Even if you relate harder to the Grinch than Buddy the Elf, there’s no denying the magic of a mushy gushy holiday rom-com (because let’s be real: At least 96 percent of Christmas movies are cheesy AF, no?). But sadly, the seasonal movie industry still has a LOT of work to do when it comes to accurate representation. So few Christmas films feature characters who openly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer. And even when they do, the storylines often revolve around closeted characters struggling to open up to their families, and the result is…kind of a bummer. (Yes, I’m giving you the side-eye, Happiest Season.)
Luckily, the times are a-changing. In 2020, both the Hallmark Channel and Lifetime released their first-ever LGBT holiday movies (The Christmas House and The Christmas Setup, respectively), and in 2021, Netflix’s Christmas selection includes the platform’s very first gay Christmas movie, Single All the Way, which drops in December. Single All the Way follows a perpetually single man who convinces his friend to pretend to be his boyfriend for the holidays…not knowing his meddling mom already has plans to set him up on a blind date with someone else. Here for it!
Eventually, there will be a day when a queer holiday movie doesn’t feel like a gift from Santa, but until then, pls enjoy these groundbreaking Christmas flicks, which will make your small lil Grinch hearts grow three sizes.
1 Happiest Season (2020)
Happiest Season follows the story of a woman who brings her girlfriend home for the first time over the holidays, but there’s a catch: She hasn’t yet told her family she’s queer. Cue all the drama!
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2 Dashing in December (2020)
In this sweet flick, a man goes home for the holidays to convince his mom to sell the family ranch, never imaging that he’ll have his mind changed (and his heart stolen) by a cute new ranch hand who has big dreams of saving the property.
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3 A New York Christmas Wedding (2020)
What happens when an angel visits a bride-to-be right before her Christmas Eve wedding? She discovers what might have happened if she hadn’t denied her feelings for her childhood friend, and that’s exactly what goes down in this cheesy—but nevertheless groundbreaking—romance.
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4 The Christmas House (2020)
In The Christmas House, a married couple amidst a dilemma invite their two adult sons—one of whom is gay and struggling to adopt a child with his baker husband—to stay with them for two weeks over the holidays. (Hi, Aaron Samuels!)
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5 The Christmas Setup (2020)
The Christmas Setup revolves around a guy who (thanks to his meddling mom) gets the chance to start a holiday romance with a secret high school crush. But just as things are heating up, that crush gets a job offer across the world, forcing the two men to have the dreaded what-are-we convo.
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6 Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
In this Christmas zombie musical comedy (yes, really), a soon-to-be high school grad from Scotland decides she wants to travel for a year before attending college, much to her widower dad’s chagrin. Little does she know that a zombie apocalypse is around the corner, and she and her friends—including badass lesbian Steph—must rely on one another to stay alive.
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7 Let It Snow (2019)
This rom-com tells the story of an epic snowstorm in a quiet Midwestern town…and the even more epic party that unfolds at a local Waffle Town, changing the lives of the town’s high school seniors forever. Come for the fun, stay for the sweet same-sex romance sub-plot.
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8 Make the Yuletide Gay (2009)
When a college student who’s openly gay at school goes home for Christmas, he must decide whether he’s ready to open up about his sexual identity to his family—and to tell them that his visiting roommate is actually his boyfriend. Make the Yuletide Gay walked so Holiday Season could run.
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9 Carol (2015)
Set in New York City during Christmastime in the early 1950s, this drama follows the affair between a young shop girl and an older woman going through a divorce, and what begins as a chance encounter in a department store blossoms into a life-changing romance. Yes, pls.
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10 Seasons of Love (2019)
Three pairs of women experience changes and challenges in their relationships leading up to Christmas and before New Year’s Eve in this rom-com, which is kinda like a queer version of Love Actually, tbh.
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11 Love the Coopers (2015)
Despite its stacked cast, this holiday dramedy is…less than stellar, but at least it features a poignant coming out scene with Anthony Mackie, who plays a closeted police officer who comes to terms with his sexuality with the help of one of the Cooper family members.
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12 Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas (2019)
In this absolutely bonkers movie, a woman learns about the perils of texting and driving the hard way, and in the afterlife, she must find a way to make things right with her ~true love.~ Oh, and that true love may just be her bestie.
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13 Tangerine (2015)
While this one isn’t your classic Christmas tale, it’s def a lot of fun. In it, two transgender besties, Alexandra and Sin-Dee, are reunited after Sin-Dee’s month-long prison stay, and they spend Christmas Eve attempting to track down Sin-Dee’s boyfriend—a pimp who apparently cheated on her with a cisgender woman while she was in jail.
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14 Red Lodge (2013)
Entitled The Unattainably Perfect Gay Christmas on Amazon Prime, this flick follows a man who—after two years in a relationship—decides to propose to his boyfriend right before Christmas…but unfortunately, he doesn’t get the answer he expected.
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15 Rent (2005)
Okay, you may not think of Rent as a Christmas movie, but if Die Hard can be considered a holiday film, then this one should be, too—especially since it involves way more singing and merriment than Die Hard. Just! Saying!
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Corinne Sullivan
Corinne Sullivan’s debut novel, Indecent, tells the story of a recent college grad who accepts a teaching position at a tony all-boys boarding school, only to find herself deeply obsessed with a student at the risk of her job and her sanity.
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