Best LGBTQ+ romcom movies to watch on Valentine's Day

Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader is the perfect blend of high camp, cheese, satire and romcom, pushing the boundaries of comedy to tackle the evils of conversion therapy.

The entire premise of the movie is one big middle finger. Natasha Lyonne stars as Megan, as (you guessed it) a high school cheerleader. When Megan’s parents send her to a gay conversion camp, it's there that she finally – and ironically – accepts herself and falls in love.

Over 20 years on from its release, there is still no other movie better at ridiculing gender and sexuality binaries – as well as reclaiming camp, which is often associated with gay men, for queer women.

Single All the Way is a warm-hearted and refreshing addition to the ever-expanding container of Netflix’s Christmas content.

The romcom centres around bachelor Peter (Michael Urie), whose plans to bring his boyfriend home for Christmas are derailed when he discovers that his new man is actually someone else’s husband. When Peter convinces his best friend Nick (Philemon Chambers) to accompany him instead, his family soon hatch a plan to make a real relationship happen between the pair.

While Urie and Chamber’s chemistry never really materialises and Jennifer Coolidge regularly steals the show as the drunk aunt, it’s certainly refreshing to see a mainstream LGBTQ+ narratives that doesn’t focus on the characters’ coming out stories and isn’t embedded in shame.

The Clea Duvall directed Happiest Season is an entertaining addition to the romcom genre where, for so long, straight has been the default.

The movie sees Harper (Mackenzie Davis) bring her girlfriend Abby (Kristen Stewart) to her family for Christmas. But there’s one slight issue: Harper hasn’t come out to her family and, to survive, they have to pretend they’re friends.

It might be a slightly downbeat premise centred on shame, but it’s certainly a situation many LGBTQ+ people can relate to – and one which Stewart and Davis manage to pack with many hilarious moments (as well as all the chemistry in the world) and levels of nuance you don’t usually get from such romcom comfort food.

Alex Strangelove tells the story of Alex Truelove (Daniel Doherty), a high school student who appears to lead a perfect life. When Alex’s girlfriend Claire announces she wants to have sex, the youngster is forced to confront a truth that he’s kept buried – he’s gay.

The movie captures the bittersweet nature of growing up and coming to terms with your identity, but lets itself down when it comes to the physicality of gay sex (which unlike heterosexual sex is of course a no-go zone). Nevertheless, it's still a fun watch – and even features a psychedelic frog-licking scene.

Revolving around the idea of love at first sight, Imagine Me and You really does take the traditional heterosexual romcom format and queer it, showing that LGBTQ+ romcoms can be just as glossy and sweet as straight ones.

The film follows Rachel (Piper Perabo) as she marries her boyfriend Heck (Matthew Goode) but spends much of the wedding making eyes at the florist Luce (Lena Headey), with things quickly escalating into a full blown affair.

With equal parts cheese and warmth, Imagine Me and You still manages to charm 16 years on from its inception, with no better proof of this than the fact that “You’re a Wanker number 9!” from the football match scene still remains an iconic lesbian catcall.

Love, Simon has all the ingredients of your average teenage romcom: a high school, a boy, an anonymous love interest, misunderstandings and betrayals. There’s just one exception though: Simon is gay.

Based on the hit young adult novel Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli, Love, Simon stars Nick Robinson as a young teenager grappling with his sexuality. When Simon starts conversing with a fellow closeted classmate who goes by the pseudonym ‘Blue’ online, he not only starts to think about the possibility of romance but also opens up to the idea of being true to himself.

Love, Simon manages to follow an unashamedly mainstream romcom format while also ensuring the protagonist’s story isn’t sanitised – and it’s this that makes the movie so groundbreaking. And we even get a kiss atop a ferris wheel. What's not to love?

Eric Schaefer’s Boy Meets Girl revolves around the romantic engagements of a 20-something transgender girl Ricky living in rural Kentucky, who wants to conquer the New York fashion scene as a designer. But, until she gets accepted into a fashion school, she’s stuck working as a barista and hanging out with her best friend Robby (Michael Welch) with whom a romance eventually blossoms.

The romcom brims with heartfelt emotion and boasts a superb performance from Michelle Hendley as Ricky, who is transgender in real life.

There is a satisfying ease to Boy meets Girl, which manages to be both a sensitive and honest depiction of transgender issues and a sex positive and uplifting narrative – a combination that’s still rare for mainstream transgender storylines to this day.

In this modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, geeky Ellie’s (Leah Lewis) side hustle of doing other students’ homework leads Paul (Daniel Diemer) to pay her to write letters to his crush, Aster (Alexxis Lemire). As Ellie invests more time into helping Paul impress Aster, she realises she might have developed feelings herself. A love triangle ensues as the trio work their feelings out in messy and unpredictable ways.

With great chemistry between the three characters, The Half of It is equal parts funny and uplifting, and a refreshing take on the romcom genre.