Pride Month takes place in June each year, prompting increased attention on the LGBTQIA community, key issues affecting us and our stories.

Some streaming services have previously curated prominent Pride Month categories, although these saw a downturn in 2025.

Queer “storyworlds” – television series that emphasise the social connections between LGBTQIA people – first emerged in the 1990s. These queer series were often products of experimentation in response to disruption, such as the proliferation of cable television.

In new research, we explore how queer storyworlds use the serial nature of television to present complex and nuanced portrayals of queer identities, experiences and community.

These storyworlds emphasise queer social connection, through friends and relationships. They move away from representations of the lone queer character in an otherwise straight world, who may occasionally have a love interest. And they use distinctly queer settings that include the spaces where community is formed, both in public – bars, cafes, nightclubs – and private homes.

Whether the 1990s or the 2020s, centrally queer stories on television remain revolutionary. They offer a glimpse into the ways we create liveable lives despite the dominance of heterocentric society. And for that, they remain a powerful and radical source of meaning making for our community.

We have found more than 70 queer storyworlds since the 1990s, created in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, but there are more queer storyworlds to explore. Here is just a small selection you should be streaming this June.

Russel T. Davies’ Queer as Folk (1999–2000) was the first fully queer storyworld in mainstream television. It centres the lives of gay men, and a few lesbians, in Manchester, and the scene on the infamous nightclub strip, Canal Street.

This bold, sexy series is also highly political. It critiques the UK’s oppressive Section 28 laws, which suppressed open discussion of homosexuality for those under 18 from 1988–2003 (2001 in Scotland).

The first episode features a 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam) seeking and finding his first sexual........

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