11 Best Gay TV Series you Need to Watch in 2022
26 May 2022
Are you ready to add these “best gay TV series for 2022” to your next binge list? If so, keep reading!
We love watching all TV genres, usually cuddled up in bed in our van. And over the last few years, we’ve been super lucky to see an increase in gay and LGBT representation in TV series.
If you were around in the 1970’s, you’d know how amazing this is. When Tales of the City first aired, one of the first mainstream TV shows to have a gay character play a central role on screen, rightwing extremists threatened to blow up TV networks that would air it. That’s absolutely bonkers! We’re so glad we’ve progressed as a society that now seems to celebrate the queer and LGBT community on screen.
There aren’t only more amazing gay series to watch than ever before, but also so many gay books and gay movies with gay and LGBT characters at the forefront worthy of a binge too.
For now though, here are the best gay and LGBT series to watch in 2022. Enjoy!
The best gay TV series to watch in 2022
11. Hollywood - gay TV drama show on Netflix
Hollywood is about a group of (hot) young actors trying to make it big in showbiz after WWII. It’s based on the lives of three real life actors, one being a closeted actor who died of AIDS in the 1980’s.
Firstly, the men are incredibly good looking (I’m looking at you David Corenswet). Second, there are some pretty good gay sex scenes. Third, Hollywood is the show that made us realise the power of popular culture. How popular culture can be more influential than politics. I honestly believe this show gave us the courage to start our Instagram account focusing on gay travel media in Australia.
Now, we have over 44,000 followers.
Thanks Hollywood!
10. Six Feet Under - gay TV drama series on Hulu
Six Feet Under is a TV classic. If you’ve ever wanted to see Michael C. Hall play a gay character on screen, Six Feet Under is the show you’ve been looking for.
It’s a bit dark, and every episode of this show revolves around a random death processed at a funeral home. So if you’re looking for a gay TV comedy this might not be for you. But if you love a good cry like I do, then this one is definitely for you.
9. Queer As Folk - gay TV drama series on Hulu
This TV show literally centres on gay men and gay couples living their lives and navigating all things gay love. It got me so hot and bothered when I was younger! I was 14 when I first found it, and I’d never seen any TV shows with gay couples having sex before.
So when I accidentally turned on the TV and a super hot sex scene between the main character and his colleague on the desk in his office, I became an instant fan.
Queer as Folk was definitely one the first mainstream TV shows about all gay characters. Yes, this gay TV drama has lots of streamy scenes, but it also has some heartfelt and wholesome moments too.
8. Elite - LGBT drama show on Netflix
Charlie wouldn’t let me publish this “best gay TV series” list without including Elite.
According to Charlie, this Netflix show with LGBT characters is a Spanish murder mystery set in a high-school with some very, very attractive students. But what’s epic about Elite is that it is SO progressive and open-minded. This is a TV show with gay couples, lesbian couples, throuples, and lots and lots of experimentation. Need I say more?
Charlie: “the gay sex scenes in this TV show are SO GOOD too”. Some scenes even include these young high-schooler’s attending parties based purely on experimentation – e.g., you’re only allowed to come to the party if you are open to trying new things, like kissing someone of the same sex. I wish I had those parties at my school!
So add Elite to your foreign LGBT shows to watch on Netflix.
7. Love Victor - gay coming-of-age TV series on Disney+
Love Victor is such a great gay coming-of-age TV show, and is set in the world of one of my favourite gay movies of all time, Love Simon.
Love Victor is about Victor, a gay lead character who hasn’t come out to his little Hispanic family yet. In this gay TV show, Victor has a girlfriend, then likes a boy, and starts to come to terms with what this means for him while navigating his religious and conversative family.
It’s a cute watch with quite a few feel good moments, that it should leave your heart feeling pretty full.
6. Tales of the City - LGBT drama on Netflix
As mentioned earlier, Tales of the City paved the way forward for LGBT+ representation in television, movies, and literature. It was one of the first LGBT series that had an openly gay character, where the story didn’t focus on him dying of AIDS or being rejected by his loved ones for his sexuality.
When mainstream TV networks aired Tales of the City, there was backlash. Rightwing extremists threatened to blow up the network! What the hell! Showtime still chose to screen Tales of the City, and this show will forever remain at the forefront of the LGBT+ movement. Armistead Maupin and Laura Linney are the absolute best LGBT+ allies ever.
Tales of the City is also featured in our best gay books of all time list. The book is a 9-part book series that goes far more in depth than this gay TV series does.
5. Please Like Me - gay Australian TV comedy series on Netflix
Are you looking for a comedy TV show with a gay character? Then this one is for you!
Please Like Me was created and written by gay Australian comedian Josh Thomas and I genuinely feel this is hands down one of the funniest and most heartfelt things I’ve watched on screen.
True Story: when I finished watching this show, I messaged Josh Thomas asking if we could go on a date because of how much I loved it. He lived in Melbourne, and I was willing to fly down from Sydney to meet him. I was a little obsessed.
Unfortunately, Josh didn’t respond. But that’s okay, because then I met Charlie…
Please Like Me is kind of like a sitcom with a gay lead character, but one that touches on mental health, the struggles of being uncomfortable in your own skin as a gay man, and the struggles of gay relationships. I’ve binged it twice, and I might start again.
4. Euphoria - LGBT drama series on Binge
Euphoria fits in the category of LGBT drama, rather than being a gay TV series. But it still has to be included in this list because Euphoria is an absolute TV masterpiece. The dialogue, the storylines, the cinematography, the acting. Everything about Euphoria is absolutely incredible.
Zendaya and Hunter are exceptional LGBT lead characters in this show, and after season 1 aired it took me a solid few days to wrap my head around how epic the series is. It was definitely the best LGBT drama we watched in 2022.
3. Heartstopper - gay coming of age TV show on Netflix
Heartstopper is a new gay TV series that came to Netflix in 2022. Right after season 1 aired, it got picked up for 2 seasons back-to-back. This basically only happens if a show is absolutely incredible (think Game of Thrones worthy, but a Netflix show with LGBT characters).
Heartstopper is about a gay high school teenager who falls in love with the jock at school. They form a friendship, and the Jock then starts questioning his sexuality.
This show will take you back to your childhood and remind you what it was like to have your first crush on a boy. This LGBT TV show on Netflix depicts how far we’ve come as a society, but also how far we still have left to go. It will make you wish you could go back in time to live out your young gay crush.
It had similar vibes to What If It’s Us, one of our best gay books.
2. Schitt's Creek - sitcom with gay character on Netflix
When it comes to the absolute best gay and LGBT TV comedy series of all time, Schitt’s Creek has to take the cake. Right?!
Honestly. Schitt’s Creek is so freaking wholesome. It’s about a rich family trying to be more accepting, understanding, and loving when they lose everything and have to move to literally the middle of nowhere. It’s the core of what being part of the LGBT+ community is about: acceptance and non-judgement.
The first season is definitely a bit of a struggle, so you have to persevere! Charlie gave up early on because of how bad he found season 1. I persevered, and I’m as the show went on, I cried, laughed, cried some more. Usually all in one episode.
Charlie got back into it at the end of season 2, and now it’s also his favourite comedy TV show with gay characters too.
If you say you don’t love it by the end, then I honestly won’t believe you. And if you don’t cry in Season 4 Episode 6, you might not have no soul.
P.s. I don’t buy merchandise from TV shows I watch. But Schitt’s Creek gave me such feel-good wholesome vibes, that I had to buy myself my very own Moira and David bobbleheads. When we moved into the van, I took my most prized possessions, and David and Moira came with me.
1. It's A Sin - gay drama TV show on Stan
If there is one gay TV series you have to watch in 2022, this is the one.
It’s A Sin is one of the most powerful gay TV shows ever created. Hands down. I will rave on about this show until the day I die.
Charlie never binges TV shows, but since It’s A Sin was the best gay drama TV show we’ve ever watched he had to binge it. With super strong gay leads, It’s A Sin was so informative about what it was like to be gay during the AIDs crisis while feeling ashamed of who you are. It was such a brutal yet beautiful watch, and I cried pretty much every episode.
That last episode of season 1 will stay with me forever, and I truly understand the term ‘ally’ now thanks to this powerful, epic gay TV drama.
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What's on your 'best gay TV series to binge in 2022' list?
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