20 Best Shows That Honor Queer Voices, Ranked
20. Euphoria
Jules, played by trans actress Hunter Schafer, is one of the most nuanced trans characters on television. Her journey alongside Zendaya’s Rue explores dysphoria, desire, intimacy, and how gender identity intersects with love and self-image. ‘Euphoria’ doesn’t just include queer characters, it dives deep into the chaos and beauty of their internal lives.
19. Hacks
While ‘Hacks’ is about the cutthroat world of stand-up comedy, it’s also about queer mentorship. Ava, a young queer writer, clashes and bonds with Deborah Vance, an older, fiercely independent comedian. The show subtly explores generational divides within the LGBTQ+ community, and Ava’s queerness is part of her identity, not her crisis.
18. Gentleman Jack
Anne Lister was a real-life 19th-century lesbian who lived openly with her partner and documented her romantic exploits in code. ‘Gentleman Jack’ doesn’t just make her queerness visible, it places it at the story’s very core. It’s a radical reclamation of queer history in a genre that rarely tells such stories.
17. Grace and Frankie
While the focus of ‘Grace and Frankie’ is on older women rediscovering themselves, the story kicks off with their husbands coming out after being in love for decades. It centers late-in-life queerness, a demographic often erased from queer storytelling. The show challenges ideas about aging, sexuality, and the freedom that comes from living truthfully.
16. Feel Good
Mae Martin, a nonbinary comedian, plays a version of themselves navigating addiction, relationships, and gender identity. The show breaks binaries such as gender, emotional expression, sexual attraction, bringing raw, queer vulnerability to the screen without tying it up in neat resolutions.
15. A League of Their Own
‘A League of Their Own’ isn't just a sports drama, it’s a queer love letter to the women left out of the 1992 film. It introduces characters who are gay, transmasc, and nonbinary, and gives space to Black queer voices too. The show reimagines the past through a lens that asks, “What if the real queer stories had been told all along?”
14. Glee
Messy? Yes. Groundbreaking? Also yes. ‘Glee’ normalized queer teens on prime-time TV when that was still a risk. Kurt, Santana, Blaine, and Brittany offered a spectrum of queer experiences—from coming out to queer joy to navigating high school with glitter and grit.
13. Young Royals
Prince Wilhelm’s queer love story with his classmate Simon is steeped in tenderness, secrecy, and yearning. What makes the show distinctly queer is how it portrays the pressure to conform and the emotional toll of choosing authenticity over legacy. It’s coming-of-age with royal stakes and emotional intimacy, and perfect for those who loved ‘Red, White & Royal Blue.’
12. Our Flag Means Death
This pirate comedy is delightfully queer in theme and character. It flips toxic masculinity on its head and gives us a romantic lead (Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard) falling in love with another man—openly, sincerely, and without tragic consequences. It’s queer joy on the high seas, with eyeliner.
11. Orange Is the New Black
The prison setting allowed for a diverse cast of queer women and nonbinary characters. Laverne Cox’s Sophia became a historic moment for trans representation. The show explored complex queer relationships, trauma, and community…often raw and imperfect, but always human.
10. Fellow Travelers
Spanning decades of American queer history from McCarthyism to the AIDS crisis, ‘Fellow Travelers’ is a political and romantic epic. The show lays bare how love and repression coexisted back in the day and honors the private resistance of gay men who dared to love each other in a time of surveillance and shame.
9. I May Destroy You
Michaela Coel doesn’t give us a neat queer narrative. She gives us bisexuality, fluidity, and queerness as lived experience. The show challenges binary thinking and lets its characters explore identity and consent without labels limiting them.
8. Heartstopper
What if queer teens got the happy ending they deserve? That’s the warm and fuzzy landscape of ‘Heartstopper.’ Nick’s bisexuality, Elle’s trans identity, and the broader friend group all reflect a world where queerness is valid and celebrated. It’s hearty, it’s wholesome, and that in itself is revolutionary.
7. Queer as Folk
Both UK and US versions of the show were unapologetically queer. They showed gay sex, community, politics, and nightlife with a boldness that was rare at the time. The 2022 reboot expanded the lens to include trans, nonbinary, and disabled queer voices, evolving with the times.
6. Modern Family
Mitch and Cam gave American households a funny, familiar, and fully-formed gay couple. They got married. They adopted. They fought over home décor and family gatherings. For many viewers, they were the first queer couple who felt blissfully normal, and that visibility mattered. It still does.
5. The L Word
It wasn’t just the first major drama about queer women, it was a cultural moment. From Bette and Tina’s domestic drama to Shane’s chaotic love life, ‘The L Word’ gave lesbians and bisexual women their own soap opera. Its sequel, ‘Generation Q,’ expanded representation across the gender spectrum.
4. Schitt’s Creek
David’s pansexuality is never questioned by his family, his town, or his boyfriend. The world of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ is almost utopian in its absence of homophobia. It showed us a queer love story that was joyful, awkward, romantic, and completely normalized.
3. It’s a Sin
‘It’s A Sin’ is a devastatingly powerful portrait of young gay men in 1980s London. This was when the AIDS crisis loomed large. The show honors those lost too soon and those who lived, grappling with grief, trying to rebuild their lives. The story is deeply queer in its defiance, its friendships, and its refusal to look away from tragedy.
2. Looking
‘Looking’ dared to be small and quiet more than a decade ago. The show captured the everyday lives of gay men navigating identity, love, aging, and community in San Francisco. It was about the moments between hookups, the silence after a fight, and the intimacy of vulnerability.
1. Pose
No show has centered queer and trans voices, specifically Black and Latinx ones, like the groundbreaking and glamorous avalanche that was 'Pose.' Set in New York’s 1980s ballroom scene, it’s about chosen family, survival, and unshakable self-love. Featuring trans actors like MJ Rodriguez and Indya Moore in leading roles, the series redefined what trans representation should look like: real, radiant, and powerful.
