10 Extremely Trans Xmas Streaming Selections
Your one-stop shop for all of the gender non-conforming holiday goodness you want
All I want for Xmas is a Xmas movie with as much trans goodness as I can stand.
If you’re like me and you’ve searched for trans Xmas movies before, don’t worry, Tangerine is halfway down the list (and well worth watching at least one more time).
Note: don’t miss our previous streaming trans recommendations here and here
Santa Camp
Proud Boys “elves” descend on a church hosting a Christmas event with a transgender Santa Claus in a tense incident captured in the upcoming HBO Max documentary Santa Camp.
The film focuses on the New Hampshire campsite where professional Santas, Ms. Clauses, and elves visit each year to gear up for the holiday season. Concerned about a lack of diversity in the Santa industry, the organizers of the New England Santa Society invited a Black Santa, a Santa with a disability, and a transgender Santa to their annual meet-up. (Yahoo)
Where to Watch: HBO
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
What happens when a chosen family of three homeless folks — including Hana, a transgender woman who dreams of being a mother — discover an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve?
Inspired by Peter B. Kyne’s 1913 novel The Three Godfathers, the same source material as the iconic 1980s comedy Three Men and a Baby, this moving, critically beloved animated dramedy had a U.S. theatrical run to qualify for the Oscars. Despite some dated bits of homo- and transphobia, it will give you the burst of Christmas spirit you’ve been waiting for. (LogoTV)
Animated? Yes. For kids? Not reeeally. The gist is this: Three homeless folks find a newborn in a dumpster on Christmas Eve, the subsequent events of which change their lives forever. Injected with a dose of magical realism from anime auteur Satoshi Kon, this Christmas fable takes viewers on a crazy adventure through the snow-covered streets of Tokyo with a trans hero, a middle-aged addict, and a teen runaway in the driver’s seat. (Harper’s Bazaar)
Where to Watch It: Crackle
With Love (2021)
Amazon Prime’s first entry in the LGBTQ holiday movie game is this five-part miniseries from Gloria Calderón Kellett, showrunner for Netflix’s reboot of “One Day at a Time.”
Each episode is set during a different holiday in one year, following Lily Diaz (Emeraude Toubia) as she navigates a love triangle with hunky suitors Nick and Santiago (played by Desmond Chiam and Rome Flynn).
The queer quotient comes courtesy of Lily’s brother, Jorge, (Mark Indelicato of “Ugly Betty”) — who brings his new boyfriend, Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III), home on Christmas Eve — and from trans model-actress Isis King, playing cousin Sol, who has a “potential blossoming relationship” with a doctor coworker, according to the official synopsis. (NBC News)
After her critically-acclaimed run as the showrunner of the queer-inclusive reboot of One Day at a Time, Gloria Calderón Kellett is teaming up with Amazon Studios to bring us With Love, Prime Video’s first holiday miniseries featuring an inclusive LGBTQ+ cast and storylines! Telling the story of the Diaz family, the series features a gay couple, as well as one of the first transgender love stories to ever be featured in a holiday rom-com!
“Each of the five episodes, set during a different holiday throughout the year follows Lily (Emeraude Toubia) on her transition from being newly single to caught in a love triangle with two sexy suitors (Desmond Chiam, Rome Flynn),” the show’s official description reads. “Brother to Lily, Jorge Jr. (Mark Indelicato) introduces his new boyfriend Henry (Vincent Rodriguez III) to the family for the first time on Christmas Eve/Nochebuena, and the Diaz’s cousin, Sol Perez (Isis King), balances a potential blossoming relationship with their coworker Dr. Miles Murphy (Todd Grinnell). The patriarchs of the family, Beatriz (Constance Marie) and Jorge Sr. (Benito Martinez) also deal with their own relationship challenges in finding new ways to keep the spark alive in their 50’s.”
“The Diaz family takes a wild ride through all the highs and lows of life, during some of the most heightened holidays of the year.” (Out)
Where to watch: Amazon Prime
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Nora Ephron followed her hit rom-com Sleepless in Seattle with Mixed Nuts, a critically panned holiday ensemble flick led by Steve Martin as the head of a suicide-prevention hotline service. The film is notable for being the first movie appearance of Liev Schreiber, who portrays a transgender woman named Chris. The comedy does not hold up well in present day, but the character is memorable for a sweet romance she develops with a ukelele player named Louie (Adam Sandler). (The Advocate)
This ’90s classic stars Juliette Lewis, Steve Martin, and Adam Sandler at the prime of their careers, with cameos from a young Parker Posey and Jon Stewart. But our favorite character is Chris (Liev Schreiber), a trans woman who seeks a safe space for the holidays at the headquarters of a suicide hotline operated by Martin’s character. As a chaotic series of events ensues during Christmas Eve, Chris finds love with the young Sandler’s ukulele-playing character. (Into More)
A lot about Mixed Nuts doesn’t hold up so well today, from the frequently glib depiction of mental illness to some cringey jokes that undercut the inclusion of a trans character (played by Liev Schreiber) to the sight of Jon Stewart attempting to rollerblade. But still, in an age when half-assed pseudo-movies starring members of the Cameron family seem to rule the holiday season, one has to admire how Mixed Nuts eschews traditional gooey Christmas sentimentality for pitch black comic anarchy. (Cracked)
Where to watch: Peacock
Life of Brian
Born on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah. (IMDB)
[Later in the movie,] Loretta tells her comrades Reg, Judith, and Francis that she wants to be a woman, wants to have babies, and that it is “every man’s right to have babies if he wants them.” Although Reg is skeptical, Judith accedes to Loretta’s request that she “can have the right to have babies” which Francis agrees to as symbolic of the struggle against the Romans, while Reg says it is part of Loretta’s “struggle against reality.” (Wikipedia)
Where to watch: Netflix
Tangerine
This is not a lesbian Christmas movie, but it is a Christmas-adjacent movie about two trans women sex workers of color and this queer list felt incomplete without making note of it. Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor) get out of jail and right back into their chaotic Los Angeles existence on Christmas Eve. Alexandra’s prepping for an upcoming performance and Sin-Dee is prepping to cause a bit of drama regarding her boyfriend, Chester, cheating on her. Naming it the #2 best Christmas movie of all time, Vulture writes that in a list primarily occupied by “prosperous white families,” Tangerine serves as “a corrective to that tradition: “It’s a film as vital, alive, and in touch with the holiday as more traditional entries — an invitation to other filmmakers to redefine what a Christmas movie can be, and as much a story about the importance of human kindness as the one that tops the list.” (Autostraddle)
Where to watch: Hulu
The Bitch Who Stole Christmas
If you’re a Drag Race fan, you’ll love this. The Bitch Who Stole Christmas is a queer, Christmas extravaganza featuring RuPaul and 20 ex-Drag Race contestants, including the first trans man on the show Gottmik, Latrice Royale, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Cher impersonator Chad Michaels, and many more. (We Are Her)
Where to watch: Amazon
Dash & Lily
Dash & Lily is a queer-inclusive Netflix show that takes place around Christmas. We love the storyline of the series.
And although the main storyline isn’t a queer one, there is a trans woman [Roberta], a gay guy, and a lesbian woman included in Dash & Lily. (Once Upon A JRNY)
Where to watch: Netflix
Pose: S1E3 “Giving and Receiving”
The House of Evangelista celebrates the holidays and prepares for the Snow Ball in spite of Angel’s lack of holiday spirit. Elektra contemplates undergoing an affirming medical procedure. (Pose FX Fandom)
On July 13, 2021, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez became the first trans lead ever nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series. (Wikipedia)
Where to watch: FX/Hulu
Bonus: one more must-see queer movie
Holiday Heart
Holiday Heart, stars Ving Rhames as the gay drag queen Holiday Heart, who after a break-up with his boyfriend takes in drug-addicted Wanda (Alfre Woodward) and her daughter Nicki (Jesika Reynolds) during the holidays. Showtime was pushing boundaries during this period at the new millennium, with the goal of capturing the LGBTQ+ audience. Holiday Heart, according to my unscientific research, was the first holiday film featuring a drag queen, and one of the first films ever whose lead character was an effeminate, gay Black man. (Advocate)
The Black Gay Holiday Movie That Never Got Its Due (Advocate)
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