The 18 most gay-positive sci-fi/fantasy shows. Because if there's no ghosts, zombies, aliens, strange new worlds, or d*cks, why bother?

 

Link to the n*de version

Ever since I was a kid, 99% of my television viewing has consisted of either comedies or science fiction/fantasy.   Because if there's no ghosts, zombies, curses, vampires, werewolves, spaceships, or strange new worlds, just people having conversations and shooting at each other, why bother?

Here are the top gay-positive science fiction/fantasy shows that I've reviewed here, with prominent gay characters or gay subtexts.  Usually there are pecs and p*nises, too. 

1. Khemjira: Thai guy falls in love with his shaman. With demons, reincarnation, spirits, several gay couples, and real Thai culture. Everything I like in one intriguing package.

2. Surreal Estate: A real estate agent and his scoobies clear houses of cursed, vituperative spirits.  With a gay male couple.

3. True Blood: Vampires come "out of the coffin" in rural Lousiana, along with shapeshifters, werewolves (Joe Manganiello, left), and other paranormals.  Many of whom are n*ked. With several prominent gay characters.

4. Dead Boy Detectives: Dead teenagers, one gay and the other bi, solve afterlife mysteries.  

5. Ghosts  (American version; I didn't like the British): The mansion is haunted by a gaggle of wacky ghosts, including a very muscular Viking, a hippie, a pantsless 1990s stock broker (Asher Grodman, left), and a gay Revolutionary War soldier. 

6. School Spirits.  This time the ghosts are trapped in the high school, where the gay guy's romance is treated as the exact equal of the hetero-romance.

7. Doctor Who. The 2010-2022 series had a lot of LGBT representation, with gay walk ons and guest stars. including John Barrowman (left) as a bi/pan rogue.  But I didn't like the 2023-25 series, where they made the Doctor gay, even gave him a momentary boyfriend, only to turn him straight.

8. Solar Opposites.  In spite of fans saying "They can't be gay!  They're aliens!", the space explorers shipwrecked on Earth developed into a loving couple  And check out the strong gay subtext episode with Skyler Gisondo and Kieran Culkin.

9. Ghost Island: An "Are You Afraid of the Dark" miniseries with a gay romance and a lot of fan disputes about "was it a date?" 

More after the break.  

More after the break

10. The Sandman.  I like Season 1, with the god of dreams held captive by a gay couple.  Season 2 got all heterosexualized. 

11. Agatha All Along: The first episode was just "trapped in a tv series" filler, but then the Wandavision witch and her gay teen companion (Heartstopper Joe Locke) travel the scary, dangerous Witches' Road.

12. The Wizards of Waverly Place: Disney Channel teencom about a family of wizards, with more beefcake and gay subtexts than you'll see anywhere else on kids' tv. 

13. Fionna and Cake: Far superior to Adventure Time, with the girl and her cat trapped in a magic-less pocket world, and open, out, kissing gay guys (played by Andrew Rannells and Donald Glover).

14. Daybreak. A slow start, with a teenager surviving the Apocalypse and searching for the Girl of His Dreams, but dig it: one of the male survivors (Austin Crute) falls for a male zombie (Cody Kearsley)!

15. Goosebumps: The Vanishing. Ross from Friends as a wacky botanist, some gay teens, South Asian beefcake, and low stakes horror.  A nostalgic comfort show for fans of the old Goosebumps series.

16.  Once Upon a Time.  I'm not much for fairy tales, but I liked how they combined so many Grimm, Perrault, and Disney heroes, plus The Count of Monte Cristo (Craig Horner, left) and Captain Ahab, into one complex genealogy.  No gay characters, except a lesbian couple for about five seconds, but a lot of queer codes and beefcake.

17, The Venture Brothers. A failed super-scientist, his two teenage sons, a lot of "he might be gay, har-har" jokes, gay-subtext buddy-bonds, some gay stereotypes, cartoon beefcake, and a complex mythology that eventually became too topheavy to handle.

18. Lost in Space.  A recasting of the classic 1960s series.No gay chracters anywhere, just an occasional buddy-bonding subtext.  But the robot was sort of cool, and Will Robinson grew  up into a probably-gay hunkoid.