A Gay Year In Review
The 'Best of 2025' Awards
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Best Queer Movies
This year brought us a queer rom-com, queer found family story, and an opportunity for Lily Gladstone to do something funny in the form of The Wedding Banquet. Though not as light-hearted as the trailer suggests, it’s a sweet story and a welcome addition to the canon. Nia DaCosta treated us to Hedda, in which Tessa Thompson traipses around a mansion in beautiful gowns, dealing with lesbian drama of epic proportions. In Eva Victor’s brilliant Sorry, Baby, a queer BFF loves her friend unconditionally. Indie lesbian filmmaker Alexandra Swarens delivered a lesbian version of Before Sunset with her newest film, See You Soon – her best yet.
Did you see Katy O’Brian in Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning? It’s worth watching the film (which I enjoyed regardless) to see her as a ripped butch lesbian saving Tom Cruise’s life. Dr. Lesbian is here with a verdict: Kiss of the Spider Woman is good, and Jennifer Lopez delivers. On the documentary front, Sarah McLachlan gave us a front row seat to an iconic lesbian-adjacent event of the 1990s in Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery. If you watch Sally, be prepared to cry about an IRL lesbian love story and witness a fascinating portrait of NASA astronaut Sally Ride.
Best Queer TV Shows
HBO’s The Last of Us got even gayer this season and gave us a lot of food for thought. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy moved to Metropolis and got in all kinds of trouble in the 5th season of the excellent series Harley Quinn. In And Just Like That…, Miranda hooked up with a virgin nun played by Rosie O’Donnell. Reality TV gays everywhere were devastated by the cancellation of The Ultimatium: Queer Love after its second season. On the bright side, LGBTQ streaming platform Revry aired King of Drag, the first reality show about drag kings.
Sophia Bush returned to Grey’s Anatomy to sow the seeds of gay chaos. Brilliant Minds featured multiple gays and lesbians coexisting within the bounds of a New York City hospital. The Hunting Waves proved that you can create a show with a lot of lesbian sex that’s also extremely Straight. Pluribus delighted us with a mean lesbian at the end of the world. The Beast in Me featured another grumpy lesbian writer played by Claire Danes.
Best Queer Books
Meryl Wilsner returned with My Best Friend’s Honeymoon, a sexy sapphic romp in the tropics. In Work Nights, Erica Peplin introduced us to a listless millennial at a dead-end job, caught between an unattainable straight intern and a confusing musician. Michael Koresky told us about the secrets and surprises of queer Hollywood history in Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness. Torrey Peters’ collection of short stories, Stag Dance, raised eyebrows in the best way. In Slayers, Every One of Us: How One Girl in All the World Showed Us How to Hold On, Jenny Owen Youngs and Kristin Russo told the story of their marriage and divorce through the lens of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer podcast.
In Shifting Gears, Jazz Forestor taught a masterclass in how to turn fanfiction into a published romance novel. Lesbian Styles in Cinema, by Vicki Karaminas and Judith Beyer, took us on a journey through lesbian fashion history in film. In Every Step She Takes, the new book from Alison Cochrun, we were introduced to two women hoping to find themselves on the Camino de Santiago. (Spoiler alert: they also find each other in the process.)
Best Sapphic Anthems
Shura returned with a new album, I Got Too Sad For My Friends, and collaborated with Cassandra Jenkins on “Richardson.” On her album LUX, Spanish singer ROSALÍA showed off her musical chops. Art school grads The Last Dinner Party put out a new album and a devilishly dramatic single, “This is the Killer Speaking.” Brandi Carlile looked within on Returning to Myself. Mega talented SASAMI released her best album yet, Blood On the Silver Screen, which includes massive bops like “Slugger” and “Honeycrash.” More recently, she came out with an excellent remix of the song “Just Be Friends” with Soccer Mommy.
Teyana Taylor, who was incredible in One Battle After Another, delivered an ambitious album called Escape Room, featuring narration from the likes of Niecy Nash and Sarah Paulson. Jay Som released her album Belong, featuring a duet with Hayley Williams called “Past Lives.” Honorary lesbian Sarah McLachlan collaborated with Katie Gavin on the song “Remind.” King Princess released a new album called Girl Violence, featuring bops like “Cry Cry Cry.” CMAT, our greatest living Irish bisexual, came out with a killer third album, EURO-COUNTRY. Check out “Tree Six Foive” and “Lord, Let That Tesla Crash.”
Though she still only has one album to her name, Chappell Roan returned to the airwaves with her country banger “The Giver” and the eagerly awaited single “The Subway.” Maren Morris released her album D R E A M S I C L E, which features the bisexual bop “Push Me Over” and the get-out-of-my-house anthem “Bed No Breakfast.” Julien Baker and TORRES collaborated on the album Send A Prayer My Way, featuring great tracks like “Sylvia” and “Sugar in the Tank.” Lucy Dacus, Baker’s gf, debuted her third album, Forever Is A Feeling, featuring swoon-worthy tracks “Ankles” and “Best Guess.” jasmine.4.t, a British artist signed to Phoebe Bridgers’ record label, released her excellent debut album You Are The Morning.
Best Lesbian Couples
We were so blessed with wives this year. First off, we learned that St. Vincent has an entire wife and child hiding at home. Becca Tilley and Hayley Kiyoko got engaged twice, over the course of six months and two continents, because they are lesbians. After years of being low-key girlfriends, Chloë Grace Moretz and Kate Harrison got hitched and wore beautiful gowns. Chrishell Stause and G Flip, who are already married, have announced they will have a wedding every year. This year, the theme was medieval. Brazilian wives Ludmilla and Brunna Gonçalves had their first child together. Kristen Stewart and Dylan Meyer were betrothed in a low-maintenance ceremony. We celebrated all the cute Thai couples (especially the older ones) who got married when Thailand legalized marriage equality in January.
Sports couples continued to be out and proud this year. Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe hilariously brought a meme to life. We learned that Christen Press and Tobin Heath, who only officially confirmed their relationship of many years recently, are now married. WNBA stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd confirmed their relationship on Instagram after much fan speculation.
One of my favorite couples from this year is Anna Camp and Jade Whipkey. Camp, who is 43, had never dated a woman before she dated Whipkey, who is 25, and the sapphic internet has been eating them up. Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor continued to melt our hearts this year, especially when Taylor gave a sweet speech at Paulson’s Walk of Fame ceremony. Though fans have known about their relationship for years, Lucy Dacus finally confirmed her relationship with boygenius bandmate Julien Baker in the spring.
Best Gay Gossip
Boy, did the gays get up to some shenanigans this year. Unfortunately, 2025 was a terrible year for bisexual PR. First, there was JoJo Siwa. The entertainer announced she was no longer a lesbian by saying, “Fuck the L, I’m going to the Q,” and then confirmed her relationship with a weird 32-year-old man named Chris Hughes. The couple has continued to share TMI about their relationship since then, the details of which I will spare you from. Then there was Fletcher, who announced she was dating a boy with a cringe song that inspired both biphobia and justified annoyance at her delivery of this news. Next up was Betty Who, who pissed off lesbians everywhere by saying that sexuality was fluid and suggesting that Reneé Rapp might date a man one day. Phew! It was a difficult summer, but at least we still have Megan Thee Stallion, and the Norwegian princess who came out as bisexual a while ago.
You know what’s more fun? Dating gossip. Top Chef winner Melissa King and former Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi broke the internet with a salacious Instagram video in November. This came after several public appearances together that had queer fans with their ears perked and eyes peeled. We were also taken for a ride by King Princess and Christine Baranski, who kept posing for photos and going out on the town several months ago. While King Princess clearly wanted us to believe the dating rumors, Baranski’s publicist shut them down.
People had a lot to say about the economist who did some math and confirmed that women should stop dating men. Folks read Elizabeth Gilbert’s unhinged new memoir, in which she discusses her tumultous relationship with her dearly departed lover, and had a myriad of questions. The WNBA had some problems involving spectators throwing NSFW items onto the court. Just another day at the offices of Paging Dr. Lesbian.
I couldn’t pick a Lesbian of the Year for 2025, so I’ll leave it to you. Who do you think deserves the honor? Leave your answers in the comments below. If you missed a lot of the news I relayed in this piece, consider becoming a paid subscriber, which will give you access to weekly news updates and extra movie, TV, music, and book recs.
Speaking of answers, I still need questions for my Ask Me Anything, which I will publish in January. Have any burning questions you want answered? Want to hear my hot take on something? You can ask your Qs in the comments below, or ask me anonymously here. Happy Holidays, and have a great New Year.
Jodie Foster every year
I nominate Chappelle Roan for Lesbian of the Year - she had a pretty big year!