Big List of Queer Frock Flicks for Pride Month!

In honor of June being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month, I’m updating our previous list of queer frock flicks because a lot more have come out (pun intended ;) since then, plus we have more reviews of older productions. This list still isn’t exhaustive because there are movies and TV shows with queer themes that we still want to watch but we just can’t find. However, the good news is that more recent productions, TV in particular, are leaning towards inclusivity (even as right-wing lawmakers in the U.S. and beyond keep trying to make queer lives horrible).

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people have existed forever, but these words haven’t been used to describe these identities until very recently. A nonbinary person in the 16th century wouldn’t call themselves “nonbinary,” but that shouldn’t erase their existence. “Gay” meaning “homosexual” dates to about the 1920s — some 25 years after Oscar Wilde was prosecuted for “the love that dared not speak its name.” Historically, queer folks weren’t always able to name themselves or talk freely, depending on when or where they lived and their status in society. Any words we use today are useful anachronisms. We use “queer” here as both a synonym for LGBTQ and an umbrella term for all these sexual orientations and gender identities, much like queer studies in an academic setting.

Pedantic word choice aside, seeing queer stories onscreen is an important reminder that history is not just straight and cisgender (just like history isn’t only white). There are famous figures who were queer, and sometimes their lives make it into movies or TV, although not often enough IMO. If anyone in Hollywood or other movie-making ventures is reading, we’ve got a list of five queer historical people who need onscreen representation, along with more scattered through our Forgotten History category. There are many historical places and settings where it’s easy to imagine queer people walked too — there’s even queer historical fiction that’s ready to be turned into the next great streaming series. Somebody get on that!

In the mean time, here are some shows to check out during Pride Month or any month…

 

 

Pre-18th-Century Queer Frock Flicks

The Lion in Winter (1986) — 1180s, English King Henry II & family

Padmaavat (2018) — 1301, siege of Chittorgarh in India

Orlando (1992) — 1600s to 1880s, adapted from the novel by Virginia Wolfe

All Is True (2018) — William Shakespeare & family

Mary & George (2024) — 1610s, British King James I & his court

Juana Inés (2016) — 1650s, Mexican scholar & nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Queen Christina (1933) — 1650s, Swedish Queen Christina

The Girl King (2015) — 1650s, Swedish Queen Christina

Stage Beauty (2004) — 1660s, British stage actors & Charles II’s court

Versailles (2015-18) — 1660s to 1670s, French court of Louis XIV

The Miniaturist (2018) — 1660s to 1680s, adapted from the novel by Jessie Burton

 

18th-Century Queer Frock Flicks

The Favourite (2018) — 1700s, British Queen Anne & her court

Renegade Nell (2024) — 1705, British adventure series

Our Flag Means Death (2022-23) — 1710s, pirate comedy / romance

The Cook of Castamar (2021) — 1720s, adapted from the novel by Fernando J. Muñez

Outlander (2014-) — 1740s to 1770s, adapted from the novels by Diana Gabaldon

Harlots (2017-20) — 1760s, London brothels, including a gay molly-house

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023) — 1760s, British court of King George III

Farewell, My Queen (2012) — 1780s, adapted from the novel by Chantal Thomas

Carmilla (2019) — 18th-century, adapted from the novella by Sheridan Le Fanu

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) — 18th-century, French painter & her subject

 

19th-Century Queer Frock Flicks

Byron (2003) — 1800 to 1820s, British poet Lord Byron

The Scandalous Four (2011) — 1810s, British upper-class drama

Taboo (2017) — 1810s, British War of 1812 drama, includes a molly-house setting

This Charming Man: Beau Brummell (2008) — 1810s, British fashion-setter Beau Brummell

The Secret Diaries of Anne Lister (2010) — 1810s to 1830s, British land-owner Anne Lister

The Confessions of Frannie Langton (2022) — 1820s, British murder-mystery

Gentleman Jack (2019) — 1830s, British land-owner Anne Lister

Victoria (2016-19) — 1830s to 1850s, British Queen Victoria & her court

Ammonite (2020) — 1840s, British fossil collector Mary Anning

Dickinson (2019-21) — 1840s to 1860s, American poet Emily Dickinson

Wild Nights With Emily (2019) — 1840 to 1880s, American poet Emily Dickinson

Possession (2002) — 1850s to 1860s, based on the novel by A.S. Byatt

Fingersmith (2005) — 1860s, adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters

Ludwig (1973) — 1860s to 1870s, Bavarian King Ludwig II

The Bostonians (1984) — 1870s, adapted from the novel by Henry James

The Buccaneers (2023-) — 1870s, loosely adapted from the unfinished novel by Edith Wharton

The Harder They Fall (2021) — 1870s to 1880s, American western

The Gilded Age (2022-) — 1880s, American upper-class soap opera

Tipping the Velvet (2002) — 1880s, adapted from the novel by Sarah Waters

Mystère à la Tour Eiffel (2017) — 1880s, French murder-mystery

The Music Lovers (1970) — 1880s, Russian musician Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky

Wilde (1997) — 1880s to 1890s, Irish writer Oscar Wilde

Salome’s Last Dance (1988) — 1890s, Irish writer Oscar Wilde & one of his plays

The Happy Prince (2018) — 1890s to 1900s, Irish writer Oscar Wilde

Albert Nobbs (2011) — 1890s, based on a novella by George Moore

Dracula (2020) — 1890s, based on the novel by Bram Stoker

Lizzie (2018) — 1890s, American Lizzie Borden’s murder trial

Murdoch Mysteries (2008-) — 1890s, Canadian detective series

Penny Dreadful (2014-16) — 1890s, British gothic horror

Colette (2018) — 1890s to 1910s, French author Colette

Elisa y Marcela (2019) — 1890s to 1920s, Spanish women Elisa Sánchez Loriga & Marcela Gracia Ibeas & their attempt at marriage

 

20th-Century Queer Frock Flicks

Another Period (2015-18) — 1900s, American reality TV parody

Dance of the 41 (2020) — 1900s, Mexican gay gentlemen’s society

Daughters of the Dust (1991) — 1900s, African-American women & their families

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) & (2018) — 1900s, adapted from the novel by Joan Lindsay

Songcatcher (2000) — 1900s, American professor studying Appalachian folk music

The Color Purple (1985) & (2023) — 1900s to 1940s, adapted from the novel by Alice Walker

Death in Venice (1971) — 1910s, adapted from the novel by Thomas Mann

Maurice (1987) — 1910s, adapted from the novel by E.M. Forster

Bessie (2015) — 1910s to 1930s, African-American singer Bessie Smith

Downton Abbey (TV series 2010-15 & movie 2019) — 1910s to 1920s, British upper-class family & servants soap opera

Interview With the Vampire (2022-) — 1910s to 1940s, adapted from the series by Anne Rice

Life in Squares (2015) — 1910s, British writer Virginia Woolf & the Bloomsbury set

Babylon Berlin (2017-) — 1920s, German underworld drama, including queer nightlife

Cable Girls aka Las Chicas del Cable (2017-20) — 1920s, Spanish telephone operators

The Danish Girl (2015) — 1920s, Danish artist Lili Elbe

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020) — 1920s, African-American singer Ma Rainey

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (2012-15) — 1920s, adapted from the detective series by Kerry Greenwood

Vita & Virginia (2019) — 1920s, British writers Vita Sackville-West & Virginia Woolf

Brideshead Revisited (1981) & (2008) — 1920s to 1940s, adapted from the novel by Evelyn Waugh

Frida (2002) — 1920s to 1940s, Mexican artist Frida Kahlo

The Hours (2002) — 1920s & 1950s, adapted from the novel by Michael Cunningham

Professor Martson and the Wonder Women (2017) — 1920s to 1940s, American comic-book author Bill Martson, his wife Elizabeth, & their partner Olive Byrne

Another Country (1984) — 1930s, British public school drama

Cabaret (1972) — 1930s, Weimar Republic musical drama

De-Lovely (2004) — 1930s, American composer Cole Porter

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) — 1930s, adapted from the novel by Fannie Flagg

The Handmaiden (2016) — 1930s, Korean version of Fingersmith

Perry Mason (2020-23) — 1930s, American murder-mystery series

Sister My Sister (1994) — 1930s, British murder-mystery

Upstairs Downstairs (2010-12) — 1930s, British upper-class family drama

Victor / Victoria (1982) — 1930s, American musical comedy

A League of Their Own (2022) — 1940s, American women’s baseball league

Bomb Girls (2012-14) — 1940s, Canadian women working at a World War II munitions factory

The Imitation Game (2014) — 1940s, British scientist Alan Turing

The New Look (2024) — 1940s, French fashion designer Christian Dior

Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (2019) – 1950s, British & American detectives

Breaking the Code (1996) — 1950s, British scientist Alan Turing

Desert Hearts (1985) — 1950s, adapted from the novel by Jane Rule

Masters of Sex (2013-16) — 1950s, Americans Dr. William Howell Masters & researcher Virginia Ellis Johnson

My Policeman (2022) — 1950s, adapted from the novel by Bethan Roberts

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) — 1950s, adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith

Tell It to the Bees (2018) — 1950s, adapted from the novel by Fiona Shaw

Call the Midwife (2012-) — 1950s to 1970s, British nuns & midwives

Grace of My Heart (1996) — 1960s, American music business

Judy (2019) — 1960s, American singer & dancer Judy Garland

Julia (2022-24) — 1960s, American chef & TV personality Julia Child

Rustin (2023) — 1960s, American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin

Velvet Goldmine (1998), 196s to 1970s British glam-rock musicians

Battle of the Sexes (2017) — 1970s, American tennis player Billie Jean King

Behind the Candelabra (2013) — 1970s, American musician Liberace

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) — 1970s, British musician Freddie Mercury

Rocketman (2019) — 1970s, British musician Elton John

Ghosts (U.K. version 2019-23) & (U.S. version 2021-) — modern, comedy about historical ghosts

Schmigadoon! (2021-23) — modern, comedy about musical theater

 

 

What queer-themed frock flicks would you add to the list? Any historical shows with LGBTQ characters, settings, or stories missing?