In a time where there are more LGBTQ+ characters on television than ever before, it’s not enough just to have an LGBTQ+ character present — there needs to be nuance and depth to their story, and the slate of characters should reflect the full diversity of this colorful community. This list comprises some of the shows that in the past decade have risen as champions of LGBTQ+ narratives.
A reimagining of the British series created by Russell T. Davies in 1999, exploring a diverse group of friends in New Orleans whose lives are transformed in the aftermath of a tragedy.
Teens Charlie and Nick discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love in this coming-of-age series.
This continuation of the acclaimed series follows the adventures and misadventures of newly 14-year-old Penny Proud and her Proud Family as they navigate modern life with hilarity and heart. The 2020s brings new career highs for mom Trudy, wilder dreams for dad Oscar and new challenges for Penny, including a socially woke neighbor who thinks she has a lot to teach her, bullying social media influencers who want to cancel her and her own teenage hormones. Penny's friends return, including Dijonay, LaCienega, Zoey and Michael. Penny's Suga Mama also returns, ready as ever to dispense tough love or a gentle hand whenever Penny needs it. Among the new faces are Maya and KG, new kids who not only have to deal with the struggles of being the new kid but also having two dads, a first for Smithville.
A group of high school students' exploration of modern sexuality (devices and all) tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.
A chronicle of four friends during a decade in which everything changed, including the rise of AIDS.
Two American teenagers come of age while living on an American military base in Italy.
Victor is a new student at Creekwood High School on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city, and struggling with his sexual orientation.
Small-town residents across America are recruited and trained to participate in a one-night-only drag show. In each episode, former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants help prepare their “drag daughters” by teaching them to step outside their comfort zones.
In this wryly humorous dramedy, stand-up comic Mae Martin deals with sobriety, addiction and a new relationship with her formerly straight girlfriend.
Three young friends attempt to navigate life, love, and their professional lives within the entertainment industry together.
Nicholas is a neurotic 25-year-old visiting his single dad and two teenage half-sisters, one of whom is on the autism spectrum. He hasn’t been particularly present in his siblings’ lives, but when their dad reveals that he is terminally ill, the girls have to cope with not only a devastating loss but also the realization that Nicholas is the one who will have to rise to the occasion, move in, and hold it all together.
A 45-year-old self-identified queer lesbian from Chicago enters into a transformative relationship with a millennial trans-man.
Ten years later, a group of diverse and self-possessed LGBTQIA professionals attempt to navigate life and love with some new friends in Los Angeles.
Set at the real-life East High, where the original movie was filmed, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series follows a group of students as they countdown to opening night of their school's first-ever production of “High School Musical.” Show-mances blossom; friendships are tested, while new ones are made; rivalries flare; songs are sung; and lives are changed forever as these young people discover the transformative power that only high school theater can provide.
Emily Dickinson. Poet. Daughter. Total rebel. In this coming-of-age story, Emily’s determined to become the world’s greatest poet.
Kate Kane never planned to be Gotham’s new vigilante. Three years after Batman mysteriously disappeared, Gotham is a city in despair. Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate soars through the shadowed streets of Gotham as Batwoman. But don’t call her a hero yet. In a city desperate for a savior, she must first overcome her own demons before embracing the call to be Gotham’s symbol of hope.
A group of teenagers experience the ups and downs of love and friendship in a world of social media, sex, drugs, and violence.
A young gay man with cerebral palsy branches out from his insular existence in hopes of finally going after the life he wants.
Insecure Otis has all the answers when it comes to sex advice, thanks to his therapist mom. So rebel Maeve proposes a school sex-therapy clinic.
Cuando tres adolescentes de clase trabajadora comienzan a asistir a una escuela privada exclusiva en España, el choque entre ellos y los estudiantes ricos conduce al asesinato.
Spotlights the legends, icons and ferocious house mothers of New York’s underground ball culture, a movement that first gained notice in the 1980s.
Emma and Lyn, two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles, couldn’t be more different or distanced from each other. When circumstances force them to return to their old neighborhood, they are confronted by the past and surprising truth about their mother’s identity.
Sam, an 18-year-old on the autism spectrum, decides it’s time to find a girlfriend, a journey that sets Sam’s mom on her own life-changing path as her son seeks more independence.
In a reimagining of the TV classic, a newly single Latina mother raises her teen daughter and tween son with the "help" of her old-school mom.
Rebecca Bunch is a successful, driven, and possibly crazy young woman who impulsively gives up everything—her partnership at a prestigious law firm and her upscale apartment in Manhattan—in a desperate attempt to find love and happiness in that exotic hotbed of romance and adventure: suburban West Covina, CA.
Suddenly broke, the formerly filthy-rich Rose family is reduced to living in a ramshackle motel in a town they once bought as a joke: Schitt's Creek.
The Crystal Gems are a team of magical beings who are the self-appointed guardians of the universe. Half-human, half-Gem hero Steven is the "little brother" of the group. The goofball is learning to save the world using the magical powers that come from his bellybutton and he goes on magical adventures with the rest of the Crystal Gems, even though he's not as powerful -- or smart -- as fellow group members Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Despite his shortcomings, Steven usually finds a surprising way to save the day.
RuPaul's Drag Race and Untucked return with more sickening styles, fierce challenges and backstage drama. Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews and celeb guest judges join RuPaul as she sets out to crown America's Next Drag Superstar in this Emmy Award-winning show.