Things Get Better?: LGBTQ Representation in Animation in 2022 [Part 3]
Continued from part 2
Just as bombastic is the third season of Harley Quinn headlined by two bisexual protagonists, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Both are known by the ship name Harlivy. The season, premiering from July to September 2022. The series also features a queer character named Clayface, who works with Harley from time to time. Harley Quinn was recently renewed for a fourth season, with a standalone episode premiering sometime this year.
Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the nineteenth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on January 16, 2023.
There are other Western animated series with LGBTQ characters. For instance, Craig of the Creek features Kelsey Pokoly and Isabella "Stacks" Alvarado, two lesbian characters who have an important role in the series. There are additional LGBTQ characters in Summer Camp Island and Victor and Valentino. In the latter series are episodes partially focusing on the relationship between Xochi Jalapeno and Amabel. The former series has at least four LGBTQ characters: Puddle, Alien King, and Ghosts Dads as noted by the Insider database of LGBTQ characters and cartoons, which was last updated in June 2021.
All three of these series were targeted by Warner Bros Discovery execs. Summer Camp Island and Victor and Valentino were removed from the HBO Max streaming platform. Craig of the Creek had its final season order cut in half by execs, worrying those who worked on the show. These shows were not alone. In 2022, three other series with LGBTQ characters also faced the axe from corporate executives: Tuca & Bertie, The Casagrandes, and Close Enough.
In 2022, some months after the fourth season ended, shenanigans by Warner Bros Discovery execs led to the effective cancellation of Young Justice. The series includes LGBTQ characters such as Eduardo "Ed" Dorado Jr., Kaldur, and Marie Logan. Lagoon Boy "La'gaan" was shown to be bisexual and in a poly relationship in the recent season. Bart Allen is in a relationship with Ed, and Wynnde is in a relationship with Kaldur.
The show features Harper Row who is bisexual, Rosa who is trans woman, and Violet who is non-binary. In the most recent season, there was a sub-story showing Violet beginning a romantic relationship with Harper Row. Unfortunately, without another season, these stories could not be expanded.
Other series shined through in their representation. This included The Dragon Prince. There are lesbian (Amaya and Janai), non-binary (Kazi), and otherwise queer (Annika, Ethari, Neha, and Runaan), characters. The story of Amaya and Junai was an important part of the story in the show's recent fourth season, becoming more than "lip service" regardless of how bad other narrative choices in the season were, with this story likely continued in the show's next three seasons.
The same can be said for the mature animated series, Disenchantment, which features the bisexual Princess Bean, voiced by a bisexual actress, Abbi Jacobsen, and various characters in Star Trek: Lower Decks. [4] The latter series, its third season airing from August to September 2022, has a bisexual protagonist named Beckett Mariner, a possibly asexual chief engineer named Andy Billups, and a lesbian woman named Jennifer Sh'reyan. The relationship, and subsequent break-up of Mariner and Sh'reyan was an important part of the recent season, which featured Mariner as a protagonist.
There were other characters of note, like the confirmed lesbian relationship in Arcane between two characters (Vi and Caitlyn) and many characters in another ongoing series, The Owl House. This includes the now-canon romantic relationship between Luz Noceda, who is bisexual, and Amity Blight, who is lesbian. The show featured other LGBTQ characters, whether those who are queer (Eda Clawthorne), aromantic asexual (Lilith Clawthorne), gay (Gilbert Park and Harvey Park), non-binary and transmasculine (Raine Whispers), and presumably non-binary character named The Collector.
Continued in part 4
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Notes
[4] There were gay characters in Kid Cosmic (Fry and Hamburg), The Great North (Ham Tobin and Crispin Cienfuegos), Jellystone!, Chicago Party Aunt (Daniel and Gideon), Close Enough (Randall "Randy" Watson), Invincible (William Francis Clockwell), Big City Greens (Alexander and Terry), Baby Shark's Big Show! (Viv and Vera),Undone (Alejandro Diaz), and Pete The Cat (Sam and Syd), along with lesbian characters in Little Ellen,The Ghost and Molly McGee (Mrs. Roop and Pan), the new Rugrats (Betty DeVille), Tuca & Bertie, The Casagrandes (Becky). In addition, non-binary characters appeared in Ridley Jones (Fred) and Madagascar: A Little Wild (Odee Elliott) while genderless characters had roles in Star Trek: Prodigy (Zero) and Solar Opposites (Korvo and Terry), and a trans woman is a character in Peepoodo & the Super Fuck Friends (Evelyn). There were an assortment of LGBTQ characters in Big Mouth, The Loud House, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, Bob's Burgers,Bee and PuppyCat, Rick and Morty, RWBY, Hey Duggee, American Dad!, Red vs. Blue, South Park, Family Guy, Spongebob, The Simpsons, and Archer.
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