Well, we are approaching the holiday season and I am hoping that our friends in the Christmas Movie community are preparing a top-secret lesbian movie they’ve yet to inform me of personally. In the meantime, we have a November of television and movies on streaming networks that are relevant to our gay, lesbian and bisexual interests. In a bit of bad news for the robust transphobic and TERF community, there’s a surprisingly significant number of trans-centric projects debuting this month, although the quality of said projects is debatable. Let us dig in!
Netflix’s LGBTQ+ November 2024
Emilia Pérez
Whitney (2018) // November 1
This documentary about bisexual legend Whitney Houston “paints a more complex portrait of her family, adding new hues to our understanding of the singer’s life and career even as her own voice remains mostly absent.”
It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football (2024) // November 1
Former Spanish FA President Luis Rubiales gave soccer star Jenni Hermoso an unsolicited kiss on the lips after presenting her with the FIFA World Cup medal and Hermoso (who is queer) is one of several Spanish team members who appear in this documentary about how the team pushed back against this unchecked sexist, abusive institution, changing women’s sports globally in the process. Furthermore they will be telling a story that is also “about unity and friendship, a reflection on the concept of a team and its significance beyond personal goals.”
Arcane League of Legends: Season Two // November 9
Valerie described the first season of animated video-game-inspired series Arcane as “an epic sci-fi adventure about found family, queer badasses, and underground rebellion.” Its final chapter is debuting in three acts — November 9, 16 and 23 — with Hailee Steinfeld voicing Vi and Ella Purnell as Jinx.
Sprint: Season 2 // November 13
It’s time to follow our Sprint running superstars, for example queer runner Sha’Carri Richardson, into the Paris Olympic games.
Emilia Pérez (2024) // November 13
Jacques Audiard’s “audacious fever dream” is the story of a cartel boss who fakes her death and gets gender affirming surgery from a doctor played by Zoe Saldaña, changing her name to Emilia Pérez. Years later, she attempts to create an organization that helps others who’ve lost loved ones to cartel kidnappings, while also working on her relationship with her ex-wife (Selena Gomez). Drew called it “the most unique cis nonsense you will ever see,” noting “Not since Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways has a trans film been so bold and so boring all at once.”
Close To You (2023) // November 16
Elliot Page stars in this largely improvised film about a trans man heading home for a family reunion.
Adoration: Season One // November 20
When a 16-year-old girl vanishes, secrets come to light and disrupt a small community as her friends and family try to re-create her last movements. In cast pictures there are two girls who really truly appear to be a sapphic couple but maybe they are just really close friends or roommates. They could be gal pals, even.
Transmitzvah (2024) // Netflix
The youngest child in their family, Rubén challenged tradition by hosting a Bat Mizvah rather than a Bar Mitzvah. 20 years after that and living her life as a trans woman, she returns to her hometown in Buenos Aires as a celebrated and popular Yiddish singing star, ready to confront her family — and her past.
HBO Max’s LGBTQ+ November 2024
The Sex Lives of College Girls
Janet Planet (2024) // November 1
Set in rural Western Massachusetts in the summer of 1991, this A24 film is focused on 11-year-old Lacy, who spends her time enthralled by her own imagination and her mother Janet’s attention. Drew wrote that Janet Planet excels at capturing “the beautiful hell of queer childhood.”
The Sex Lives of College Girls: Season Three Premiere // November 21
Our beloved lesbian queen Renée Rapp and her lesbian character Leighton will only appear in a “handful” of episodes this season, a situation that’ll be followed by her total exit from the series. But she will have a story, in which she will learn some lessons and face some big choices, as one does. Mia Rodgers is joining the cast as Taylor, an international student who is “queer and proud, and very loud about it.” Local favorite Ruby Cruz (Bottoms star and Gabrielle Grace Hogan lookalike) is joining the cast in a recurring capacity and appears in an episode still with Taylor, so!
Get Millie Black: Limited Series Premiere // November 25
Former Scotland Yard detective Millie-Jean Black returns to Kingston, Jamaica to work in missing persons, eventually finding herself facing impossible cases including one that will “blow her world apart.” Her partner, Curtis, is a gay cop, and her sister Hibiscus (played by queer trans actress Chyna McQueen) is one of the “Sunlight ladies,” “a band of queer outcasts living hand-to-mouth yet exuberantly in the gullies that run throughout Kingston.”
Prime Video’s November 2024 Gay Stuff
My Old Ass (2024) // November 7
Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza star in this comedy that aims to tell a fresh bisexual coming-of-age tale by asking the question “what would you say to your younger self if you could give them advice on anything? And would your younger self even listen?”
Cruel Intentions: Season One // November 21
This “ruthless new series” based on a seminal 1999 cinema film integral to my psychological development is centered on privileged and ruthless step-siblings Caroline Merteuil (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Lucien Belmont (Zac Burgess), who orchestrate Greek life at elite D.C institution Manchester university. This is the third time a Cruel Intentions series has been attempted, and a 2015 shot did include some lesbian action. The trailer includes an almost-kiss between two of the female leads, but we also see two boys naked in bed, and I’d be very surprised if we got lesbian and gay subplots in the first season! Also Zac does not hold the smallest, most directly scented candle to Ryan Phillipe’s performance in the film.
Apple TV’s Gay November TV Shows
Bad Sisters: Season Two Premiere // Apple TV+ // November 1
Two years after Grace’s abusive husband John Paul’s “accidental death, the Garvey sisters (including Sarah Greene as lesbian sister Bibi) have moved on but past truths resurface, thrusting them back into the spotlight as suspicions rage regarding their involvement. Lies are told! Secrets are revealed! Lesbian actress Fiona Shaw is joining the cast as someone who for some reason cares that John Paul is dead (I do not care personally)!
Silo: Season Two Premiere // Apple TV+ // November 15
The last ten thousand people on earth are living a mile beneath its surface in a slio that protects them from the deadly, toxic outside world. In Season One, Juliette dared to explore the outside, and while she’s been reported dead to the community, many suspect otherwise as conversations of revolt rage on. Harriet Walter plays Martha, a lesbian engineer who works in Silo’s mechanical department and is close to Juliet.
