5 Christmas Movies That Aren’t Gay but Feel Kinda Gay

December 21, 2023
JOSHUA ANDREW

It's Christmas week, which means we are all overeating, overdrinking, and spending a lot of time with friends and family (and that last one may be a for better or worse situation). And with all that family time, you may need an escape or just a buffer to stop political convo or questions about your dating life. Cue the perfect Christmas movie! The right Christmas movie can totally put you into the holiday spirit and while there are some great Christmas movies for and about the LGBTQ community (stream Single all the Way!), here are five movies that aren't necessarily gay but the gays have embraced them as their own, especially during the holiday season.

The Family Stone

The 2005 Christmas drama has become a modern classic in the 18 years since its release. It stars a post-Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker in her first big film role after Carrie Bradshaw and she plays a very hard-to-like woman named Meredith, visiting her boyfriend's family for the holidays for the first time. It's an all-star cast that makes you laugh and cry in equal measure. It even has a gay storyline (as one of the Stone siblings is gay, deaf, and in an interracial relationship) and the uncomfortable dinner conversation between Meredith and the family about having a queer son is a cringy highlight of the entire film. Now streaming on Hulu.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Is this movie made for youths? Absolutely! Do the gays love it anyway? Absolutely. The 1992 film was the first Muppet movie after the death of creator Jim Henson and it's most people's favorite Muppet movie. It follows the classic tale of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol with award-winning actor Michael Cane taking on the role of Scrooge. He famously said he was playing it like he was performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and not a bunch of puppets. The songs are glorious, the costumes and sets are perfection, and it's possibly the perfect Christmas Eve watch. Stream now on Disney+

Love Actually

Another star-studded Christmas movie from the early 2000s that has become a classic is Love Actually. Like The Family Stone, this British film from 2003 makes you laugh one minute and sob the next, but hey that's the holidays. 20 years later and I'm still waiting for a moment half as good as Kiera Knightly at the door with her husband's best friend. Now the moment when Emma Thompson realizes her husband is cheating on her as Joni Mitchell plays, that we've lived plenty. It's funny there's no gay storyline in this film. If it were made now, FOR SURE there would be, but 20 years ago, London gays in love on Christmas wasn't mainstream enough. Now stream on Netflix.

White Christmas

A true Christmas classic, this 1954 movie musical defines the holiday season to an entire generation (read boomers). It's lush and heartwarming, and very innocent. Featuring beloved songs by Irving Berlin, White Christmas stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen as a quartet of performers hell-bent on saving Christmas. What would drag queens do without the camp duet "Sisters" by Rosemary and Vera?! Stream it now on Netflix.

Four Christmases

You may be asking yourself, how did this make the list? I've seen the 2008 movie starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as a married couple Brad who find themselves having to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day, and there is nothing all that gay about it. There you are wrong. The female cast of this movie would get any good gay giddy: Kristin Chenoweth, Carol Kane, Sissy Spacek, Katy Mixon, and Mary Steenburgen. It's like "The 12 Days of Christmas" for character actresses gays love. Stream it today on HBO Max.

And to stream a very different kind of Christmas movie that is most DEFINITELY gay, hit the banner below!