The Best LGBTQ+ Documentaries

Pat Alexander
Updated November 23, 2022 720 votes 45 voters
Help shape these rankings by voting on this list of The Best LGBTQ+ Documentaries
Voting Rules
Vote for your favorite LGBTQ documentaries

What are the best LGBTQ documentaries? The greatest LGBTQ+ documentary movies offer strong stories, memorable characters, and emotional payoffs that stick with you long after they're over. They focus on a variety of subjects and approach gender and sexuality in both subtle and more overt manners. This list includes lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and gay documentary films. So, what is the best LGBTQ documentary? Which LGBTQ documentary films do you love?

The best LGBTQ documentary movies, like Paris is Burning and The Times of Harvey Milk, have even found themselves nominated for - or winning - Academy Awards. In every way, these are some of the most important movies of our time. A lot of these LGBTQ docus are available on streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, and Amazon Prime.

Vote up the best LGBTQIA+ documentary films to make sure they make it to the top of the list and vote down any movies that you didn't like. Be sure to check back for new LGBTQ+ docs as they are added to the list after they have been released.

Photo: Paris is Burning / Prestige Pictures
Ranked by
  • The Times of Harvey Milk
    1

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    Harvey Fierstein, Harvey Milk, Anne Kronenberg
    27 votes
    • Released: 1984
    • Directed by: Rob Epstein
    Operating from his camera store in San Francisco's Castro district, charismatic Harvey Milk is defeated three times before being elected to the city's Board of Supervisors, making him California's ...more

    Available On:

    subscription

  • Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine
    2

    Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine

    Michele Josue, Judy Shepard, Zeina Barkawi
    26 votes
    • Released: 2013
    • Directed by: Michele Josue
    Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine is a 2012 documentary historical fiction and biographical film directed by Michele Josue. Friends and family reflect on the life and death of 21-year-old Matthew ...more
  • Before Stonewall
    3

    Before Stonewall

    Rita Mae Brown, Maua Adele Ajanaku, Red Jordan Arobateau
    22 votes
    • Released: 1984
    • Directed by: Greta Schiller
    The riots that followed the arrests at New York City's Stonewall Inn in 1969 are widely considered to be a major development in the history of gay and lesbian rights in America. This documentary ...more

    Available On:

    free

  • How to Survive a Plague
    4

    How to Survive a Plague

    Peter Staley, Larry Kramer, Iris Long
    21 votes
    • Released: 2012
    • Directed by: David France
    In the late 1980s, members of Act-Up and other AIDS activists battle indifference and hostility to bring attention to the disease and play a huge role in reducing the number of AIDS-related ...more

    Available On:

    subscription

    free

  • Against the Current
    5

    Against the Current

    Veiga Grétarsdóttir
    21 votes
    • Released: 2020
    • Directed by: Oskar Pall Sveinsson
    Kayaker Veiga Grétarsdóttir embarks on a 1,300-mile journey to circumnavigate Iceland counterclockwise against the current.

    Available On:

  • Stonewall Uprising
    6

    Stonewall Uprising

    Paul Bosche, Alfredo del Rio, John DiGiacomo
    21 votes
    • Released: 2010
    • Directed by: Kate Davis, David Heilbroner
    "World premiere of a new documentary all about the Stonewall riots featuring unique testimony from participants, using a wide range of archive footage to tell the story of what it meant to be gay in ...more