July 2021: What’s New, Gay and Streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime! – Autostraddle
Good news: it’s July 2021, and that means a new slate of television programs with gay, bisexual and lesbian characters are hitting the airwaves on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video. Which shows are both new and streaming in July 2021? Let’s discuss it together as a family!
New on Netflix in July 2021 for Lesbians, Bisexuals, Gays Et Al
Mother’s Day (2016) – July 1
Cameron Esposito plays Sarah Chalke’s wife in this Gary Marshall comedy full of hijinks and starring very famous white women such as Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts!
Fear Street Part One: 1994 (Netflix Original) – July 2
Based on R.L. Stine’s best-selling horror series, the first of Netflix’s Fear Street Trilogy is set in 1994, when a group of teenagers accidentally encounter the ancient evil responsible for a series of brutal murders that have plagued their town for 300+ years. Focusing on characters whomst are outsiders, the 1994 lead girls, Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch), are queer and girlfriends and the creators wanted to “tell a love story” that was “true to the experience of being queer in the 90s.” Due to my love of lesbians and 90s nostalgia I will be viewing this film despite my dislike of horror films!
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 17 – July 3
Season 17 (this show will outlive us all) of Grey’s Anatomy still doesn’t live up to the height of the Calzona days, when there were lesbian and bisexual characters showing up in the halls of Grey Sloan with varying frequency, but there is still Dr. Teddy Altman Bisexual to keep us warm. And as she works through the ghosts of girlfriend past, Sherri Saum (Lena Adams-Foster) also makes a guest appearance.
We The People: Animated Music Video Series (Netflix Original) – July 4
Music and animation come together to teach young people about the POWER of the PEOPLE and U.S. history. Artists who contributed original songs to the series include Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile and Adam Lambert.
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 (Netflix Original) – July 9
School’s out for the summer and Camp Nightwing is gearing up for a delicious summer when another Shadysider becomes possessed with the urge to kill! Non-binary actor Ryan Simpkins plays Alice, a “manic proto-punk bisexual nightmare.”
Atypical: Season 4 – July 9
In Season 3, Casey started dating Izzie and the trailer suggests that is still going strong with some heartwarming and difficult conversations in store for their final season, which is “full of love and hope” and “dreaming big with your favorite people by your side.”
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) – July 14
If this action thriller starring Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Lena Headey, about three generations of women (wearing well-tailored suits almost exclusively) fighting to take revenge on those who took everything from them is NOT gay at all, the we are going to gather three generations of women to fight and take revenge on this film for taking everything from us. That said action-thrillers are rarely obviously queer so this might just be another Oceans 11 situation.
Never Have I Ever: Season 2 (Netflix Original) – July 15
Devi has to pick a boyfriend and contend with a “hotter, cooler” Indian girl joining her class in Season 2 of this charming series, which featured a little coming out story for her BFF Fabiola in Season One. Fabiola is seen locking lips with a short-haired lady in this trailer, good for her.
This Changes Everything (2019) – July 15
This documentary takes a look at gender disparity in Hollywood. Joey Solloway is featured in the trailer.
Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (Netflix Original) – July 16
The origins of Sarah Fier’s curse is revealed in part Three, which hops between fictional 17th century town of Union (inspired by early New England towns). Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch return playing Deena and Sam but also Hannah Miller and the very important Sarah Fier.
Charmed: Season 3 – July 24
Season 3 of Charmed has everything! Queer WOC girlfriends! A bisexual demon! A trans bruja! A surprise/mysterious lesbian pregnancy! And of course, the Power of Three.
Walking Dead: Season 10 – July 26
Zombies, huh? They sure do walk a lot!!
Wynonna Earp: Season 4 – July 26
The fourth season of this sci-fi Western is full of angels and demons and fogs and frogs and stairs. This season of Wynonna Earp very well may be its last, but it also was possibly its best, probably its sexiest, and absolutely its gayest.
All-American: Season 3 – July 27
Coop’s flying high after the success of her summer tour but when she returns home, Tyrone’s sister is ready to bring her back down to earth. If that wasn’t enough, the friendship that’s been the heart of All American since its debut — Spencer and Coop — gets tested like never before in the show’s third season.
The Flash: Season 7 – July 28
Since The Flash refuses to give Killer Frost the bisexual awakening she deserves, the only real queer goings-on in Season 7 is the brief reappearance of Barry and Iris’s daughter, Nora, toward the end of the season. And even though the show might not remember, I have not forgotten that they made her a canon bisexual character back in Season 5.
Content for Girls, Gays and Theys on Hulu July 2021
The Feels (2017) – July 1
The Feels is the story of Andi (Constance Wu) and Lu (Angela Trimbur) and all their friends heading off into the woods of California wine country for a pre-wedding co-bachelorette party, during which Lu reveals that she’s never had an orgasm! There are also a lot of straight shenanigans. Heather describes it as part of the lesbian mumblecore trend “with its boundary-less relationships, improvised dialogue, characters who remind you of your own friends, and those stifled hiccups that give way to just enough drama to make the happy ending rewarding.”
Foxfire (1996) – July 1
Foxfire is one of my favorite queer movies of all time! Teenage girls take revenge upon the men who violate and oppress them! This is the film set upon which Jenny Shimizu and Angelina Jolie met and dated, and then also made me gay. But it’s the ’90s so like, the gay is subtle.
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 7 (2015) – July 1
The seventh season of this popular competition reality program will be in your homes on your TVs.
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – July 1
I believe we are as a community familiar with this series, in which Rooney Mara plays traumatized tough bisexual investigator Lisbeth Salander, helping Mikael Blookvist solve the 40-year-old murder of his niece.
Grandma (2015) – July 1
Lily Tomlin is a pot-smoking lesbian poet put in a tough spot when her granddaughter shoes up in need of an abortion and nobody’s got the cash for it. Plus, Laverne Cox!
This Way Up: Season 2 – July 9
The first season of This Way Up followed Aine, an Irish woman living in London, returns from a post-breakdown trip to rehab to convince everyone else in her life that she is totally okay, especially her sister, Shona. Shona is bisexual! Her lesbian co-worker Charlotte who Shona has a thing with is played by Indira Varma, who I love. Season 2 picks up where Season 1 left off, with Shona and Charlotte learning to manage a new business together while also having feelings for each other.
In a World…. (2013) – July 9
Written & directed by & starring Lake Bell, In a World is about the niche world of voiceover actors and one woman who wants to get more jobs and is annoyed that men keep getting jobs! Tig Notaro is in it and she met her now-wife Stephanie Allynne on this very set!
Grown-ish (Freeform): Season 4 Premiere – July 9
It’s senior year, bitches! Nomi and the gang return to Cal U to turn up for one last time before they step into the real world. But the real world isn’t waiting until graduation: it drops issues of parenthood, race and allyship on Nomi’s doorstep in grown-ish‘s new season.
Good Trouble (Freeform): Season 3 Premiere – July 14
No one on Good Trouble has grown quite like Alice: she’s gone from letting her ex walk all over her to standing up for herself at the CBTV diversity working. But standing up for herself cost Alice a shot at her dream job and, possibly, her dream girl, so all that’s left to ask is: what’s next?
New Queer and Lesbian Characters on HBO Max for July 2021
Batwoman: Season 2 (The CW)
After happening on the Batsuit in the wreckage of a fallen plane, Ryan Wilder tries it on for the first time and it doesn’t quite fit. But slowly but surely, over the course of Batwoman‘s second the suit molds to her and Ryan finds her purpose within it. Ryan Wilder is Batwoman and Gotham has the hero it needs.
Nancy Drew: Season 2 (The CW) – July 3
The second season of Nancy Drew proved to be just as full of mystery as the first, this time with 100% more lesbian ghosts. (That is to say, one lesbian ghost.) We also get to know more about corporeal lesbian Bess and her past, and she continues to be an absolute delight to watch.
Shiva Baby (2020) – July 7
I f*cking loved this movie about a Jewish bisexual hot mess at a very consequential shiva her ex-girlfriend is also attending and SURPRISE so is her sugar daddy and his pregnant wife!!!
Gossip Girl: Season One (HBO Max Original) – July 8
The advent of pocket-size social media has undermined two of the original show’s primary threads: the mysterious Gossip Girl blogger (now in teen shows, everyone is Gossip Girl with social media) isn’t all that unusual or intriguing, and “wealth porn” is accessible to all via influencers and stars on Instagram. So this time that mystery won’t be central, and the teens will be “wrestling with privilege” in this “more diverse, more self-aware and far more lavishly produced” series. However, it “remains a show about clout-chasers and backstabbers growing up and growing apart, good sex, bad parents, and carrying the right handbag.” There are “a lot of queer characters on this show but all the clips so far have only shown boy-on-boy action, although damn if these girls aren’t wearing some homoerotic uniform deconstructions. Luna Lu is played by trans actress Zíon Moreno.
White Lotus: Season One (HBO Max Original) – July 11
There are two situations in this new social satire of a limited series that follows a group of rich travelers at an exclusive Hawaiian resort, created by genius Mike White. 1. The Mossbacher family, headed up by Tami Taylor and the guy from Reality Bites, has a young daughter, Olivia (Sydney Sweeny) who has brought a friend with her on vacation, Paula (Brittany O’Grady). 2. Unstable grieving Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge!) seems as though she is asking the spa owner Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) on an actual date after a successful massage.
New Queer-ish Stuff on Amazon Prime video In July 2021
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011) – July 1
This movie is getting around this month huh!
The Pursuit of Love: Season One (BBC / Amazon Original Series) – July 30
Based on Nancy Mitford’s 1945 book, which fictionalized her actual life, The Pursuit of Love looks at the decadent world of “filthy-rich toffs indulging in sex, drugs and wild partying between the wars,” focusing on Linda Radlett (Lily James) and Fanny Logan (Emily Beechum). The character of Fanny is based on Nancy Mitford’s sister, Pamela, who many believe was gay or bisexual in real life. (She divorced her bisexual husband after 15 years and spent the rest of her life with her “companion” Giuditta Tommasi.) But I believe the series, while homoerotic, is not explicitly homosexual, aside from one obviously gay woman who has a few lines in one episode.
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