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Until recently, the majority of holiday rom-com relationships on TV were hetero – big city girl falls for small-town guy, or big city guy falls for small-town girl – but more and more, a wider variety of relationships are being represented during the holiday movie season. With network and streaming options available, there are more platforms than ever producing more diverse content. Here are a few of our fave LGBTQ Christmas movies to check out between your yearly viewing of Elf and Christmas Vacation.
Home of the “you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all” Christmas movies, Hallmark has finally put a same-sex couple front and center. In its first LGBTQ Christmas movie, The Holiday Sitter features Jonathan Bennet (hunky Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls) as Sam, a big city Manhattanite who has to spend Christmas in the burbs to babysit his niece and nephew instead of his planned sunny vacay in Hawaii.
Needing help with the kids, Sam hires the neighbor, Jason (George Krissa), who is looking into adoption because he desperately wants to be a dad. The Holiday Sitter is a fun, feel-good film that shows a same-sex relationship comfortably fitting in – in the suburbs.
Check out the trailer.
This 2022 film is the first holiday film featuring a nonbinary actor as a lead character. When Broadway star Becca (Dia Frampton) goes home to Tennessee for the holidays, she reunites with her childhood friend and first love, Sam (Andi Rene Christensen). Rom-com hijinks ensue when Becca is roped into directing her hometown’s Christmas pageant. She and Sam have to work together while Becca’s mom meddles in their relationship. Her meddling works but the two former and current lovers struggle to find how they will fit into each other’s lives. Merry & Gay’s original songs add a fun aspect to this film.
You can watch Merry & Gay on DivaBoxOffice.tv and see the trailer here.
If you missed it when it was released last year, this one needs to go on your 2022 watch list for sure. Netflix’s first true same-sex holiday movie features Micael Urie (hilarious Marc St. James from Ugly Betty), Philemon Chambers, Kathy Najimi, and Jennifer Cooledge (that’s quite a cast!) in a stereotypical traditional plot turned on its head. Peter (Michael Urie) brings his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) home to New Hampshire as his pretend boyfriend to get his mom (Kathy Najimi) off his case about being single.
When Mom sets up her son on a blind date with an eligible bachelor, his relationship with bestie Nick goes from friends to more in this sugary sweet, and fun love story. You can find Single All The Way on Netflix (which has a handy LGBTQ genre to make finding films simple).
Watch the trailer here.
In Lifetime’s first female same-sex Christmas movie, the main character, Alma (Elise Bauman), falls in love with an out-of-towner Charlie (Tattiawana Jones). The plot is predictable and fun, and Alma’s parents encourage her all the way. Released in 2021, you’ll want to put this on your list of LGBTQ Christmas movies that you watch every year.
Trailer:
This 2020 film features real-life husbands Ben Lewis (Hugo) and Blake Lee (Patrick). Patrick was Hugo’s teen crush, and when they run into each other while Hugo is home for the holidays (gosh, this plot sounds familiar), well, you know what happens next. Formulaic and fun, you can catch The Christmas Setup on Lifetime. And check out the trailer here:
We at Harmony Healthcare Orlando hope this list of LGBTQ Christmas movies helps you fill out your movie-watching to-do list this holiday season. So, grab some cocoa, a cozy blanket, and a buddy, and curl up on the couch for these festive films. Happy holidays!
