The top 16 gay-positive science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal movies, plus two with egregious queerbaiting.

Who wants to spend two hours watching people falling in love, saving Christmas, facing injustice, or dying of cancer?  If I'm going to commit to a fictional world, it should have something you don't often see in everyday life: spaceships, aliens, ghosts, time travel, magic swords, werewolves, zombies...anything but endless conversations.  

There aren't a lot of gay characters in these movies, so most don't get reviewed here, or the review consists of  "yet another heteronormative mess."  I managed to find sixteen with gay characters and or strong subtexts from 2016-2026, and two that deserve inclusion as a warning: the queerbaiting was amazingly blatant.

Boys in the Trees. (2016).  Boy walks his ex-boyfriend home.  It's a long walk, with a downer ending, usually a turn-off for me.  But in this case I'll make an exception

The Little Vampire 3D,  (2017).  The vampire and human boys come within an inch of an open romance. All they left out was the kiss.

Get Out (2017).  A young black man meets the family of his white girlfriend, and uncovers a disturbing secret about white people.  And still manages a gay subtext.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018). The spineless producers came within an inch of having this spider-boy come out, but lost their nerve.  At least he doesn't get a girlfriend.

The Dead Don't Die (2019): Zombies invade a small town, with two guys who seem to be gay, but fail to actually come out due to the director's cowardice or homophobia.

Bill and Ted Face the Music (2020). The most excellent time-traveling duo, who started their career with blatant homophobia, atone for their past mistakes.  Not only are they involved in a four-way romance, they have a nonbinary daughter.

Onward (2020): A 16-year old Elf boy and his older brother, a Troll, never express any heterosexual interest.  Plus there's no bullying and a lesbian couple.  

Suicide Squad (2021). Supervillains are recruited to go on a "suicide" mission. No one actually says The Word, but there are two gay hints and only minimal heterosexual romance, and John Cena's Peacemaker would come out as bi on his tv spin-off.

The Eternals (2021).  The first open gay character in a Marvel movie, plus conversations in ancient Babylonian.  But Gilgamesh is portrayed as straight.  Sorry, Enkidu.

More after the break

Sam Lerner: Is the "Goldbergs" star gay-teasing, coming out, or from a parallel world? With his tree-trunking dick and his boyfriend's butt

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"The Borough": A spider-monster, Stepford smiles, and elderly hunks in a desert retirement community. With Begley butt and silver fox cock

 Who can resist an old guy?  A silver fox, 50 or 60 or 70, with the tight toned body that comes from spending every day at the gym, decades of experience in putting his dick in all the right places, and a huge disposable income  ("I'm going to China next week.  Want me to bring you anything?" ) . So I'm looking forward to The Boroughs, a new Netflix series about paranormal shenanigans in a creepy retirement community.  There will probably be an elderly gay couple hanging around, and there will certainly be a lot of elderly beefcake.  

Scene 1: A creepy cul-de-sac of ranch-style houses, surrounded by desert, with a mountain in the background.  We zoom into one, where an elderly lady (Dee Wallace of The Stepford Wives) is eating a tv  dinner and watching Jeopardy.  She facetimes her husband Edward  (Ed Begley Jr.) at the Manor.  He wants to come home, but she won't permit it.  He says "The owls are in the walls."  

Ed Begley Jr. played the physics professor mentor on Young Sheldon, starring gay actor Iain Armitage. 

She falls asleep watching The Golden Girls.  Suddenly the tv turns itself off, and scary tentacles creep down the walls. A monster attacks!  And I thought Edward at the Manor was facing paranormal.

Scene 2: A lady and her husband Neill (Rafael Casal) drive through the badlands.  In the back seat, we see her elderly dad, teenage daughter, and early teen son Cody.

Left: Eldon Jones (Cody) at Albuquerque Pride. Notice the rainbow flag and beads.  As you read the rest of the review, return to this photo as often as you need to.  While writing, I returned to it a lot.

 They arrive at a guard house in the middle of the desert, with nothing around, and tell the guard that grandpa, Sam Cooper, is moving in today.

"Welcome to the Boroughs,, where you'll have the time of your life."

Grandpa (flatly): "Ironic slogan for a place people come to die."

They cross the town square, full of grinning oldsters, and on to the isolated cul-de-sac.  Movers are already putting his furniture in, plus whatever was left behind by the last resident -- the lady who was eaten.  Her husband is still in an assisted care facility.

Their AI assistant, Seraphim, asks "What can I do to make your day more enjoyable?"  Grandpa isn't having it; he pulls the darn device out of the wall.  Back Story: His wife wanted to move to the Boroughs, but she recently died, and he doesn't want to be in a square coffin by himself. 

Daughter suggests that if he really hates it there, he could come live with them.  No, their place is too small.  Besides, he sunk all of his money into this retirement community, and signed a contract.  He's stuck.

Grandpa is played by Alfred Molina, seen here as the murdered boyfriend of playrwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987). 

Scene 3: As Grandpa unpacks, he sees a commercial featuring the CEO of the community.  Maybe if he asks nicely -- or angrily -- the guy in charge could release him from his contract and return some of his money.

Next door neighbor Jack drops by with a "welcome wagon" six-pack of beer. He starts spewing about his golf game, sleep apnea, "touch of the gout," and difficulty  maintaining his goal of sexing ladies every night. Girls, girls, girls! Heterosexual identity established at Minute 13.  Finally he invites Grandpa to a neighborhood barbecue.  "No thanks, I hate barbecues.  And people.  And...well, just about everything."

Left: Jack is played by Bill Pullman, known for his underwear scene (and testicle torture) in The Serpent and the Rainbow

Scene 4: Grandpa awakens in bed with his wife (Jane Kaczmarek).  I thought she was dead?  They hug, kiss, close-up hold hands (so you can see their wedding rings), and discuss their plans for the day (gender polarized shopping/working on the car).   It goes on and on, and becomes more and more soppy-maudlin.  Is this a dream, or is an evil succubus trying to control him?

Jane Kaczmarek played the Mom on "Malcolm in the Middle" and the 2026 sequel "Life's Still Unfair," which has gay and nonbinary characters.

It was a dream: Grandpa awakens to revving - the Girl Next Door (Geena Davis) trying to get her car started. 

The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media sponsors research on female and LGBTQ representation.

  There's also an old guy doing tai chi, which disgusts Grandpa.  You basically hate everyone, don't you?  Oh, wait, you already told us that.

Scene 5: Tai Chi Guy (Clarke Peters) goes into the house, where his wife (Alfre Woodard)  has intel on the new guy.    So, is she in charge of the nefarious plot?  No, she's just a retired reporter, passing the time with social media stalking.   I'd better get some nefarious plot soon, or I'm leaving.  

Grandpa goes to the company headquarters, a huge building with a giant atrium.  Apparently this community is much more extensive than the isolated cul-de-sac we've seen so far.  The receptionist tells him that the CEO is out today.  

Suddenly he flashes back, or has a new memory, of yelling at his wife for picking up the wrong kind of onions.  She calms him down, they dance, things get sickening, with lots of smooching and fast-forwarding  -- and suddenly he's back at headquarters.  He wonders if he's going crazy.

Scene 6: Two security guards, Hank and Paz (Eric Edelstein, Carlos Miranda), are sent to the Community Center, where the Girl Next Door is teaching an art class.  She complains that a bag of rose quartz has been stolen, but they don't want to report it.  Head Guard Hank warns that if she insists, they'll claim that she's losing her memory, and should be sent to the dreaded Manor.  

Scene 7: That night, Grandpa falls asleep on the couch watching an old movie.  In the morning, he's awakened by the revving of the Girl Next Door's car.  He fixes it for her, but won't say "You're welcome" in exchange for her "Thank you."  So she yells at him.

Back in the house, he finds Edward, from Scene 1 (the one whose wife was eaten).  He yells that the owl is in the wall, blames Grandpa for taking away his wife, and attacks.  After subduing him, Grandpa wants to call the police, but the security guards explain that this is unconsolidated territory, with just a sheriff, so for most things they depend on security.  And the CEO wants to talk to him.

More after the break

"The Sister": Probably-gay guy marries the sister of the girl he helped vanish. With his ex-buddy, ghostly voices, and Tovey bulges and backsides

 

This morning I was checking my streaming services for new tv shows with gay content, and found The Sister on Hulu: "Almost a decade into married life, Nathan is rocked to the core when Bob, an unwelcome face from the past, turns up on his doorstep."  Sounds like Bob is an old boyfriend.  I'll give it a try.

Scene 1: New Year's Eve.  In his terrible apartment, a guy is watching the news, and planning to off himself with pills and booze.  Watching the news often has that effect on people.  There's a story about a girl named Elise, who vanished three years ago.  A heartfelt plea from her family for anyone who knows anything to contact them.  This shocks the guy, and he gives up the plan.  He must know where Elise is.  

Scene 2: Seven years later.  The guy -- he must be Nathan -- has settled down to an extremely wealthy lifestyle, when there's a knock on the door: the leering, stringly-haired, sopping-wet Bob (Bertie Carvel, according to Mr. Man). 

 "No, you can't be here! We agreed!"  But Bob has news: they're digging up the woods for a new housing development.

He looks much older than Nathan, but the actors are only four years apart.

At that moment, Nathan's wife comes home.  He tells her that Bob is an old mate who dropped by because he was distraught over girl problems, and was just leaving.  Then he goes into the bathroom and hyperventilates and throws up.  There's a flashback of Nathan running through the woods.

Scene 3: In the morning, the wife thinks he's sick, and offers to pop by the chemist, but Nathan says he's fine, he just needs to stay home and rest.  When she leaves, he researches the new housiing development: Newbeck Green, controversial because it will destroy some virgin woods.  He calls Ex Buddy Bob, who tells him that they have to move fast, and asks if "it" has come yet."  Nathan doesn't know what he means.  

Bulge close-up!  Even in a heteronormative project, you can always find something to look at.

He goes down to check the mail, and there it is: a CD-ROM that says "destroy after playing."

Turns out that Nathan is played by Russell Tovey (butt left), who is gay in real life and has played gay characters about 100 times.  I wonder if Nathan is gay, too, in a lavender marriage.  That's why he and his wife haven't kissed.  Or else Russell's contract states that he won't have to kiss any icky girls.  I'd insist on it.

Scene 4:  That night Nathan drives out to the woods, and flashes back to hanging out with the missing girl there.  

Then he plays the CD-Rom; It's an indistinct voice, something like a woman saying "Nathan, I'm not dead."  This must be one of those EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) recordings you can make of ghosts in haunted houses.  My favorites are "You don't belong here" and "It's just me."

Scene 5: Flashback to seven years ago. Nathan waits in his car outside Charles Collier Sales & Letting (rentals), watching Holly, who will be his wife.  

Then he goes to his office and looks at her photo on his computer and a post-it with her work number on it.  He calls, hangs up, calls back, and asks for her.

Left: The gaydar-tinging Sam Henderson plays the receptionist.  I tried looking for nude photos, but no matter how many key words of "men only," 'no ladies," "absolutely no women," Google always gave me ladies.

 When Holly answers, Nathan claims that he is interested in renting a house, but he can't tell her the basics, like the location and number of bedrooms.  What's with the deception? Did you see her someplace and decide to stalk her instead of starting a conversation?  She invites him to come in for a consultation tomorrow.

Back in the present: Holly wakes Nathan up: he fell asleep in front of the tv (watching the news, of course).  They discuss whether he is feeling better, and then her job, which now apparently involves building houses, not just renting them.  Nathan tries to get some intel about the new housing development "near your mum's house."  Wait -- is Holly the sister of the missing girl?  Did Nathan see her on the newscast seven years ago, figure that she was the Girl of His Dreams, and start stalking?  Or does he feel guilty for vanishing her sister?

He has a date with Bob, sick or not, so he leaves.

More after the break

The top 18 gay-positive tv comedies: aliens, vampires, a Christian pastor, a ghost, a teenager named after meat, and a hung Phung

When I was a kid, my parents permitted only comedy television, and it is still my preferred genre.  Who wants to watch a detective who doesn't play by the rules solve yet another murder, or some doctors trying to cure the disease of the week?  Give me classic sitcoms, adult animation, parodies, satires, and contemporary dramedies with season-long plot arcs.    

These are my 18 favorite television series with gay characters or subtexts, at least those that I've reviewed here or on the G-rated site. 

Only from 2016-2026.  If I went earlier, the list would include: Absolutely Fabulous, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Modern Family, The Real O'Neals, Red Dwarf, Roseanne, Schitt's Creek, Ugly Betty, The War at Home...

Kim's Convenience (2016).  Korean-Canadian family in Toronto, with no gay characters until the daughter finally comes out as bi, but there's a lot of  buddy-bonding and beefcake. Simu Liu (left) takes off his shirt a lot, and buddy Andrew Phung goes on to play a chunk in the gay-friendly Running the Burbs

Big Mouth (2017).  Animated middle schoolers negotiate puberty, with the help of individually-assigned hormone monsters and other supernatural beings.  The gay guy, Matthew (Andrew Rannells),  eventually gets his own plotlines, coming out to his parents, dating the bi guy, and learning about sexting.

The Other Two (2019). A young teen achieves sudden fame, which disconcerts the Other Two, his sister and brother (who is gay). By the third season, they've all become successful, but there are still a lot of gay-romance plotlines and bare butts.

What We Do in the Shadows (2019).  Vampire roommates on Staten Island have more and more overtly gay plotlines as the series progresses. With out actor Harvey Guillén as their increasingly out assistant.

The Righteous Gemstones (2019) An absurdly wealthy family of Southern preachers negotiate threats.  I'm not sure I should include this one since, in retrospect, it was a little annoying.  Endless queer codes involving Gideon, Eli, and Pontius, with no resolution, just "crumbs."  And it took forever for Kelvin and Keefe to become canon.  They should have kissed at the end of Season 1.  

Solar Opposites (2020).  Aliens crash-land on Earth, try to adjust to human life, become boyfriends and finally marry.  Plus a spin-off episode with Kieran Culkin and Skyler Gisondo in a strong gay subtext human-alien romance.

Ghosts (American Version).  (2021). A houseful of wacky ghosts, including a hunky stock broker who died without his pants, and a Revolutionary War soldier who comes out and nearly marries the guy he accidentally killed.  Other gay characters appear on occasion.

The Great North (2021). A quirky family in a small town in Alaska, with a gay son who gets a boyfriend, and eventually a horny lesbian aunt.

Run the Burbs (2022): A queer daughter, a gay jerk, and a hung Phung.  What else do you need?

Jackson Robert Scott: It prey, Locke boy, gay superhero, muscleman...and a fundamentalist hippie? With some backsides and dicks

Jackson Robert Scott appeared on the teen idol site with the notice that he played Georgie in It (2017), a movie based on the 1986 Stephen King novel about an transdimensional being who usually manifests as Pennywise the Clown.  I never read the novel or saw any of the movies, but I heard that one of the "losers" who combat "It" has been subjected to homophobic fanboy howls of "he can't be gay!  He's just a teenager!"  Presumably Jackson played the gay one.

Nope, that's Richie Tozer (Finn Wolfhard).  Georgie is the younger brother of focus "loser" Bill Denbrough, who gets sucked down into a storm sewer in It's first appearance. 

Left: Bill is played by Jaeden Martel as a teenager, James McAvoy as an adult.

Finn Wolfhard is too famous for a profile, and it looks like Jackson is working his way to becoming a bonafide muscleman, so I'll continue.

Jackson was born in 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona, and in 2014 started training at at CGTV , a young actors' "incubator" featuring acting lessons with celebrity coaches and connections to media professionals.  He started doing commercials almost immediately, and broke into on-screen acting in 2015, playing a boy kidnapped by a psycho on an episode of Criminal Minds.

2017 was Jackson's annus miribilis.  He played Georgie in It.

Bodie, the son in the family investigating paranormal gateways, in the pilot of Locke & Key.

The young Troy Otto, who will grow up to run a ranch with his brothers in the zombie Apocalypse series  Fear the Walking Dead.

The grown-up Troy (Daniel Sharman) is queer-coded, and has a nearly-canonical romance with probably-bi Nick (Frank Dillane, left) .

The short Skin (2018) won an Oscar: In a working-class town, a black man smiles at a white boy (Jackson), and his father objects to the interracial fraternization, resulting in a race war.

But The Prodigy (2019) was rated "one of the worst horror movies of the year": is the cute kid/killer (Jackson) possessed by a supernatural entity, or just bad?

After more horror in It Chapter 2 (2019), Jackson took a reprieve with Gossamer Folds (2020): In 1986, Tate (Jackson) moves to a new town and befriends Girl Next Door Gossamer (Alexandra Gray), who is black and trans.  I don't think they fall in love: Alexandra Gray was 30 years old, not the best choice for a preteen.  In the trailer, Tate looks up the word "f*ggot" in the dictionary, so maybe he's coming out.  

Timothy Richardson (left) played Handsome Man.  Don't be shy, spoon with him.

Next Jackson returned to Bodie (actually spelled Bode) in the supernatural horror/fantasy Locke and Key (2020).  He's got a gay uncle (Aaron Ashmore), and his hetero-horny older brother is played by gay actor Connor Jessup.  

And four episodes of Wandavision (2021), as the body reference for Billy Maximoff (Julian Hilliard), son of the witch-turned-1950s housewife Wanda Maximoff.

More after the break

Zackary Arthur: The gay teen with the murderous Chuckie doll bulks up, shows his physique, and dates...with a potential penis and a Man in Full

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Khemjira: A Thai shaman and his students find boyfriends, with a "Power Ranger" demon, muscular ghosts, magic bees, a play, and penises

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Luke Speakman: The femme bully of "Weapons" meets a lot of hunks, likes capybaras, plays a boy raised as a girl. With Dad and Dylan dicks

 

When I saw Weapons (2025), a thriller about the mysterious disappearance of all of the kids in a third grade class (except one), I thought that the bully (right) was a girl due to their long hair and femme mannerisms -- until their dad called them Matthew (played by Luke Speakman).

There is a positively portrayed gay couple in the movie (played by Benedict Wong and Clayton Farris), and it's quite a welcome change to have the femme boy the bully instead of the victim, so writer/director Zach Creger is obviously a queer ally. But Matthew is not on screen long enough to express any same-sex interests (besides, the rule in movies is, all kids must be portrayed as heterosexual).  But maybe Luke Speakman is gay in real life. 

Left: Luke meets his crush, Merrick Hanna.

Left: Luke's birthday in April 2025: "Turned 12 today!  Guess I'm old now!"  Just wait, buddy.

Growing up in a heteronormative society, gay boys are often unaware that they like boys, or interpret their interest as friendship or hero worship.  And if they are aware, they are unlikely to mention it on their parent-curated social media pages.  But maybe we can catch some glimmers of same-sex interest to augment Luke's femme appearance.

Born in Athens, Georgia in 2013, Luke began acting on screen at age five, in Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (2020): he plays the young version of Sam (Dylan O'Brien, left), who goes through a time portal to the 1920s and meets Girl of His Dreams (be careful, she could be your great-grandmother).

Next came seven episodes of the podcast series The Burned Photo (2021-22): two women's "lives become intertwined when they discover they are being terrorized by the same multi-generational curse that is determined to end their family lineages."  So some lesbian subtexts going on?

Five episodes of Lost Man Down (2022), about an aspiring actor masquerading as a talent agent.  Luke plays a baseball fan who believes in aspiring player Takeshi.

An Asian hunk.  Not particularly relevant, but none of the adult stars of Lost Man Down have nude photos.

More after the break

Oliver Atherton: Mennonite, Wannabe, and Boy Next Door, then nothing. With Mennonite and some co-star in law cocks

 

This guy appears in Episode 1.1 of The Way Home,  singing the ridiculously old-fashioned song "Crazy," by Patsy Cline, at a high school talent show.

I'm crazy for feeling so lonely

Crazy for feeling so blue

I knew

You'd love me as long as you wanted

And then some day

You'd leave me for somebody new

When he's finished, he smugly pushes past focus character Alice, who is waiting to go on next.  

She gets stage fright and rushes off,  and he gives her a final zinger: "I knew you were just a one-hit wonder."

Who doesn't feel like punching this guy in the nose?  Or kissing him?

There was considerable fan discussion about the character's name.  The cast list for the episode lists several actors with no photos, playing Jasper, Student 1, Student 2, Teen 1, and so on.  

Turns out he is Wannabe, played by Oliver Atherton.

Researching Oliver presents some problems: An Oliver Atherton has worked as a visual effects supervisor on many movies, and actress Natalie Oliver-Atherton (no relation), crowned Miss Senior America in 2024, has a much stronger internet presence But I found our Oliver's Linkedin.

 He grew up in Etobioke, which sounds very exotic but is actually just a suburb of Toronto, and attended the School of the Arts, a specialized high school where you can concentrate in art, dance, music, or film.  

He has a brother named Vid V__, from Serbia, so maybe he has a Serbian heritage. 

After graduating with a concentration in film in 2018, Oliver enrolled at the University of Toronto.  There he competed in the North American Debating Championship, interned with an English professor (researching 18th century English law, literature, and politics), wrote for the student newspaper, and worked as a bartender at Stackt ("an artsy industrial-chic complex" that offers queer events).

I'm surprised that he had time for auditions.

Maybe he didn't: there are only three acting roles listed on the IMDB.

#1: Murdoch Mysteries Episode 16.6 (2022): A man is brought to the hospital badly injured, and dies before the doctors can find out who he is.  Murdoch and Ogden track him down: Enoch Snider (Oliver), from a Mennonite community.  Turns out that he was murdered because he didn't want to marry the girl he was assigned.  The transcript says that "he didn't fit in with the other boys," and he had a buddy named Mervin (Liam Green), but I couldn't determine if he was gay.

Left: A nude Mennonite man.  

#2: The short Most of the Time We Are Just Waiting (2022), written and directed by Molly Sheers:  Her town is evacuating, so 13-year old Nora and the Boy Next Door go out looking for her older sister, last seen with a boy "with questionable intentions."  There are only two male actors, Oliver and Piers Bijvoet, so which plays which is up for grabs.  

More after the break