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GAY CHARACTERS ON CHILDREN’S TV, OM BERT TO SPONGEBOB
Over the last few years, and particularly wh the last few months, Marvel Comics and DC Comics have taken very public stris to diversify their characters by velopg gay and lbian characters or creatg storyl that touch on LGBT issu. The biggt stori of late have been Marvel’s Northstar marryg his boyiend Astonishg X-Men and DC retroducg Goln Age Green Lantern Alan Stt as an openly gay man the pag of Earth 2. Introducg gay and lbian characters is nothg new for Marvel and DC.
The all too mon joke is that Peppermt Patty and her gal pal Marcie are a homosexual relatnship, but that speaks more to our society’s juvenile treatment of sexualy and relatnships and our misguid unrstandg of genr rol. As I worked my way through the Charl Schulz Mm, and the stori om Schulz’s creative reer were prented, I uldn’t help but relate his handlg of proposed ntroversial issu to how DC and Marvel are handlg their more pronounced e of homosexual characters.
What giv me hope that the creators are takg a path parallel to how Schulz handled siar issu, and reflectg on their narrative cisns wh the serns they serve, is what Robson emphasized his terview: Alan Stt is not jt gay, he’s a character who happens to be gay among the hundreds of other thgs he is — a hero, a billnaire media mogul, etc. The database tracks "the historil prence of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex, asexual, and other sexual- and genr-mory characters wh nfirmatn animated children’s televisn the US. In 2020, Kipo and The Age of Wonrbeasts was the first rtoon where a character actually said "I'm gay" out loud.