The 30 Best LGBTQ+ Shows You Can Watch Right Now

• Who's in it: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey
• Number of seasons: 3

Otis (Asa Butterfield) is an awkward British high schooler who sets up a bootleg sex-therapy practice at school inspired by the work of his mother, Jean (Gillian Anderson). The show is honest and modern in its dealing with sex and sexuality, specifically as it relates to Otis’s best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), who gradually becomes more comfortable in how he feels about himself and how he presents himself to the world as a gay man.

• Who’s in it: Ryan O’Connell, Punam Patel, Jessica Hecht, Max Jenkins
• Number of seasons: 2

Ryan O’Connell writes, executive produces and stars in this series based on his 2015 memoir I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. O’Connell plays Ryan, a young gay man with mild cerebral palsy who decides to finally go after the life he wants. It’s sweet, funny and super easy to binge (the first season is made up of eight episodes clocking in at around 15 minutes each).

• Who’s in it: Dan Levy, Eugene Levy, Annie Murphy, Catherine O’Hara
• Number of seasons: 6

Fresh off its history-making run at the 2020 Emmys, Schitt’s Creek has never been more popular—for good reason. The Canadian series, co-created by Eugene Levy and his son, Dan, is—in addition to being hilarious—a refreshingly uncomplicated portrayal of queer love. You’ll root for David (Dan Levy) and Patrick (Noah Reid) from the moment they meet. (Also, Catherine O’Hara as Moira Rose is an instant queer icon.)

• Who’s in it: Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Maude Apatow
• Number of seasons: 2

HBO’s groundbreaking teen drama (which recently earned Zendaya an Emmy) is about Rue (Zendaya), a high schooler who’s in recovery after an overdose. We also meet her friend, and obsession, Jules (Hunter Schafer), who is trans and spends her evenings on hookup apps to have anonymous sex with closeted older (often married) men. Though their relationship is occasionally toxic, it’s a frank portrayal of Gen Z’s sexual fluidity.

• Who’s in it: Desiree Akhavan, Maxine Peake, Brian Gleeson, Saskia Chana
• Number of seasons: 1

Leila is a thirtysomething Iranian American woman living in London who has identified as a lesbian for most of her life. Now, though, she’s realizing that her sexuality may be a bit more complicated. Desiree Akhavan, who co-wrote, directed and stars in the show, gives viewers an honest portrayal of bisexuality and tensions within the LGBTQ+ community.

• Who’s in it: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia
• Number of seasons: 4

Murder, amazing clothes and a will-they-won’t-they relationship that occasionally veers into queerbaiting territory (but it’s OK, the show is incredible). Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer star as Eve Polastri, a British intelligence agent and Villanelle, a glamorous international assassin with whom Eve becomes obsessed.

• Who’s in it: Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, Maggie Siff, Malin Åkerman
• Number of seasons: 6

This seemingly straight white male series tells the story of hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis), the ambitious head of a hedge fund whose frequently illegal tactics are tracked by United States Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti). But the show’s huge—and sometimes hard to keep up with—supporting cast includes Taylor, a brilliant financial analyst who’s also the first non-binary character to be a series regular on an American TV show. They’re played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon, who we know from experience has helped middle-aged straight parents understand the concept of they/them pronouns.

• Who’s in it: Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Antoinette Robertson, John Patrick Amedori
• Number of seasons: 4

Adapted from director Justin Simien’s film of the same name, this fictional comedy-drama series follows students of color as they navigate life at an Ivy League school that deems itself “post-racial” but is really anything but. The series explores themes of race, gender and sexuality by skewering just about everyone for hypocrisy and double standards.

• Who’s in it: Mae Martin, Charlotte Ritchie, Lisa Kudrow, Phil Burgers
• Number of seasons: 2

Co-created by and starring comedian Mae Martin, Feel Good follows Mae, a Canadian comedian (a version of Martin's own persona), as she lives and works in London. At the club where she performs, she meets George, a repressed middle-class English woman, and the pair begin dating.

• Who’s in it: Melissa Barrera, Mishel Prada, Ser Anzoategui, Chelsea Rendon
• Number of seasons: 3

In this half-hour drama, a pair of estranged sisters reunite to run their mother’s East L.A. bar after she dies. When they get there, they’re shocked to discover that their mother—who was seemingly homophobic—had a wife. It’s heartfelt take on what it’s like to be queer and brown in America

• Who’s in it: Taylor Schilling, Laverne Cox, Laura Prepon, Kate Mulgrew
• Number of seasons: 7

Featuring an enormous cast of women across races, genders, classes and backgrounds, Netflix’s groundbreaking original series portrays queerness in tons of different ways, from the relationship between the bisexual Piper (Taylor Schilling) and Alex (Laura Prepon) to trans prison hairdresser Sophia (national treasure Laverne Cox).

• Who’s in it: Will Arnett, Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie
• Number of seasons: 6

This strange but wonderful series tells the story of an anthropomorphic horse named BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett), a washed-up star of a 1990s sitcom. Despite the cute animation and hilarious jokes, the show deals with serious themes of depression, addiction, trauma and more. It also features the only asexual main character we can think of, BoJack’s roommate and friend Todd (Aaron Paul).

• Who’s in it: Suranne Jones, Sophie Rundle, Joe Armstrong, Amelia Bullmore
• Number of seasons: 2

Anne Lister was an English landowner and diarist who lived from 1791 to 1840. Throughout her life, she kept diaries that chronicled the details of her daily life, including her lesbian relationships, her financial concerns and her work. Gentleman Jack is based on her collected diaries, which contain more than 4 million words and are written largely in secret code.

• Who’s in it: Melanie Scrofano, Shamier Anderson, Tim Rozon, Dominique Provost-Chalkley
• Number of seasons: 4

Based on the comic book series by Beau Smith, Wynonna Earp is a supernatural Western horror series. Melanie Scrofano plays the titular character, the great-great-granddaughter of legendary lawman Wyatt Earp. Wynonna returns to her hometown of Purgatory, near the Canadian Rockies, where she battles the reincarnated outlaws that Wyatt killed. The relationship between Wynonna’s younger sister, Waverly, and Nicole, the town’s new police officer, is widely celebrated because it doesn’t rely on traditional tropes about queer couples.

• Who’s in it: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Billy Porter, Indya Moore
• Number of seasons: 3

Arguably the most diverse show on television—in front of and behind the camera—Pose is a deep dive into the ballroom culture in New York City during the rise of the AIDS pandemic. With a mostly queer, Black and Latinx cast, learn about ball culture and LGBTQIA+ stories by stars like MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore and Billy Porter.

• Who’s in it: Zoë Kravitz, Jake Lacy, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, David H. Holmes
• Number of seasons: 1

In this reboot of the Nick Hornby novel and the 2000 John Cusack movie, Zoë Kravitz plays Rob, a queer New York City music store owner devastated by a recent breakup with her live-in boyfriend. Refreshingly, Rob doesn’t label her own sexuality, and her queerness is accepted by everyone around her—a welcome, if a touch idealistic, update from the very heterosexual film.

• Who’s in it (2019 version): Laura Linney, Elliot Page, Paul Gross, Murray Bartlett
• Number of seasons (2019 version): 1

Based on Armistead Maupin’s nine-book series, Tales of the City opens on the arrival in San Francisco of Mary Ann, a young woman from Cleveland who’s visiting the city. She impulsively decides to stay, finding an apartment at 28 Barbary Lane, where her landlady is the eccentric, marijuana-growing Anna. The books were first adapted for TV in 1993, with a cast featuring Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis as Mary Ann and Anna, respectively. In 2019, Netflix revived the series with Linney, Dukakis and many other original cast members (plus Elliot Page, Zosia Mamet, Victor Garber and more) reuniting on Barbary Lane for Anna’s 90^th birthday. The show has won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Limited Series a whopping three times (twice for the original series, once for the reboot), so yeah, it’s worth a watch.

• Who’s in it: Justina Machado, Isabella Gomez, Rita Moreno, Todd Grinnell
• Number of seasons: 4

Based on the 1975 sitcom of the same name, this delightful series follows the Alvarez family as they tackle issues like mental illness, racism and immigration. The show’s first season charted the journey of Elena (Isabella Gomez), a Latinx teen coming to the realization that she’s gay, and then figuring out how to tell her very Catholic family about it.

• Who’s in it: Gale Harold, Randy Harrison, Hal Sparks, Peter Paige
• Number of seasons: 5

Queer as Folk was a landmark show when it premiered on Showtime in 2000. Based on a U.K. series of the same name, it was the first American television show to depict gay men having sex. Throughout its five-season run, the series also tackled themes of adoption, abuse, living with HIV and more. However, despite its many revolutionary leaps, the show did not feature a very diverse cast. Luckily, this problem was remedied with an equally-winning reboot, which was released to Peacock in 2022.

• Who’s in it: Anna Cathcart, Choi Min-young, Anthony Keyvan, Gia Kim
• Number of seasons: 1

This To All the Boys I've Loved Before spinoff series follows Lara Jean's younger sister, Kitty (Anna Cathcart), as she travels to South Korea to attend a boarding school where her late mom was a student...which also happens to be where her long-distance boyfriend goes to school. However, things get complicated when Kitty arrives to the institution (fittingly named K.I.S.S.), and she finds herself tangled in a romantic web of affection.

• Who’s in it: Jonathan Groff, Raúl Castillo, Murray Bartlett, Frankie J. Alvarez
• Number of seasons: 2 (and a tie-in movie)

This short-lived series (created by Michael Lannan and executive produced by Andrew Haigh) follows a group of close-knit friends in San Francisco as they navigate the ups and downs of dating in the city. Although the series was met with positive reviews, it was canceled by HBO after only two seasons. Luckily, a television film was ordered by the network, which acted as the finale for the show.

• Who’s in it: Hailee Steinfeld, Adrian Blake Enscoe, Anna Baryshnikov, Ella Hunt
• Number of seasons: 3

Academy Award-nominated actress Hailee Steinfeld stars as literary icon Emily Dickinson in this historical dramedy series, which explores the titular writer's relationships (romantic and otherwise), including her feelings for her best friend, Sue (Elle Hunt). However, this is no regular period piece, because Dickinson incorporates modern elements into its storytelling, with its music, references and more.

• Who’s in it: Melanie Lynskey, Tawny Cypress, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis
• Number of seasons: 2

A high school girls' soccer team is headed to a championship game when their plane crashes in the wilderness, and they get stranded for months. Yellowjackets, follows two timelines: one in the ’90s, where the girls are trying to survive in the wilderness (while also dealing with regular teen problems like love, sexuality and friendship), and another 25 years later, where the women are dealing with the aftermath of that life-altering crash.

• Who’s in it: Kit Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao, Yasmin Finney
• Number of seasons: 1

When Charlie Spring (Joe Locke) gets seated next to the popular rugby star Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) in homeroom, he is unprepared for the close relationship that soon ensues. And when he starts to develop feelings for Nick, he is totally shocked when Nick reciprocates his affections. This feel-good series is simply about two high schoolers falling in love, and the group of queer friends who act as their support system.

• Who’s in it: Sarah Catherine Hook, Imani Lewis, Elizabeth Mitchell, Aubin Wise
• Number of seasons: 1

Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) comes from a lineage of vampires, and the time has arrived for her to take a bite from a human. Meanwhile, Calliope (Imani Lewis) is a monster-hunter who is desperate to make her first kill and impress her family. Despite the fact that they should be sworn enemies, these two quickly fall in love and have to balance their relationship with their legacies.

• Who’s in it: Verónica Castro, Cecilia Suárez, Aislinn Derbez, Darío Yazbek Bernal
• Number of seasons: 3

This Mexican comedy series, written in the style of a telenovela, follows the upper-class de la Mora family—specifically the three kids who must take over the family business when their dad gets imprisoned for fraud. When they take over the family floristry shop, “The House of Flowers,” they discover their father was secretly running a cabaret under the same name. The House of Flowers has been praised for its writing and acting, as well as for its LGBT characters, including bisexual son Julián (Darío Yazbek Bernal) and eldest daughter Paulina's (Cecilia Suárez), ex, María Jose (Paco León), who is transgender.

• Who’s in it: Edvin Ryding, Omar Rudberg, Malte Gårdinger, Nikita Uggla
• Number of seasons: 2

This Swedish teen drama series is like The Crown meets Gossip Girl. When Prince Wilhelm "Wille" of Sweden (Edvin Ryding) starts attending a prestigious boarding school, all he wants is to live a quiet life. However, when he ends up falling for his classmate, Simon (Omar Rudberg), his life becomes anything but private. And he has to decide whether he wants to follow his heart or focus on the responsibilities of the crown.

• Who’s in it: Heléne Yorke, Drew Tarver, Case Walker, Molly Shannon
• Number of seasons: 3

Cary (Drew Tarver) and Brooke Dubek (Heléne Yorke) are young adults trying to find their place in the professional world when their teenage brother, Chase (Case Walker), suddenly becomes a pop sensation overnight. The Other Two follows these struggling siblings as they attempt to make a name for themselves, encountering plenty of hijinks in the process. The way in which the show depicts Cary navigating the entertainment world as a gay actor is incisive (and hilarious).

• Who’s in it: Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi, Ewen Bremner, Con O'Neill
• Number of seasons: 1

Loosely based on the life of an 18th-century Englishman, this comedy series follows Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a gentleman who decides to take on the life of a pirate but quickly learns he is not quite suited for the role. As he takes his crew across the ocean, they must weather storms, sea creatures and even the famous swashbuckler Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). But for Stede, Blackbeard quickly transforms from a foe into a lover. Disclaimer: This isn't an average pirate tale.

• Who’s in it: Olly Alexander, David Carlyle, Nathaniel Curtis, Shaun Dooley
• Number of seasons: 1

It's a Sin is certainly not a light watch, but it's a powerful, moving tale that follows a group of friends in the U.K. from 1981 to 1991 at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. Written and created by Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk, Torchwood), this five-episode miniseries highlights how these friend learn to find light and love during one of the most disastrous periods in LGBTQ+ history.