List of made-for-television films with LGBT characters
This is a list of live action made-for-television films that feature lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender characters. Non-binary, pansexual, and asexual characters are also included. The orientation can be portrayed on-screen, described in the dialogue or mentioned.
1950s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 1959 | South | ITV | Jan Wicziewsky | Peter Wyngarde | Wicziewsky is a Polish army officer living in exile in the antebellum South. He is torn by his feelings for fellow officer Eric MacClure. South is believed to be the earliest television film dealing with homosexual themes. |
1970s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 1972 | That Certain Summer | ABC | Doug Salter Gary McClain | Hal Holbrook Martin Sheen | A teenager deals with the knowledge that his divorced father is gay. |
| 1974 | Born Innocent | NBC | Moco | Nora Heflin | In a controversial scene, Christine Parker is raped with a mop handle by a girl gang led by Moco in a juvenile detention center. |
| 1975 | The Naked Civil Servant | ITV | Quentin Crisp | John Hurt | |
| 1975 | Cage Without a Key | NBC | Tommy | Jonelle Allen | Tommy has been described by gay media researcher Steven Capsuto as probably the earliest well-developed gay teen character on television as well as the first well-developed non-white gay character. |
| 1976 | Song of Myself | CBS | Walt Whitman Peter Doyle | Rip Torn Brad Davis | |
| 1976 | The War Widow | PBS | Amy Jenny | Pamela Bellwood Frances Lee McCain | Set during World War I, Amy is married to a man that enlisted early. On a trip to New York City, she meets Jenny, a photographer. Their friendship blossoms into romance and they become lovers. |
| 1977 | ' | ABC | Alexander Duncan | Leigh McCloskey | Sequel to the telefilm '. Alexander becomes a hustler in Los Angeles. |
| 1977 | In the Glitter Palace | NBC | Ellen Lange Casey Walker Daisy Dolon Ricky Grace Mayo Kendis Winslow | Barbara Hershey Diana Scarwid Carole Cook Lynn Marta Tisha Sterling Salome Jens | Ellen, a lesbian, hires her ex-boyfriend to defend her lover Casey who is accused of murder. Daisy is lesbian and a nightclub entertainer. Ricky is lesbian and hiding a child she lost in a custody suit. Grace is lesbian. She was hired to seduce women so they can be blackmailed. Kendis, a judge, is lesbian and another blackmail victim. |
| 1977 | Terraces | NBC | Dr. Roger Cabe Alex Bengston | Lloyd Bochner James Phipps | A married doctor has a sweet, heartfelt affair with a younger man. When the doctor breaks it off for the sake of his wife and family, his young lover cannot cope and takes drastic measures. |
| 1978 | A Question of Love | ABC | Linda Ray Guettner Barbara Moreland | Gena Rowlands Jane Alexander | Linda and Barbara are a couple. Based on the true story of Mary Jo Risher, who in 1975 lost custody of her adopted 9‐year‐old son because she was a lesbian. |
1980s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 1981 | Sidney Shorr: A Girl's Best Friend | NBC | Sidney Shorr | Tony Randall | Pilot film for the series Love, Sidney. |
| 1983 | Making of a Male Model | ABC | Chuck Lanyard | Jeff Conaway | |
| 1983 | An Englishman Abroad | BBC | Guy Burgess | Alan Bates | Story of the chance encounter between gay "Cambridge spy" Burgess and actress Coral Browne. |
| 1985 | An Early Frost | NBC | Michael Pierson Peter Hilton | Aidan Quinn D. W. Moffett | One of the first mainstream treatments of AIDS on American television. |
| 1985 | Consenting Adult | ABC | Jeff Lynd | Barry Tubb | TV movie about a family's struggle to accept their son's homosexuality. Based on a novel by Laura Z. Hobson, and also starring Marlo Thomas and Martin Sheen as the parents. |
| 1986 | Second Serve | CBS | Renée Richards | Vanessa Redgrave | Biopic of transgender surgeon turned professional tennis player. |
| 1986 | Welcome Home, Bobby | CBS | Bobby Cavalero | Timothy Williams | TV movie about a gay teenager who struggles with rejection from his school friends and his father when his sexuality becomes known. |
| 1986 | The Truth About Alex | HBO | Alex Prager | Peter Spence | After school special-style drama. |
| 1986 | My Two Loves | ABC | Gail Springer Marjorie | Mariette Hartley Lynn Redgrave | After her husband dies, Gail finds a job as a chef for a company, where she meets Marjorie, an executive who is open about her being a lesbian. Their friendship becomes a love affair. The script was co-written by Rita Mae Brown. |
| 1987 | Two of Us | BBC | Matthew Phil | Jason Rush Lee Whitlock |
1990s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 1990 | 102 Boulevard Haussmann | BBC | Marcel Proust Amable Massis | Alan Bates Paul Rhys | a 1990 film in the BBC series Screen Two written by Alan Bennett; love story about Marcel Proust and violist Amable Massis. |
| 1991 | Our Sons | ABC | James Grant Donald Barnes | Hugh Grant Željko Ivanek | Drama about two mothers whose sons are in a relationship, but one of them is terminally ill. |
| 1991 | The Lost Language of Cranes | BBC PBS | Owen Benjamin Philip Benjamin Elliot Abrahams Geoffrey Lane Derek Moulthorpe Robin Bradley | Brian Cox Angus MacFadyen Corey Parker René Auberjonois John Schlesinger Ben Daniels | British production based upon the novel by American writer David Leavitt about a young man who comes out to his family which leads his middle-aged father to face his own hidden sexuality. |
| 1992 | Doing Time on Maple Drive | Fox | Matt Carter Kyle | William McNamara Bennett Cale | Family drama. |
| 1992 | Citizen Cohn | HBO | Roy Cohn | James Woods | Story of the life of Joseph McCarthy's controversial chief counsel Roy Cohn. |
| 1994 | Family Album | NBC | Lionel Thayer Paul Steel John | Joe Flanigan Paul Satterfield Joel Gretsch | Based on Danielle Steel's novel. |
| 1994 | Roommates | NBC | Bill Thomas | Eric Stoltz | |
| 1994 | X-Rated | CBC | Nathan Jones | Billy Merasty | Pilot for the CBC drama series Liberty Street. |
| 1995 | NBC | Margarethe Cammermeyer Diane | Glenn Close Judy Davis | ||
| 1995 | The Price of Love | Fox | Bo | Jay R. Ferguson | 16-year-old Bret is thrown out of his house. He runs away to Los Angeles, where he meets a hustler named Bo and becomes a hustler himself. Bo is gay but Bret is strictly gay-for-pay. |
| 1997 | Any Mother's Son | Lifetime | Allen R. Schindler, Jr. | Paul Popowich | Based on a true story of a hate crime. |
| 1997 | In the Gloaming | HBO | Danny | Robert Sean Leonard | |
| 1997 | The Twilight of the Golds | Showtime | David Gold | Brendan Fraser | |
| 1998 | Gia | HBO | Gia Carangi Linda | Angelina Jolie Elizabeth Mitchell | Biopic about lesbian supermodel and heroin addict, who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1986. |
| 1999 | Execution of Justice | Showtime | Harvey Milk | Peter Coyote | Adaptation of stage play about the assassination of Milk by Dan White. |
2000s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 2000 | Common Ground | Showtime | Dorothy Nelson Billy, McPherson Gil Roberts Tobias Amos Andy | Brittany Murphy Jason Priestley Mimi Rogers Steven Weber Jonathan Taylor Thomas James LeGros Andrew Airlie | Three short stories dealing with acceptance of gays and lesbians over three different decades. |
| 2000 | If These Walls Could Talk 2 | HBO | Edith Tree Abby Hedley Linda Amy Fran Kal | Vanessa Redgrave Marian Seldes Michelle Williams Chloë Sevigny Sharon Stone Ellen DeGeneres | Three short stories dealing with lesbian women. |
| 2000 | The Truth About Jane | Lifetime | Jane Taylor Ms. Lynn Walcott Jimmy | Ellen Muth Alicia Lagano Kelly Rowan RuPaul | |
| 2000 | Anatomy of a Hate Crime | MTV | Matthew Shepard | Cy Carter | First of three TV movies about Shepard's murder. |
| 2001 | What Makes a Family | Lifetime | Janine Neilssen Sandy Cataldi | Brooke Shields Cherry Jones | When Sandy dies, Janine must fight to keep the child Sandy bore through artificial insemination. The teleplay is based on the true story of Janine Ratcliffe, who in 1989 won custody of the daughter of her deceased lesbian partner, Joan Pearlman. |
| 2002 | Bobbie's Girl | Showtime | Bailey Lewis Roberta Langham | Bernadette Peters Rachel Ward | Shows committed relationship between two lesbians. |
| 2002 | The Matthew Shepard Story | Showtime | Matthew Shepard | Shane Meier | |
| 2002 | No Night is Too Long | BBC Two | Tim Cornish Ivo Steadman Thierry Massin | Lee Williams Marc Warren Salvatore Antonio | Tim is bisexual. |
| 2003 | Murad | Indus TV | Saima Bobo Naddo | Sohail Asghar Qazi Wajid Nabeel Zafar | Murad aka Eunuch's Motherhood is a part of Maa Aur Mamta TV series of films based on Mothers. |
| 2003 | Normal | HBO | Ruth | Tom Wilkinson | |
| 2003 | Soldier's Girl | Showtime | Calpernia Addams | Lee Pace | |
| 2004 | Jack | Showtime | Paul | Ron Silver | |
| 2004 | ' | CTV | Marc Hall Jason | Aaron Ashmore Mak Fyfe | |
| 2005 | Deadly Skies | here! | Donovan Mark | Antonio Sabato, Jr. Michael Boisvert | Film was released in multiple versions, with and without gay content. |
| 2005 | Tides of War | here! | Cmdr. Frank Habley Lt. Cmdr. Tom Palatonio | Adrian Paul Mike Doyle | Film was released in multiple versions, with and without gay content. |
| 2006 | Trapped! | here! | Samantha Dana | Alexandra Paul Michelle Wolff | |
| 2006 | Wedding Wars | A&E | Shel Grandy Ted Moore | John Stamos Sean Maher | Shel is a wedding planner and goes on strike for gay rights while planning his straight brother's wedding. Ted is his lover. |
| 2006 | Totally Awesome | VH1 | Yamagashi | James Hong | Parody of Miyagi from the Karate Kid films, Yamagashi is an elderly gay lecher. |
| 2006 | Loving Annabelle | Divine Light Pictures | Annabelle Simone Bradley | Erin Kelly Diane Gaidry | The rebel Annabelle arrives at boarding school and falls in love with her teacher Simone. They start an affair leading to serious consequences. |
| 2006 | ' | Lifetime | Gwen Araujo | J. D. Pardo | |
| 2007 | Sci Fi Channel | Helena Cain Gina Inviere | Michelle Forbes Tricia Helfer | ||
| 2007 | Daphne | BBC | Daphne du Maurier | Geraldine Somerville | Author du Maurier attempts to pursue her friend, Ellen Doubleday, in a case of unrequited love, and has a secret love affair with Gertrude Lawrence. |
| 2008 | Ice Blues | here! | Donald Strachey Timothy Callahan Kenny Kwon | Chad Allen Sebastian Spence Nelson Wong | Part of a series of films based on the Donald Strachey books. |
| 2008 | Kiss Me Deadly | here! | Jacob "Jake" Keane Paulo Jillian | Robert Gant | Jake Keane is an ex-spy drawn back into danger when his former partner turns up with her memory erased. Paulo is his lover and Jillian a friend with whom Jake has a daughter. |
| 2008 | Knight Rider | NBC | Carrie Ruvai | Sydney Tamiia Poitier | Pilot for the revival of the Knight Rider franchise. |
| 2009 | Prayers for Bobby | Lifetime | Bobby Griffith Rev. Whitsell David | Ryan Kelley Dan Butler Scott Bailey |
2010s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 2010 | The Counterfeiters | France 2 | Edouard Olivier | Melvil Poupaud Maxime Berger | Based on the novel The Counterfeiters by André Gide. |
| 2010 | Worried About the Boy | BBC Two | Boy George Jon Moss | Douglas Booth Mathew Horne | Based on the life of Boy George and the formation of Culture Club. |
| 2010 | The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister | BBC Two BBC HD | Maxine Peake Anna Madeley Christine Bottomley | Anne Lister Mariana Belcombe Ann Walker | Based on the deciphered diaries of Anne Lister, who lived an open lesbian lifestyle in 19th century Yorkshire. Lister was nicknamed "Gentleman Jack" by local townspeople. |
| 2011 | Christopher and His Kind | BBC Two | Christopher Isherwood Heinz Neddermayer W. H. Auden Gerald Hamilton | Matt Smith Douglas Booth Pip Carter Toby Jones | Based on Isherwood's memoir of the same name. |
| 2011 | Cinema Verite | HBO | Lance Loud Candy Darling Jackie Curtis | Thomas Dekker Willem Belli Kyle Riabko | Dramatization of the making of the early reality television series An American Family. |
| 2011 | À la recherche du temps perdu | France 2 | Baron de Charlus Jupien Robert de Saint-Loup Charles Morel | Didier Sandre Michel Fau Andy Gillet Vincent Heden | Based on the novel In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. |
| 2011 | Steven Niles' Remains | Chiller | Jensen | Miko Hughes | Adaptation of the comic series of the same name. |
| 2013 | Behind the Candelabra | HBO | Liberace Scott Thorson Billy Leatherwood | Michael Douglas Matt Damon Cheyenne Jackson | |
| 2014 | The Normal Heart | HBO | Alexander "Ned" Weeks Felix Turner Dr. Emma Brookner | Mark Ruffalo Matt Bomer Julia Roberts | Teleplay by Larry Kramer, based on his play of the same name. |
| 2015 | Bessie | HBO | Bessie Smith | Queen Latifah | Bessie is a bisexual woman known as "Empress of the Blues." |
| 2016 | Mother, May I Sleep With Danger? | Lifetime | Leah Pearl | Leila George Emily Meade | Leah is in love with Pearl, a lesbian vampire. The film is a re-imagining of the similarly-titled 1996 television movie. |
| 2018 | Agatha and the Truth of Murder | Channel 5 | Mabel Rogers | Pippa Haywood | Rogers convinces Agatha Christie into helping her find out who killed her long-term partner, Florence Nightingale Shore. The film is an alternative history story about the real-life disappearance of Christie in 1926, and includes the real crime which remains unsolved. |
| 2018 | I Am Jonas | Arte Netflix | Jonas Nathan | Félix Maritaud / Nicolas Bauwens Tommy-Lee Baïk | Jonas is gay. The original French film title is Jonas. |
| 2019 | One Red Nose Day and a Wedding | BBC One BBC Two | Miranda Faith | Lily James Alicia Vikander | Miranda and Faith marry in this "25 years later" short film sequel to 1994's Four Weddings and a Funeral, produced for the 2019 Comic Relief telethon. |
| 2019 | ' | HBO | Calamity Jane / Martha Jane Canary Joanie Stubbs | Robin Weigert Kim Dickens | Calamity is lesbian and in love with Joanie. Joanie is lesbian and a hostess at a brothel. They rekindle their romance, which first began in the television series the movie is based on, Deadwood. |
| 2019 | ' | Lifetime | Alex Cooper Frankie Jason | Addison Holley Nicolette Pearse Stephen Joffe | Alex, raised by conservative Mormon parents in Southern California, is fifteen-years-old when she meets Frankie, an eighteen-year-old out lesbian. Their mutual attraction becomes romantic. When Alex returns home after spending the night with Frankie, and her worried parents think she had sex with a boy, Alex comes out to them. To "cure" her homosexuality, her parents trick Alex and leave her in the custody of a Mormon couple in Utah to undergo anti-gay conversion therapy. She spends eight months under their cruel authority before she is finally able to escape and find help. Jason is a gay classmate of Alex in a Utah high school. Together with a sympathetic teacher in charge of the local gay–straight alliance, he helps Alex find an attorney to extricate her. The film is based on the 2016 memoir, Saving Alex: When I Was Fifteen I Told My Mormon Parents I Was Gay, and That's When My Nightmare Began. |
2020s
| Year | Title | Network | Characters | Actors | Notes |
| 2020 | The Thing About Harry | Freeform | Sam Baselli Harry Turpin | Jake Borelli Niko Terho | Sam is gay. Harry told Sam that he is pansexual. |