There’s something for everyone on Netflix and that includes the LGBTQ community.

The streaming platform is home to some truly great hidden gems that touch upon the queer experience. From documentaries about ball culture in the early ’90s to biopics about politicians making a difference to coming-of-age romances, each of the films on this list represent a small element of what it means to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender in the world today. They’re funny, they’re heartwarming, some are bittersweet and downright sad, but they’re all telling meaningful stories of representation that deserve to be heard.

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Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013)

Run Time: 179 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

When this French coming-of-age drama premiered in 2013, it sparked plenty of controversies. The film centers on a blooming romance between a naïve teenager named Adele and her free-spirited lover, Emma. Praised for painting an honest portrait of a lesbian romance on screen while also scrutinized for its sometimes graphic sexual content, the film marked a turning point in how the LGBTQ community was represented on film and gave people a heartbreaking look at a young woman discovering herself and her sexual identity in an unforgiving world.

Milk (2008)

Run Time: 128 min | IMDb: 7.6/10

Sean Penn won his second Oscar for his portrayal of the titular character in Milk, the biopic about San Francisco’s first openly gay elected official. From his early days of civil rights activism in the ’70s to his assassination only a few months after his election, Harvey Milk’s short story is one filled with endless struggle. But the message throughout the film is endlessly hopeful and triumphant. The saddest part, though, is that the fight for LGBTQ rights still wages every day in the U.S. That’s why it’s encouraging to keep the words of leaders like Milk alive today. He didn’t start getting involved in the movement until he was around 40, but he was able to create very real change. It’s never too late to start.

Paris Is Burning (1990)

Run Time: 71 min | IMDb: 8.1/10

Before Ryan Murphy gave us an FX series exploring the colorful, complicated world of the ballroom, this documentary from Jennie Livingston broke ground, highlighting how queer culture both survived and thrived during the late ’80s and early ’90s. Livingston dives deep into African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in ball culture at the time, recording some of the most notable names of the period and exposing issues that the LGBTQ community faced. The doc features interviews with prominent members of the scene, explores how it changed our vocabulary, and gives us a view of how these “houses” served as surrogate families for people who were disowned by their biological ones and forced to live on their own, often on the street, without protection or aid. It’s a beautiful, vivacious, somber reminder of the resilience of this community, and it’s a good history lesson for everyone else.

Other People (2016)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 6.7/10

There’s a lot going on in the dramedy Other People. Most of the action centers on Jesse Plemmons’ David, a 29-year-old gay man returning home to a conservative, religious household. Then there’s the subplot, David’s coming home because his mother (a brilliant Molly Shannon) has cancer. On top of that, David is trying to reconcile with his father, a man who refuses to accept his son’s sexuality even though it’s been 10 years since he came out of the closet. Of course, Shannon can be counted on to bring the laughs, even as a woman who’s resigned herself to an early grave, and Plemmons is awkward and endearing as a young man searching for his place in the world. Most of the comedy is mined from pretty sh*tty circumstances, but there’s a lot of heart to this one.

God’s Own Country (2017)

Run Time: 104 min | IMDb. 7.7/10

This British drama follows the story of a young farmer named Johnny who’s forced to take over the family business when his father suffers a debilitating stroke. Johnny works hard during the day and spends his nights binge drinking and engaging in sexual encounters with men. The family hires a Romanian migrant worker named Gheorghe to help Johnny manage the farm, and the two men slowly enter an intense relationship that alters the course of both their lives. It’s a gritty, sweeping romance, one entrenched in mud and social issues and complicated family dynamics, but it’s also full of joy and hope, a nice change for a gay love story.

Chasing Amy (1997)

Run Time: 113 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

Ben Affleck stars in this quintessential ’90s rom-com from Kevin Smith about a comic book nerd who falls for a girl who will never be interested in him. She’ll never be interested in him not because of his terrible fashion choices, his chosen profession, or his frat-bro lifestyle, but because she’s a lesbian. Of course, that doesn’t deter Affleck’s character, who makes some hilarious missteps in his quest for true love.

The Birdcage (1996)

Run Time: 117 min | IMDb: 7/10

This remake of a classic French comedy stars Robin Williams and Nathan Lane as two lovers who must pass for straight men when their son’s future in-laws pay them a visit. Williams plays Armand, a gay club owner, and Lane plays his effeminate boyfriend Albert, the star of the club’s drag show. The men live with their flamboyant housemaid (a hilarious Hank Azaria) and Armand has a good relationship with his son Val, the product of a one-night-stand. When Val introduces the men to his fiancé, they plan a ruse to convince her ultra-conservative parents that Armand is straight, with Albert dressing in drag to play his wife. Things obviously don’t go as planned, and though the film glosses over some troubling notions of gay men and how they’re viewed by their heterosexual counterparts, Lane and Williams’ comedy makes up for it.

Carol (2015)

Run Time: 118 min | IMDb: 7.2/10

Cate Blanchett in anything is worth your time, but Cate Blanchett giving a tour-de-force performance as a middle-aged housewife, who begins a forbidden love affair with an awkward shop-girl played by Rooney Mara is worth a permanent spot in any self-respecting cinephile’s Netflix Queue. Besides giving us a lush, beautifully shot portrait of 1950s New York, Todd Haynes’ period drama also serves a muted yet heartbreaking romance that’s all the more powerful because of its subtlety.

Princess Cyd (2016)

Run Time: 96 min | IMDb: 6.7/10

Jessie Pinnick stars as a 16-year-old athlete named Cyd who longs to escape her constricting life with her depressive single father by staying with her aunt, a writer, in Chicago for the summer. The two women challenge each other with Cyd recruiting her aunt to help her identify her sexual orientation, to make sense of her mother’s death, to explain romance and monogamous relationships – all the things her father has neglected. Meanwhile, Cyd forms a connection with a barista, a local girl who introduces her to the joys and heartache of first love. It’s a sweet, affecting tale of exploration and female sexual identity and it’s done well.

Alex Strangelove (2018)

Run Time: 99 min | IMDb: 6.3/10

Alex is a young high-schooler who begins dating his best friend Claire after her mother is diagnosed with cancer. The two go through awkward firsts together, specifically the booking of a hotel room and their planned mutual loss of virginity, but Alex develops a crush on a boy at school named Elliot and begins to question his relationship and his sexual orientation. After a break-up, some funny mishaps, and poor decisions by Alex, Claire eventually helps her friend to come out of the closet. Sure, it’s a superficial kind of gay rom-com, but it’s one that warms the heart.