Imagine Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but hotter
If you love rom-coms, feast on our queer romance watchlist
In the pantheon of onscreen moments that sparked a generation’s sexual awakening, Buffy the Vampire Slayer doesn’t get enough credit. The ‘teen’ lovers in Sunnydale found comfort in each other’s arms across the lines of human and vampire, or good and bad — and we’re sure the building-shattering sex didn’t hurt either. Some of their love affairs endured through the centuries, others were quickies propelled by love spells gone bad, and then there were a select few who changed television history forever. One of them is the relationship between young witches Tara and Willow — a groundbreaking same-sex couple who paved the way for the depiction of queer relationships.
I'd like to thank Buffy and Spike for my sexual awakening. I now know my brief sojourn as a librarian was solely bc of this mug #Buffyslays pic.twitter.com/GXAbfkvtjY
— Charlotte (@eyemotes) March 10, 2017
As Willow and Tara bonded over spell-casting, theirs was one of the longest-running relationships on the show. But it all came to a crashing end when Tara was killed off — a sad but common example of the Bury Your Gays trope in entertainment. But what if we said you could bring alive their off-the-charts chemistry — that too on mainstream TV and in the role of the protagonists?
Coming out on Netflix this June 10, First Kill will follow a teenage vampire called Juliette, who must make her first kill, and sets her sight on the new girl in town, Calliope, who just so happens to be a vampire hunter from a family of renowned slayers. In this tale described as “Killing Eve meets Buffy”, the two end up falling in love instead of being at each other’s throats. Sign us up because no fan of romance can shy away from gorging on an enemies-to-lovers saga — starring queer protagonists nonetheless — without melting into a puddle. (If you’re more a bookworm than a binge-watcher of queer romances, read up on our favourite erotica.)
Queers have long had to dine at the buffet of straight rom-coms. But a study by GLAAD, an American non-governmental media monitoring organisation, reports a record-breaking high in the number of queer characters on mainstream TV,so representation is on the rise. So for those of you looking for queer romances to feast on as we celebrate Pride Month, here’s a list of queer romcoms that will not only let the LGBTQIA+ community feel seen, but also help everyone else realise that love is really just love, queer or not.
9 queer romances to dine on this Pride Month
Heartstopper (2022)
If you’re in want of a sweet love story with a happy ending, Heartstopper will be the balm to your pandemic-ravaged soul with its warm sunshine. Following the romance between the openly gay and anxious Charlie Spring and rugby player Nick Nelson, Heartstopper is a light and cheerful watch about two queer people simply falling in love without the world disintegrating around them and that is precisely the thing queer youth coming to terms with their identity need to see.
Even if you’re not queer or struggling with your sexuality, there is something to learn from Nelson’s character learning to become comfortable in his own skin and sharing pieces of himself with the world, but solely on his own terms. And who doesn’t love watching cute teenagers gawkily laughing at each other as they fall in love for the very first time?
Watch it on Netflix.
Badhaai Do (2022)
If you’re looking for a cute queer romance fit for a family watch, Badhaai Do is what you must pick. Starring Rajkummar Rao as a gay cop Shardul Thakur and Bhumi Pednekar as a physical education (PE) teacher, Suman Singh, who is also queer, the film portrays how queer people from opposite sexes often get married — a ‘lavender marriage’ — to escape familial pressure.
The best part about the film is the refreshing clarity with which they’ve portrayed the queer romance between Pednekar’s Suman and Chum Darang’s Rimjhim. From them falling in love to living together to having fights like any heterosexual couple, it will help you and your parents, if you’re watching it with them, see the realities of being a queer couple are not much different on an elemental level.
Watch it on Netflix.
The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
If you like your romance with a side of horror, The Haunting of Bly Manor is for you because who says a ghost story can’t be a love story and a queer romance at that? For those of you who have watched its predecessor The Haunting of Hill House, you will know that more than horror, the stories are more about the lived realities of the people who inhabit this space. And The Haunting of Bly Manor is no different.
The slow-burn relationship between Dani and Jamie that blossoms over the course of the series is both heartwarming and heartwrenching. (You’ll never listen to Sheryl Crow’s I Shall Believe the same way again.) Though the show falls squarely on some common tropes like “lesbians love plants” or “bury your gays,” Dani and Jamie are not depicted as caricatures of queer people written for straight audiences. They’re as real as they come and their story isn’t an overblown story about coming or the struggles of being queer. Rather, they’re simply intended to be, and in the words of Jamie, “I reckon that’s enough for me.”
Watch it on Netflix.
The Half of It (2020)
For those of you who love a platonic romance more than the love angle, The Half of It is going to blow you to smithereens and piece you back together with utter care.
In most teen movies, male-female friendships are near-constantly convoluted by feeling, and because it doesn’t completely negate the romance angle between Ellie and Paul, who become friends through circumstances, it talks of the befuddling state that exists between friendship and love.
If you thrive on heartfelt day-to-day moments with your loved ones, the Half of It is brimming with them. The film recognizes how vexing love is, our powerlessness when faced with it, and how there can be so many kinds of love.
Watch it on Netflix.
It’s A Sin (2021)
For those of you who like being gunked with history with their weekly dose of romance, It’s A Sin is for you. But more than being a queer romance between people, it is a love letter to the young people of the LGBTQIA+ community who grow up in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1980s London.
Even though the subject matter is heavy, the show never feels weighed down by it. Instead, the series is frenzied, exultant, at instances heart-wrenching, but also humorous and playful. But it would not be a spoiler to say that some of the characters you’ll come to love in the show will not see the end of it so keep your box of tissues handy.
Watch it on Lionsgate Play.
Anne+ The Film (2021)
If you loved the plot of Heartstopper, think of Anne+ The Film as an extension to it wherein the characters grow up and find out, through their experiences with love, sex and relationships, what it means to be queer.
The film says plenty about contemporary relationships and the obstacles that may arrive if boundaries aren’t set, and “hopes and desires” aren’t shared. We meet our protagonist, the titular Anne, as she’s swept up in the hurricane that is her life, and relationships, and while she learns new expressions of being a queer, non-binary person.
Anne represents many of us in our twenty-somethings. We may be dating but we don’t know what for or what is that we want. A period in our lives dominated by confusing, muddling feelings that afford shadows bigger than a completely shaped view of the world. Providing you with an insider’s look into queer relationships, Anne+ The Film is essentially the story of this queer woman coming into her own as she discovers her place in the world.
Watch it on Netflix.
Young Royals (2021)
If you love your rom-coms with a pinch of royalty, Young Royals will not leave you disappointed, especially if you’re sick of watching teen dramas starring 30-somethings because these young royals are actually the young teenagers they’re portraying.
Set within the fictional elite boarding school Hillerska, this Swedish show follows Prince Wilhelm of Sweden as he eventually receives the possibility to discover his actual self and find out what type of life he actually wishes for when he falls in love with a fellow student, Simon Eriksson. Teen angst, queer romance and a royal all wrapped up in one— where is the sign-up sheet?
Watch it on Netflix.
Happiest Season (2020)
No rom-com list is complete without a Christmas movie. In this Hulu original, Abby, played by Kristen Stewart, and Harper are a happy lesbian couple on the brink of being engaged—that is, till Harper invites Abby to her parents’ residence for the holidays, revealing that she isn’t yet out to her family.
Mind you, Happiest Season is by far not the cinematic marvel or a thought-provoking piece of art that will shake up your soul like most of its counterparts on this list, but it has earned its place on this list because why shouldn’t queer people have a mindless romance they can enjoy if their heart desires?
Watch it on Netflix.
Modern Love Bombay– Episode 2: Baai (2022)
If your love for the city of dreams knows no bounds, the Bombay anthology of Modern Love is here and ripe for the picking. The second episode Baai is the poignant — although overused — story of Manzu played by Pratik Gandhi, who comes out as gay to his conservative Muslim family, in search of acceptance from them and his grandmother, who he loves more than anyone.
You might not know if Baai has been successful in its attempt to break down barriers of division through love, but you will learn that love does conquer all because “pyaar ko rokna bhi toh nafrat phailane jaisa hai” (preventing love is equivalent to spreading hate).
Watch it on Amazon Prime Video.
Romantic comedies are coming back with a queer glow-up and we couldn’t be more here for them. We’re here, we’re queer, deal with it.
