The majority of Christmas movies leave a lot to be desired in terms of queer representation. It can be a hard time of year for many in the LGBT+ community who feel underrepresented as we are given one conventional attractive, straight, white, cis character after another.
To find a good LGBT+ Christmas movie is like finding a needle in a haystack, so we’ve rounded all of the Christmas films that include a good dose of queer festive representation.
Let It Snow (2019)
When a snowstorm hits a small town on Christmas Eve, a group of high school seniors finds their friendships and love lives unexpectedly colliding.
Available to stream on Netflix.
Season of Love (2019)
A queer lady holiday romantic comedy that follows the lives of three very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set right before Christmas through New Years.
Rent or buy on tellofilms.com
Lucky Fares (2014)
One of the Three Kings and Santa Claus spend Christmas in jail, talking about what their future will be like in a world like this. This is a short film on social exclusion and the impossibility to be oneself in a hard world.
Watch in full on Vimeo in Spanish with English subtitles.
Make The Yuletide Gay (2009)
A uni student is out on his college campus, but hasn’t told his parents that he’s gay.
When he goes home for Christmas, his closeted act seems to be going fine until his current boyfriend shows up unannounced!
Available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime.
Meet Me At St Louis (1944)
This movie features queer icon, Judy Garland singing one of our fave Christmas songs, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas!
In the year leading up to the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, four sisters learn lessons of life and love as they prepare for a reluctant move to New York City.
Buy or Rent on YouTube.
Other People (2016)
A struggling comedy writer, fresh off a breakup and in the midst of the worst year of his life, returns to Sacramento to care for his dying mother.
Available to stream on Netflix.
Love the Coopers (2015)
When four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.
Buy or Rent on YouTube.
Red Lodge (2013)
Red Lodge is a perceptive look at how marriage equality has affected gay relationships.
This is a holiday story of two men trying to figure out just how much in love they really are — and if that love includes marriage.
Warning: it’s also likely to coax a tear or two from the romantics among you.
And best of all, you can watch it for free on Vimeo.
The Family Stone (2005)
An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his family’s annual Christmas celebration.
She quickly finds that she’s a fish out of water to their free-spirited way of life, and a whiff of homophobia in her attitude to her boyfriend’s gay brother turns her into a pariah.
Buy or Rent on YouTube.
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (2011)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT9ziLuOJ80
Rudolph gets bullied by the other reindeer for being different.
Hermie the Elf lost his job in Santa’s workshop for having different interests.
Rudolph, Hermie, bearish prospector Yukon Cornelius and the yeti-like Bumble form a community with the ghettoized residents of the Island of Misfit Toys.
Sounds pretty gay to us! Watch the full movie on YouTube.
He Could’ve Gone Pro (2016)
Debbie returns home for an obligatory Christmas dinner with her steel magnolia mother, but simmering resentment explodes to expose a long-held family secret, leaving the holiday – and the family – shattered.
Watch in full on Vimeo.
Last Christmas (2019)
The plot of Last Christmas is loosely based off of Wham!’s sensation of the same name. George Michael’s discography holds a prominent place in Kate’s life, often acting as “a soundtrack to her life, and other times being something that she is directly interacting with or performing”.
Emma Thompson began writing Last Christmas‘ script in liaison with George Michael before his untimely death on Christmas Day 2016. At the time, the film included themes of “queer politics” which the LGBT+ activist was interested in, although they don’t seem apparent from the trailer.
In Irish cinemas now.
Carol (2015)
I mean, we couldn’t have this list without Carol. Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman. It’s the one of the top Christmas movies of our queer dreams.
Available to stream on Netflix.
Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
If you watch one thing to get you in the queer Christmas spirit, make it this. While this Christmas special is not technically in the movies arena, it is a queer extravaganza featuring Cher, KD Lang and Grace Jones.
Available to stream on Netflix.
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