15 LGBTQIA+ movies to watch if you liked Love, Simon

The Perks of Being A Wallflower

The Perks of Being A Wallflower is a coming-of-age movie about Charlie, a teenage boy struggling with clinical depression who was recently discharged from a mental health facility. We find out that Charlie’s best friend committed suicide a year prior, and he had some kind of childhood trauma.

Though he struggles to make friends when he starts his freshman year, he develops a close bond with his English teacher Mr. Anderson (Paul Rudd). He ends up meeting two senior students at a football game, and even though he’s awkward at social interactions, they become friends.

Sam (Emma Watson) and her stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller) become fast friends with Charlie, and when they invite him to a house party, Charlie unwittingly gets high and shares some of his past struggles with them. He also walks in on Patrick hooking up with one of the school’s most popular athletes, Brad.

Later on in the film, we find out that Brad’s father caught him and Patrick having sex, and beat him for it. When Brad turns on Patrick and starts harassing him with homophobic slurs, his friends start beating Patrick up. Charlie uncharacteristically defends his friend, blacks out, and beats up the bullies.

Although the story revolves around Charlie and his mental health issues, rather than Patrick’s sexuality, it’s still a coming-of-age tale for the ages. Charlie deals with his burgeoning sexual urges and his inability to interact with his peers, as well as his low lows, and his high highs. The story doesn’t shy away from his depressive episodes, or the trauma he faced as a child.

Mental health and feeling like you don’t fit in are universal themes that all teenagers need to witness. The inclusion of the gay storyline with Patrick and the homophobia both he and Brad face further the importance of this movie’s narrative.