When you go looking for movies about LGBTQ+ families, the pickings are pretty slim. The queer cinema cannon is dominated by coming out narratives, love stories, sex comedies, and biographical dramas about historical figures. When family does enter the picture, it tends to be in the context of a queer character’s relationship to their family of origin — their straight parents’ or siblings’ or grandparents’ rejection or acceptance of them — or of the creation of found families of like-minded friends.

That’s not particularly surprising. While queer couples have always found a way to build families and raise children together, it’s only relatively recently that the hard won battles for legal marriage and adoption rights have cemented in the LGBTQ+ imagination the expectation that family life — in whatever form it may take — is something we can aspire to.

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Cinema, however, has lagged a bit, perhaps due to some combination of the relative dearth of films centered on LGBTQ+ characters and the expectation that audiences generally are more interested in splashier stories of oppression, first love or swinging singles.

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But there are films about LGBTQ+ families out there that are at once uplifting, heartwarming, and entertaining, and that model some of the possibilities for what queer family can be.

The Kids Are All Right

Director Lisa Cholodenko’s 2010 film is equal parts moving and hilarious. The Kids Are All Right tracks what happens when Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson), the teenage children of lesbian couple Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore), seek out their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and begin to establish a relationship with him.

The film earned two Golden Globe awards, for Best Picture – Musical or Comedy and for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy (Bening), as well as four Academy Award nominations.

The Birdcage

An undisputed gay film classic, 1996’s The Birdcage is probably best remembered for Robin Williams and Nathan Lane’s over the top performances as a devoted, but perpetually bickering middle-aged gay couple. Pitch-perfect comedic performances by Dianne Wiest, Christine Baranski, and the late Gene Hackman also helped earn the film a 1997 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast, and director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Elaine May’s scrip positively crackles with both wit and slapstick humor. But nestled within this outrageous farce about a nightclub owner and his drag queen partner trying to help their son (Dan Futterman) impress his conservative future in-laws are tender moments that reveal the lengths to which this queer couple will go for their only child.

Our Son

Parenthood can put a strain on even the strongest relationships, and sometimes marriages fall apart — that’s as true for LGBTQ+ couples as it is for straight ones. Director Bill Oliver’s 2023 film Our Son explores that sad reality. We meet gay married couple Nicky (Luke Evans) and Gabriel (Billy Porter) as their marriage is disintegrating, and the film tracks their divorce and their fight over custody of their young son Owen (Christopher Woodley) with heart and humor.

Housekeeping for Beginners

In out Macedonian-Australian director Goran Stolevski’s third feature, Housekeeping for Beginners, Dita (Anamaria Marinca) is left to care for her partner’s two young children after she dies. Despite never wanting to be a mother, she begins to re-build a family with the help of middle-aged gay housemate Toni (Vladimir Tintor) and his 19-year-old lover (Samson Selim).

The film received the Queer Lion award at the 2023 Venice International Film Festival and was Macedonia’s entry for the Best International Feature Film Oscar at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Ideal Home

On the less sentimental end of the cinema spectrum, there’s out director Andrew Fleming’s broad 2018 comedy Ideal Home. The film centers on louche celebrity chef Erasmus Brumble (a fantastic as always Steve Coogan) whose relationship with his level headed business and romantic partner Paul (Paul Rudd) is tested when they are forced to take in his 10-year-old grandson.

With something of a bro-comedy-meets-Absolutely-Fabulous vibe, Ideal Home is definitely lighter fare, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

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