Oct 7, 2022
By: BI India BureauVelma Dinkley, the brainiac in the Scooby Doo Mystery Inc gang came out as a lesbian in the latest Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! animated movie released on 4th October. The film shows Velma having a crush on a new character called Coco Diablo in one of the movie clips. According to reports, US comic Mindy Kaling’s upcoming adult animated series ‘Velma’ may also show the character’s "journey of self-discovery."
Credit: Warner-Bros-Animation
HIM is the famed antagonist of the popular cartoon series Powerpuff Girls. Even though the character’s pronoun is ‘him’, he is widely considered as a queer character. Bright red in colour, stilleto-sporting and with a non-heteronormative body, HIM has been widely seen as a “vividly queer” character and embraced by the LGBTQIA community.
Credit: Wikifandom
The Simpsons has been running for 34 seasons but it was not until 2016 – the 27th season – that the closeted gay character of Waylon Smithers came out. Last year, the show featured a kiss between Waylon and millionaire Michael De Graaf, who was voiced by gay actor Victor Garber. The episode was called “Portrait of a Lackey on Fire”.
Credit: 20th-Television
In September this year, popular children’s show Peppa Pig introduced its first gay character in lesbian polar bears Doctor Polar Bear and Mummy Polar Bear. “I live with my mummy and other mummy,” reveals the character Penny Polar Bear of Peppa in the episode named “Families”.
Credit: ABC-iview
Duncan Rouleau, the co-creator of popular Cartoon Network series Ben 10, based on superhero watch Omnitrix, acknowledged on Twitter that the villanous character Rojo was a lesbian and was dating Azul, an African-American woman. This was after 14 years of the character’s debut. He also mentioned a transgender character named Turnstyle featured in Ben 10’s omniverse.
Credit: Wikifandom
The reality of reality TV stars and a series of themes related to the entertainment industry, sexuality and mental health issues were portrayed in BoJack Horseman. The 8-year-old show is extremely inclusive, having portrayed a wide range of LGBTQIA characters – from anthropomorphic birds, BoJack’s asexual friend Todd Chavez or his gay mentor Herb Kazzaz.
Credit: Wikifandom
One of the first depictions of same-sex relationship in animation was in 2014, through Nickelodeon’s popular American animated supernatural series The Legend of Korra. This was even before same-sex marriage was legal in America. The lesbian couple Korra and Asami was acknowledged by its two co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. ‘Celebrate it, embrace it, accept it, get over it’ wrote Konietzko.
Credit: Dark-Comics-Twitter
Another animated series depicting queerness was Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe. The lesbian couple Ruby and Saphhire’s same-sex marriage proposal was aired in 2018 during the episode “The Question”. According to the story, two gems Ruby and Sapphire fuse together to form one body to protect humanity.
Credit: Cartoon-Network
The creators of Gotham city in Batman:The Animated Series (season 3, HBO Max) revealed this year that Harley Quinn, the famed villainous maniac, is in a LGBTQIA relationship with Poison Ivy. Quinn’s bisexuality was also addressed in DC movie The Birds of Prey starring Margo Robbie, where she talks about her previous relationships in a movie montage, one featuring a woman.
Credit: HBO-Max
Dangers and Eggs was released on Amazon Prime in 2017 and has been pathbreaking in terms of queer representation. The story itself is about “gender-free female lesbian child and her giant large-gamete friend," as described by creator Shadi Petosky. Milo is one such character who describes themselves as non-binary. The show nonchalantly addressed the character in they/them pronouns and also showed pride parade.
Credit: Wikifandom