The 14 best LGBTQ+ TV shows of 2025, ranked

Despite challenges faced by queer media like cancellations and corporations backing away from DEI, 2025 was a great year for queer TV.

LGBTQ+ creators are getting more and more creative, and new types of stories are being told in productions like Wayward, Overcompensating, and Boots, and shows like The Traitors, Hacks, and The Last of Us are back with terrific new seasons.

These are the Out's staff's picks for the 14 best TV shows of 2025, ranked.

14. 'Yellowjackets'

Fans still can't get enough of the toxic lesbians and bloody twists of Yellowjackets! The penultimate season aired this year, with the teens getting closer and closer to escaping the wilderness and even more of the adults dying off. The show also got even gayer this season with Shauna's teen storyline and the addition of Hillary Swank as the adult version of Melissa.

Streaming on Netflix

13. 'Wayward'

Mae Martin created and starred in this twisty limited series for Netflix, set in a small Vermont town in 2003. The inciting incident occurs when Alex Dempsey (Martin) and his wife, Laura (Sarah Gadon), move to Tall Pines, where Laura spent her teen years in a camp for troubled teens run by the charismatic and enigmatic Evelyn Wade (Toni Collette). The show also follows two teen girls, Leila (Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe), who are sent to the camp. The teens team up with Alex to uncover the town and the academy's dark secrets.

Streaming on Netflix

12. 'I Love LA'

Rachel Sennott's newest show follows a young, codependent friend group as they try to live out their dreams in Los Angeles. Sennott stars as Maia, a talent manager who takes on her longtime influencer friend Tallulah (Odessa A'zion) as a client and tries to hustle her way to the top. Jordan Firstman and True Whitaker also star as their hilarious, high-maintenance friend group, instantly recognizable to any 20- or 30-something.

Streaming on HBO Max

11. 'The Hunting Wives'

One of the spiciest lesbian shows of 2025 was this Netflix limited series starring Brittany Snow as Sophie O'Neil, who moves from Massachusetts to Texas with her husband. There, she meets Margo Banks (Malin Akerman), the captivating leader of a group of wealthy wives. The show has many of 2025's steamiest sapphic moments and had the whole country wrapped around its perfectly manicured finger.

Streaming on Netflix

10. 'Adults'

There's been a heated debate over whether Adults on Hulu is an accurate depiction of Gen Z today, but its popularity suggests young people are definitely embracing it. The show starring Owen Thiele, Jack Innanen, Amita Rao, Lucy Freyer, and Malik Elassal centers on a group of 20-somethings living together under one roof in New York City and the shenanigans they get into. Their antics are a bit over the top, but one of the most electrifying storylines in the show is a friends-to-lovers moment that gets left on a cliffhanger at the end of the first season. Thankfully, the series just got renewed for season 2.

Streaming on Hulu

9. 'Mid-Century Modern'

This classic-style sitcom starred gay legends Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham as a group of friends who move into a Palm Springs house together after the fourth member of their friend group died. The show was hilarious, heartfelt, and packed a big, gay punch. Sadly, it was canceled after just one season.

Streaming on Hulu

8. 'The Last of Us'

The second season of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation shifted away from the beloved Joel (Pedro Pascal) and toward Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and her new girlfriend Dina (Isabela Merced) as the two of them explore Seattle to find revenge. This show just keeps getting better as it explores life in a post-apocalyptic America.

Streaming on HBO Max

7. 'Heated Rivalry'

Who knew hockey could be so hot and heavy? Heated Rivalry — a Canadian gay sports romance from Crave that was released by HBO Max in the U.S. — became the season’s hottest show for its portrayal of a clandestine relationship between closeted professional hockey players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie). Created by Jacob Tierney and based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers novels, the show depicts the Canadian and Russian routinely squaring off on the ice before melting in the sheets. In between matches, the players must reckon with the homophobia of the sports world and Putin’s Russia, which provides added heat to the undeniable chemistry of its leads.

Streaming on HBO Max

6. 'The Traitors'

Audiences can't resist Alan Cumming as the host of this reality competition where he gathers a group of celebs and public figures in a Scottish castle to trick each other, stab each other in the back, and win fabulous prizes. The most recent season featured some of our favorite contestants, including Chrishell Stause, Bob the Drag Queen, Dylan Efron, and Gabby Windey.

Streaming on Peacock

5. 'Boots'

Boots, based on the memoir The Pink Marine by Greg Cope White, had LGBTQ+ audiences at attention this year for its moving (and often funny) portrayal of a closeted teen, Cameron Cope (Miles Heizer), who decides to join the Marines in the early 1990s. In this Netflix series, Heizer is compelling as a young man grappling with his sexuality (and hiding it) as he struggles with the physical and mental rigors of boot camp. But high honors go to the ensemble troop — Jack Cameron Kay, Angus O'Brien, Dominic Goodman, Sachin Bhatt, Kieron Moore, Liam Oh, Johnathan Nieves, Rico Paris, Blake Burt, Brandon Tyler Moore, Cedrick Cooper, Nicholas Logan, and particularly Max Parker, who plays a closeted drill sergeant — for bringing heart to this (unfortunately) timely show about the obstacles of being queer in the military.

Streaming on Netflix

4. 'Pee-wee as Himself'

Beloved comedian and actor Paul Reubens sadly passed away in 2023, but his legacy lived on this year in the two-part docuseries Pee-wee as Himself. The docuseries, filmed largely over Reubens' final years as he was dealing with the cancer that would take his life. In the documentary, Reubens opens up about his fame, his private life, and his sexuality.

Streaming on HBO Max

3. 'Pluribus'

Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, is back with another show, this time about jaded lesbian author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn), who is left as one of the last people left on Earth when an alien virus creates a giant hivemind from most of the human population. Carol is a classic lesbian (reluctant) hero who wants to be left alone and complain, but instead has to try to save the world.

Streaming on Apple TV+

2. 'Overcompensating'

Benito Skinner created and starred in this hilarious series based on his own life about a closeted college freshman navigating sex, relationships, and Charli Xcx concerts. Costars Wally Baram, Mary Beth Barone, Adam DiMarco, Owen Thiele, and Holmes shine, and the series has some of the best pop culture references on TV. Check out this show if you haven't. It's the future of TV comedies.

Streaming on Prime Video

1. 'Hacks'

The best show on television since it started airing, Hacks reached new heights this season, with Ava and Deborah starting season 4 as enemies, having to work together now that they've accomplished their goal of getting Deborah her own late-night show. Hacks is more incisive, hilarious, and out-of-pocket than ever, and Ava and Deborah's relationship is at its messiest in the latest season.

Streaming on HBO Max