How Queer Representation in Children’s Media Can Save the World
I'm a parent. It's a full-time job, raising another human being and helping them become an adult who isn't a complete train wreck of a person. This is only compounded by the way I routinely feel like a teenager trapped in a 45-year-old's body, making things up as I go along. I know I'm not alone in this; I've talked to lots of other parents who also feel like they're doing their best, but still have no idea what "the best" is. Any credit in producing kids that aren't completely feral is pretty much placed on the shoulders of our kids themselves at that point.
What I do know, though, is that I want the world my daughter inherits to be one where she can be herself without fear or danger. She's a Jewish girl growing up in upstate New York, a place where there are more than a few "Make America Great Again" bumper stickers on the backs of pickup trucks in the local Price Chopper parking lot. She's also pretty sure she's queer, and that means there's an even bigger target on her back, adding homophobia to the sexism and anti-Semitism she could all too easily encounter in her life.
Planting Trees in Whose Shade We Shall Never Sit
The one tragic truth of being a parent is that your kids will outlive you in ideal circumstances. I won't always be around to keep her safe - it's simply a fact. But what I can do is help bring about a world where people like her are safe, respected, and not Othered constantly by dint of their mere existence. It's part of why Blackwarren Books is so important; we need entities that showcase queer and other marginalized voices. Thankfully, Blackwarren isn't alone in doing this: modern media, especially children's media, has become more progressive than ever before in ways that seek to accomplish just this.
Modern kids' animation is one of the strongest places where this is happening. Shows like Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, and She-Ra: Princesses of Power has strong LGBTQIA+ representation as well as diverse characters of different skin tones and ethnicities. Even the Walt Disney Company, which we've written about in the past for its notorious missteps and half-measures, has been producing some incredibly inclusive kids' media that has queer and BIPOC characters that are central to the story and are represented in a positive light. There's one, though, that stands head and shoulders above the rest: the tale of a Dominican-American girl that gets isekai'd to a place where she discovers who she really is and what she can do.
Welcome to the Boiling Isles
Disney's The Owl House, created by Dana Terrace, is hands-down one of the most positive examples of queer representation in children's media. There's a bevy of LGBTQIA+ characters in the series, including protagonist Luz Noceda, who comes out as bisexual after developing feelings for her classmate, the witch Amity Blight. Other important characters include Raine Whispers, the non-binary leader of the witch's coven in control of Bardic magic on the Boiling Isles, as well as Gilbert and Harvey Park, the fathers of Willow, one of Luz' closest friends. Lilith Clawthorne, the older sister of Luz' foster mother Eda, is both asexual and aromantic according to Cissy Jones, her voice actor, though this isn't explicitly spelled out in the series.
Other kids' shows have had queer characters of the same caliber, though none so squarely in the spotlight as Luz and Amity. The Duck Tales reboot, for example, showcased how Violet Sabrewing, one of Webigail's close friends, has two fathers (a show, unsurprisingly, that Dana Terrace also worked on). In The Loud House, main character Lincoln's best friend Clyde McBride has two dads, Howard and Harold, who are also an interracial couple. In these instances, it's often that queerness or being non-white is presented as not something that needs to be commented on; in these universes, it's simply how things are, another normal part of life - some people are queer, and some people aren't. Some are white, some are BIPOC. But everyone's still considered a person, full stop.
A World Where Being Queer Is Normal
This is what makes The Owl House and shows like it stand out even more - not only are these characters queer, but they're not constantly forced to deal with a society that Others them constantly, one where they have to fight for recognition, respect, or the same rights that straight or cisgender characters have. It's ironic, of course, that only in the worlds these animated shows represent is this possible; in a dimension where magic is real and you have to go inside during a thunderstorm because the rain will melt you if it hits you, who you love and how doesn't seem very important.
Yet it's this normalization of queer experiences that shows newer generations of kids that, yes, being queer is okay, just as being straight is okay. In fact, it takes it further than that by showing that queer kids - and queer adults - are worthy of the same respect and love as their straight counterparts. Children presented with progressive messaging like this learn more than just tolerance and acceptance but support and compassion for others intersectionally, leading to a whole generation of kids growing up into adults that are willing to stand up for the rights of others, whether they're queer or marginalized by their ethnicity, their religion, or in any other way.
The Kids (Will) Be All Right
This is the future The Left wants, to co-opt the meme: a world where it's simply accepted that everyone deserves respect, to be themselves unapologetically, and the ability to love who they want without fear of being targeted by sexists, racists, and homophobes. It starts by showing our children that there is another way to live that isn't constrained by the same things we had to contend with when we were growing up.
Telling queer stories, or even just stories where queer characters feature prominently and their inherent queerness is simply another part of who they are, is integral to this process. We need more shows like The Owl House, Steven Universe, She-Ra: Princesses of Power, and others like it where kids can get lost in exciting adventures, where the good guys can sometimes win if they're lucky, and where love is love, no matter where it comes from or who it's directed towards. That’s the best legacy we can leave behind for our children.
