Queer on the spectrum: Our favorite streaming picks for Autism Acceptance Month
Heartbreak High is back for its second season on Netflix. The series, which features a diverse cast of characters of various backgrounds, sexual orientations and abilities—including Quinni, a lesbian who is autistic—returns just in time for Autism Acceptance Month, observed every year during the month of April as a means to spotlight and support the community and celebrate neurodiversity.
But Heartbreak High is just one of a handful of excellent projects that tell stories at the intersection of autism and queerness.Read on below for LGBTQ+ films and TV series with quality autistic representation to stream this weekend.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.Set in a multicultural high school in Sydney, Australia, nearly every character in Heartbreak High is queer in some way.
Characters include Quinni (Chloé Hayden), the aforementioned lesbian who is autistic; Darren (James Majoos), Quinni’s best friend, a non-binary kid who befriends Amerie (Ayesha Madon), a girl who becomes the school outcast following the release of a “sex map” detailing the students’ sexual exploits; Malakai (Thomas Weatherall), a bisexual jock; and many others.
Season two explores more of the students of Hartley High. Heartbreak High is a soft reboot/sequel of the 1994 show of the same name.Now streaming on Netflix.Out Aussie star Josh Thomas’ Freeform comedy series, which ran for two seasons, tells the story of Nicholas, a young man who takes care of his sisters, Genevieve (Maeve Press) and Matilda (Kayla Cromer) following the death of their father.
