June often means the start of late summer nights and barbecues, but for the LGBTQ+ community, June means so much more since it's the official Pride month. Millions of people will celebrate their lives in the biggest of ways but some might want to do so in a private manner. Thankfully, there are hundreds of ways to celebrate and honor Pride month including streaming some amazing LGBTQ+ movies.
While LGBTQ+ movies used to be hard to come by, things have started to change and now nearly every streaming service has a nice selection to pick from, including Hulu. Titles range from teen movies to holiday and straight-up dramas and tell stories that represent a wide range of the LGBTQ+ community.
Booksmart (2019)
Actress Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut in 2019 with the release of the female buddy comedy movie Booksmart. It takes place over a 24-hour period and follows high school overachievers who are determined to cram as many wild high school adventures as they can on the eve of their graduation. As they party hop, try drugs, and more, the girls confront their futures and the status of their friendship.
At its core, Booksmart is a hilarious comedy about being a young teenage girl, but the story also gets serious when it comes to Amy's (Kaitlyn Dever) arc of discovering her sexuality. Over the course of the movie, she gets burned by her crush only to end up hooking up with a girl she never expected to.
Crush (2022)
Hulu's latest LGBTQ+ original movie is a teen dramedy called Crush. The movie centers on Paige Evans (Rowan Blanchard), a high school artist who is trying to finish her portfolio for college applications. After being wrongly accused of vandalism, Paige decides to find the culprit and joins the track team so she doesn't get suspended.
Not only does the track team keep her out of trouble, but it also gets her closer to her longtime rush Gabriela (Isabella Ferreira). However, it's not Gabriela who Paige begins to bond with but rather Gabriela's twin sister AJ (Auli'i Cravalho). Crush tells the very real and very messy story of three girls caught in a high school love triangle that actually ends in a satisfying way.
Happiest Season (2020)
Cheesy Christmas movies have long since been about heterosexual couples, but that has begun to change. Originally slated for a theatrical release, Happiest Season premiered on Hulu in November 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie centers on Abby Holland (Kristin Stewart) who agrees to spend Christmas with her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis) and her conservative family. While Abby originally plans to propose to Harper on Christmas morning, her plans are thwarted when she learns that Harper isn't out to anyone in her family.
While most of the movie revolves around Abby pretending to be Harper's platonic best friend, there are still tender moments where fans get to see the love these two characters share for each other.
Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)
The independent movie Kissing Jessica Stein was based on a scene from a 1997 off-Broadway play that the writers felt could be turned into something longer. The romantic-comedy centers on Jessica (Jennifer Westfeldt), a twentysomething who is fed up with bad dates and being single. When Jessica stumbles across a personal ad in the paper that includes one of her favorite relationship quotes, she thinks she might have found her soulmate. The only problem is the ad is in the "Women Seeking Woman" section and Jessica has exclusively dated men.
Jessica decides to go for it anyway and meets Helen Cooper (Heather Juergensen) who is also fed up with bad dates with men. The two instantly click and stumble through a relationship while figuring out their own sexualities.
Love, Simon (2018)
2018's Love, Simon made history by becoming the first-ever gay teen movie to be released by a major Hollywood studio. The movie follows Simon Spier (Nick Robinson), a high school junior, who has discovered he's gay but isn't ready to tell anyone quite yet. When another student reveals they're gay on an anonymous message board, Simon begins emailing the student, and the two forge a strong friendship.
As Simon's feelings for the anonymous boy grow, so does his need to live his life in an authentic way. Unfortunately, Simon's coming out moment is stolen from him but he comes to terms with his new reality by putting his heart on the line for the boy he loves. Love, Simon offers a hilarious, heartwarming, and at times, heartwrenching look at what it can be like for LGBTQ+ teenagers who are still figuring out who they are. Plus, when you finish you can check out Hulu's spin-off show, Love, Victor.
Moonlight (2016)
Though Moonlight might be remembered by many for being the movie that actually won the Academy Award for Best Picture instead of La La Land, the movie is more than that unfortunate moment. In fact, it became the first LGBTQ+ movie with an all-Black cast to ever win an Oscar and has done tremendous work for representation in the LGBTQ+ community.
The movie revitalized the coming-of-age genre by following Chiron (Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, Alex Hibbert) through his childhood, adolescence, and early adult life as he explores his sexuality and identity. As such, Moonlight is full of memorable and important quotes about growing up.
Saving Face (2004)
When Saving Face was released in 2004 it marked the first Hollywood movie to focus on a Chinese American family in over a decade. Written and directed by Alice Wu, the movie centers on a mother-daughter duo who are both keeping secrets from each other and the rest of their families. Wil's (Michelle Krusiec) secret is that she is a lesbian, while her widowed mom, Hwei-Ian (Joan Chen), is trying to hide the fact that she is pregnant.
When Hwei-Ian is kicked out of her parents' house for refusing to tell them who the father of her child is, she has no choice but to move in with her own daughter. Though Hwei-Ian and Wil are close, their living arrangement put a strange on their relationships, especially Wil's relationship with her girlfriend.
The Feels (2017)
Unlike other LGBTQ+ movies that are strictly scripted, The Feels is an improvised movie. The movie begins when Andi (Constance Wu) and Lu (Angela Trimbur) gather their friends together for a joint bachelorette party to celebrate their upcoming wedding. The fun weekend takes a turn when Lu admits that she's never had an orgasm with Andi.
As Andi grapples with the reality that she might not be great in bed, Lu and the rest of their girlfriends also deal with their own issues as they begin to reflect on their own love lives.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)
The Miseducation of Camron Post is based on the coming-of-age teen novel of the same name written by Emily M. Danforth. Set in 1993, the movie begins when Cameron (Chloë Grace Moretz) is caught in the backseat of a car with the local prom queen. Fearful of what this means, she is sent away to a treatment center to participate in questionable (and problematic) gay conversion therapies.
While suffering at God's Promise, Cameron befriends some of the other residents who admit that they're merely pretending to be "healed" in order to return to their hometowns and their lives.
The Thing About Harry (2020)
A Freeform original movie, The Thing About Harry centers on Sam (Jake Borelli), a gay college student who is hung up on his ex. When Sam is forced to give his high school bully Harry (Niko Terho) a ride home, Sam discovers that Harry isn't as bad as he thought. In fact, the two have something in common: they're both part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the course of the next year, Sam and Harry's paths continue to cross until finally, the two are unable to hide their attraction for each other and begin a relationship. Their relationship isn't easy and while they do break up, they do get their happily ever moment at the end of the movie.