June marks Pride Month, which means that various streaming services will recommend LGBTQ+ films to watch during the month. Whether it's laugh-out-loud comedies or romance films like Hulu's Fire Island, there's plenty of LGBTQ+ films to watch. One film may have flown under the radar, and that's D.E.B.S. Written and directed by Angela Robinson, the film is an expansion on a short film Robinson made that was a staple on the film festival circuit. D.E.B.S is an espionage unit whose members are selected if they score enough points on a secret test embedded within the SAT's. The film's plot kicks off when D.E.B.S agents Amy (Sara Foster), Max (Meagan Good), Janet (Jill Ritchie) and Dominique, and Amy (Devon Aoki) attempt to capture the notorious Lucy Diamond (Jordana Brewster). However, Amy and Lucy end up falling for each other.

D.E.B.S. has become a cult classic over the years, as its fans appreciate the love story at the film's center and the fact that it's an affectionate send-up of spy films — most notably Charlie's Angels. It's that specific genre that helps it stand out, as the conventions of the spy genre help add weight to Amy and Lucy's relationship. More than that, the genre is a way to detail how they both come to terms with their identities as lesbians despite everyone in their lives attempting to keep them apart.

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Image via Samuel Goldwyn Films

Lucy's entire career as a supervillain is a key example of how D.E.B.S. uses the spy genre as an advantage in its love story. Most villains in spy franchises, whether its Charlie's Angels,James Bond, or Mission: Impossible, have a goal that usually involves death and destruction on a planetary scale. Lucy is just having trouble opening up to the right girl, despite the efforts of her right-hand man/best friend Scud (Jimmi Simpson). When the D.E.B.S. are first alerted to Lucy's presence, they think that she is hiring the deadly assassin Ninotchka Kaprova (Jessica Cauffiel) for her latest scheme. But that couldn't be further from the truth, as Lucy wants to ask Ninotchka out and has no idea how to do so.

Likewise, Amy is have issues with her own love life. She was dating another agent, Bobby (Geoff Stults) but ended up dumping him. And she was right to do so: Bobby is controlling, manipulative (he literally stages a stakeout that coincides with Amy and her friends' stakeout) and constantly pushes Amy for information on why she broke up with him. Amy tells her friends it's because she wasn't in love with hima and wants to find true love, despite their profession calling for seduction and outright lies. And even though she doesn't say it out loud, it's implied that she may have realized she was a lesbian and decided to break it off rather than string Bobby along.

In fact, Amy and Lucy's encounters throughout the film have the charge of star-crossed lovers meeting each other, even if they're staged to look like a battle between an elite spy and her mortal enemy. Lucy even commits a bank robbery just to see Amy again! It even comes to the point where Lucy and Amy decide to run away just so that they can be together, despite being on opposite sides. There have been plenty of films where two people on opposing sides fall in love, but it's rare that they're of the same sex. Netflix series First Kill, which released last week, features a similar star-crossed romance between a vampire hunter and a vampire.

Eventually, when the other D.E.B.S. find out about Amy and Lucy's relationship, Amy is forced to cut all ties with Lucy while Bobby attempts to rekindle their relationship and the D.E.B.S. leader Ms. Petrie (Holland Taylor) orders her to give a speech denouncing everything Lucy has ever done. This moment serves as a major metaphor for closeted LGBTQ+ women, who are often forced to hide who they are due to fear of negative reactions from friends and family. And while Amy is a spy, where deception and subterfuge are part of the job description, being forced to stay away from Lucy takes an emotional toll on her. So when the time comes, she decides to depart from the D.E.B.S. and fully live her life with Lucy, with the blessing of her friends, as they provide an escape route for her.

In the years since D.E.B.S.'s debut, most of its cast have gone on to do other films: Brewster joined the Fast and Furious franchise and Simpson is a recurring presence on sci-fi shows including Westworld and Star Trek Prodigy. Aoki and Good even entered the world of comic book movies with roles in Sin City and Shazam! Brewster has even pitched a sequel idea to Robinson, and given the rise of "legacyquels" like Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World: Dominion, it's possible. Especially with the cult following the first film received and the fact that younger viewers would probably leap at a film that mirrors their experience, particularly one in the spy genre.