Look over the menagerie of LGBT movies and TV shows released in 2024 carefully enough, and you’ll find as many hidden gems as you will worsening cracks. In others words, there’s good news and bad news — but in the year’s overall impressive lineup, also a glimmer of hope.

On the small screen, the seemingly unending aftermath of the streaming bubble burst from 2022 saw the “Cancel Your Gays” trend push forward as LGBT series ended abruptly, and fewer projects were green lit to take their place. Stand-up comedy specials, particularly those at Netflix, continued to platform contradictory political voices with hugely disparate views about human rights — which created some bizarre situations, for good and for bad.

There have been reported declines in onscreen queer representation across film too, albeit not as stark as those impacting actors on television. Still, looking back at a year that included several remarkable success stories from throughout queer cinema,...