In this article, I will explore LGBT representation in mainstream children's media from 2010 til the present day. The media discussed includes Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Clarence, Star VS The Forces of Evil, The Loud House, and Finding Dory (mentioned.)
Part I: Minor Characters and Background Queerness
When Finding Dory came to theaters, some people made a big fuss over a same-gender couple appearing in a scene for less than 5 seconds. People wanted to boycott over these innocent happy moms who didn't even speak. So to see a show on a mainstream network such as Cartoon Network, Disney XD, and Nickelodeon, have lgbt+ moments that could get them banned it pretty significant. This first part discusses some small lgbt+ moments in cartoons from 2010 onwards.
In Cartoon Network's Clarence, Clarence's friend Jeff Randell has two moms, EJ, the brunette, and Sue, the redhead. EJ and Sue are played by real life lesbians Lea DeLaria and Tig Notaro, respectively, which is a nice nod to queer parents who might watch Clarence with their child. DeLaria is recognizable as Big Boo in Orange is the New Black, and Notaro plays Barb on Transparent, two decidedly queer shows. If one goes by head shape, we can guess that EJ, the more masculine mom, is Jeff's biological mother. This is a nice way to combat the stigma that, in a lesbian couple with a butch-femme dynamic, the butch is more masculine and manly by default. EJ and Sue are shown to be competent parents, with no more issues than the different-gender parents on the show face. A major episode that features them deals with Jeff's desire to enter cooking competitions that is hindered by his severe social anxiety. EJ and Sue call upon Jeff's friends to help him. Despite Jeff having a meltdown year after year, they do not discourage him from entering the contest, and support their indecisive son. EJ and Sue never have their same-gender parenthood called into question, or made a big deal of. They are a great example of subtly normalizing same-gender parents.
There is also an episode that features two same-gender background characters, Kevin and his unnamed boyfriend, on a date. Spencer Rothbell, a writer and voice actor, said on Twitter, in tweets that have since been made private, that in the scene with the two men, "Originally the guy had flowers and they kissed on the mouth." It is unclear why Cartoon Network censored this moment.
Howard and Harold McBride are Clyde McBride's fathers, of The Loud House. Clyde is Lincoln Loud's best friend. In Harold and Howard's first appearance, both are shown to be doting fathers, but especially Howard who gives Clyde a family photo to remember them by since Clyde is sleeping over at Lincoln's house and the dads won't be there to tuck him into bed. As Howard and Harold leave, Howard wails, "I love him (Clyde) so much!" They are loving parents, if a little dorky and high strung. Their ability to parent isn't called into question.
Steven Universe features a family of two moms and their son that show up as background characters in a couple episodes. They are human denizens of Beach City, and so far unnamed. They have had no speaking roles and could be easily missed by a casual viewer, so are not super great in terms of queer visibility, but are still a nice detail.
Star Vs the Forces of Evil features several background characters sharing same-gender kisses in the episode Just Friends. These characters are also unnamed and have no speaking roles, but Star deserves some credit for showing same-gender couples kissing. Many times an implied same-gender couple will get to hold hands but not kiss, especially not on the lips. Same gender PDA is a step towards normalization.
Part II: Main Cast Queerness
Princess Bubblegum and Marceline of Adventure Time have a complicated relationship, first explored in the episode What Was Missing, where Marceline sings the telling lyrics "I'm gonna drink the red from your pretty pink face." The main characters have something stolen from them, and we find out that what was stolen from Bubblegum was a band t-shirt Marceline gave her. Marceline thought Bubblegum didn't like the shirt, because she never saw her wear it, but Bubblegum explains that she wears it all the time, as pajamas. In Sky Witch, she is indeed wearing the shirt as pajamas. She smells the shirt, which we can assume has some of Marceline's scent left over. In the same episode, Bubblegum encounters a witch, Maja, who uses sentimental objects to fuel her magic. Maja states that the shirt has a powerful sentimental attachment. The episode Varmints shows that Bubblegum regrets that her and Marceline had a falling out and grew apart. She confesses that she loves Marceline and, having finally reconciled their relationship, the episode ends with Bubblegum napping on Marceline's shoulder. In the episode Take Her Back, Marceline dreams of herself as an aging woman, and in the dream, Bubblehum kisses her on the forehead, as if they are an old married couple. What started as subtext was clearly embraced by the writers, and with Adventure Time ending soon, it seems Marceline and Bubblegum will stay a couple through to the end.
Ruby and Sapphire of Steven Universe, who make up Garnet when fused, are in a healthy, stable lesbian relationship, and exhibit one of the healthiest relationships in the show. There is an episode, Keystone Motel, in which they split apart because Garnet is having mixed feelings about being betrayed by Pearl. Each apologizes for not being considerate of the other's feelings and they reunite, stronger for it. In The Answer, an episode which explores Garnet's backstory, we learn that Ruby and Sapphire faced stigma for being what is essentially an interracial lesbian couple according to gem culture. Gems of different types are not supposed to fuse, and fusion is meant to be a battle tactic only. Ruby and Sapphire fusing for love was unheard of, and racism and homophobia nearly cost them their lives. They were able to escape the oppressive society on Homeworld and live together as Garnet on earth. Ruby and Sapphire are shown to be very affectionate, holding hands, kissing one another on the face and neck. They have yet to kiss on the lips on screen.
The show also makes it clear that Pearl, one of Steven's guardians, was in love with his mother, Rose. Their fusion dance is very intimate and ends in a censored kiss, which was cut out from the UK airing of the show.
The episode Mr Greg has Pearl sing a ballad about mourning Rose and accepting that Rose chose Greg, Steven's father, over her. The lyrics are telling. "After all these years, I never thought i'd lose ... You won, and she chose you ... it's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on?" Her song is about her moving on from Rose in both the sense that Rose chose Greg as a partner, and in the sense of moving on from mourning Rose's death. There have been many episodes about Pearl mourning Rose, but this one finally sees her get some closure and make up with Greg, who she treated coldly out of jealousy and because she partially blamed Greg for Rose's death, since Rose died in childbirth.
The episode Last One Out of Beach City focuses on Pearl being attracted to a human woman. This aired after Mr Greg to show that Pearl was trying to move on, but we can tell she hasn't quite moved on, as the mystery woman, who remains unnamed, resembles Rose in body type and hair color. Since the episode's airing, the woman has not been seen or mentioned, even though supposedly she gave Pearl her number. I think a good way to show Pearl's development would be for the Mystery Woman to dye her hair a different color from pink, and then Pearl would have to figure out if her attraction to the woman was genuine or she was just projecting her attraction to Rose onto her.
Pearl is a complicated character as far as representation goes. She is a lesbian, but has also treated other characters poorly because she was so bad at coping with grief and rejection. Having your lesbian, mentally ill with PTSD, war veteran character have emotionally abusive tendencies towards other characters makes her complex, yes, but also does not put lesbians in a great light. A good example of this is Rose's Scabbard. Pearl gets upset thinking about Rose, runs away to be alone, and Steven follows her. She jumps onto dangerous floating rocks and Steven nearly falls trying to catch up. She is too caught up in her grief to help him or apologize for letting him fall. Steven even mentions this incident in Last One Out of Beach City: "That's the most scared i've been since you almost let me die!" The line is played for laughs, but it shows that Steven still remembers how Pearl endangered him.
In the Star VS The Forces of Evil episode Sleepover, a character who's only known name is StarFan13, is asked who she has a crush on, and replies "Star Butterfly, of course!" Nobody makes fun of her for this. Often times, queer characters are reduced to the "stalker with a crush" trope, and while StarFan13 is an obsessed fan, her and Star are shown to be friends who genuinely enjoy one another's presence. Star isn't creeped out by StarFan13 and doesn't shy away from being affectionate with her even after StarFan13 confesses her feelings. Star doesn't reciprocate, as far as we know, but their relationship is no worse off.
PART III: Gender
In Star VS The Forces of Evil, Marco Diaz has a female alter ego, Princess Marco, shows no objections towards people using "she her" pronouns for them, and seems to actively enjoy wearing a big, poofy princess dress. Princess Marco has her own merchandise which Marco gets paid for. In an episode titled Fetch, a magic dog essentially has dysphoria. While she discusses her dysphoria, the camera strangely focuses on Marco. She says, "I thought if I zapped myself with your wand, I could quiet my troubled mind." Marco canonically has body dysphoria. In the episode Naysaya, Marco is cursed with a second head that speaks all his insecurities, and one of them is "Marco Diaz covers the mirror when he showers because Marco is ashamed of his own body!" This hints that Marco may be transgender. Season 2 has concluded without a definite confirmation, but with season 3 and 4 confirmed, Marco may just be the first openly transgender character on a Disney cartoon.
Steven Universe handles gender in a complicated way. One one hand, creator Rebecca Sugar has stated that the gems are gems and technically not male or female in a Reddit AMA. This would make them nonbinary. On the other hand, we have yet to have the gems explain that they call eachother, and allow human to call them "she her" and refer to them as "women" out of convenience even though, being aliens with one sex, those terms aren't accurate. A creator saying characters are transgender, but never stating it in-show, is not true representation. It is akin to J.K. Rowling stating that Dumbledore is gay after all seven books have come out, and only lightly implying it in the series itself. The representation is lacking and can feel like it was put in for "diversity points" instead of being treated with care.
The show recognizes that the gems gender isn't set in stone with Amethyst in particular. A shapeshifter, some of her forms are male. Her wrestling persona, Purple Puma, is decidedly male, and in his debit episode, Steven accidentally calls him "she" and then corrects himself. Purple Puma is a good argument for Amethyst being gender fluid, but is treated more like a drag persona, and Amethyst's feelings towards their gender are not fully explored.
There are two characters who use "they their them" pronouns: Smoky Quartz and Stevonnie. Smoky is make of Steven and Amethyst, and Stevonnie is made of Steven and Connie. Both fusions are a mix of a boy and a girl, and while some nonbinary people feel they are both male and female, not all do, so it doesn't send a great message to have the only characters that use "they their them" pronouns do so because of that. No human so far has used gender neutral pronouns for themself. Of course nonbinary people can use "he" or "she" pronouns for themselves, but to have every supposedly nonbinary character except the two made of a boy and a girl do so leaves many nonbinary people poorly represented.
It is also somewhat uncomfortable that Stevonnie, who is made of a 12 year old girl and a 14 year old boy, appears to be an adult who is rather sexualized. In their first appearance, the camera pans over their body as they caress their new form. They are sexually harassed by an antagonist, Kevin, and he is rightfully portrayed as sleazy and in the wrong, but the show doesn't show the same qualms about the audience gazing at the underage, curvy Stevonnie with the camera. Smoky Quartz has serious self esteem issues and hates themself. Again, these characters are complex, and complex is good, but the way they are portrayed can have unfortunate implications.
Children's media has come a long way, and is slowly allowing for more queer characters, but still has a long way to go.
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