Although there are cartoons like Steven Universe and Adventure Time that implicitly show homosexual relationships, or have an "out" where the characters have no gender, why do children’s cartoon networks still have a stigma towards letting cartoons directly address the LGBTQ community?
I think the big question is are we ready to show the LGBTQ community to children? There is still a lot of homophobia and not enough education about the community in many areas. I think networks are trying to slowly integrate LGBTQ characters so that children aren't thrown something they don't understand. – LaRose8 years ago
I would love to see the LBGTQ community represented in a Disney cartoon. I think the critical mass standard has been reached. I agree! – elwilson8 years ago
Many networks are still uneasy about showing openly queer characters. I'm always surprised that the biggest strides that seem to have been made have been made in cartoons aimed at children. On the one hand, it makes sense given children are more accepting and open-minded than many adults. On the other hand, there's always the "are we ready to show the LGBTQ community to children" question that LaRose brings up. I think networks are still in favour of not rocking the boat too much, which is too bad. – Amanda8 years ago
I think you would need to likely address the shortcoming that do come in AD and SU as well – Darcy Griffin8 years ago
I think part of it is that, due to homophobia, queerness is still considered by some to be inherently more sexual than heterosexuality, and therefore less appropriate for children. Including LGBTQ characters in children's shows could help dispel that myth, but unfortunately the myth itself is a barrier to such representation. – ElijahBassett8 years ago
Part of many networks' reasoning for not including LGBTQ+ characters is the fact that their shows air in many countries, many of which don't allow that sort of content to be broadcast(ie russia, china, etc) – ealohr7 years ago