In Western animation, LGBTQ themes means plotlines and characters which are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise queer in series, produced in Western countries, and not in Japan (i.e. anime), which can also have similar themes. Early examples included Bugs Bunny in drag, wearing a wig and a dress, as a form of comedy, or episodes of Tom & Jerry, under restrictive moral guidelines like the Hays Code with some arguing that animation has "always had a history of queerness" and that animation as a form has unique techniques for queer representation. This later evolved into gay-coded characters in Disney films like Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, and in animated series such as The Simpsons and South Park. In later years, other series would more prominently depict same-sex characters and relationships. This would include Adventure Time, Steven Universe, The Legend of Korra, Gravity Falls, Clarence, The Loud House, and Arthur. Such series, and others, have encountered roadblocks, with series creators attempting to make their programs "more welcoming of different characters," and ensure all-ages animation is no longer "bereft of queer characters." Previously, an online database, by Insider, documented over 250 LGBTQ characters in children's animation dating back to 1983, but the "representation of overtly queer characters" skyrocketed from 2010 to 2020, with promotion of these series by some streaming platforms, while other companies were not supportive of overt representation, for one reason or another.
History Pre-1970s Gender has always been a component of animation, with scholars Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin writing that animation has always "hint[ed] at the performative nature of gender." They specifically cite the example of Bugs Bunny wearing a wig and a dress, acting as a female rabbit in drag. Several scholars argue that Bugs Bunny's use of drag demonstrates the performativity of gender. Some argued that the Walt Disney Company played with gender stereotypes in the past. Griffin stated that Disney's cartoon Ferdinand the Bull (1939) is "not necessarily gay, but it's definitely queer". The short film depicts a "sleepy eyed bull who doesn't conform to expectations of masculinity". Nico Lang of Harper's Bazaar said Disney's 1941 film The Reluctant Dragon "is extremely queer, even if it's not necessarily gay". He also noted the inclusion of a gay couple (two male antelopes) in Zootopia. Lang wrote, "in 1937, a group of lesbians in Chicago threw a series of bashes known as 'Mickey Mouse's parties.' These gatherings for like-minded ladies were a reference to the fact that 'Mickey Mouse' was a common term at the time for gay men", according to Griffin. Animation and popular culture scholar Jo Johnson would later describe Bugs Bunny as challenging "signifiers of traditional masculinity." Johnson would also argue that Looney Tunes pulled audiences challenges "the conventional notion of anatomy and gender." He also recounted that Bugs Bunny appeared in drag on "At least 45 separate occasions," and his gender ambiguity fluxes, showing masculinity and femininity at different times, even though he is clearly heterosexual. Johnson described shorts like "What's Opera, Doc?" as one of the most "subversive" because Bugs dresses as a woman through the majority of the animated short. Another scholar said that Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck kissed male enemies so they could "humiliate and annoy them."
It would later be stated that with Bugs Bunny you could have "a rabbit kiss a man, and that wouldn't be considered this alarming thing" that would be censored or cut, and it was fine for Bugs Bunny to dress in drag because it was "meant as a form of comedy." Even so, the Hays Code was still enforced in the United States, which banned curse words, forbid depiction of interracial relationships, and had a "puritanical view of sex," and was replaced by a film rating system in 1968, with many of its "arbitrary moral guidelines" persisting for decades. Jo Johnson and Paul Wells observe that Jerry of Tom and Jerry has an androgynous design, even feminized, and noted a possible homoerotic subtext between Jerry and Tom, especially when there is cross-dressing, like the notable 1945 short "Flirty Birdy" where the ending shows the Eagle marries Tom while in drag. Johnson pointed to the 1966 short "Jerry-Go-Round", by Chuck Jones, as having a coded same-sex relationship between Jerry, who was gendered by Jones as female, and a female elephant who wears a pink tutu. She argued that the episode's ending could be read as a "prophetic depiction of Gay Pride." Cade M. Olmstead, an interdisciplinary philosophy scholar, built upon Johnson's work. He argued that Tom and Jerry "subverts normalized gender and sexuality structures" through theatrical play and performance, transgressing the normal construction of gender.
1960s–1980s Despite the queer coding in "Bugs Bunny" and "Tom & Jerry" cartoons, as scholars Deborah A. Fisher, Douglas L. Hill, Joel W. Grube, and Enid L. Gruber noted, before 1970, almost no gay characters were on television, and they remained relatively absent "until the 1990s." Erika Scheimer, daughter of Filmation founder Lou Scheimer, was the Assistant Recording Director for She-Ra: Princess of Power. She voiced various characters and felt comfortable working as a lesbian at Filmation, while shaping "one of the biggest animated gay icons of all time": She-Ra. In later years, animation producer ND Stevenson, the showrunner of the reboot series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, would argue that "the original She-Ra was incredibly gay for a show made in 1987" and the crew who worked on the reboot series tried to incorporate the same themes. Ursula, the octopus-inspired sea creature from the 1989 film, The Little Mermaid, was inspired by Divine, an American actor, singer and drag queen. Queer communities welcomed "her with open arms" despite that fact she was a villain, and her character was later praised by director John Waters. John Musker, a director of Moana, and co-director of The Little Mermaid, noted that Howard Ashman, a writer of the film, knew Divine and had one of the principal animators, Rob Minkoff, do drawings based on Divine. The other director of Moana (and a co-director of The Little Mermaid), Ron Clements, stated that it "just fit the character," while Musker called Ursula a "little mix of Divine and Joan Collins" and Jeffrey Schwarz described the film as "pretty queer".
1990s Ashman was also, reportedly, a "big fan" of John Waters, and after the film, he got sick, as he was HIV positive, and he died from AIDS before he could accept the Academy Award for the music selection of Beauty and the Beast. Filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz, who did a documentary on Divine, thought the film was pretty queer, while Sarah Ashman Gillespie, Ashman's sister, called the film "totally subversive." It was also revealed that earlier designs of Ursula were inspired by the singer Patti LaBelle, with Musker saying that in the early development art for the character, and Minkoff adding that they were "trying to get some of Divine's big, campy, overweight diva" into the design, which was incorporated into the final character. She was also described as "Mae West of the deep sea" and the first plus-size icon in a Disney film. Akash Nikolas, a former editor for Zap2It, wrote, in a piece for The Atlantic, pointed to queer subtext and themes in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Dumbo, Pinocchio, Aladdin, and Mulan, described Disney films as "both traditional and subversive," echoed by Hugh Ryan in Vice. During this decade, characters on Fox and Comedy Central shows comprised most of the LGBTQ characters on television. Shows like The Simpsons and South Park especially would be influential on other adult animations in the years to come. Continuing from the late 1980s, villains in Disney films which were queer coded appeared.
Some argued that cable television, which began to pick up in the 1990s, "opened the door for more representation" even though various levels of approvals remained. Animation and popular culture scholar Jo Johnson argued that 1990s animated sitcoms enabled queer characters to emerge from, in his words, its "relegated position...and drop an anvil on the head of heteronormativity." She further argued that shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and King of the Hill subverted the nuclear family model and the "stereotypical gender roles assigned to it." He also said that The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and South Park satirized American mores and allowed homosexual characters as part of the family. Other scholars argued that in the 1990s, animators were determined to remind audiences watching that some cartoons were not for children, with "gay content" seen as a way to demonstrate a show is hip or sophisticated, with a running gag in The Critic that the boss of the title character believes the protagonist is gay. As such, The Critic and The Tick were said to be two animated shows with gay characters and gay references. The Simpsons would be noted as having "gay themes and characters" in various episodes.
2000s The 2000s brought with it Queer Duck, the first animated TV series on U.S. television which featured homosexuality as a major theme, an alien named Roger in American Dad who had an ambiguous sexuality, and an assortment of other shows. There was under-representation of gay characters through the Fall 2000 television season for all broadcast shows, according to scholars, with trend continuing until at least 2003. It would not be until 2005 that GLAAD would begin their annual "Where We Are on TV Report" starting its continuing effort to compile statistics on characters in the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized groups. GLAAD bemoaned the lack of representation. They noted in the regular 2006–2007 season, LGBTQ+ characters only comprised 1.3% of all regular characters on major broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW, and UPN). Reports in 2008 and 2009 mentioned LGBTQ+ characters in animated comedies like The Simpsons and American Dad. and other prime-time programming such as Sit Down, Shut Up, The Goode Family, Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, and Drawn Together, while having reservations about existing LGBTQ+ characters on television. In a 2009 report, GLAAD criticized the lack of Black LGBTQ characters as regular characters on television networks, and stated that most animated LGBT characters were on FOX, lamenting that while South Park historically had LGBT characters and storylines, it could be "hit or miss" like Family Guy.
2010s In 2010, animation and popular culture scholar Jo Johnson argued that the medium of animation itself is being used to "represent prime-time sexuality and gender in a more progressive way than a live-action show." She went on to say that progress made by animated shows has allowed audiences to laugh with, rather than at, queer characters. The 2010s were a decade which would change LGBT representation in animation going forward in a significant way. This included series such as The Legend of Korra, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Arthur, and BoJack Horseman.