One of my absolute favorite things to write about is queer representation in all-ages and young adult media. Being young and queer can be super confusing, and if you don’t know where to find other people like you, it can be super lonely and super depressing. If you can’t find anyone who’s like you and your age, you might turn to books, TV, movies, comics or other media to try to find someone, anyone, who reflects you back at yourself. We need to see ourselves, we need to see possibilities for our future.
I’m going to keep on championing queer representation in all-ages media until my dying breath. As long as queer kids are taking their own lives, as long as young lesbians are told that their crushes on other girls are just fleeting feelings that all straight girls have and as long as trans girls as young as age six are treated as sexual deviants who shouldn’t be allowed to use the bathroom, we’re going to need TV shows, comic books, novels and all sorts of other media that counters the dangerous and misleading information queer kids hear every day. These are some of the best examples of that from this past year.
1. The Legend of Korra has Korra and Asami Portal Off Into the Sunset
This technically happened in late December, but the shock waves are still being felt. After four seasons of fans shipping the main character, Korra, with one of the members of Team Avatar, Asami, in this cartoon sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, the show’s creators rewarded their patience by ending the show with the two women holding hands and walking into a portal to the Spirit World together. If this wasn’t clear enough, the showrunners confirmed that the two were a couple and that both were bisexual. Although their relationship wasn’t shown very explicitly on the actual show, this was the first time many young queer people (and especially queer people of color) got to see someone like them end up in a happy relationship on a show designed for them.
2. Jeff on Clarence has Two Moms
Jeff and his two moms.
In the Cartoon Network show Clarence, one of the main character’s best friends has two moms. Jeff’s two moms, EJ and Sue, first showed up last December in the episode “Jeff Wins,” and have reappeared, including this summer in the episode “Breehn Ho!” While they’re far from main characters on the show, they still go a long way in helping queer kids, and kids with two moms feel less alone.
3. Princeless introduces a Queer Pirate Princess
From Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess #2, art by Rosy Higgins and Ted Brandt.
The all-ages comic book series Princeless has long been showing girls that they can be whatever or whomever they want to be, including their own heroes. With the introduction of a new princess, Raven Xingtao, to the series, the book also sent the message that girls who like girls deserve to have heroes too. Raven is the daughter of the Pirate King, and in her first appearances, she develops a crush on Adrienne, the series’ protagonist. While that crush didn’t work out, Raven is now starring in her own series, Raven: The Pirate Princess, meant for slightly older readers, where she gets to continue to go on adventures and flirt with fellow female pirates.
4. Help Us! Great Warrior Shows that Trans Women can be Great Warriors Too
This limited series, written and illustrated by Madeleine Flores and with colors by Trillian Gunn, was a super fun fantasy comic that featured Leo, a trans girl of color, as the best friend and co-warrior to the titular Great Warrior. This comic is great for young readers and makes it clear that Leo is trans without being awkward about it and without putting her through any pain because of it. While it’s important to show that trans women are often the targets of violence and oppression, it’s also good to show that sometimes being trans is just one part of who a person is and it doesn’t always mean sadness and fear.
5. Steven Universe Loudly Becomes the Queerest Show on TV
When it comes to Steven Universe, there’s a lot to say. Early in the year, in the episode “Alone, Together,” Steven and his best friend, a girl named Connie, fuse into one person, the wonderfully genderqueer Stevonnie, who looks a little feminine of gender-neutral and uses “they” pronouns. Then, in the episode “Jail Break,” we find out that one of the Crystal Gems, Garnet, is really a fusion of two gems, Ruby and Sapphire, who are so in love with each other that they prefer to always be fused. This character is literally two small lesbians combined into one big lesbian.
As we learn more about other characters on the show, we see that another one of the Gems, Pearl, has long held strong romantic, but unrequited, feelings toward Steven’s mother Rose Quartz. In another episode, Steven proudly and gleefully puts on a friend’s skirt and crop top and sings and dances on stage. This isn’t played for laughs or to be weird; this is Steven having a great time and expressing himself. Finally, at the end of the season, a new Gem, Peridot, joins the team. After formerly being an enemy, she straight up romantic-comedy-style tackles another Gem, Amethyst, and looks down at her, blushing. These alien space rocks are just really, really gay.
This is a show for kids and about kids (and some alien space rocks), and it has more queer characters than just about any other show on TV. And these characters are mostly coded as women of color. And they all get complex, fleshed-out, well-written storylines. Compared to what was allowed just a year or two ago on cartoons, Steven Universe is in a completely different universe.
6. Peach and Plum share a kiss and Become a Couple in Bravest Warriors #33
Kate Leth and Ian McGinty had been having Peach and Plum, two female characters in their Bravest Warriors comic, flirt with each other ever since Peach was introduced in issue #26. This series is based on the animated web series created by Adventure Time’s Pendleton Ward, making it yet another franchise (along with Adventure Time and Steven Universe, created by former AT writer and artist Rebecca Sugar) that branched out from that series and features queer women in all-ages media. This comic went a step farther than a lot of other cartoons and all-ages comics and actually had Plum, one of the main characters, kiss Peach, right there on the page.
7. Trans Teenager Jazz Jennings Gets a TV Show
Jazz (far left) and her family. Via People.com
Jazz Jennings has long been in the spotlight, making speeches, fighting for her rights and even co-writing a children’s book, but this year she took the next step when she and her family starred in a reality show for TLC. I Am Jazz followed her as she struggled to fit in, figure out if she wanted to date, and face the fact that she would be starting high school soon. Seeing a real-life trans girl go through a lot of the same struggles that other trans girls go through, all while her family stood right beside her is a huge thing for trans kids who want to know that they’ll be okay. The series was just picked up for a second season.
8. Lumberjanes, Already Full of Queer Characters, Has Jo Come Out as Trans
Lumberjanes was already an excellent, groundbreaking and pretty queer book when issue #17 came out and forever changed the face of trans representation in comics. In this issue, Jo, one of the protagonists of the book, has a conversation with Barney, a Scouting Lad who’s been hanging out with the girls and talking about how he feels like he doesn’t know where he belongs. Jo offers support and understanding and tells him that he reminds her of a younger version of herself, a version of herself if she hadn’t been allowed to be the girl that she is. This issue was one of the best of the year, and Jo is the most prominent trans character ever in an all-ages comic.
9. Nimona is a Finalist for a National Book Award
This graphic novel by Noelle Stevenson, one of the writers for Lumberjanes, is about a shapeshifting girl and the villain and hero whose lives she interrupts. It’s an excellent look at identity, different ways to be a girl, good and evil and sharks with boobs. Nimona very deservedly made a bunch of Best Of lists and was one of just a handful of graphic novels or comics to ever be nominated for a National Book Award. Additionally, Stevenson is the youngest ever finalist. To have such a prestigious award recognize a book like this helps to show people that books by and for queer women aren’t just niche, they can be mainstream.
10. Maggie Thrash Talks About Coming Out at Camp in Honor Girl
Maggie Thrash’s memoir, Honor Girl, is one of the best books to come out this year, and one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. It picks right up in the tradition of Fun Home and Skim in crafting a genius work of graphic storytelling about a queer girl coming of age. While the story of falling in love with a female counselor at summer camp, becoming a top target shooter and dealing with being queer in a place that isn’t queer friendly is all Thrash’s, the book will resonate with queer women everywhere.
11. Best-Selling YA Author James Dawsom Comes Out as a Trans Woman
Tony Kershaw for Buzzfeed.
In October, James Dawson (who is still using the name James and “he” pronouns for now), one of the best selling YA authors in England, announced that he is a trans woman and will start transitioning. It’s a big deal to see someone with such a bright profile in the world of YA Lit come out publicly as a trans woman, and hopefully, many of readers will be inspired by him to either come out themselves or be better allies.
12. Adventure Time Miniseries “Stakes” Goes Deeper into Marceline and Bubblegum’s Relationship
In a lot of ways Bubblegum and Marceline are the cat-rescuing, vegan farm-owning lesbian grandmas of the all-ages crowd. People have been considering them canonically queer since way back in 2011. This year, we saw the miniseries “Stakes,” which explored Marceline the Vampire Queen’s past, her present identity crisis and her future relationship with Bubblegum. There were a lot of longing glances and fond caresses and a really cute scene where Marceline dreams of the two of them growing old together.
This year was a pretty good one for queer representation in all-ages media, but there’s always a need for more. Hopefully, by this time next year, we’ll look back at 2015 and laugh at the thought that this is what was considered “a lot of queer characters” in cartoons, comics and books for kids.
I can’t believe there’s a list.
Like an actual list with several items on it.
I remember how I haunted the underground isles of huge department stores for copies of Utena.
Or how Michiru and Haruka were very, very friendly Cousins and whole episodes of them went missing on broadcast network TV.
And now, there’s a list.
No more pausing the VCR to see if you really understood the whispered innuendo right.
A whole, entire list, just for this year alone.
Awesome.
Comment award potential this is.
comment award potential indeed, Yoda.
It’s unbelievable isn’t it? Kids today are so lucky
Well, I don’t know if they are, I would have failed spectacularly at that instagram and social media thing they got going on now, but I still remember, vividly, the whole “corrupting young minds” arguments.
And now, there is a list!
And there isn’t an outrage or anything, it’s just there.
We’re just there.
It’s like we arrived in the middle of society and being reflected in kids media is just a reflection of that.
NBD.
Just that it is, it’s a big effing deal!
We’re not something kids need to be protected from anymore!
And it’s so important,too, for all the kids who felt weird and “different” to just be like “that character on TV” and not a “freak” anymore.
Imagine if that trend continues, what that would do to bullying.
So, yes, I am totally excited about this list, because maybe it is the beginning of something amazing.
I also might mention a certain indie video game made by French studio DONTNOD this year that has gained a decently sized following across a wide age range that had an openly lesbian couple as the main characters called Life Is Strange.
I just finished the game yesterday <3 All the feels!
Apart from the Mass Effect series, there was no other game that broke my heart into a million pieces and put it back together like LIS.
*******SPOILEEEEEEEEEEEEEERS*******
I wonder how lame it is to get together with Warren…it probably makes the final decision quite easy.
One of my favourite things is that even a ton of the straight guys found Warren offputting and couldn’t handle him, even though he basically is them. A wonderful mirror, even if they didn’t realise it was one. I wish you had been able to tell him no in a way that actually made him leave you alone, but it would have had a different impact if you could I guess.
Oh my gosh! I can’t believe I forgot Life Is Strange! One of my greatest regrets this year is that I haven’t played it!
I really loved it, it’s shot to the top of my favourite games list on the basis of making me *feel* like nothing else. I’ve seen mixed interpretations of whether the game was explicit with the potential of the relationship or queerbaiting, but for me it very much felt genuine and text not subtext. I think a lot of it comes out of how you play it, the mindset you are in etc.
i love this!! i love everything about this.
Mey, your writing about Steven Universe got me to watch Cartoon Network for the first time since the nineties, and I am so. grateful.
Thank you and you’re welcome!
When I saw the title for this article, I was so convinced there would be something about The Fosters. But nope, no Jonnor love here…
Sorry, this list was focused on queer women/girls
The only thing I have against this list is the lack of video game representation on it. I can think of several instances this year that the LGBT+ community has been showcased in some format.
Dragon Age: Inquisition features a character called Krem who is a transitional male.
Kung Jin of Mortal Kombat X is gay.
The two main characters in Life is Strange, Max and Chloe – although not directly addressed – are implied to be bisexual.
Fallout 4 has optional romances.
And Undertale is the gayest game I have ever come across and is completely wonderful <33
None of the games you mentioned are suitable for actual kids :)
I don’t see any problem with kids playing Undertale. It’s potentially scary, but what’s childhood without a little horror? It’s adorable, has a good message behind it, and is definitely one of the queerest games I’ve played in… well, forever.
Like @grumpy said, most of those games aren’t meant for kids. Also, this list was focused on queer women’s representation, so Dragon Age and Mortal Kombat wouldn’t fit.
Well, Dragon Age Inquisition does have Sera (lesbian) and Josephine (bisexual), but yeah, not for kids.
I will point out this list is for all-ages media, and I wouldn’t say any of those games are “all ages.”
Also there is no implication with Max and Chloe. One of the endings makes their relationship explicitly cannon.
Correction: haven’t played Undertale so I have no idea what I’m talking about there. You description of it sounds good, so I will check it out!
Lol, fail, I was meant to have this as a reply to the above commenter…
Seeing “Honor Girl” on the list made me think of birdland.camp. I’m not sure if it’s all-ages or not (it is about fourteen-year-olds), anyone else played it yet? (God…summer camp crushes are such an experience…)
Oh yeah! I played that game recently! I really enjoyed it!
I get so excited every time a Straddler writes about Steven Universe because it’s always perfect! “These alien space rocks are really, really gay” is the best sentence I’ve read today :) It inspired me to write a song for Mey:
::clears throat::
All I wanna do, is see you interview
Rebecca Sugar, Rebecca Sugar
All I wanna see, is the featured article to be
Rebecca Sugar
Uh, why only graphic novels and not actual YA lit? There were definitely some YA novels with queer girl protagonists or strong supporting characters that were released (or at least gained prominence) in the past year.
I continue to be amazed at the resources out there for youth.
Wow! This incredible. When I was growing up I had Carol and Susan on Friends as my “normal, lesbian couple” to look up to. Beyond that it’s hard to remember a whole lot else. Definitely nothing with the depth of the characters on this list. My heart is happy for the queers who come after me.
I also had Carol and Susan to look up to! And also Sam (I think that was her name?) from the movie Now & Then.
But yes! This is a wonderful thing to see that Cartoon Network is finally showing queer characters. Something I’ve always wanted to see since the nineties! ^.^
I looked up to Xena & Gabrielle and Idgie & Ruth
Man, no wonder it took me so long to come out!
Don’t forget about twelve-year-old Sydney Lucas singing on live television at the Tonys about seeing a butch woman for the first time and identifying with her. That was huge
Ah! that was such a great moment! I cried so much! And while that particular performance is probably kid friendly, the musical overall isn’t really.
Don’t forget about twelve-year-old Sydney Lucas singing about identifying with a butch woman for the first time on the Tony Awards this summer. That was huge.
Clearly I was so excited I posted twice sigh
Favorite countdown post of the year!
Sadly I’m noticing a big gap for representation here, male and male gay couples. I know it’s probably the next step but it’s quite disheartening to see all this awesome female representation and nothing for empowering gay men, hopefully next year we can get more of that.
Autostraddle: News, Entertainment, Opinion, Community and *Girl-on-Girl* Culture
not a mistake.
Like Strophoria said, this is a website for women, and this list was about about queer representation for girls and women. When it comes to representation for queer boys, there’s Kurt and Blaine on Glee, Jude and Connor on the Fosters, Cole on the fosters, a bunch of YA novels, Drama by Reina Telgemeier, About Ray and a bunch of other examples.
Literally none of those characters you just listed are represented in children’s media. The simple fact that only lesbian and bisexual female characters have been represented in media for kids is just another example of how you’re literally the more accepted parts of the LGBT community.
Bless you. <3
what about teh menz
You know Nimona has two of the male main characters in an implied gay relationship right??
I have never once heard Jazz refer to herself as queer. Yes, I know AS loves the snappy headlines (holigay… har, har) but people who don’t identify themselves as queer should not be put under that category. That’s a function of respect.
They don’t actually mean to infer that Jazz is queer, they cover the headline issue on the Comment Policy page. Hope this blockquote works:
blockquote cite=http://www.autostraddle.com/comment-policy/>…We can’t list the actual sexual orientation of every person in an article in the headline, because headlines can only be 12 words long. …Mostly, we switch it up! We use gay sometimes, queer sometimes, other words at other times. …We will never tell you that you’re using the wrong word to describe yourself, intentionally mislabel a real human being in context (for example, if you’re included in a list post headlined “Top Ten Queer Politicians Rocking Our World” and you identify as bisexual, we’ll identify you as bisexual when we talk about you specifically in the post itself) or invalidate your own freedom to identify as you see fit. — The AS Comment Policy
Lol I’m sorry, that didn’t work at all, but at least the text is in there :-)
Guess I don’t appreciate policy. On some level they’re still identifying and mislabeling someone as queer who seemingly doesn’t identify that way and this has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It’s ultimately disrespectful and maybe worse because it’s being applied to a minor. Would that be okay if someone misidentified you on a headline or categorized you as part of a group to which you might not feel you belong? No okay.
Correction: I don’t appreciate that policy.
Gotcha. What would you do instead?
Seems as if they fixed it… very simply by adding trans and queer to the headline. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Again, queer is not a global umbrella for persons within LGBTQI and should not be used as such even if some people and media outlets like the sound of it.
Guess they don’t have the 12-word headline limit anymore? Nice!
There’s no need to be snarky about it tho. I’m not your enemy. Obviously we all need to keep working diligently to make sure that the LGBTQ+ representation we write and consume is accurate and respectful. It was an easy fix here but obviously lots of times the answer isn’t quite as clear.
I love this list. So much goodness.
Why is this a top 11 list if their are 12 points?
Hi, suicidally queer at age as young as I can rememberi was miserable- only ever figured myself out as soon as I got access to the internet in the 90’s.
Putting Korra up there is bullshit. Nothing in the show really reflected that and it two platonic friends walking off made sense. Later tweeting that,” oh yeah no they’re bisexual” is basically horseshit on behalf of the writers. They could have actually made it a point, but they didn’t. It’s a vague, dumb ending all around that they later filled in with a vacuous meaningless tweet to elicit fans. Bravo, you couldn’t actually put that in the show and you certainly never will.
The creators of the show desperately wanted to be able to leave no doubt that Korra and Asami were in a romantic relationship but got shut down by the network – so blame Nickolodeon, not the writers. They really, really wanted to make it as unabmiguous as possible and I respect them for that. I think the fact that they pushed as hard as they could to make it happen will help make it easier for other shows to have more concrete LGBT+ representation smuggled past the networks.
I don’t know if links work on this site, but here’s a link to the post one of the co-creators made explaining their choices: http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace
Hey you forgot Jem & The Holograms graphic novel, Kimber & Stormer are together!!! It’s also being illustrated by a trans girl :D Otherwise AMAZING list and I’m so happy.
I’m pretty sure Garnet’s a big AROMANTIC ASEXUAL comprised of two small lesbians – I think the “three’s a crowd” conversation pretty definitively established that she’s not interested in anyone in that way – but to each their own.
Except for the way she propositions Peridot! Possibly aromantic, but still up to fuse.
Your list is awful. 12 points to a list titled “11”, complete disregard for anyone but lesbians and trans people, Bravest Warriors is not an all-ages series, and Steven Universe sucks ass.
As stated above…
Autostraddle: News, Entertainment, Opinion, Community and *Girl-on-Girl* Culture
Okay, you narrowly addressed one thing I said, good job.
We don’t want the D
It is not possible to like this comment as many times as I want to, which is one million
How incredibly shocking that a website for queer women cares a lot about lesbian and trans representation. I think you might just be interested in some other corner of the internet.
Hey, I know it’s hard, you’re probably not used to it, but maybe try being nice for once.
Y’all should be reading Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye, too.
Cyclonus and Tailgate
Chromedome and Rewind
Though… are robots actually gendered? ;)
While I agree with most of this, I’d like to say that Pearl’s feelings for Rose were not unrequited. Rose loved pearl just as much as Pearl loved Rose.
Nimona is my favorite book ever!!!!
And not just the author, but the book, is SO QUEER.
*sheds a tear for the Nimona movie*