QUEER TV TO WATCH FOR LGBT+ HISTORY MONTH
5 shows to watch that champion intersectional queerness
Queer television has never been better. You’d have had to be on a digital detox to miss the hype around It’s A Sin; the smash hit success has proved that queer issues appeal to mainstream audiences. To celebrate LGBT+ History Month, we’ve compiled five shows that champion underrepresented groups within queerness.
Pose (2018)
If you liked It’s A Sin, then Pose will appeal to you. Pose tells the story of a group of Black and Latinx transgender women and gay men living their lives, thriving in the Ballroom scene of 1980s New York. The series documents the euphoric heights of the culture’s boom alongside the tragedies caused by HIV and AIDS at the time.
The show follows Blanca (Mj Rodriguez), a woman who decides to start her own House, a community of people who work as a surrogate family. We see the prejudices Blanca faces as a transwoman starting her own business, and also the closeness she feels with her chosen family. The driving force of the show is desire and determination; I became so invested in every character, that success and pain felt like that of my closest friends.
Pose finally fills the gap of high-budget queer television. The costuming is intricate and gorgeous. The costume designer consulted members of the House of Xtravaganza, one of the most iconic Houses in the scene. The series was written and directed by a fully queer team, and this wealth of people who input into the series creates a real richness of emotion and varied representation.
The show made news, with the most regular trans actors ever for a scripted series.
Writer Ryan Murphy decided to donate his fee from Pose, citing himself as “somebody who’s been rewarded for being gay. I’ve monetized my pain and experience. More than just the money, what I want to do is raise awareness for these groups, so other people give back to them as well.”
FFO: I May Destroy You, The Get Down
Pose is available on Netflix and BBC iPlayer
Special (2019)
Special follows a gay disabled man trying to move out of his mum’s house and become a writer. The series explores complex codependent relationships, internalised ableism and sexual inexperience with a lightness of touch. The third episode revolves around a visit to a gay male sex worker who Ryan has sex with. The interaction is sweet and joyful, rejecting the sleaziness usually bestowed on sex work.
The show’s creator Ryan O’Connell plays protagonist Ryan, a 28 year old gay man with cerebral paulsy. After - barely- getting hit by a car, Ryan falls into a spiral of lies to cover up his disability to his new workmates. Ryan, who’d never acted on screen before, is compelling as the flawed but likeable protagonist. It’s a testament to the writing team that you manage to build affection for the characters in their bite-sized episodes.
O’Connell explained his decision to adapt his memoir for screens. “I thought it was crazy that there wasn’t more disabled representation in the media… I’m also inspired by things made for gay people by gay people.”
Special is impactful and touching; and in good news the first season can be binged in under two hours.
FFO: Shrill, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Special is available on Netflix
Anne+ (2018)
Anne+ is a down to earth rom-com series about a serial monogamist reflecting on her ex-girlfriends. Anne (Hanna van Vliet) is Romeo, if Romeo And Juliet was written by a 21st century lesbian who lives in The Netherlands. It’s distinctly positive and normalising of the queer experience.
The show follows Anne, dating her way around Amsterdam, whose main worry is how quickly she’s falling in love. Anne+ feels so organic in its representations of lesbian romances and queer experiences, including its inclusion of an actor transitioning during production. The surrounding cast are luminescent, especially Jade Olieberg as best friend Jip.
It’s a joy to watch a show based around queer women without the focus being on coming out or homophobia. The web series was crowd-funded because the producers saw a gap in the market. It’s heartening to storytelling about queer women actually made by queer women.
FFO: Lovesick, Broad City
Anne+ is available on Channel 4
Feel Good
Feel Good is a half-hour drama-comedy that packs a punch. Co-written and starring Mae Martin, the show explores the intense and unwieldy relationship between her and her previously-straight identifying girlfriend George.
Mae is a stand-up comedian and recovering addict, who realises she’s replaced her substance abuse with all-consuming romantic relationships. There’s familiarity with the pair moving in together after three months of dating, a classic lesbian stereotype. Martin and George (Charlotte Ritchie) seem so legitimately smitten with each other; in one scene, Mae tries to divert the conversation by telling George that she’s got the best face she’s ever seen in real life. George calls her bluff, “Mae, thank you, that’s really kind but you say that to me everyday''.
Sophie Thompson is hilarious and luminous as Mae’s Narcotics Anonymous sponsor. She tries to recruit Mae into her chaotic philosophy, “I’m far too busy to think about drugs” she says as she goes behind the bar in a trendy coffee shop to brew her own.
Feel Good is a show about questioning. It’s really refreshing and enlightening to see queer characters who are still discovering their identities. Mae, who is very secure in her sexuality, realises over the series that her gender is much less assured. Whilst her girlfriend George has to navigate coming out in her late 20s. The show addresses difficult issues thoughtfully whilst also being ‘laugh out loud.
FFO: Euphoria, Ghosts
Feel Good is available on Channel 4
Dear White People (2017)
Dear White People examines race relations at an Ivy-League College in the US, and how Black students’ lives intersect. The ensemble cast is often fronted by Logan Browning, who plays a politically minded media student trying to address the racism in her college. She starts a radio show, called Dear White People, as a call to action.
It’s a show that examines and parodies a lot of current culture; the format of an issue-based dramady explores realistic issues with an experimental edge, which is often only allowed by a white-centric show. The main queer character is geeky student-journalist Lionel. The show has been praised for its treatment of Lionel, and allowing him to expand far beyond the labels of ‘Black’ and ‘gay’ that other shows would have fitted him into. His exploration of queer community, and frustration of not fitting into the sub-cultures, allow for a really nuanced portrayal of young queer lives.
There are many queer side-characters, including Elle Woods-eque character Kelsey who reveals that she is a lesbian in the second series. Kelsey doesn’t see it as a ‘coming out’, she says she’s never hidden her sexual preference. It’s rare to see a darkskinned Black femme lesbian on the screen.
The show’s creator, Justin Simien, is gay, and spoke about why he included so many queer characters. “We've got to get the stories out, we've got to get people used to the many different varied stories so that each one doesn't represent all of us.”
So whilst this show is the least queer-centric on this list, it’s notable for queer characters of colour.
FFO: She’s Gotta Have It, Orange Is The New Black
Dear White People is available on Netflix