Not every great queer movie has to be about coming out.
Katy O'Brian in Love Lies Bleeding; Jonathan Groff in Looking: The Movie; Eva Reign in Anything's Possible.
A24; HBO; Orion Pictures
Watching a great coming-out scene is one of life’s truest joys. But sometimes when you watch an LGBTQ+ movie, you want to just watch something and not think about how complicated — and sometimes painful — coming out can be.
A lot of these movies are comedies and are more on the lighter side of queer stories, but others have their fair share of drama, and some even verge into horror. It’s just that that drama and horror aren't centered around them coming out. LGBTQ+ people can have other problems, you know.
Keep scrolling to discover 25 movies about queer characters who have moved past their coming-out stories!
'Anything's Possible'
This is a rare movie about an LGBTQ+ teen that doesn’t feature them coming out. While it’s definitely a coming-of-age movie, Kelsa (Eva Reign) is already out to her school as a trans girl, and instead of her coming out, it’s about her finding love.
Watch: Prime Video
'Booksmart'
This high school comedy is about two best friends, one of whom is gay. Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever star as Molly and Amy, two girls who got good grades throughout high school and want to go to one big party before they graduate. Amy has a great gay plot that doesn’t involve her coming out.
Watch: Netflix
'Bottoms'
Emma Seligman is great at making queer movies where no one comes out! In this violent and over-the-top high school comedy, two queer friends named PJ and Josie start a fight club at their school in order to get closer to the girls they like. It's hilarious, it's raunchy, it's terrific. Read our review.
Watch: Prime Video
'Bound'
Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly play leather-bound lovers in this tense mob thriller from The Wachowskis. Tilly starts the movie as a queer sex worker kept by a male mob member, but when she meets the lesbian next door, the two fall in love and plot to steal her man’s money.
Watch: Pluto
'Bros'
Billy Eichner's delightful romantic comedy burst into theaters and has tons of sweet gay moments, but none of them involve coming out. Instead, the movie follows jaded podcaster Bobby (Eichner) as he meets and falls for a man who's totally not his normal type (Luke Macfarlane).
Watch: Prime Video
'Cuckoo'
This horror movie stars Hunter Schafer as a queer teen who moves to a strange European resort with her father, stepmother, and half-sister. When they get there, things get wild, with bird/human hybrids, time loops, a queer romance, and a mysterious resort owner played by Dan Stevens.
Read our review.
Watch: Hulu
'Fancy Dance'
This movie, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, stars Lily Gladstone as a queer woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga Nation Reservation who is taking care of her young niece while trying to find out what happened to her missing sister (the niece's mother) and preparing for an upcoming powwow. Read our review.
Watch: Apple TV+
'Fire Island'
Joel Kim Booster's modern gay-daptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice follows a group of gay friends who go to Fire Island and experience class differences, drama, and love. And no one comes out.
Watch: Hulu
'High Tide'
In this 2024 film, Marco Pigossi stars as undocumented Brazilian immigrant Lourenço, who goes to the queer mecca Provincetown for the summer, where he meets Maurice (James Bland) and the two start a romance.
Watch: Prime Video
'Jennifer's Body'
Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried star in this high school horror/comedy as best friends who sometimes like to share a bed and make out — and Jennifer likes to kill and eat boys. It’s a classic!
Watch: Prime Video
'Knock at the Cabin'
This M. Night Shyamalan film is an apocalyptic thriller about a gay couple (Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge) who go to spend a weekend at a cabin in the woods when four mysterious strangers knock on the door and hold them hostage.
Watch: Prime Video
'Looking: The Movie'
This film picks up eleven months after the last episode of the groundbreaking TV show about a group of gay men living in San Francisco. It stars Jonathan Groff, Frankie J. Alvarez, Murray Bartlett, Russell Tovey, and more.
Watch: Max
'Love Lies Bleeding'
Love Lies Bleeding stars Kristen Stewart as a young woman running a gym who falls for a female bodybuilder played by Katy O'Brien. This dark and brutal thriller features murder, muscles, and lots of sex, but no coming out scenes. Read our review.
Watch: Max
'Monica'
Trace Lysette delivers a career-best performance in this powerful and moving family drama. When Monica (Lysette) learns that her mother (Patricia Clarkson), who kicked her out years ago when she came out, has dementia, she returns home to help take care of her. It’s one of the most intimate and full portrayals of a trans woman’s life on screen. Read our review.
Watch: Hulu.
'Nyad'
This biopic of long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad covers her attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. The film focuses on Nyad and her former partner and best friend Bonnie Stoll when they're in their 60s, so coming out is a distant memory for them.
Watch: Netflix
'Party Monster'
This film is based on the true story of Michael Alig, the "King of the Club Kids" in 1990’s New York. Based on James St. James's memoir Disco Bloodbath, the movie starred Macaulay Culkin as Aig as he descended into drugs, hedonism, and, eventually, murder.
Watch: Peacock
'Problemista'
Comedian Julio Torres redefined the American Dream in his debut film about an immigrant named Alejandro who is trying to find a job so he can stay in the United States. He connects with an eccentric and acerbic art collector, and they form an unlikely friendship. Read our review.
Watch: Max
'Queer'
Luca Guadagnino's latest is quite a trip (it literally features its main characters using ayahuasca), but unlike Call Me By Your Name, no one has to come out. Instead, it has Daniel Craig starring as William Lee, an American expat living in Mexico who starts up a relationship with the younger Eugene (Drew Starkey). Read our review.
Watch: Max
'Rent'
The iconic musical from Jonathan Larson follows a group of friends living in New York City. Among the group are Tom Collins, a gay philosophy teacher, Angel, a drag queen, bisexual performance artist Maureen, and lesbian lawyer Joanne. It’s a great movie about chosen family and the AIDS crisis.
Watch: Prime Video
'Shiva Baby'
Shiva Baby is a tense comedy from Emma Seligman. It stars Rachel Sennott as Danielle, a young bisexual woman who is having an affair with a married man. When the man, his wife, and his baby show up at a shiva she’s attending, all hell breaks loose.
Watch: Netflix
'Supernova'
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci star as longtime partners in this romantic drama from 2020. This isn’t a happy movie, it deals with dementia, aging, and death, but it’s a truly beautiful film you won’t regret watching.
Watch: Hulu
'Tár'
Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tár, a world-renowned conductor and a predatory lesbian. The film was nominated for six Oscars, and once again, Blanchett delivers a brilliant performance as a complicated lesbian character.
Watch: Available for rentals and/or purchases at digital stores.
'Theater Camp'
The only coming out in this film is a camp attendee coming out as straight! Theater Camp, from longtime friends Ben Platt, Molly Gordon, and Nick Lieberman follows two theater camp workers, Amos and Rebecca Diane (Platt and Gordon) as they take over the camp after the founder falls into a coma.
Watch: Available for rentals and/or purchases at digital stores.
'Tick, Tick... Boom!'
This is a biopic and musical about Rent writer Jonathan Larson based on his own musical about himself writing a musical. A character based on Jonathan’s real-life gay best friend is portrayed by out actor Robin de Jesus, and the scenes with him are some of the best in the movie.
Watch: Netflix
