Resources for the LGBTQIA2S+ community
A curated collection of websites, movies, TV shows, games, books, and podcasts exploring LGBTQIA2S+ grief, death care, transition, and legacy. You are never alone in your passage.
Websites & organizations
7 Rivers LGBTQ+ Center
Community center serving Western Wisconsin and the Driftless region, advocating for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and families.
7riverslgbtq.org →Let My Loss Be Your Gain
A space for LGBTQ+ grief education, healing, and sharing stories of loss and resilience.
letmylossbeyourgain.com →LGBTQ Loss
Dedicated resources for navigating grief, bereavement, and chosen family loss within queer community spaces.
lgbtqloss.com →SAGE (LGBTQ+ Elders)
National advocacy and service organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTQ+ older adults.
sageusa.org →The Trevor Project
24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ young people.
thetrevorproject.org →Trans Lifeline
Trans-led organization providing community, support, and resources to help trans individuals survive and thrive.
translifeline.org →PFLAG
Nation's largest organization supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ individuals and their families.
pflag.org →The Order of the Good Death
Death positive movement offering queer death care guides, inclusive estate planning, and funeral equity resources.
orderofthegooddeath.com →The Grievery
A compassionate space for personalized grief support, community gatherings, and workshops to navigate loss with care and understanding.
thegrievery.com →LGBTQ+ End-of-Life Values
How to have conversations about what matters most for LGTBQ+ individuals' healthcare through the end of life.
theconversationproject.org →Games & Interactive Tools
Life is Strange & Life is Strange 2
Emotive narrative adventure games exploring queer friendship, loss, memory, and emotional connection.
Celeste
A acclaimed platformer about a trans woman climbing a mountain while confronting anxiety, grief, and self-acceptance.
Gone Home
An interactive story exploring family secrets, coming out, and personal discovery in a 1990s home.
Unpacking
A zen puzzle game about the familiar experience of pulling possessions out of boxes and fitting them into a new life across relationship shifts.
Fragments of Him
An intimate narrative game exploring love, sudden loss, and grief from the perspectives of a deceased man's partner, ex, and grandmother.
The Missing: JJ Macfield and the Island of Memories
A unique, atmospheric puzzle-platformer exploring deep themes of identity, self-love, and healing.
Grief Works - Self Love & Care (App)
Gentle grief & bereavement support after loss.
Empathy - Loss Companion (App)
Helping you navigate loss, from funeral planning to estate settlement.
TV & Movies
Good Grief
A tender film following a man navigating sudden grief and chosen family support after his husband's death.
A Single Man
A moving drama about a gay college professor coming to terms with the sudden loss of his long-term partner.
A Fantastic Woman (Una Mujer Fantástica)
An Oscar-winning film about a trans woman fighting for her right to mourn her partner with dignity.
All Shall Be Well
A thoughtful drama about long-term queer partnership, sudden loss, and chosen family resilience.
Undertow
A ghost story set in a coastal town exploring love, secret grief, and traditional community acceptance.
Queering Death
A documentary exploring queer death doulas, inclusive rituals, and expanding traditional end-of-life care.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
A profound exploration of intense connection, memory, and the lasting power of love after parting.
Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
Oscar-winning documentary highlighting the human stories behind the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Rent
The iconic musical celebrating love, community, chosen family, and living every day to the fullest amid loss.
How to Survive a Plague
A powerful documentary on AIDS activism, community care, and grassroots fight for healthcare equity.
Eluna Community Conversation: LGBTQ+ Youth & Grief
A dedicated community workshop exploring the unique grief experiences and support needs of LGBTQ+ youth.
Call Me By Your Name
A tender coming-of-age romance about first love, summer memory, and lingering emotional truth.
The Death & Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Documentary celebrating the life, activism, and enduring legacy of trans trailblazer Marsha P. Johnson.
All Of Us Strangers
A lonely screenwriter develops an intimate relationship with his mysterious neighbor while revisiting memories from the past.
Spoiler Alert
The story of journalist Michael Ausiello and photographer Kit Cowan's relationship, which takes a turn when Cowan is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Supernova
A couple travels England in an RV to spend time together while grappling with the grim turn of reality their lives have taken due to one partner's dementia.
The Normal Heart
An outspoken gay activist in early-1980s New York City fights to expose the truth and raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Joe Bell
A father sets out walking across America to speak out against bullying to honor his teenage son, who died by suicide after he was bullied for being gay.
"Big Boys" (TV)
An unlikely friendship formed at university between a shy, grieving student and an older, boisterous student dealing with his own mental health struggles.
"Pose" (TV)
Ballroom culture, chosen family houses, HIV/AIDS activism, and mutual support in 1980s NYC.
"It's a Sin" (TV)
A poignant miniseries following a group of young queer friends in London navigating the 1980s AIDS crisis together.
"After Forever" (TV)
Digital drama series chronicling a man rebuilding his life after the loss of his partner.
"Somebody, Somewhere" (TV)
A funny, deeply moving series about midlife grief, singing, and finding sanctuary in a queer community in Kansas.
"Fellow Travelers" (TV)
Chronicles political persecution during the 1950s Lavender Scare.
Books & Reading
Cruising Utopia by José Esteban Muñoz
An influential exploration of queer futurity, hope, and memory in the face of loss.
The Undying by Anne Boyer
A profound, poetic examination of illness, caregiving, mortality, and survival.
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
Heart advice for difficult times, offering spiritual tools for sitting with discomfort and change.
The Care We Dream Of by Zena Sharman
What if every aspect of our health care was rooted in a commitment to our healing, pleasure, and liberation?
Tomorrow Will Be Different by Sarah McBride
A memoir chronicling the author's journey of coming out as transgender, her love and loss with her husband, and her fight for transgender equality.
Partnered Grief by Harold Ivan Smith & Joy Johnson
In a culture that expects grievers to get over it and move on, how do you intentionally and deliberately express your grief for a partner?
Dying Trans by The Order of the Good Death
Explains how transgender people can use simple legal forms to make sure their true name and gender identity are respected after they die.
Trans Death Rights Are Human Rights by The Order of the Good Death
A guide detailing how transgender individuals can utilize advance directives, health care proxies, and funeral agent designations to ensure their identity and end-of-life wishes are respected.
They'll Think of Me Kindly When They Come for My Things by The Order of the Good Death
What happens when trans people talk openly about death, and their plans around their death?
Sore Loser by Disability Arts Online (Created by Etzali Hernandez & Sandra Alland)
A chronic pain and illness zine on queer disabled grief.
Wounded Wings by Elizabeth Kidwell
A lesbian journey of love and loss that reveals a relationship between two women through fusion of poetry and prose.
My Life After Loss by Ray Matlock Smythe
This book deals with many topics after the initial shock of losing a spouse. Topics like therapy, finances, dating, moving, holidays, forgiveness and perseverance.
Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong
A poetry collection that explores personal grief, family memory, and survival after death of the author's mother.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
A semi-autobiographical novel written as a letter from a young Vietnamese-American son to his illiterate mother, exploring family history, trauma, identity, and first love.
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson
A memoir about surviving an abusive, religiously fanatical childhood in northern England and using the power of literature and the search for her birth mother to find love, identity, and true belonging.
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
A college student confronts her deep grief and hidden past when her former best friend visits her empty New York dorm over winter break.
History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
A grieving teenager struggles to process the sudden drowning death of his first love and ex-boyfriend while awkwardly bonding with his final boyfriend.
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune
A self-absorbed lawyer who dies and spends his afterlife at a peculiar tea shop learning to live and love before crossing over.
Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett
A queer taxidermist in Florida tries to hold her eccentric family together after her father's shocking suicide.
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
A coming-of-age memoir about a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears.
The Remedy by Zena Sharman
A diverse collection of real-life stories from queer and trans people on their own health-care experiences and challenges.
Grief Map by Sarah Hahn Campbell
When the sudden death of the author's partner plunges her into guilt, grief, and self-doubt, she explores the gifts and harships of love, loss, and beyond.
Lost & Found: Reflections on Grief, Gratitude, and Happiness by Kathryn Schulz
Blending the sudden grief of her father's death with the unexpected joy of falling in love with her future wife, the author examines how these experiences shape our human existence.
The Madness of Grief - A Memoir of Love and Loss Book by Reverend Richard Coles
A memoir that captures the chaotic, disorienting shock of losing his partner and realizing that "You don't do grief, grief does you."
I'm Never Fine: Scenes and Spasms on Loss by Joseph Lezza
A memoir about percieved missteps, unfinished conversations, and a reframing of flawed judgments through the eyes of a young man in search of a feeling.
All My Mother's Lovers by Ilana Masad
When Maggie's mom, Iris, dies in a car crash, Maggie returns home to discover a withdrawn dad, an angry brother, and along with Iris' will, five sealed envelopes, each addressed to a mysterious man she's never heard of.
Podcasts
Nancy (WNYC)
Queer stories about love, family, loss, and living out loud.
Death in the Afternoon
Exploring death culture, history, and inclusive practices with humor and reverence.
Queer Death Stories
Explores personal narratives of loss, grief, and queerness.
Grief - I Love Tim
An intimate audio podcast documenting a personal journey through loss following the death of a partner named Tim.
Coming Back: Conversations on Life After Loss
Explores the ideas, resources, and stories that help us "come back" to life after death, divorce, illness, and more.
Grief is My Side Hustle
A weekly podcast that explores personal loss and the realities of navigating grief.
If you're in crisis
If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, please call or text 988 — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7. You can also call TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386 or Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860.
Need help finding specific books, local support, or resources for a child in your life? Reach out anytime. I'm glad to help you find what fits.