this page is dedicated to media that ***in my opinion*** could have been gay love stories but the opportunity was lost...

i dont want to come off like i think the writing in these is bad or that im a better writer or even that making them gay would make these stories better, honestly everything on this list is media i already like.

my point with this is that i think if we lived in a world where gay relationships were as normalized as straight relationships are, these stories could easily have been perceived as romantic. and that as it stands i think the story could have been written making these relationships canonly romantic without even changing that much in the story.

then again maybe these are just gay ships i have lol. but i think you can make the argument for all of these!

PS i am against queerbaiting and will try to disclude media that does queerbait from this list..

GATTACA1997
Gattaca is actually one of the main reasons I decided to make this page in the first place. This movie is set in the distant future where people are genetically designed from the womb as near-perfect, and people who are born not genetically engineered are basically invalids. Ethan Hawke's character, Vincent, assumes the identity of Jude Law's character, Jerome. Vincent is an invalid who dreams of being an astronaut, and Jerome was a genetically perfect, recently paraplegic, ex-olympic swimmer. The two of them make a deal to have Vincent assume the identity of Jerome to accomplish his dream, and in return he helps to take care of Jerome.
Although Vincent goes on to have a mild romance with Uma Thurman's character, in my opinion the dynamic of Vincent and Jerome is what really carries this movie and made it come to life in the first place. They spend several months together only having each other, no one knowing their secret of Vincent publicly taking Jerome's identity... One of the climaxes of the movie is Jerome having to crawl his way up a long flight of stairs to protect Vincent's secret from being known and his dreams being shattered.
I like Uma Thurman but her character's romance with Vincent is lukewarm and underwhelming. This movie would have been so much better without her and they could have dedicated that time to developing the bond between Vincent and Jerome. Without spoiling anything, I think this would have made the tragic ending of this movie even more impactful...!

TRAILER PARK BOYS2001-2018
Bold of me to include this, I know... Trailer Park Boys is obviously a screwball comedy and nothing that serious even happens in this show, nevertheless you cannot convince me Ricky and Julian aren't soulmates. I have never seen a more toxically codependent relationship portrayed as beautifully as these two. Childhood friends who are always there for each other, go to jail for each other, would kill for each other.... I can't be the only person that sees this

THE NICE GUYS2016
The Nice Guys is a noir film starring Ryan Gosling as Holland March, and Russel Crowe as Jackson Healy, two at odds detectives trying to solve the case of a dissappearing girl and a murdered porn star. Ryan Gosling is dashing as always... Holland is a goofy single father and Jackson is a hardened careerist, and the two of them basically go from enemies to best friends as they try to solve a case together.
Holland and Jackson have a great dynamic and it is great to see their relationship grow. And I think a romantic relationship would have been a great natural progression for these two. Enemies to friends to lovers would have been the perfect way for this story to play out...

ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD2019
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood is a Quentin Tarantino movie that takes place in 1960's Hollywood, near the time of the Manson murders. It features Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton, a washed up actor, and Brad Pitt as Cliff Booth, Rick's stunt double and life long best friend. The plot of this movie is all over the place, but Rick and Cliff's close friendship remains consistent all throughout the movie.
Since I am including these two in this list I obviously think the story would have been better if Rick and Cliff were romantically involved.. There is a line in the movie describing these two as "more than a brother, less than a wife". I think this movie probably qualifies for a gay subtext award, but that's a little too "you have to read in between the lines". I think these two have a beautiful relationship regardless..
UPDATE LOG
4-1-2021: I added trailer park boys and took off lady bird (i didnt feel like it was fitting my criteria well enough, which i feel bad bc now i have no girl/girl relationships here lol.... if anyone has suggestions feel free to lmk...) also tried to revamp this page a bit. also changing this from just movies to include shows as well, maybe even books if i can think of any. (but no anime that would be a list that never ends lmao)