15 Latinx Shows Full of Awesome LGBTQ+ Characters

There's always room for Latinx spotlight

A lot of people don't realize we're (finally) experiencing a well-deserved queer Latinx explosion on television. This is the first time LGBTQ+ Latinxs have had a chance to relate to more than just one or two supporting characters, as there are now many diverse portrayals of our community.

Let's take a look at 15 of the most iconic Latinx shows with LGBTQ+ representation, whether within their cast or the characters on the show.

Élite

Élite (created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona) is a popular Spanish show that follows the lives of a group of students as they navigate love, friendship, and the ever-changing social class. The show features a diverse and inclusive look at various representation that explores the themes of sexuality and acceptance.

What We Do in the Shadows

What We Do in the Shadows (created by Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement) is more recent with its Latinx LGBTQ+ representation, but season four saw a heartwarming story with Guillermo (Harvey Guillén). The storyline throughout the season was an emotional look at Latinx identity as well as sexual orientation, and Guillén was ultimately able to accept an award at the 2^nd annual Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards for Best Cable Comedy Series.

Maricón perdido (Queer You Are)

Maricón perdido, or Queer You Are follows the fictionalized version of Bob Pop, whose real identity served as the creator of the show. In it, Carlos González and Gabriel Sánchez take on the role to depict various times of Pop's life, and the story follows a coming-of-age tale of Pop as a small town boy on the hunt to figure out his identity. His main goal is to be a writer, and his queer identity plays a part in how the story develops.

Veneno

Veneno (created by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo) is an HBO Max original biographical story of the transgender icon Cristina Ortiz Rodríguez, better known as La Veneno, who rose to fame in Spain and the story chronicles her life from prior to her fame in the 60's and through her fame in the 90s. Jedet, Daniela Santiago, and Isabel Torres all take on the role of La Veneno at different stages of her life, and the plot mainly focuses on Valeria Vegas (Lola Rodríguez), based on the real journalist of the same name who wrote Veneno's biography, and the show follows along with her creation of it.

Club de Cuervos

​Club de Cuervos (created by Gary Alazraki and Michael Lam) is a Mexican dramedy that offers a satirical look at the world of professional soccer. After the death of his father, Chava (Luis Gerardo Méndez) must take on the role of the new president of the Cuervos F.C. soccer team, despite his resentful sister Isabelle (Mariana Treviño) wanting the role. The show features LFBTQ+ characters navigating their personal and professional lives in a fresh and entertaining perspective on sports, relationships, and identity,

Gentified

Gentified (created by Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chávez) is an American comedy-drama that premiered on Netflix in February 2020. It follows along the story of three Mexican-American cousins, Erik (J.J. Soria), Ana (Karrie Martin Lachney), and Carlos (Chris Morales) on their struggle to find the American dream and carry on their family’s taco shop. Canceled after only two seasons, the show depicts Ana’s lesbian relationship and her questions about queerness, brownness, capitalism and art.

Love, Victor

Love, Victor (created by Isaac Aptaker) is a Hulu original teen comedy drama set in the same world as Love, Simon about a closeted gay teenager who’s forced to come out after being blackmailed. The series follows Victor (Michael Cimino), a new student at Creekwood High School as he struggles with self-discovery, home challenges, adjusting to a new city, and coming to terms with his sexual orientation.

It's a Sin

It’s a Sin (created by Russell T. Davies) is an HBO British drama miniseries set in London between 1981 and 1991. It follows the lives of three 18-year-olds, Ritchie Tozer (Olly Alexander), Roscoe Babatunde (Omari Douglas), and Colin “Gladys” Morris-Jones (Callum Scott Howells) as they move to London and chase their dreams alongside their friends Jill Baxter (Lydia West) and Ash Mukherjee. The series follows the HIV and AIDS epidemic at the time, and offers and honest and heartwarming look into life in the United Kingdom during that time.

Los Espookys

Los Espookys (created by Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega, and Julio Torres) follows four friends as they try to make a buck from their unique business venture: staging spooky and supernatural occurrences for their clients. This deadpan comedy treats the supernatural as mundane, and the mundane as marvelous. As such, the characters’ queerness are treated as non-issues: Andrés (Julio Torres) is a gay man but his main stressor is being pressured to marry his hot boyfriend by his wealthy family; Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco) is suggested to be an asexual man whose biggest obstacle is having enough money to pay his phone bill; and Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti) is a queer woman but her most pressing issue is having to fend off her sister’s loan shark. They exist in an imagined Latin America where LGBT-antagonism does not exist but magic mirrors, water demons do.

Vida

Vida (created by Tanya Saracho) is the story of two estranged sisters who reunite to save their family business after their mother dies. The story is set against the backdrop of a continuously gentrified Boyle Heights, which means things get very real, very fast… oh and also very gay. While only one of the two sisters, Emma (Mishel Prada), is explicitly queer, the heterosexual sister, Lyn (Melissa Barrera), continuously finds herself in orgies, eating ass, and pegging “alpha” males. The series’ cup runneth full of queer and kinky sex that would have been voyeuristic under anyone else’s direction, but Saracho’s vision of the female erotic transforms these scenes into important narrative frameworks. Watch, and try not to fall in love with Nico (Roberta Colindrez).

Pose

This groundbreaking series (created by Steven Cannals) should be at the top of everyone’s watch list. Pose focuses on ball culture in the late 80s and early 90s, and serves as a kind of fictionalization of the classic documentary Paris is Burning but with a bit more attention to the HIV crisis and economic boom of the period. Not only does this series honor Black & Latinx LGBT history by spoon feeding it to viewers through delicious drama, but it also makes history by being the first series to have five Black Trans leads: MJ Rodriuez, Dominique Jackson, Hailee Sahar, Indya Moore, and Angelica Ross. But, the cherry on top of this delightful show is Billy Porter’s Emmy-winning turn as Pray Tell, the protagonists’ father figure and lifesource of the ball.

One Day At A Time

Gloria Calderon Kellet’s Latinx reboot of One Day At A Time has only three things in common with its predecessor: they’re both about a single mother raising her family, their opening theme song, and they both have hunky handy-men named Schneider. Other than that, this version of ODAAT (as fans call it) carefully and humorously handles contemporary issues such as: explaining the X in Latinx to your abuelita, coming out to conservative parents, gender diversity, and mental health in Latinx communities. ODAAT even has a family friendly episode about consent between queer teenagers that many of us could have only dreamed of witnessing in our youth. The series treats LGBT folks as a part of everyday life- blink and you’ll miss Trans and lesbian characters in the Penelope’s (Justina Machado) support group- which shouldn’t be rare anymore, alas it is. While the series might be a little too sentimental for some bitter Judies, it is nonetheless a necessary watch for kids and families today.

Casa de Flores

Casa de Flores is, by most measures, a fantastic show. An inversion of telenovela drama that is part Arrested Development, part Desperate Housewives, and an all around gay ol’ time. However, I cannot in good conscience recommend the show given that they cast a cisgender man to play a Transgender woman; as this is a harmful trope that tells audiences that Trans women are merely men in dresses. While some would argue that Latin America is simply repeating the mistakes all media outlets make when initially attempting to bring Trans representation to wide audiences; this completely ignores the efforts by Trans activists in Latin America to end these harmful practices and begin hiring Trans people.

 My Favorite Shapes

Listen, I am always here to hype up Julio Torres’ absurdist comedy. But, My Favorite Shapes is just a tad bit too out there to earnestly recommend. Plus, I already have one Julio Torres show on the list and anymore would probably be some sort of stan nepotism. Acquaint yourself with his approach to humor by first watching the aforementioned Los Espookys or his bits on The Late Show with Jimmy Fallon.

El Corazon Nunca Se Equivoca

Yes, it is Mexico’s first telenovela about a gay couple. But, I haven’t watched it and you can’t make me!