on track. His roommate Todd comes out as asexual in the third season, and the way the show covered and portrayed this received wide acclaim.
Schitt's Creek
One of the most beloved shows of the year, Schitt’s Creek features a pansexual character played by Dan Levy. His relationships with both men and women are always entertaining, funny, and supersweet.
What/If
This suspenseful series stars Renée Zellweger as Anne Montgomery, a scientist who strikes a crazy deal with a mysterious investor to get what she wants on the business side of her work. In a separate storyline, Juan Castano and John Clarence Stewart play a gay couple who are currently exploring the ups and downs of a serious relationship.
Pose
Created by Ryan Murphy, Pose takes on the underground ball culture world of 1980s New York City, and the series has made history by featuring the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles ever. Set against the background of the AIDs crisis, Pose manages to feel like a sexy queer fever dream without ever losing touch with the very real things happening outside the club.
Queer Eye
In this reality makeover show, five gay men known as the Fab Five help new “heroes” turn around their lives, helping them improve their knowledge of fashion, food and wine, interior design, grooming, and culture. As wonderful as the original series – Queer Eye for the Straight Guy – was, this reboot has expanded its scope, taking on more than just straight men and stressing the idea of acceptance rather than simply tolerance of those who are different.
Shameless
This incredibly raunchy and hilarious series follows a woman attempting to keep her life, her relationships, and her five younger siblings together in Chicago’s South Side, while her bumbling alcoholic father continuously wreaks havoc on them all. Ian Gallagher’s coming out journey is one of the best aspects of the show – even if we’ll never be over him and Mickey.
Gypsy
Naomi Watts stars in this psychological thriller series as Jean, who appears to be just your run-of-the-mill NYC therapist – but secretly, she has a habit of developing illicit relationships with the people in her patients’ lives, and as you can expect, things get more than a little unprofessional.
Dear White People
Set on a fictional Ivy League campus, this dramedy never steers away from uncomfortable subjects, including sexuality. The show’s most prominent queer character, Lionel, really gets to shine in the third season when, after breaking up with his first boyfriend, he gets a chance to unabashedly explore other parts of queer culture, and we get to experience it alongside him.
Orange Is the New Black
When privileged New Yorker Piper Chapman is sent to a minimum-security prison due to her involvement with a drug runner 10 years earlier, she never imagines she’ll run into the woman who got her involved in the first place – and who also happens to be her old girlfriend. Despite whatever may be going on in the prison, Piper and Alex’s tumultuous relationship always seems to ground the show in reality.
Big Mouth
Voiced by an all-star cast of comedians that includes Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, and Jordan Peele, this raunchy animated series follows a group of teenage friends as they embark on the first stages of puberty. Of course, growing up also involves a lot of sexual exploration, and Jay Bilzerian might just be the bisexual icon we’ve all been waiting for.
Elite
In this Netflix crime drama, three working-class teens displaced by an earthquake are enrolled in the most exclusive school in Spain, and the clash between the classes erupts into a battle that eventually turns fatal. Though a murder mystery at its core, Elite features same-sex relationships as well as heterosexual ones, such as the romance between Omar and Ander, which we actually get to see play out screen rather than just hear about.
Grace & Frankie
Grace & Frankie revolves around two nemeses-turned-BFFs who both flee to their shared beach house property after their husbands leave them (for each other), and they must learn to live together, despite their very different personalities. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to finally come into your sexuality after you’ve gone gray, then this one’s for you.
Tales of the City
Based on the book series by Armistead Maupin, this miniseries stars Laura Linney as Mary Ann Singleton, a woman who returns home to reunite with her family and the sex-loving residents of 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco, 20 years after leaving her daughter (played by Ellen Page) and ex-husband behind to pursue her career. Expect to see a lot of colorful characters and a lot of ship-worthy same-sex relationships.
Bonding
In this new short-form dark comedy series, two former high school BFFs, Pete and Tiff, reconnect years later in New York City only for Pete to discover that Tiff (who attends grad school by day) is secretly one of the city’s top dominatrices, introducing Pete to a whole new underground world of sexual secrecy and BDSM. Can we please get more sex-positive shows like this?
Everything Sucks!
Taking place in 1990s in Boring, OR, this short-lived series follows the outcasts from the AV club and the drama club as they decide to ban together to become an unstoppable force – or, at least acknowledged – in the high school social scene. One of the best parts of this series is the feelings that Kate, the principal’s daughter, starts to develop for drama club queen Emaline, though TBH, who could resist falling for Sydney Sweeney?
The Politician
Ryan Murphy’s first Netflix series follows the tale of a wealthy Santa-Barbara-based student who is dead-set on becoming class president – and then president of the country. There are more queer characters in this one than we can count, and even though people in this high school would kill for class presidency, everyone is more than accepting of everyone’s gender identity and sexual preference.
One Day at a Time
This clever sitcom reboot of the classic Norman Lear series revolves around a Cuban-American family as they navigate life’s challenges together following the matriarch’s divorce. The show explores a relationship between the family’s lesbian teenage daughter and her non-binary love interest, and rather than feeling like a gimmick, the relationship feels authentic and extremely sweet.
The House of Flowers
This dark comedy follows the lives of a wealthy and dysfunctional Mexican family who owns a flower shop, and the matriarch’s attempts to save face after her husband’s affair (as well as all of the family’s secrets) comes to light. This series has served as a major turning point for modern-day Mexican television, as it features not only atypical families, but characters with a diverse range of sexual preferences and gender identities as well.
The L Word
This show is Sex and the City with hot LA lesbians, but even better, following the sexual escapades of a group of lesbians and bisexuals questioning their sexualities, hiding their identities, discovering their desires, and sleeping around – oftentimes with each other. Need we say more?
Dynasty
This reboot of the primetime ’80s soap of the same name revolves around two rival families in Atlanta, the Carringtons and the Colbys, and the tension between heiress Fallon Carrington and her billionaire father’s new wife, Cristal Flores, whom she doesn’t trust. While Steve Carrington’s gayness was a huge deal in the original series (as he was one of the first gay characters on American television), Steve’s sexuality in the reboot is no longer the catalyst for family feuds and is instead accepted by all – even if his career decisions aren’t.
Master of None
Loosely based on Aziz Ansari’s real-life experiences, Master of None takes a familiar premise and makes it feel refreshingly offbeat. This show also revolves around a group of New York-based friends and their personal struggles with careers and romances, but it also portrays struggles with identity, generational differences, and sexuality that you’re not as likely to find on similar series. If you want to ugly cry, just watch the Denise-centric Thanksgiving episode in season two.
Cable Girls
Based around four women working at the brand-new National Telephone Company in late 1920s Madrid, this series follows Lidia, Carlota, Ángeles, and Marga as they discover new talents, find their voices, and overcome their own private tragedies. Despite taking place near 100 years ago, this series has major queer storyline at its center, and you’ll find yourself rooting for Carlota and Sara to be together despite the odds.
Glee
Yet another Ryan Murphy creation, this dramedy revolves around the members of an underdog high school glee club as they find their voices and escape the harsh realities of high school within the safe confines of the choir room. From Kurt and Blaine to Brittany and Santana, the show tackles all the challenges that come with coming out in high school, when you might be accepted in the choir room but will have a much harder time being your authentic self outside of it.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
This Netflix series gets the Riverdale treatment, offering a dark new twist on the original Archie comic book character Sabrina as she is forced to choose between the human world and the witch world as her 16th birthday nears. Instead of using queer narratives as plot devices, this teen drama features characters whose narratives aren’t merely limited to their sexuality and gender identity, and though Susie’s journey isn’t without its challenges, it’s a more realistic coming-out story than you usually see in teen dramas.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
In this hilariously weird series, a former mole woman, an outrageous out-of-work actor, an eccentric landlord, and a delusional divorcée bumble through dysfunctional relationships and life in New York City. We just have two words for you: Titus Andromedon. That is all.