These days, LGBTQ+ representation is becoming increasingly common, and it's awesome. Steven Universe has become incredibly popular for writing three canonically gay women, heavily implying that at least one supporting character is trans, and featuring a young protagonist who can't be contained by archaic gender roles. Adventure Time has all but confirmed the fan-favorite ship Bubbline, and the Legend of Korra finale was one of the gayest things I've ever seen. Shows like Good Luck, Charlie and Clarencehave featured kids with canonically gay parents, and Disney has hidden gay couples in a couple of its movies-- most notably Frozen.
However, long before it was okay to be blatantly queer in children's media, us queer kids have known what was up. Writers have been accidentally creating gay characters for a long time, and when you're growing up queer-- especially before you quite know how to describe how you're feeling-- you gravitate towards characters that are coded a certain way.
Looking back, some of these are lot more obvious than others, and some of them have even been confirmed, but there was a time when these secretly queer characters existed as a hidden beacon that helped us feel a little less alone.
1. Timon and Pumbaa (The Lion King) are gay.
Image Source: WiffleGif
The Evidence: Timon and Pumbaa are two dudes who raised a child together, the original gay parents. Lion King 1 1/2 confirms that Timon (voiced by gay icon Nathan Lane) was a misfit in his meerkat colony who was all but kicked out for being different, and if that's not a story that can resonate with gay kid I'm really not sure what.. If that's not enough, Timon jumps on his chance to "dress in drag and do the hula." And, like the rest of us gays, Timon and Pumbaa are disgusted with heterosexuality-- the sight of their son's tragically straight romance brings them to tears.
2. Velma Dinkley (Scooby-Doo series) is a lesbian.
Image Source: PsychToons
The Evidence: That haircut. Those glasses. Come on? Every lesbian recognizes that look. Also that fact that Velma was desperately in love with Daphne. She's the youngest of the bunch and obviously way smarter than the rest of them-- why in God's good name would Velma want to hang out a bunch of idiot stoners? But closeted lesbians will do anything to spend time with their unrequited girl crushes (rest in peace). And, like Timon and Pumbaa, poor Velma was so exhausted by the heterosexuality she was surrounded with; check out this scene where Daphne gives her boy advice. It's no wonder that the 2002 Scooby-Doo movie originally included a Daphne/Velma plotline.
3. Francis (A Bug's Life) is gay (and possibly a trans man.)
Image Source: FlavorWire
The Evidence: Y'all, he's literally a drag queen. A drag queen. And regardless of the fact that he performs as a woman, it makes Francis so uncomfortable and angry to be referred to as a girl offstage that he becomes violent. It's common for trans kids to be highly uncomfortable when referred to as the gender they were assigned at birth-- especially when they're teeny tiny, before they've transitioned but when they know they're just not comfortable with that gender. The fact that Francis is a boy who has to live with the label of ladybug because of the way he's physically made is something that can really resonate with young trans boys.
4. Fa Mulan and Li Shang (Mulan) are super queer.
Image Source: Fanpop
The Evidence: Okay, there's a lot going on here. Let's start off with the fact that it's heavily implied that the first time Shang starts to catch feelings for Mulan is during the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" sequence (that link's got a little bit of language, by the way). Keep in mind that at this point, as far as Shang knows, Mulan is a dude. To be fair, to claim that this makes Shang gay is more than a little problematic, considering that Mulan isn't actually a dude, but it does point toward Shang being at least little bicurious.
As for Mulan herself, there's a couple of different ways she can be interpreted. The fear of not being a good enough daughter, of bringing shame on your family, is something that can resonate with every closeted lesbian. On top of that, Mulan makes it clear that she's not exactly chill with naked dudes. It'd be pretty easy to assume that Mulan is a closeted butch lesbian, and that Shang is, more or less, her beard. But that fear that she's not a"perfect bride or a perfect daughter" paired with how comfortable Mulan is in her charade as a man could be evidence that Mulan just isn't a girl. That's not to say that she's a trans man, because by the end of the movie when she's able to be who she wants to be, she doesn't continue living as Ping, but thinking of Mulan as someone who is non-binary or genderfluid is pretty cool. Either way, Mulan and Shang are pretty gender-confused, and that's kind of what makes them perfect for each other.
5. Smellerbee (Avatar: The Last Airbender) is a trans girl.
Image Source: Tumblr
The Evidence: Okay, so Smellerbee is a pretty minor character, but one scene in particular has really stood out to queer kids. When Smellerbee is introduced to another main character, he remarks that her name is unusual for a young man, and she angrily asserts that she's a girl. It's not just annoyance, she's super hurt, and one of her close friends has to calm her down with a look that implies that this is something serious that Smellerbee struggles with. Lots of queer kids have instantly recognized Smellerbee as a "non-passing" trans girl, who, like Francis, was so uncomfortable being misgendered that she reacted angrily.
6. Marco Diaz (Star vs the Forces of Evil) is a trans girl.
Image Source: Tumblr
The Evidence: In Season 1, Marco disguises themself (using gender neutral pronouns to remain respectful while discussing something that isn't necessarily canon) as a princess. They wear a dress and other characters refer to them with she/her pronouns. It's a pretty common trope in cartoons for boys to dress up like girls, but it's typically for a joke, and this isn't really the case with Marco. They're a little uncomortable with the charade at first, but they get over it and end up really comfortable as a revolutionary princess. Later on in the series, Marco spends nearly an entire episode trapped in a closet and wearing a skirt. In a nightmare sequence, they're horrified to see themself dead in a casket in a suit (something that tragically happens to a lot of trans girls who are misgendered in death.) These are just the things that come up off the top of my head, but Season 2 has really gone all out with hinting that Marco is a girl who is going to transition soon, and queer kids are picking up on it like crazy. Check out a masterpost of evidence here.
7. Terkina (Tarzan) is ambiguously queer.
Image Source: Tumblr
The Evidence: Terk, voiced by out and proud Rosie O'Donnell, is the quintessential tomboy, the ultimate lesbian-coded trope. She just clearly comes off as a butch lesbian-- so butch that a lot of people mistake her for a boy. In fact, when the movie was adapted for Broadway, Terk's character was re-written as an older man. Implication that by the time she grows up, Terk will have transitioned? Maybe. Or maybe Terk is genderfluid, or gender neutral. The queer possibilities are endless!
8. Bert and Ernie (Sesame Street) are gay.
Image Source: Sesame Street
The Evidence: Bert and Ernie are the sweetest old married couple. They live together, are comfortable enough with each other to be in the bathroom while the other is bathing and have cute framed photos together hanging on their walls. They clearly love each other so much, but they argue like your typical married couple. I mean there's also this. And this. And this. Not to mention their cute coordinated sweaters. Since the show's beginning the speculation that Bert and Ernie are more than just BFFs has been so intense that the Sesame Street Workshop President had to release a statement assuring people that they're not. Regardless of what the creators' intentions were, Bert and Ernie are a great couple for little gay kids to look up, proof that you can find love with someone of the same gender and function just like any normal couple.
9. Dipper Pines and Grenda (Gravity Falls) are trans.
Image Source: F*** Yeah Gravity Falls!
The Evidence: I wanna start with Grenda since she's a more minor character. She's a muscular girl with a deep voice, and yet she's just as girly as her friends (probably girlier, honestly.) Grenda is boy crazy, loves pink, and dreams of being a mother, and jokes around her typically revolve around the fact that she's just awkward. No one every makes fun of how "manly" she may appear-- Grenda may have a deep voice, but she's never compared to a man or a boy. She's just an awkward girl! And that can be really cool for young trans girls, especially those who aren't able to transition, to see.
As for Dipper, he's one of the main characters. He's got a twin sister (Mabel), and their physical traits are little too simiilar for them to be fraternal twins. Especially since their grand-uncles are a pair of identical twins, meant in a lot of ways to reflect Dipper and Mabel. It's pretty common for Dipper to get upset when people don't see him as manly enough, and there's a whole episode about him going through a "mansformation!" He wears a shirt to the pool (presumably to hide his chest), and goes by a name that's not his birth name. In fact, by the end of the series we haven't learned Dipper's birth name-- reflective of how disrespectful it is to ask about a trans person's birth name. The episode "Double Dipper" reveals that Dipper has actually spent some time wishing his name was something else-- something every trans kid can relate to!
10. Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick Star (Spongebob Squarepants) are gay.
Image Source: Next Magazine
The Evidence: Spongebob and Patrick spend an entire episode living as a married couple, raising a child together. Early on in the series, they were literally each other's valentine. Spongebob is also constantly trying to win Squidward's attention and affection, even admitting he likesSquidward.
11. Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom) is trans.
Image Source: Danny Phantom Wiki
The Evidence: Like Dipper, Danny is extremely uncomfortable when his masculinity is threatened, something that his parents are aware of and try to be careful about. In one episode, Danny accidentally walks into the girl's restroom and another girl says, "I would tell you to use the men's room, but I don't think you'd qualify." This is the kind of thing trans kids have to hear all the time-- that they aren't right enough to use the restroom of their preferred gender. Not to mention that Danny ran straight into the girl's room in a time of distress, without thinking, implying that it was the restroom he'd used for a long time, something he was used to. In the same episode, Danny is the only boy wearing a shirt at the water park, a shirt that really closely resembles a binder. Most compelling is probably the character Dani Phantom, Danny's clone. When one of Danny's enemies attempts to clone Danny, none of the attempts are stable enough to last, until he switches a chromosome and attempts to make a female clone. This is pretty strong evidence that Danny has two X chromosomes. Even Danny's struggle to hide his identity as half-ghost is something that can be a familiar allegory to trans kids.
12. Tinky Winky (Teletubbies) is gay and gender non-conforming.
Image Source: Tumblr
The Evidence: Tinky Winky is colored purple, a color associated with gay pride, and his antenna is shaped like an upside down triangle, a gay symbol originating back to the Holocaust. Tinky Winky also didn't care for typical gender roles-- each Teletubby had a special prop, and Tinky Winky's was an adorable handbag. In one episode, the Teletubbies take turns wearing a skirt. This is pretty normal for Laa-laa and Po, the girls of the group, but even Tinky Winky wears the skirt! In fact, he had trouble giving it up to Laa-laa. Dipsy, on the other hand, the other male Teletubby didn't want to wear a skirt, implying that what Tinky Winky was doing wasn't exactly normal. And in real life, the original actor who played Tinky Winky almost had to leave the show for implying that Tinky Winky was gay.
13. Usagi/Serena Tsukino (Sailor Moon) is bisexual.
Image Source: Giphy
The Evidence: Yes, Usagi ends up married to and having a child with her soulmate, Mamoru (a man.) However, this girl loves girls so freaking much. Pretty much every time Usagi meets a new member of her team, she gets hearts in her eyes going on and on about how beautiful she is, how she smells so nice, etc etc. Usagi loves girls so much, y'all, and she doesn't even realize how gay she is. But us gay girls recognize this as your typical early girl crushes-- we've all been there, Usagi.
14. Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy (Batman: The Animated Series) are totally gay for each other.
Image Source: GfyCat
The Evidence: When Harley and Ivy first meet, Harley has been kicked out by her abusive boyfriend, The Joker. She finds solace in Poison Ivy, who takes care of her, hangs out with her without pants, and does her best to convince Harley not to go back. This is a pretty common trope in stories about gay girls, and it's something a lot of us gay girls have experienced. Our best friend, who is too beautiful and pure for this world, is stuck in an awful relationship with some gross boy, and we do everything we can to try and get her out of the relationship-- all the while awkwardly hiding how we really feel. Throughout the show Ivy has made it clear that she doens't care for men, is only ever involved with them when using her sexuality to take advantage of them (see her relationship with Harvey Dent), so it's easy to connect the dots and see Ivy's feelings for Harley.
These aren't one-sided feelings though! When things are rough with The Joker, Ivy is who Harley always goes back to. In the episode "Holiday Knights," Harley is spending the holidays with Ivy, wearing basically her underwear, sharing a double bed. Look at this gif and tell me Harley isn't looking at Ivy with playful affection and total adoration. (I'm pretty passionate about this one.) It's a huge part of Harley's character and story that she loves Ivy and the Joker both, finds it impossible to choose between the two of them. Whether Harley is a lesbian struggling with compulsory heterosexuality or a polyamorous bisexual is up for debate, but, either way, she's totally gay.
And luckily for us queer kids who knew it all along, Harley and Ivy's romantic relationship has been confirmed, and in recent comics we've seen them finally kiss and cuddle and be the adorable gay couple our hearts have longed for!
15. Peppermint Patty and Marcie (Peanuts) are lesbians.
Image Source: AfterEllen
The Evidence: Listen, y'all, I know stereotypes are harmful, but let's be real. I can speak from experience as a bona fide gay girl that we use those things that straight people consider stereotypes (flannels, pixie cuts, etc) to secretly signal to other gay girls that I'm one of you! And that's exactly what Peppermint Patty is doing. Do you see those sandals!? And that polo! Also, she's great at baseball, and everyone knows that all lesbians are good at sports-- especially softball! (There's only a little bit of sarcasm in there.) Some might argue that Patty has a pretty intense crush on Charlie Brown, who she nicknames Chuck, but let me introduce you to compulsory heterosexuality, every lesbian's worst nightmare. A lot of lesbians pursue relationships with men, either because in a patriarchal society it's really hard to come to the conclusion that you just don't like men, because it's easier than trying to be with a girl, or to try and prove to everyone around you that you're straight. In the end, Patty never gets anywhere with Chuck, and it's Marcie who's always there for her, who supports her, and who is able to communicate with her. (Look how domestic they are!) They balance each other well, and many gay girls can recognize in their relationship the type of love we had for other girls before we realized what was up.
