The Best LGBTQ+ Friendly Holiday Movies

Settle in for some essential holiday viewing…
 
If you’re in the mood for a Christmas movie, there’s plenty of options that are required viewing at this time of year. From It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street to Home Alone, Christmas Vacation and Elf, the list of holiday classics goes on and on. That being said, most of the classics aren’t really inclusive of LGBTQ+ characters. That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the nostalgia of them anyway, but if you’re in the mood for something that’s a little more… well, gay, you’re in luck! These LGBTQ+ friendly holiday movies are best viewed on a snowy night in with a glass of your favourite red wine.
 
Make the Yuletide Gay
(2009)
Going home for the holidays isn’t always the stress-free, relaxing experience you want it to be, especially when you haven’t told your parents you’re gay yet. In Make the Yuletide Gay, Gunn (played by Keith Jordan) is out and proud while he’s away at college, but when he’s home for the holidays, he’s still straight. As you can imagine, when his roommate and boyfriend Nathan (played by Adamo Ruggiero of Degrassi fame) shows up unannounced, it makes things a little awkward. His parents are trying to set him back up with his high school girlfriend and his boyfriend has no idea why Gunn would pretend to be straight. You can probably guess how it ends but it’s still a good wholesome Christmas movie to watch while you bake gingerbread cookies.
 
Pee-wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special
(1988)
If you’re looking for something new to watch with the kids, Pee-wee is a classic they probably haven’t seen. The variety show has a loose plot line that involves Pee-wee getting ready for Christmas by making a list for Santa. Guests keep showing up to drop of fruitcakes (which Pee-wee is definitely not interested in) and they stay to educate the audience on different holiday traditions. Guests include icons like Cher, Joan Rivers, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Whoopi Goldberg, KD Lang, Oprah Winfrey, Little Richard and many more. The movie was made in 1988 but it’s currently available on Netflix and there probably isn’t another time of the year you’re likely to watch this silly, campy addition to the holiday movie canon.
 
The Family Stone
(2005)
For large families that don’t get together much throughout the year, Christmas is a time to catch up on each other’s lives and fight about all the things they don’t have in common. In The Family Stone a family gets together to celebrate the holidays and there’s plenty of drama to go around. There’s the gay son and his partner who have just announced they’re ready to adopt a child, the oldest son who is unsure if he’s going to propose to his girlfriend who he’s brought home to meet the family, and the mother who is sick but doesn’t really talk about it. All the different personalities make for a chaotic story that reminds us a lot can happen in a year and how important it is to appreciate the holidays.
 
Holiday Heart
(2000)
Ving Rhames stars are a gay drag queen who is also a Christian named Holiday Heart who befriends a drug addicted woman Wanda (played by Alfre Woodard) and her young daughter Niki. Wanda is on and off drugs and relies on prostitution to make money but Holiday gives her and her daughter a safe place to live. Niki sees Holiday as a kind of father figure and he takes care of her when her mother is nowhere to be found. Around Christmastime, Wanda returns to ask Holiday for help getting clean and sober, but is a happy ending possible after everything that has happened? The film earned Woodard a Golden Globe nomination and will remind you of what the generous Christmas spirit means.
 
Home for the Holidays
(1995)
This Jodie Foster-directed dramedy about yet another dysfunctional family is technically set during (American) Thanksgiving, but that’s close enough to Christmastime to be lumped in as a holiday movie. It follows Claudia (played by Holly Hunter) as a single mom who has just been fired from her job as an art restorer. She decides to fly home to spend Thanksgiving with the parents while her only child stays behind to spend the holiday with her boyfriend. Her eccentric gay younger brother Tommy (played by Robert Downey Jr.) shows up unexpectedly with a new guy in tow and the family drama goes from there. After watching this, if you have a big family, you’ll relate to the mixing of different personalities and if you have a small one you’ll be grateful for your quiet holidays.