15 best LGBTQIA+ characters in movies

Angie (Edge of Seventeen)  

Every gay teen should have a mentor like Angie.

In the movie Edge of Seventeen, Angie is the manager at the amusement park restaurant that Eric and his best friend get a job at for the summer. At first, they think she’s weird and probably takes her job too seriously. By the end of the summer, they’re cracking jokes with her like she’s an old friend or that one cool lesbian aunt.

When the summer ends, Eric continue to struggle with his sexuality. When he needs an escape, he runs off to The Universal, a local gay bar run by none other than Angie. It’s there that he finds solace, and he realizes that he can be free and have fun with people like him.

Angie welcomes him with open arms and introduces him to her eclectic group of gay friends. This club becomes a frequent hangout for Eric, as he starts to feel comfortable and accepted by Angie and her friends.

Angie’s also there for him with some motherly advice after Eric has a fight with his own mother, whom he was pretty close with before he started finding himself. His mother confronts him about his recent behaviour, staying out late, and his appearance, and how people will start getting the wrong idea about him, that he might be gay. She knows something is going on, and tells him “You don’t have to look like a freak” about his makeup, bleached hair and eclectic outfits.

Eric denies being gay to his mother, but seeks out the advice of Angie. Despite him showing up out of the blue in the early morning hours banging on her door, she welcomes him in with a smile and a beer. She reassures him that it’s okay for him to be different, that he needs to accept himself for who he is, and then gives him a tight hug.

Angie even calls Eric when she hasn’t heard from him for a while, hoping that he’ll be joining them at the bar that weekend. She also wanted to make sure he knew that she was always there for him if he needed anything at all. Not bad for the weird manager at the fast food restaurant, is she?