To properly celebrate Pride Month, we’re ranking films that tell the stories of the LGBTQ+ community and that, more significantly, feature an ensemble cast of queer characters. Each of the featured films have an ensemble of directors, writer, actors, and actresses who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and/or non-binary. Our calls for better representation is quite simply due to the LGBTQ+ individuals who are as colorful as the flags they fly throughout the year. Admittedly, these films scratch the surface of the many LGBTQ+ films available to stream or purchase.

Booksmart follows the story of a lesbian teenager and her girlfriend having the time of their lives the night before they graduate high school. Almost Love features a gay couple grappling with love and their careers. Saving Face is the story of Asian-American lesbian teens navigating the pressures from their families and society. With an ensemble cast of LGBTQ+ actors and actresses, Fire Island follows a group of friends on vacation. Pariah is the story of lesbians in the Black community directed by a Black lesbian. The story of Shirin, a Persian immigrant who happens to be lesbian, is told in the film Appropriate Behavior. Two teenage Muslim boys who find excitement through gambling and a secret romance is told in the film Naz and Maalik. The following films portray trans people played by actual trans people: A Fantastic Woman, Tangerine, and Happy Birthday, Marsha!, the biopic of trans trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson. Here's where they rank.

10 Booksmart

Kaitlyn Dever as Amy and Beanie Feldstein as Molly in Booksmart.
United Artists Releasing

One directorial debut on the list comes from a straight woman. Olivia Wilde’s film, Booksmart premiered at the SXSW Festival in 2019. The story follows Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), a high school senior having the time of her life with her best friend and girlfriend, Molly (Beanie Feldstein), the night before graduation. Amy identifies as lesbian, but the film doesn’t center around the experience of a lesbian teenager. According to screenwriter Katie Silberman’s interview with Page Six, “ [Queer people’s sexuality]’s never the first thing you would mention about them in real life.” The sentiment may seem dismissive of the queer woman’s experience, but it’s true. A common storyline in LGBTQ+ films is to center someone’s sexuality as their ethos, especially if they’re part of the queer community. To see how Booksmart centers on Amy as a human being, the film is currently streaming on Hulu.

Related: 12 Groundbreaking LGBTQ+ Movies of the 21st Century

9 Almost Love

Augustus Prew, Scott Evans
Sell By Film

A somewhat happier New York, I Love You-like film, Almost Love follows several couples, who are longtime friends, through the ups and downs of love. The only gay couple comprises of Adam (Scott Evans) and Marklin (Augustus Prew). Marklin has recently become Instagram-famous, which quickly becomes difficult for his partner Adam to handle. Marklin and Adam aren’t the only ones in their friend group reassessing their love lives. The beauty of Adam and Marklin being the central couple of the film opens the door for other films to feature queer couples in the same way. Evans discusses how important it was to be in a film where the storyline for gay men to be grappling issues that is unseen with gay men in film in this interview with Pride. As groundbreaking as it is to have the featured couple be gay men, their story remains under the trope that being gay comes with tragedy.

8 Saving Face

saving-face
Sony Pictures Classics

Alice Wu’s feature-length debut, Saving Face is a commentary on the familial pressures of Chinese immigrants on their children. Saving Face revolves around Wil (Michelle Kruseic) being set up by her family. However, Wil ends up falling for her boss’ daughter, Vivian (Lynne Chen), despite lesbianism being frowned upon by their families. The Chinese concept of “saving face” is about honoring your family. In many cultures, being gay remains taboo. Thus, for Wil and Vivian to fall in love and honor themselves over their families is truly dishonorable. Despite this element in the film, Wil and Vivian’s love story is about the fun and exciting parts of meeting someone and exploring how your life would mesh with theirs. Saving Face can be streamed on Amazon.

7 Fire Island

Fire Island
Searchlight Pictures

The latest release from Hulu, just in time for Pride Month, is the retelling of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice but with a twist. Fire Island features a group of gay friends on vacation in a famous gay village. Noah (Joel Kim Booster) is based on Elizabeth Bennett and Will (Conrad Ricamora) is based on Mr. Darcy. What's significant about this new gay rom-com is how it centers the experience of gay Asian men, and Fire Island hilariously tackles the intersectionality of race and queerness while also delivering a heartwarming story of love and chosen families.

6 A Fantastic Woman

A scene from A Fantastic Woman
Participant Media

Chilean singer and actor Daniela Vega portrays Mariana Vidal in A Fantastic Woman. She is the first transgender person to be nominated for major awards for portraying a transgender person for this film. Vega beautifully portrays the discomfort of being forced to disclose the validity of her humanity. In the Netflix documentary Disclosure, actress Jen Richards said, “When you start watching trans clips back-to-back, you see how often all the people around the trans character feel betrayed or lied to. But frankly, I kind of hate the idea of disclosure... in the sense that it presupposes that there is something to disclose.”

Transgender people are typically portrayed as the butt of the joke or a way to make certain groups seems less threatening. Yet that’s the underlying message of A Fantastic Woman; trans people are not the reason others fall ill, are threatening, or a joke. Trans people are just as compassionate, if not more so, as a straight, gay, or asexual person. Mariana, out of her love for her partner, endures the poking and prodding. Another element of the trans experience is people expecting trans people to validate themselves against prejudice — though this is ubiquitous of the whole LGBTQ+ community. A Fantastic Woman is currently streaming on Netflix.

5 Tangerine

Mya Taylor, Katana Kiki Rodriguez
Freestyle Picture Company

The dramedy Tangerine features two transgender actors in the lead roles. Sin-Dee Rella (Kitanna Kiki Rodriguez) is a transgender sex worker who leaves her cheating boyfriend. Alexandra (Mya Taylor) is Sin-Dee Rella’s friend who reveals the cheating ways of Sin-Dee’s boyfriend. Despite the transgender characters being sex workers, a common trope, the film focuses on the joy the characters experience in life. Almost as if their line of work is an after-thought. Sin-Dee also confronts the ‘other’ woman. Instead of the two fighting over a man, they end up doing drugs together and enjoying Alexandra’s show at a bar. The idea that women have to compete for men is obliterated in Tangerine, which can be streamed on Netflix.

Related: Best Movies About Transgender Characters, Ranked

4 Pariah

Two girls in pink lights sit in Pariah
Focus Features

Dee Rees’ directorial debut of Pariah, which can be rented or bought on Amazon, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011. The film follows Alike (Adepero Oduye), a Black teenager on a journey of self-acceptance. While the story may have elements of tragedy, like familial and friendship rejection, the primary focus is Alike accepting herself. As much as we want to be accepted by everyone in our lives, much of being out and living our truth means we can’t take everyone with us, something Rees beautifully portrays. When individuals can tell stories about their experiences, the gravity of their art is felt deeply by those being represented.

3 Naz and Maalik

Curtiss Cook Jr., Kerwin Johnson Jr.
Pecking Wilds

One of the most groundbreaking gay love stories on the list is Naz and Maalik, two Black Muslim teenage boys who are attempting to find harmony between their romance, friendship, and religion. The film honors the director’s, Jay Dockendorf, friend from college who was a closeted Muslim, according to an interview with Complex. Yet Dockendorf adds the element of surveillance based on real reports from government agencies that would scope out Muslim establishments on the basis that they are Muslim. For a film to feature two Black Muslims who are gay is beyond groundbreaking. You can stream Naz and Maalik on Hulu.

2 Appropriate Behavior

appropriate-behavior
Peccadillo Pictures

Another comedy on the list, Appropriate Behavior is directed by, written by, and stars Desiree Akhavan, a bisexual woman. Akhavan plays Shirin, a bisexual young woman who is struggling with her first breakup with another woman. Appropriate Behavior is similar to Saving Face in that it deals with adults navigating their sexuality against their parents' traditions. A ubiquitous experience among the LGBTQ+ community is the fear of how our families might react to their sexuality, so they choose the conservative route. Whether out of shame or safety, they keep their love lives hidden, much like Shirin does. Eventually, Shirin comes out to her brother and mother. To see more of Shirin’s story, Appropriate Behavior is streaming on Tubi.

1 Happy Birthday, Marsha!

Mya Taylor
Tourmaline

The fictional imaginings of trans activist, artist, and icon Marsha P. Johnson come to life in Happy Birthday, Marsha!. In the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, Marsha, portrayed by trans actress Mya Taylor, is leading the way for trans people’s rights during a time when every marginalized and racialized group were fighting for their rights. According to Women's History, Marsha was one of the most prominent civil rights activists, shedding light onto houseless LGBTQ+ youth in America. Marsha is also the reason we use the term ‘transgender’ over ‘tranvestite’, though that shift occurred after she passed. Another milestone in LGBTQ+ history is her leading the first Pride parade. Of course, Marsha was not alone in her activism. By her side was Sylvia Riviera, portrayed by trans actress Eve Lindley, an activist at the first Pride, or Stonewall Rebellion, in 1969. Happy Birthday, Marsha! is available for rent or purchase on Amazon.