Everything queer coming to streaming platforms in June

As some of us plan our Pride celebrations as vaxxed and waxed parade-goers, many of us are still locked in our apartments, unable to celebrate IRL due to pandemic restrictions. In addition to the queerest films and TV shows coming to streaming sites this June, we’ve got you covered on virtual Pride celebrations to check out as well. From shows like Betty, about a brigade of female skateboarders in New York, to Lil Nas X and Demi Lovato appearing at the virtual Can’t Cancel Pride event, here’s a list of queer content coming to streaming platforms this Pride month.

Deep in Vogue 

May 28 on CBC Gem

The 2018 U.K. documentary Deep in Vogue, directed by Amy Watson and Dennis Keighron-Foster, is available to watch in Canada on CBC Gem starting May 28. The documentary looks at vogue dancehalls in Northern England, and celebrates the queer, emotional and political stories of what’s called “Northern vogue” and its people. Exploring topics like disenfranchisement of Black youth, LGBTQ+ issues and a lack of safe spaces, the film’s major theme is about finding self-love and acceptance. 

Querencia 

June 1 on APTN Lumi in Canada 

APTN is Canada’s network for and about Indigenous voices. Streaming service APTN Lumi launches its first original series. Querencia, directed by Cowichan filmmaker Mary Galloway, is a coming-of-age story that follows a romance between two young queer Indigenous women, Abe (Galloway) and Daka (Kaitlyn Yott). The web series of eight 10 minute episodes follows the couple as they navigate their complex identities and differing cultural upbringings. The launch of is accompanied by a special virtual event hosted by imagineNATIVE on June 1and will include live performances by Amanda Theory, Xana and Quanah Style followed by a live panel featuring special guests from the Querencia team including Galloway, her costar Kaitlyn Yott, producer Jessie Anthony and Lisa Ducharme, APTN’s director of online content. Following the premiere, the entire series will go live on APTN Lumi at 11 p.m. EDT. The first two episodes will also be available as a part of the Inside Out Festival from June 2 to June 6. 

Queer horror 

Available on Shudder in the U.S. 

The American horror film streaming service Shudder is celebrating Pride this year with a massive curated collection of LGBTQ2S+ horror movies, starting on June 2. The service is premiering films including Rift (2017), the Icelandic horror film about two gay men locked in a cabin being haunted by their dead exes, among many others. 

New York City Pride

Throughout June on their website

New York City is hosting virtual Pride events throughout the entire month of June. From family movie nights, human rights conferences and Pride island (in a virtual format), there’s a variety of events so everyone can celebrate Pride how they’re most comfortable. The NYC Pride March broadcast special is returning for its fifth consecutive year. There will be live performances, on-air interviews and street-side marching. The broadcast will air on ABC-7 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EDT on June 27 and on streaming platforms Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.

Toronto Pride 

Throughout June on their website

While cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco are able to hold in-person events for those fully-vaccinated, Toronto is still hosting Pride online this year due to pandemic restrictions. This year marks the 40th edition of Toronto Pride, and there will be 70 virtual events spread out over the month, including two festival weekends from June 18 to 20 and June 25 to 27. Canada’s Drag Race winner Priyanka will host the parade this year, and artists like Allie X and iskwē will make appearances. Pride month kicks off with a flag raising at city hall on June 1 before jumping into events featuring more than 130 queer artists, virtual editions of Trans Pride (June 25), the Dyke March (June 27) and ending with the Toronto Pride Parade at 2 p.m. EDT on June 27. 

Changing the Game 

June 1 on HBO Max in the U.S.

The 2019 documentary Changing the Game, directed by Michel Barnett, will be available to watch on HBO Max starting June 1. The documentary follows three trans student athletes across the U.S. and the people who support—and don’t support—them competing on teams that match their gender identities. 

Kajillionaire

June 1 on HBO Max in the U.S and June 9 on Crave in Canada

The 2020 feature film Kajillionaire, directed by Miranda July, will be available to watch on HBO Max on June 1 and Crave on June 9. The complex film centres Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), the androgynous daughter of old-school scammers who made their money though petty crimes. The film follows Old Dolio as she attempts to break free from her family baggage, come to terms with her sexuality and confront her loneliness and desire for human connection. The 26-year-old’s life changes when she meets her polar opposite—yet total match—Melanie (Gina Rodriguez).

Feel Good (Season 2)

June 4 on Netflix 

The second and final season of Feel Good is premiering globally on Netflix on June 4. A repressed English woman, George (Charlotte Ritchie), starts dating a non-binary Canadian comedian, Mae (Mae Martin), after meeting them at the comedy club where they perform in contemporary London. In the first season, George learns about Mae’s past with drug use and supports them through recovery. Throughout that season, George struggled to tell her loved ones about her relationship with Mae, causing tension between the pair. Now, Mae has to come to terms with their past while George tries to reinvent her present.

Can’t Cancel Pride

June 4 at 9 p.m. EDT on iHeartRadio and Revry

The second annual Can’t Cancel Pride LGBTQ+ virtual relief benefit will be streaming on June 4 at 9 p.m. EDT on iHeartRadio’s TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and on Revry. Demi Lovato, Lil Nas X, Ricky Martin and Pink are among the artists performing or appearing at the event. Also performing are Hayley Kiyoko, Jennifer Hudson, JoJo Siwa, Nina West and Troye Sivan. The event is hosted by Elvis Duran and Bebe Rexha, who is also performing her new single “Sacrifice.”

Queer Becoming 

June 4 on digital TIFF Bell Lightbox

The folks at TIFF, the year-round organization that runs the Toronto International Film Festival, have put together an incredible lineup of LGBTQ2s+ films for Pride month (most rent for around $6). In Anna Kerrigan’s Cowboys, father (Steve Zahn) and his adoring young trans son (Sasha Knight) take to the Montana wilderness to get away from the boy’s transphobic mother. In the 2018 Paraguayan drama The Heiress, directed by Marcelo Martinessi, a woman in contemporary Asunción rediscovers herself and her identity after her partner of 30 years is jailed. Starring the amazing Daniela Vega, A Fantastic Woman is the Chilean winner of a best foreign language Oscar in 2018. Both harrowing and joyful, it tells the story of young trans woman struggling with both her own grief and societal prejudice after the death of her older lover.  Pariah is Dee Rees’s revelatory feature debut from 2011 about a Black teen (Adepero Oduye) claiming her identity as a lesbian. Spa Night from director Andrew Ahn follows a closeted Korean American teenager who finds work at a Korean spa where he experiences both fear and a strange thrill as he discovers his own sexuality. Also on offer, Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied, the Billy Tipton doc No Ordinary Man and the Kenyan lesbian feature Rafiki. For complete listings, click here.

Legendary (Season 2 finale) 

June 10 on HBO Max

The season two finale of Legendary, the ballroom reality competition series, airs on HBO Max on June 10. This season features 10 ballroom houses competing to become “legendary.” Featured this season were the House of Balenciaga, House of Oricci, House of Tisci, House of Garçon, House of Miyake-Mugler, House of Icon, House of Milan, House of Luxe, House of Prodigy and House of Chanel, all competing to impress judges Jameela Jamil, Law Roach, Leiomy Maldonado and Megan Thee Stallion. 

Betty (Season 2) 

June 11 on Crave in Canada and HBO Max in the U.S.

The second season of Betty, Crystal Moselle’s TV adaptation of her movie, Skate Kitchen (2018), is premiering on June 11. The HBO dramedy highlights the same five central characters as Skate Kitchen, a group of late-teenage female skateboarders in New York City (all of whom are real-life skaters). There are two queer characters in the group: The quick-tempered lesbian Kirt (Nina Moran) and the semi-closeted aspiring filmmaker Honeybear (Kabrina Adams), who doesn’t like to label herself. The other characters are Janay (Dede Lovelace), Indigo (Anjani Russell) and Camille (Rachelle Vinberg). The series covers topics like sexism, racism, drug use, class privilege and the #MeToo movement. The second season was shot during the pandemic, and features the lead characters wearing masks. 

Love, Victor (Season 2) 

June 11 on Hulu in the U.S. and June 18 on Disney+ in Canada

The Hulu original series, Love, Victor—a TV spinoff of the 2018 film Love, Simon—will be premiering on the platform just in time for Pride month on June 11 in the U.S. and on June 18 on Disney+ in Canada. Love, Victor follows a high school student named Victor Salazar (Michael Cimino) who, in the first season, was questioning his sexuality and felt torn between his relationship with his girlfriend, the popular Mia (Rachel Hilson), and his developing feelings for Benji (George Sear). After Benji and Victor confess their love for each other, Victor finally comes to terms with his queerness. The second season follows Victor navigating his new identity, coming out to his parents and ex-girlfriend and figuring out his future with Benji. 

The Obituary of Tunde Johnson 

June 15 on Hulu

The 2019 American drama, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, directed by Ali LeRoi, will be available to watch on Hulu starting June 15. The debut feature film follows Tunde Johnson (Steven Silver), a gay Black teenager who is trapped in a time loop and forced to relive the day he was racially targeted and killed by police. The terrifying encounter slowly changes as it repeats, and Tunde must face difficult truths about life, his family and himself. 

The Celluloid Closet

June 14 on CTV.ca in Canada

This 1996 feature documentary explores the evolution of the entertainment industry’s image of LGBTQ2S+ figures. Directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, the film features commentary from the likes of Lily Tomlin, Quentin Crisp, Harvey Fierstein, Whoopi Goldberg, Farley Granger and more. Streaming on CTV.ca beginning June 14.

All About My Mother

June 14 on CTV.ca in Canada

A 1999 Oscar-winner from writer-director Pedro Almodóvar, the film follows Manuela (Cecilia Roth) after the death of her teenage son as she seeks out the child’s absent parent, now a trans woman, whose identity she had kept secret. The film also stars Eloy Azorín, Marisa Paredes and Penélope Cruz. Streaming on CTV.ca begins June 14.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under finale 

June 19 on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and Crave in Canada.

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Down Under premiered last month, revealing the Australian and New Zealand queens competing to become Down Under’s first Drag Race superstar. With the second episode being snatch game, this season has been unpredictable from the start. Which queen will be the first of this iteration to be crowned? The finale will be available to watch on June 19, dropping at 3 a.m. EDT/12 a.m. PST. In other territories, check WOW Presents Plus for your local listings.

Broadway Bares: Twerk from Home

June 20 on YouTube

Broadway Bares is going virtual for the second year with Broadway Bares: Twerk from Home, premiering on June 20 and featuring NYC’s hottest “vaxxed and waxed” dancers virtually performing frisky choreographed numbers across the city. More than 170 dancers signed on to perform in the virtual stream. The New York-based event has been raising awareness and money for those living with HIV/AIDS since 1992. It can be watched on Broadway Cares’ YouTube channel and website. 

Rebel Without a Cause

9:45pm EDT June 24 on TCM and Hulu Live; also on YouTube

Bisexual film director Nicholas Ray allegedly had simultaneous affairs with co-stars James Dean, Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood during the shooting of this landmark 1955 film that revolutionzed Hollywood with its unstinting depiction of youthful angst and disillusionment. The drama is also heralded for being one of the earliest sympathetic depictions of same-sex desire ( between Mineo’s character Plato and Dean’s Jim)—though most contemporaries failed to notice.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (Season 6 premiere) 

June 24 on Paramount+

Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars will premiere on Paramount+ on June 24. The season features 13 queens—the most ever for the series—competing for the $100,000 prize and a place in the Drag Race Hall of Fame. The returning queens this season include Kylie Sonique Love, Pandora Boxx, Yara Sofia, Jiggly Caliente, Serena ChaCha, Trinity K. Bonet, Ginger Minj, Eureka!, A’Keria C. Davenport, Ra’Jah O’Hara, Scarlet Envy, Silky Nutmeg Ganache and Jan.