July is not overflowing with new sapphic television, but there are still a few releases worth adding to your watchlist. This month includes openly queer characters, returning LGBTQ favorites, a lesbian engineer in a dystopian mystery, and a new comedy special from bisexual comedian Mary Beth Barone.
Not every title on this list is centered entirely on queer women, but each one has a clear LGBTQ reason to care. Some offer sapphic storylines, others bring strong queer supporting characters, and a few are simply worth watching for the LGBTQ performers involved.
Here is what is coming out, where to watch it, and why it belongs on your radar this month.
Elle — July 1 on Prime Video
Set years before Elle Woods arrived at Harvard Law School, Elle follows the future attorney through high school in 1990s Seattle.
The queer reason to watch is Liz, an openly queer teenager played by Gabrielle Policano. Her sexuality is part of who she is without becoming the source of tragedy or the only thing viewers are meant to know about her. The storyline is supporting rather than central, but it is still refreshing to see a queer teen simply get to exist inside the larger world of the show.
Survival of the Thickest, Season 3 — July 2 on Netflix
Michelle Buteau returns as Mavis Beaumont for the third and final season of Survival of the Thickest, a comedy about friendship, dating, fashion, and rebuilding your life when the original plan falls apart.
Queer characters and chosen family have been part of the series from the beginning, not something added around the edges. The show has included bisexual and trans characters, queer performers, and a community where LGBTQ people are allowed to be funny, ambitious, messy, and fully developed. The queer connection is woven throughout the series, even though Mavis remains at the center.
Silo, Season 3 — July 3 on Apple TV
Silo returns for another season of mystery, political conflict, and survival inside an underground society where nearly everything about the outside world has been hidden.
This is not a sapphic series, but Harriet Walter’s Martha Walker remains one of its best reasons for queer women to watch. Martha is a lesbian engineer whose intelligence and technical skills make her essential to the story. Her sexuality is present, but it never becomes her entire character.
Heartstopper Forever — July 17 on Netflix
Heartstopper returns for one final feature-length chapter as Nick, Charlie, and their friends begin thinking about graduation, university, and what comes next.
Nick and Charlie remain at the center, but Tara, Darcy, and Elle have helped make the wider friend group feel meaningfully queer. Tara and Darcy’s relationship gives the story its central sapphic representation, while Elle continues to bring trans representation to one of Netflix’s most popular LGBTQ franchises. This is the month’s biggest queer comfort-watch release.
Mary Beth Barone: Galaxy Brain — July 28 on Netflix
Bisexual comedian Mary Beth Barone brings her first hour-long Netflix special to the platform at the end of July.
Barone’s comedy often pulls from dating, relationships, gender, internet culture, and the strange expectations placed on women. This is not a scripted sapphic story, but it is worth watching for a funny, openly bisexual performer whose work regularly speaks to queer audiences.
A Quiet Month, But Not an Empty One
July may not deliver a major wave of new sapphic television, but the month still offers several worthwhile reasons to keep watching. The strongest picks range from explicitly queer characters to shows where LGBTQ people are simply part of the world, without their identities being treated as a plot twist.
That mix matters. Queer representation does not always need to carry the entire story to feel meaningful, but it should give viewers something more than a blink-and-you-miss-it moment. These July releases offer a little of both.
