Have yourself a merry little Christmas, make the Yuletide gay. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. It’s the hap-happiest season of all, with those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings when friends come to call! Don we now our gay apparel and settle in on the couch with the remote and enjoy yourself a good old-fashioned gay holiday with one or more of these LGBTQ+ Christmas movies!
Single All the Way
Desperate to avoid his family’s judgment about being single, Peter (Michael Urie) persuades best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to pose as his boyfriend on a trip home for the holidays. Jennifer Coolidge and Kathy Najimy are also in the cast.
Carol
Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) spots the beautiful, elegant Carol (Cate Blanchett) perusing the doll displays in a 1950s Manhattan department store. The two women develop a fast bond that becomes a love with complicated consequences. This film is worth checking out and it was nominated for 6 Academy Awards. Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler are also in the film.
Happiest Season
Abby (Kristen Stewart) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) are going to the latter’s family home for Christmas but both have very different versions of how they’re expecting to celebrate the holiday season. Abby’s preparing to propose while Harper is trying to summon the courage to tell her girlfriend she’s not yet out to her family and, more so, tell her family Abby’s not just a friend.
The cast also includes Dan Levy, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, and Mary Holland.
Dashing in December
After Wyatt (Peter Porte) finally comes home for the holidays to try to convince his mother to sell the family’s Colorado ranch, he finds romance with dashing a new ranch hand who dreams of saving the property and its magical Winter Wonderland attraction.
The film also stars Juan Pablo Di Pace, Andie MacDowell, and Caroline Harris.
Tangerine
This film Made our Pride Month list and it’s just so good that it deserves another mention. A transgender sex worker (Mya Taylor) rips through Hollywood on Christmas Eve searching for her fiance pimp who cheated on her and broke her heart with her friend Sin-Dee, played by Taylor’s real-life pal Kitana Kiki Rodriguez.
The film was shot exclusively on three iPhone 5s smartphones, along with the Moondog Labs’ anamorphic clip-on lens and a $8 app, FiLMiC Pro in addition to Steadicam Smoothee Mounts. Director Sean Baker revealed this at the Sundance Film Festival.
Let it Snow
Based on the best-selling book by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle, Let It Snow follows a group of high school seniors whose friendships and love lives collide after a snowstorm hits their small town on Christmas Eve.
It stars Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold), Shameik Moore (The Get Down), Odeya Rush (Ladybird), Mitchell Hope (Descendants), Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Joan Cusack.
While the movie isn’t explicitly “gay”, The film features a same-sex romance between two characters played by Liv Hewson (Santa Clarita Diet) and YouTube star Anna Akana. Even better, both actors are queer in real life: Liv is non-binary and gay, while Anna is bisexual.
Make The Yuletide Gay
A gay student who is “out” at college but not to his family receives an unexpected visit from his boyfriend while at home during the holidays. Written and directed by Rob Williams, the film stars Keith Jordan, Wyatt Fenner, and Steve Callahan.
Holiday heart
Holiday Heart (Ving Rhames) is a drag queen who takes in drug addict Wanda (Alfre Woodard) and her daughter Nikki, forming a chosen family that’s full of love and acceptance. Ving Rhames’ portrayal is honest, empathetic, and totally heartwarming.
REELated: Surprise! These are Christmas movies, too
Red Lodge aka The Unattainably Perfect Gay Christmas
This movie is renamed The Unattainably Perfect Gay Christmas on Amazon Prime, but it’s a great holiday watch regardless of the name. Jordan (Joseph Lim Kim) proposes to his boyfriend Dave (Richard Pierre-Louis) in the days before Christmas, but the offer is accepted, and then quickly rejected. As you can imagine, that makes for one awkward family holiday.
A New York Christmas Wedding
As her Christmas Eve wedding draws near, Jennifer (Nia Fairweather) is visited by an angel and shown what could have been if she hadn’t denied her true feelings for her childhood best friend, Gabrielle (Adriana DeMeo).
Chris Noth plays the Priest and we know that Chris Noth is in a media storm right now surrounding the allegations that he has sexually assaulted several women, but that doesn’t necessarily have to mean we can’t watch films and TV shows where he has previously appeared, especially those that feature a queer Christmas story with a woman of color as the lead.
The global pandemic has made the past year or so very difficult for everyone and sometimes it’s just nice to relax and enjoy some Christmas movies to help pass the time. It makes it easier to get into the holiday spirit when you can identify with the characters you see on the screen.
We hope this list can help make those who were previously outcast and excluded to feel seen and included this holiday season. Happy Holidays from Reel 360!
Joia DaVida reports on the entertainment industry in both Chicago and Los Angeles.
