Happy Pride: Queer cartoon characters abound! (sort of)

by Nathaniel R

The website Insider has compiled a list of 259 LGBTQ characters in recent American cartoon series. Despite all the research it's still highly debatable since the database includes dozens of characters that are only queer via creator statements and not in-show confirmation (and as we know from the JK Rowling's Dumbledore debacle, that is weak-sauce as representation goes; creators shouldn't get credit for pushing boundaries if what they're doing is much much closer to virtue signalling than true activism). Of course these things are more complicated with children's shows since, naturally, sexuality is less explicit than in adult television (apart from the prevalence of mom & dad units of course).  While we watch a lot of animated movies we aren't that familiar with animated TV shows so many of these characters are unfamiliar to us...

Unsurprisingly Cartoon Network's Steven Universe and Netflix's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, both very queer shows, have the most representation and those two distribution platforms are in the lead in general, too, in terms of queer-friendly toons. Even if a lot of this is inferred it's an optimistic indicator than future generations will be growing up with less taught bias against themselves or their LGBTQ peers.

Two findings of note: It's more common for the queer characters to be POC rather than white. It's also more common for the characters to be female (both in the cis and trans numbers), than male (both in the cis and trans numbers). That's interesting if not surprising since in the history of (adjacent) mainstream movies, lesbians are much more common than gays as they were often considered non-threatening (even titilating) to men and so much of moviemaking was historically built for and around the male gaze. 

Shows with several characters implied or "out" as queer:

Steven Universe

• Craig of the Creek (CN) Annie nomination this year in the categories of Writing and Character Design
• Danger & Eggs (Prime)
• The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
• My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Discovery)
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes (CN)
• Ready Jet Go! (PBS)
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) 20+ characters  Annie nomination this year in the category of Best TV/Media Children, and Writing
• Steven Universe (CN) 30+ characters
• Twelve Forever (Netflix)
• Voltron: Legendary Defender (Netflix)

Show with a few characters implied or "out" as queer:

• 6Teen (Tubi)
• Adventure Time (CN)
• Clarence (CN)
• DuckTales (Disney)
• Gargoyles (Disney)
• Gravity Falls (Disney)
• Hey Arnold! (Nickelodeon)
• The Hollow (Netflix)
• Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix)
• The Legend of Korra (Netflix)
• Middle School Moguls (Nickelodeon)
• The Owl House (Disney) - Annie nomination this year in the category of Character Design
• Summer Camp Island (HBOMax)
• W.I.T.C.H. (Disney)
• Young Justice (HBO Max)

Comments

[Amy Camus]

Let us not forget Snagglepuss and Johnny "I've got two daddies" Quest

[Ellen]

It's spelled Jonny Quest, Amy.

[Ellen]

It's spelled Jonny Quest, Amy.

[Amy Camus]

Ellen & Ellen:

Oops. But then again the gay characters were Dr. Quest and Race Bannon

[Amy Camus]

There's even an episode where Race is outed. The gang is in Thailand, I believe (I'm relying on my fallible memory), and an evil scientist kidnaps Race and sends in a lookalike substitute. Jade, a shady-lady type adventuress shows up, and the boys tell her of their suspicions. She then comes on to "Race" and he eagerly responds. She immediately lets the boys know that he's not the real Race. When they ask her how she knows, she just tells them that there are some things "only a woman can tell". It's been a long time since I've seen it but it really stuck in my mind. I don't wonder why.

[MDA]

No mention of Smithers from The Simpsons?

[solitaire spider]

OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes (CN)

[ajnrules]

Yey! Lyra Heartstrings!