It’s that time again: a brand new month and a brand new slate of gay or possibly gay characters showing up on beloved streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Disney+ and Showtime! It appears this month that most TV services have given up on us so that The L Word: Generation Q can premiere in an environment similar to that in which the original series premiered. But let’s discuss what IS happening.
Netflix August 2021 Debuts with LGBTQ+ Characters
Pray Away (Netflix Documentary) – August 3rd
This Ryan Murphy documentary about gay conversion therapy talks to the former leaders and survivors of programs similar to Exodus International that promised to turn gay people into straight people but really just turned them into people who wanted to die.
Cooking With Paris (Netflix Original) – August 4th
My style icon and singer of legendary dance tune “Stars are Blind” has a cooking show and her guests include non-binary queer musician Demi Lovato!
Control Z: Season 2 – August 4th
In Season One of this Mexican drama, havoc descended upon the student body at El Colegio Nacional when a hacker started leaking students’ secrets to the entire student body — popular kids got bullied, outcasts became cool, and everyone was under suspicion. Know-it-all recluse Sofia raced against the clock to catch the hacker beofre more secrets went public. Alex was an out lesbian student trying to fit in, and Isabela De La Fuente was a trans woman outed by the hacker. What will happen in Season 2? Nobody on the internet wants to tell me! But the lesbian is back and making out in the trailer, so.
Alrawbi School For Girls: Season 1 – August 12
There is nothing to suggest that this show will be gay except that it is about an all-girls school and I understand those locations are notorious for this kind of activity. Even if nobody is gay though, it’s gonna be a great watch — the cast and crew is composed entirely of Arab women and it tells the story of how a bullied girl gets revenge on her bullies, only to learn that no one is all bad and no one is all good including herself!
Valeria: Season 2 – August 13
This Spanish series follows writer Valeria and her three best friends; Carmen, Lola and Nerea. In Season 2, Valeria is seeking inspiration after hitting a dead end with her career and relationship. Nerea is a lesbian who in Season One found herself living with her parents she wasn’t out to while she paid them back for her master’s degree.
Untold: Caitlyn Jenner – August 23
This five-part docuseries from the creators of Wild Wild Country “brings fresh eyes to epic tales from the wide world of sports.” The third installment of the Untold documentary series focuses on noteworthy Republican and transphobic trans Olympian Caitlyn Jenner as she recounts major life events like winning a gold medal, raising a family, and her coming out.
Streaming in Lesbian, Queer Et Al on Hulu in August 2021
Hulu is really determined to have as many lesbian films as possible, although I swear some of these they just keep dropping and buying back over and over and over!
All About E (2015) – August 1
E is a sexy DJ who finds a bag of money, goes on the run with her husband of convenience Matt and then flees to her ex-girlfriend’s house in the outback. This Australian film that got mostly bad reviews begs the question: “Can she keep the money, conquer her demons, AND get the girl?”
Black Swan (2009) – August 1
This is a film about swans in the pond who swim around all day long singing songs about swan stuff that we probably couldn’t fully relate to without actually being swans ourselves. Just kidding HAHAHAH it’s about ballet and feathers! There’s a sexual scene with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.
The Girl King (2015) – August 1
This mediocre queer film “paints a portrait of the extravagant Kristina of Sweden who fights the conservative forces that are against her.” Also she’s gay.
Liz in September (2014) – August 1
After viewing this film starring lesbian actress/model Patricia Velasquez as a terminally-ill lesbian who bonds with a woman who lost her son to cancer, Erin suspected that the film was aggressively recommended to her by Netflix because it knew she had a column where she recapped usually-very-bad lesbian films. But you can decide for yourself!
Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) – August 1
When Frances Mayes learns her husband is cheating on her, her gay best friend Patti (Sandra Oh) whisks her off to Italy for a wonderful tour where she purchases a rural Tuscan Villa. This is a classic from the Mommi cannon and Sandra Oh is gay, so.
Princess Cyd (2017) – August 5
In her VERY positive review of Princess Cyd, Heather Hogan describes it as “a character study of two women who clumsily and gently brush up against each other and find new happiness because of it. In the process one of them simply realizes she likes girls.” Also, Ro White who writes for Autostraddle is in it!
The Party (2018) – August 8
This witty modern social satire centers on a party thrown to celebrate Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas), an idealistic politician just announced as the shadow minister for health. Patricia Clarkson is April, Janet’s best friend. Cherry Jones is Martha, a lesbian Women’s Studies Professor who is friends with Janet. Emily Mortimer plays Jinny, Martha’s pregnant girlfriend who is also a chef.
Reservation Dogs: Season One (FX) – August 9th
Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo’s new and hotly anticipated half-hour dramedy follows the exploits of four indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma dead-set on doing whatever it takes to get out of their hometown and move to California. Every writer, director and series regular on the show is Indigenous. It promises “rappers, catfish, Indigenous superstitions and spirits both hilarious and terrifying, laughter, tears, unexpected grandmothers, decent people, terrible people and a cavalcade of supporting characters who color and shade this already vibrant world.” According to TV Guide, Paulina Alexis’s character Willie Jack is non-binary. Queer actor Devery Jacobs plays Elora Dananan.
Together Together (2021) – August 10th
“Nikole Beckwith’s Sundance dramedy Together Together is really two movies,” wrote Drew in her review of the Patti Harrison / Ed Helms / Tig Notaro film Together Together. “There’s the movie most people will see — a story of platonic love between a soon-to-be single father and his loner surrogate. And then there’s the movie I saw — the same premise filtered through an awareness that the woman at its center is one of the most talented trans performers working today.”
AWOL (2016) – August 11
This romantic drama follows Joey, an aimless young woman in a small town who thinks she’s found a path through an Army recruiting office visit but when she falls for a girl named Rayna, the path diverges.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 8 Premiere (NBC) – August 13
The final season of Brooklyn 99 starring bisexual legend Stephanie Beatriz as bisexual legend Rosa Diaz has offered us this really fantastic preview of what’s to come: “”In this final season of the series, Jake and the squad must try to balance their personal lives and their professional lives over the course of a very difficult year.”
Disobedience (2018) – August 26
According to Kayla’s review, the Rachels who star in this film best known for its spit play “deliver bruising, dynamic performances as Ronit and Esti respectively, two former friends and lovers from the same tiny bubble of a Jewish orthodox community in the London suburbs.”
All the Gays, Girls and Theys Content Coming to Amazon Prime Video in August 2021
Modern Love Season 2 (Amazon Original Series) – August 13th
Episode 5 of Season 2 of this anthology series based on the New York Times column tells the story of a middle school girl who finds herself having feelings for another girl and turns to social media quizzes for answers.
HBO Max’s Small Offerings of Queer in August 2021
HBO Max has been delivering a lot of queer content since its launch so this month’s weak slate is kinda surprising… so keep your eyes out!
Basic Instinct (1992) – August 1
Famous for its truly appalling bisexual stereotypes, Sharon Stone stars as a depraved bisexual murderer in this ’90s thriller.
Best in Show (2000) – August 1
Christopher Guest’s mockumentary about showdogs presents Jane Lynch as trainer Christy Cummings, a competitive handler working for poodle-owning couple Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot. But there’s more going on between Sherri and Christy than meets the eye, if you know what I mean and I think you do!
Vice (2015) – August 1
Allison Pill plays Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter Mary Cheney in this HBO biopic about Dick Cheney, which positions him as being the actual man pulling all the strings of the George W Bush administration.
The Hype: Season One – August 12
This reality show pits upcoming streetwear designers against each other in front of a panel of judges including A$AP Ferg, Cardi B, Dapper Dan, and Wiz Khalifa.
Disney+ Queer Content in August 2021
Diary of a Future President: Season 2 – August 18
Elena Cañero-Reed will be starting seventh grade while continuing to dream of her eventual position as President of the United States when Season 2 drops on Disney+ this August. Her Mom, Gabi, has a lesbian paralegal named Camila who is a close friend of hers and the kids.
Showtime Anytime Delivering Lesbians and Bisexuals in August 2021
The L Word: Generation Q: Season Two – August 6
Sophie, Dani, Micah, Finley, Bette, Tina, Nat, Alice, Tess, Angie, Jordie and Gigi are back to have crushes and makeouts and business deals and new jobs and fresh drama and extended families and the whole deal. I believe we have spoken of this program at considerable length and will continue to.
Work in Progress: Season Two – August 21
Season Two begins with Abby having determined she’s too busy to kill herself. She’s just starting to get her life together when SURPRISE! A global pandemic and a family emergency arrive to test her delicate equilibrium.
I’m always so excited for these monthly reports on what’s all going to be happening each month! Kind of a bummer there’s a lot of slack this month it seems, but I’m guessing/hoping that’s solely because we’re now dealing with the show-deficit that COVID created. Thank goodness we’ve still got Motherland to watch this month!
Same. Fort Salem is killing it. It’s such a great show.
Not sure if it’s ever been mentioned here before, but there’s a Scottish series called Clique that’s on Hulu now — 2 seasons of it. It’s kind of a trashy woman-centered thriller that’s very pretty to look at with a lot of gay undertones, overtones, and a lesbian character in the main ensemble played by the always excellent Sophia Brown (from Marcella and Disobedience). It’s no masterpiece but certainly very binge-y.
THANK YOU for this
Disney+ is also airing in August a very queer The Owl House episode! S2: E5-8 is what their Instagram post said (even though ep 5 is already up)
There is an Australian kids show about magic – The Bureau of Magical Things. While not implicitly queer- The main fairy and elf def have a friends to lovers vibe, plus the show is adorable for young ages. Or if you need to just have a break from your brain and really liked shows like The Librarians ..
I’ve been watching season 2 and the vibe is getting a little … more possible with the elf and a new character.
Netflix has been showing a Korean drama called Nevertheless that updates weekly. There are side characters called Sol and Ji-wan and they have a love story brewing. They honestly only have like 5-10mins worth of screen time per episode but I must say I’m totally obsessed. Gist of their storyline is that they’re best friends and Sol has been in love with Ji-wan since they were young. The most recent episodes had Ji-wan drunk confessing Sol is her favourite person and that she wants Sol to only like her and no one else.