GLAAD yesterday released its latest annual “Where We Are on TV” report, which looks at the number of LGBTQ regular and recurring scripted characters on network television, cable, and streaming services. Let’s look at what they discovered about LGBTQ inclusion in children’s shows—while I wildly speculate about some LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ books that I’d love to see made into shows.
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and Cartoon Network have launched a cheery new comic starring Cartoon Network characters that highlights the power and importance of respecting gender identity through the use of pronouns.
Even in the middle of summer, things are happening! This week’s roundup is heavily (but not exclusively) about entertainment news—lighter fare, perhaps, but also touching on the important topic of representation.
The award-winning Disney Junior show Doc McStuffins ran its last new episode on Saturday after eight years on the air. It won much praise for offering the positive role model of a young Black girl who was a doctor—and for a 2017 episode that was the channel’s first to show a two-mom family. Its creator and executive producer, Chris Nee, is also a lesbian mom herself.
A recent episode of Disney Junior’s animated series T.O.T.S.—a sweet show about friends and families—included a two-mom couple.
The Academy Award-winning songwriters behind Disney’s Frozen announced recently that they are working on Universal Pictures’ movie musical adaptation of The Prince and the Dressmaker, Jen Wang’s award-winning graphic novel about a genderqueer prince. And 20th Century Fox is adapting the Goldie Vance comic series, which stars a queer protagonist, into a film—making this a good time to assess the state of LGBTQ representation in children’s film and television.
A new television reboot of the children’s show Clifford the Big Red Dog includes a two-mom family (with a lesbian actor voicing one of the moms). How did this news break? Not because of any outreach to the LGBTQ community on the part of the show, but because a hate group is calling on its members to speak out against it.
Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Billy Porter (Kinky Boots, Pose) will appear in the next season of Sesame Street with Elmo and his friends, wearing the black tuxedo dress that he wore to the Academy Awards last year.
Move over, queer penguins—the queer zebras are in town! Season 2 of Netflix’s animated series for preschoolers, Chip and Potato, has introduced a two-dad family to its cute anthropomorphic world. (And did you catch the all-gender restrooms at the show’s school in Season 1? Read on for details and images.)
Netflix’s new animated series, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, just might be the most adorable post-apocalyptic story you’ve ever seen. The protagonist is a chatty and energetic 13-year-old girl—and her best friend is gay.
