Celebrate Pride with the best LGBT films and TV shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Just in case those storms show up this weekend, you can still show your Pride from inside your house 
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Pride is set to take over the capital this weekend. Get yourself in the spirit by bingeing the best LGBT films and TV shows Netflix and Amazon Prime have to offer.

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Iconic queen Ru Paul and his dragged up version of America’s Next Top Model have done much to smash stereotypes around the drag scene, and put the struggles of its members in the spotlight.

But while this cultural phenomenon’s legacy is serious, the show itself is delightfully camp, queer, silly and spoofy.

Netflix

Available on Netflix

Scrum (2015)

The fact that so few players from sports that are traditionally seen as ‘macho’ have come out as gay, proves we still have a long way to go when it comes to breaking down stereotypes around masculinity and heterosexuality.

Scrum aims to do just that focusing on men battling it out for the Gay Rugby World Cup.

Available on Amazon Prime

Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black was one of Netflix’s very first original series and while it helped establish the platform as a creator of great content, it also much more importantly revolutionised TV beyond streaming services.

From its spectacularly diverse cast to the complexity of its characters, the show has paved the way for better representation of women, improved visibility for trans women (of colour), challenged heteronormativity, and put ethnic minorities front and centre.

But the only real way to find out why this series will be a reference point for years to come is to watch it.

Available on Netflix

Carol (2015)

Amazon Prime

It wasn’t called best LGBT film of all time for nothing (and by a poll of 100 experts no less). Carol, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt is not just a stylish period piece but a beautiful story of romance against the odds.

With Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett in the starring roles, though its subject matter – a lesbian love affair - was certainly transgressive at the time (it’s set in the 1950s) this understated film is subtle in its subversiveness.

Available on Amazon Prime

Paris is Burning

If you’re a Ru Paul’s Drag Race fan and have ever wondered what exactly he means when he introduces the series’ 'reading' challenges by saying ‘And in the great tradition of Paris is Burning…’ watch this doc and wonder no longer.

The iconic film focuses on the Harlem drag ball scene and if it’s not just Drag Race that owes Paris is Burning a debt. If you’ve ever thrown ‘shade’, ‘vogued’ on a night out, or commented ‘yassss kweeen’ on a friend’s insta pic then you do too. So why not watch the film and find out why?

Available on Netflix

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Though Kimmy is the titular character in this whip-smart comedy, her sort of sidekick Tituss always steals the show, olbliterating the 'gay best friend stereotype' as he goes.

He even gave a barnstorming take on Beyoncé’s car-smashing Lemonade sequence in series three after being wronged by his boyfriend Michael.

Available on Netflix

The Invisible Men (2012)

This docu-drama looks at a lesser-known side of the Israel-Palestine conflict – the plight of ‘invisible’ Palestinian gay men.

Living underground in Tel Aviv, concealing their sexuality is a life or death matter for Adbu, Fares and Louie as suspicion around their sexuality has resulted in torture and threats of murder for all three, even from their own families. Difficult but gripping viewing.

Available on Amazon Prime

First Girl I Loved (2017)

Amazon Prime

First Girl I Loved documents the difficulties of coming to terms with your sexuality at school, which is tricky enough for heterosexual teens, but when you’re a girl with falling in love with another girl and your best friend (who has a secret crush on you) is doing his best to get in the way, it’s almost impossible.

Join 17-year-old Sasha as she figures things out in this sweet but unshakably modern coming of age story.

Available on Amazon Prime

Sense 8

Sense 8 champions diversity on-screen, with people of colour, interracial couples and transgender characters, as well as behind it, one of the series’ directors Lilly Wachowski also identifies as transgender.

But fans were up in arms when Netflix cancelled the show, many felt before its time. And though it’s certainly a shame that itlooks unlikely the sci-fi show will get another series, you can still binge watch the previous two on the streaming platform.

Available on Netflix

Dallas Buyers Club (2014)

The film that saw Matthew McConaughey undergo one of his most dramatic weight transformations as he dropped several stones to play HIV positive hustler Ron Woodroof who plays the system for the best possible reason – to get AIDs patients the drugs they need but can’t hold of. He’s like Robin Hood in a cowboy hat.

Available on Amazon Prime

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