TV Shows
Queer TV, ranked by us
From the shows that raised a generation to whatever you should be streaming tonight — scored out of five rainbows, no algorithm involved.
What makes a great LGBTQ+ TV show?
The best LGBTQ+ TV shows give queer characters a full life rather than a storyline — an arc that continues after the coming out, relationships allowed to be ordinary or messy, and writers' rooms that included the people being written about. Every series here carries a Jibbi Score: our own rating, from half a rainbow to five, for how well it earns its place in the queer canon.
Five rainbows currently go to Pose, It's a Sin, Schitt's Creek and RuPaul's Drag Race — a ballroom drama with the largest trans cast ever assembled, five hours on the AIDS crisis in London, a sitcom built in a world with no homophobia in it, and the show that took drag global. Television is where queer representation actually changed, because there was time for it to.
Started recently
A quiet month, so this is the last three months. Pulled from TMDB and refreshed nightly.
Every series, ranked
Drama2021–now
It's a Sin
Five friends in 1980s London. You already know what happens.
5/5
Drama2018–2021
Pose
Ballroom New York, 1987 onward, with the largest trans cast ever assembled.
5/5
Comedy2015–2020
Schitt's Creek
A rich family loses everything, and homophobia does not exist.
5/5
Reality · Competition2009–now
RuPaul's Drag Race
The reality show that exported drag to the entire planet.
5/5
Romance · Teen2022–2025
Heartstopper
The gentlest thing on this list, and it is not close.
4.5/5
Comedy · Romance2022–2023
Our Flag Means Death
A gentleman pirate falls in love with Blackbeard. Historically... adjacent.
4.5/5
Drama · Horror2022–now
Interview with the Vampire
Anne Rice, uncensored at last, and it is a domestic abuse drama.
4.5/5
Romance · Teen · Drama2021–2024
Young Royals
A Swedish prince at boarding school, in love with a scholarship student.
4.5/5
Comedy · Drama2020–2021
Feel Good
Mae Martin on addiction, a new relationship, and gender.
4.5/5
Comedy · Drama2019–2023
Sex Education
A British sixth form that looks like an American high school, and Eric Effiong.
4.5/5
Sci-Fi · Drama2015–2018
Sense8
Eight strangers, one shared mind, and the Wachowskis at full volume.
4.5/5
Comedy · Drama2013–2016
Please Like Me
Josh Thomas, an Australian share house, and mental illness done properly.
4.5/5
Drama2001–2005
Six Feet Under
A family funeral home, and one of TV’s best gay relationships.
4.5/5
Drama1999–2000
Queer as Folk
Russell T Davies detonates British TV in eight episodes.
4.5/5
Drama · Horror · Sci-Fi2023–now
The Last of Us
The post-apocalypse, and one episode that stopped everyone.
4/5
Comedy · Drama · History2022–now
A League of Their Own
The 1943 women’s baseball league, with the queerness put back in.
4/5
Drama · Horror · Mystery2021–now
Yellowjackets
A girls’ football team survives a plane crash. Things get worse.
4/5
Comedy2019–2021
Special
Ryan O’Connell plays a gay man with cerebral palsy, based on himself.
4/5
Drama2014–2016
Looking
Three gay men in San Francisco, being quietly ordinary.
4/5
Drama2004–2009
The L Word
LA lesbians, endless drama, one unforgivable final season.
4/5
Drama2000–2005
Queer as Folk
The American remake: Pittsburgh, five seasons, no straight leads.
4/5
Drama · Comedy2014–2019
Transparent
A parent comes out as trans at seventy. The family handles it badly.
3.5/5
Questions
- What is the Jibbi Score?
- The Jibbi Score is our own rating, from 0.5 to 5 rainbows, for how well a series earns its place in the queer canon. It is not a quality score — third-party ratings already do that. It weighs representation that holds up, whether queer characters get interior lives, and whether the show still lands today.
- What is the best LGBTQ+ TV show of all time?
- Pose (2018–2021) is our pick at five rainbows: three seasons in the New York ballroom scene from 1987 onward, with the largest cast of trans actors in series-regular roles in television history and trans writers including Janet Mock running the show. It’s a Sin and Schitt’s Creek sit alongside it.
- Which LGBTQ+ series are the most comforting to watch?
- Heartstopper, Schitt’s Creek and Young Royals are the gentlest on this list — no queer character is punished for being queer, and the conflict comes from somewhere else. Schitt’s Creek in particular was written deliberately without homophobia in its world. Filter by Comedy or Romance to find more.
- Where do the Rotten Tomatoes and TMDB scores come from?
- TMDB scores and posters come from the TMDB API, refreshed nightly. Rotten Tomatoes has had no public API since 2018, so Tomatometer figures come from Wikidata, which records many of them under an open CC0 licence. A series with no recorded Tomatometer simply shows no percentage.
Last updated Aug 5, 2026TV Shows
