Netflix and LGBT representation in animation
Netflix has contributed substantially to LGBTQ representation in animation throughout the 2010s and 2020s. GLAAD described Netflix as a company taking "impressive strides in viewership and impact," when it came to LGBTQ representation. Examples of original Netflix animated series with a large presence of LGBTQ characters include "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" and "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power". In January 2021, GLAAD specifically highlighted the "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" series finale which confirmed "its lead two characters, Catra and Adora, were queer and in love," and "Kipo and  the Age of Wonderbeasts" which starred Benson, a gay character, and his love interest, Troy. Lesbian characters. Lesbian characters have appeared prominently in many Netflix series, including "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", "BoJack Horseman", and "Twelve Forever", and in animated films such as "The Mitchells vs. the Machines", and "Sailor Moon Eternal". Such characters also appeared in "", "Big Mouth", "Castlevania", "F is for Family", "Fast & Furious Spy Racers", and "Q-Force". ND Stevenson, the showrunner of "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" stated that while the romantic relationship between Adora and Catra was planned from the show 's conception, they weren't sure how overt she could portray it. But throughout each release of the show's subsequent seasons, Stevenson would lay enough groundwork for the approval of the romance. By the time the final season had aired, Stevenson expressed that she was glad that she could finally talk about it, noting that the relationship between Adora and Catra was central to the final season and written in a "very, very textually romantic way". She later said that she had fought hard for Catra and Adora during the show's development. Stevenson later confirmed the romantic relationships  between Scorpia and Perfuma, In an interview for "Paper", Stevenson said that she and the show staff "fought very hard for the 'Princess Prom' episode", working to set up a "[queer] framework for the show" in order to normalize it "within the executive structure itself", and had hoped to garner support from its viewers. Another show that became very prominent was "Bojack Horseman", airing from 2014 to 2020 on the streaming service. The show had a number of LGBTQ+ characters. For instance, Kelsey Jannings reveals she had an ex-wife in the episode "Later." The show also featured a married  lesbian couple, Mary-Beth and Dr Indria. Reggie Abbott, the protagonist of "Twelve Forever", has a crush on Conelly, a 13-year-old schoolmate with whom she shares the same taste in imagining and creating stories, as shown in the two-part episode, "Locked Out Forever." Due to the show's abrupt ending, Shadi Petosky, one of the executive producers, stated they won't be able to further explore that aspect of the character/relationship. Elsewhere, Petosky described Reggie as a queer character "coming to terms with her sexuality". "The Mitchells vs. the Machines", an animated film, premiered in Netflix  in April 2021. The voice actor for one of the film's protagonists, Abbi Jacobson, has stated that Katie is "queer". In the film, Katie wears a rainbow pride flag pin and talks about it taking a while to figure herself out, and at the end of the film, she has a girlfriend at film school in Los Angeles named Jade. The film's writers, Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, wrote the character of Katie to be LGBT but without necessarily drawing attention to her sexuality as a lesbian. The two part animated film, "Sailor Moon Eternal", a continuation of  the "Sailor Moon Crystal" series, premiered on Netflix on June 3, 2021. It features Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Uranus) and Michiru Kaioh (Sailor Neptune), two characters in a same-sex relationship, as did the "" (1994), and "" (1995). On November 7, 2021, "Arcane", aimed at a "16+" audience like the "League of Legends" video game it is based on, premiered on Netflix. In the series, Caitlyn Kiramman, a recurring character, is attracted to Vi, a woman from the undercity, despite their different circumstances. Show writer Amanda Overton said that the relationship between Caitlyn and Vi is "naturally developing," with writers honoring  the lived experiences of both characters. Overton said that in Piltover, where Caitlyn lives, there is no word for describing those who are gay or any homophobia, meaning that Caitlyn could "marry any gender or race suitor," with such a person becoming "part of her house." Additionally, in the episode "Everybody Wants to Be My Enemy", Vi tells Caitlyn "you’re hot, Cupcake." Overton said that this line was added to bring clarity to her character and showed that she loves women. In the show's ninth episode, Vi's sister, Jinx, describes Caitlyn as Vi's girlfriend, and Vi  becomes closer to Caitlyn. The show was renewed for a second season on November 20. Assorted lesbian characters appeared in "", "City of Ghosts", "Big Mouth", "Castlevania", "F is for Family", "Fast & Furious Spy Racers", "Q-Force", "Disenchantment" and "Human Resources". Appearing in "Q-Force", Deb is a mechanic and guru with gadgets. She has a wife, 16 rescue dogs, and pretends to work at a place called Pep Boys when not part of the Q-Force. She is voiced by lesbian actress Wanda Sykes. An episode of "", titled "Asteroid Rage," in July 2019, included a lesbian kiss between two characters  while the fourth episode of "City of Ghosts", "Tovaangar", shows Jasper with two moms. Furthermore, "Council of Sisters" members Striga and Morana in "Castlevania", are a lesbian couple. In "Fast & Furious Spy Racers", which ran December 2019 to December 2021, has two lesbian characters. Specifically, Tiffany and Wanda are the mothers of Frostee Benson and Sissy Benson. In "Big Mouth", Dina is a recurring character in the show and was Shannon's love interest until she dumped Shannon in season 3. It also features Lena Foreman, Missy's cousin who is in a relationship with another woman. She is voiced  by openly lesbian actress Lena Waithe. The showrunner of "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts" later said that Kipo and Asher together "could be cool," while admitting that he did not think about Kipo being LGBTQ when producing seasons 1 and 2. In "F is For Family", Eileen Murphy is Frank X. Murphy's sister. She becomes Ginny Throater's lover in the fifth and final season. "Discenchantment" features Mora, who is the current love interest of Princess Bean. "Human Resources" features Nadja el-Khoury, Natalie's older sister and Danielle who are a couple. Nadja and Danielle are voiced  by openly queer actresses Sabrina Jalees and Ariana DeBose. Gay characters. Gay characters have often appeared in animated series on Netflix. While three of the most prominent series with such representation were "", "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts", and "The Hollow", many other series also had gay characters. The latter included "BoJack Horseman", "Q-Force", "Super Drags", "Twelve Forever", "Carmen Sandiego", and "DreamWorks Dragons". "", which aired on Netflix from 2016 to 2018, features three gay characters, Shiro, Adam, and Curtis. Shiro and Adam are shown to be romantic partners at first, but eventually break up. Adam dies several years later . In the series finale, Shiro marries Curtis, a background character introduced in Season 7. The series is notably the first to depict an on-screen wedding between two male characters in a Western children's animated series. However, the show was criticized for its treatment of LGBT characters, particularly over Adam's death that occurred in the later half of Season 7. Some claimed the show had followed a stereotype known as "burying that gay", prompting show-runner Joaquim Dos Santos to apologize to fans. More controversy was aimed at the on-screen wedding between Shiro and Curtis, with several  critics and viewers characterizing it as poor LGBT representation. Metadeen stated that making a "five-second blip of the wedding...come[s] off as a publicity stunt." On August 13, 2018, show-runner Joaquim Dos Santos posted an apology on his Twitter. He also acknowledged that there were boundaries in place as to how they could portray LGBT representation in the show. Fellow show-runner Lauren Montgomery also acknowledged the limitations regarding LGBT relationships behind the scenes in her apology, saying, "there’s so much that I would do differently, but so little we could’ve done differently." "Kipo and the  Age of Wonderbeasts" is another example of expanded LGBT representation in Netflix's selection of animated series. In the first season of "Kipo", which streamed on January 10, the character Benson Mekler said outright that he was gay, saying he only liked the series protagonist, Kipo, platonically. He develops a crush on a male character, Troy, in the show's 10th episode. Some noted the show's "casual queerness." Petrana Radulovic of Polygon described Benson's coming out scene as setting a precedent for future programming for all ages, noting that no characters had "actually uttered" the words "I’m  gay" in an all-ages animation series, not even in "Arthur" and "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power". Benson remained a character in the show's two remaining seasons, with the romance between Benson, and his new boyfriend, Troy Sandoval (voiced by Giullian Yao Gioiello), as a key sub-plot in the show's last season. The romance between Benson and Troy was praised by reviewers as "perfect" and "charmingly cute." In an interview, series creator Radford "Rad" Sechrist and co-screenwriter Bill Wolkoff confirmed that the characters Benson and Troy were gay, noting that when he had pitched  the idea to the studio, Chief Creative Officer Peter Gal approved but instructed the production staff to have the character say the words "I'm gay," something that he and Bill were happy to hear to oblige. In September 2020, Sechrist answered a number of questions about the show. He told fans that he had wanted to do an "entire Benson Dave back story episode" in the second season, clarifying this didn't happen because Benson was gay but rather because they were pushed to focus more on Kipo in the season itself. In another interview, Wolkoff acknowledged that past  coming-of-age stories "about kids being gay and dealing with that" often got pushback, but that in this case DreamWorks was open to it. He said that in this case, they got to tell the story they wanted, with DreamWorks supporting them from the beginning, and that they structured story without Benson having to deal with the real "extra weight of homophobia." He noted that writers told him it would be "subversive" to not put Troy and Benson "through hell." Sechrist added that someone noted how gay characters in media often have a "lot of turmoil" and that for  people on their crew it was important that the gay relationship "wasn’t a big deal." The short-lived series "The Hollow", which aired on Netflix from 2018 to 2020, featured three gay characters. On May 8, the show's second season premiered on Netflix. The first episode of that season, titled "Home," features one of the show's protagonists, an Asian girl named Mira, was shown to be adopted by her two fathers, Paul and Curtis, and a brother named Miles. Curtis is a Black man, while Paul is a White man. Paul also appear in two other episodes  Race, "Hollow Games," while Curtis only appears in "Race." The second episode featured a Hispanic boy named Adam, was revealed to homosexual, saying that Mira, a female protagonist, is "not his type" and telling Kai "dude, I'm gay." Prior to this, in the trailer for Season 2 the LGBT pride flag was seen in his room, leading some fans to speculate he was gay. Some critics stated that while this was somewhat clear in season one, there is little or no "romantic entanglement" for the show's characters in the show's second season, with the show focusing on  difficult and dramatic friendships instead. Gay characters also prominently appeared in "BoJack Horseman". Hollyhock, a female teenage horse and Bojack's sister, has eight adoptive fathers (Dashawn Manheim, Steve Mannheim, Jose Guerrero, Cupe Robinson III, Otto Zilberschlag, Arturo "Ice Man" Fonzerelli, Gregory Hsung, and Quackers McQuack) in a consensual polyamorous gay relationship. With this, some critics praised the show for portraying homosexuality in a realist fashion. The show also featured a gay therapist of Bojack, Doctor Champ, and a closeted gay man named Herb Kazaaz." The protagonist of "Q-Force", leading a "team of fellow LGBTQ super-spies", is Steve  Maryweather. Otherwie known as Agency Mary, the team of LGBTQ spies, consists of a drag disguise master (Twink), a skilled mechanic (Deb), and a hacker (Stat), later working with a straight man named Agent Buck. He is voiced by Sean Hayes, an openly gay actor who is the show's creator. Benji is a gay man who is the love interest of Mary and is often in danger due to his closeness to the Q-Force. "Super Drags", a Brazilian show, also centered on gay characters. The show focuses on Donizete, Patrick, and Ralph, three gay friends working in a  department store, who are also drag queen superheroes, named Scarlet Carmesim, Lemon Chifon, and Safira Cyan are the Super Drags, and are responsible for protecting the LGBTQ community. Other than "Super Drags", gay characters appeared in "Twelve Forever", "Carmen Sandiego", and "DreamWorks Dragons". "Twelve Forever" included Galaxander, a gay inhabitant of Endless Island, and a gay couple, Mack Beefhouse in the same fantasy world. The series "Carmen Sandiego" featured a gay couple Le Chevre and El Topo who were members of V.I.L.E until the series finale. "DreamWorks Dragons", streaming from 2014 to 2018, which features a gay character, Gobber, who  is also a double amputee. Gay characters also appeared in "Dawn of the Croods", "Chip and Potato", "Hoops", "Big Mouth", "Castlevania", "The Dragon Prince", "Chicago Party Aunt", "Ridley Jones", "Disenchantment", "F is for Family", "Centaurworld", and "Kid Cosmic". In the series finale of "Dawn of the Croods", "This Is an End," in July 2017, Loo and Wal share a kiss at the series finale, meaning that they could be gay. "Chip and Potato", a preschool series features a gay family named the Razzles, Ray Razzle, his husband Roy Razzle, and their baby twins Ron and Ruby Razzle appeared in the  episode "Chip's First Piano Exam". A mature adult animation, "Hoops" included a gay character named Scott on the school's basketball team. In "Big Mouth", Matthew MacDell, a flamboyantly gay student with a love of drama and spreading gossip, who is in a relationship with Aiden, the latter introduced as his boyfriend in the Valentine's Day special, "My Furry Valentine." "Castlevania" included young Japanese man Taka, who is introduced in the third-season episode "The Reparation of My Heart," and near the season-finale, he and Sumi have sex with Alucard, and shown as gay. In the third  season of "The Dragon Prince" it was revealed that Runaan, the leader of the assassins and father figure to Rayla, is married to a male elf named Ethari. "Chicago Party Aunt", based on a Twitter account of the same name, premiered on September 17, 2021. The series features two gay characters Diane Dubrowski's nephew Duncan and Gideon, Diane's boss at Borough. Gideon is voiced by drag queen RuPaul Charles. "Ridley Jones", on the other hand, includes Ismat's fathers, Aten and Kosi. They are voiced by openly gay actors Andrew Rannells and Chris Colfer. In an episode of  Disenchantment, "Castle Party Massacre" it is hinted that Odval and Sorcerio are secretly in a gay relationship, as they secretly host a magic and sex cult when King Zøg is away. IndieWire reviewer Michael Schneider wrote that Sorcerio and Odval have been "a couple for a long time." Another reviewer pointed to an implied gay relationship between two other characters. "F is for Family" featured Greg Throater who was initially married to Ginny Throater and had two sons with her. However, it is clear that Greg is gay as he cheats on his wife with multiple men and wanted to  get a divorce. His wife was in denial about it. In the season 2 episode "Pray Away", Greg comes out to her during a marital counseling session. The couple eventually divorced in season 3. The fifth and final season introduced Louis, Sue's gay brother who was previously mentioned in earlier seasons. Louis is voiced by openly gay actor Neil Patrick Harris. "Centaurworld" features three gay characters Zulius, Ched and Splendib. Zulius was hinted to be gay in the first season and it was confirmed in the second and final season. Zulius is voiced by openly gay actor Parvesh Cheena . Ched was also revealed to be gay in the second and final season. On February 3, 2022, the creator of "Kid Cosmic", Craig McCracken, confirmed Fry and Hamburg a gay couple. On Instagram, a post says how he and Fry met and answered by Craig. Bisexual and pansexual characters. Bisexual and pansexual characters have appeared in a number of animated series on Netflix. This includes "Disenchantment", "Big Mouth", "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", "Castlevania", "F is for Family", "" and "Paradise PD". In the third part of "Disenchantment", a show created by Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons" and  Futurama, in January 2021, a protagonist was confirmed to be bisexual. Princess Bean, in the part 3 episode "Last Splash," has a same-sex kiss with the mermaid Mora. In the previous season, Bean was shown to enjoy "the company of mermaids." Earlier in the series, Elfo, a male elf, was her love interest. "Disenchantment" is Matt Groening's first series to have an LGBT lead character, something she shares with her voice actress Abbi Jacobson. Reviewers later said that was confirmed that Bean "is indeed queer" and that she likes mermaids and noted deeper queer themes throughout the show . This includes a married woman casually admitting she is a lesbian, a griffin who has a masculine appearance but is a lady. One of the other animations with bisexual and pansexual characters was "Big Mouth", which has aired on Netflix from 2017 to the present. Shannon Glaser, the mother of Jessi Glaser, was married to her husband and did love him, but was shown to be secretly cheating on him by dating cantor Dina Reznick, another woman. In October 2018, a protagonist on the show, Jay Bilzerian, came out as bisexual. Over a year later, Ali, a pansexual character, was  introduced. In the latter case, however, some criticized it as an oversimplification of the "relationship between private parts and gender identity," even as her existence was praised as putting the show ahead of "most television representations of sexual expression." In the fifth season, Jessi Glaser is revealed to be bisexual just like her mother as she gets into a same-sex relationship with Ali. Apart from "Big Mouth", ND Stevenson confirmed the romantic relationship between Bow and Glimmer, both of whom are bisexual, as well as the character of Sea Hawk, who was revealed to have been in a relationship  with a man, as well as his romantic interest in Princess Mermista. On March 10, 2020, Sam Deats, one of the directors of "Castlevania" confirmed that the half-vampire son of Dracula, Alucard, was bisexual. "Paradise PD" which aired from 2018 to 2021, features Stanley Hopson. He is an elderly and perverted man who is on a sex offender list. While Stanley has had relationships with men as shown in the season 1 episode "Ass on the Line". He also had a long-term relationship with a woman named Esmeralda in the episode "Police Academy". "F is for Family" features  Ginny Throater. She comes out as bisexual in the fifth and final season and leaves her sons with Greg to be with her lesbian lover Eileen. "Dota: Dragon's Blood" features Fymrym. She is an Elven thief who stole lotuses from Nightsilver Woods, because of a prophecy involving her goddess Mene. She was in a polyamorous relationship with two men and a woman. Her partners were murdered by Luna. Transgender characters. Transgender characters have appeared in various Netflix animated films and series, such as "", "Big Mouth", and the upcoming series, "" (formerly DeadEndia). "Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling" was released  in August 2019. In the original "Rocko's Modern Life", Ralph Bighead was the son of Rocko's neighbors. "Static Cling", taking place 20 years after the original series, shows that Ralph transitioned to Rachel at some point. The series' creator, Joe Murray, felt that as the new work was about accepting change, including a trans female character would fit naturally into the episode. The work was a TV movie and sequel to their 1993 series "Rocko's Modern Life" and the producers worked with GLAAD to ensure that the story of Rachel, as well as a plotline involving her  coming out to her parents, Ed and Bev Bighead, was respectful to the LGBTQ+ community and fit within the show itself. The fourth season of "Big Mouth" dropped on Netflix on December 4, 2020. The season's first episode has the teens heading to a summer camp, with Matthew in his relationship, Jay as bi, and a new character named Natalie el-Khoury, who is a trans female teenager, highlights "various, popular transphobic arguments," while giving her a supportive friend named Jessi, and another named Seth, who rejects her identity, who she rejects. Margaret Evans interviewed Hamish Steele, creator of  Dead End: Paranormal Park about LGBTQ characters in his show, on August 17, 2020, before the show's premiere in 2022. Steele explained how the show changed from its original iteration on Cartoon Hangover in 2014, and the graphic novels that followed it, stating that he is grateful for showrunners who fought for LGBTQ characters in their shows, adding that there was "absolutely no pushback from Netflix about representation," while describing Barney as a trans male character. He also hoped that the show will help out "more trans creators getting their chance to tell their stories" while hinting at other  LGBTQ characters in the show apart from Barney, noting the performance of Miss Coco Peru on the show as Pauline. The show will also feature Alex Brightman as Pugsley, Emily Osment as Courtney, and Kathreen Khavari as Badyah. Non-binary characters. Non-binary characters have appeared in various animated series on Netflix over the years, such as "The Dragon Prince", "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts", "City of Ghosts", "Ridley Jones" and "Battle Kitty". For instance, the official Twitter account for "The Dragon Prince" revealed, in late November 2019, in response to a  fan inquiry, that Kazi was non-binary and used they/them pronouns. Additionally, "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" included a recurring non-binary character named Double Trouble. Rad Sechrist, the showrunner of "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts", when asked by a fan about Asher's gender, said, in June 2020, that Asher is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, which was later confirmed by executive producer Bill Wolkoff. "City of Ghosts" introduced Thomas on March 5, 2021. a 7-year old non-binary child, and skater, who goes by they/them pronouns. Thomas is voiced by  transgender child actor Blue Chapman. "Ridley Jones", an animated series by Chris Nee, who created "Doc McStuffins" and "Vampirina" premiered on Netflix in July 2021. It is part of a slate of animated preschool series on the streaming service, with others including "Spirit Rangers", "Dino Daycare", and "Ada Twist, Scientist", of which Nee is the showrunner. The series includes Fred, a non-binary bison who prefers they/them pronouns, the first non-binary character in a kids show on Netflix. Fred is voiced by non-binary actor Iris Menas as confirmed by Nee. "Battle Kitty" features Kitty who is referred  to with they/them pronouns. Other LGBTQ characters. There are also characters who fall outside the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, and non-binary identities, appeared in various animations, such as "BoJack Horseman", "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", and "We the People". In the season 3 finale of "BoJack Horseman", "That Went Well," Todd Chavez confides in his friend Emily that he doesn't think he is either straight or gay, and in fact "might be nothing". He explores the identity further in season 4 and accepts his asexuality, while meeting others who share his orientation. Following the  premiere of the final season of "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power", showrunner ND Stevenson confirmed the romantic relationships between Kyle and Rogelio, and between Entrapta and Hordak. In the case of the former, they said that Lonnie is also a part of the relationship as well, implying a possible polyamorous couple. On July 4, 2021, "We The People", a 10-part series of animated music videos premiered on Netflix. It was created by Chris Nee, a lesbian woman who created many preschool animations like "Doc McStuffins" and "Ridley Jones", with Kenya Barris as a showrunner, and produced by  Michelle Obama and Barack Obama. The song "Immigration" has a Scottish immigrant wielding a Rainbow Flag. The second half of the song "The Courts" is set at a Pride Parade and references the "Obergefell v. Hodges" case which made same-sex marriage legal across the United States of America. There is also LGBT icongraphy in the song "We The People." Janelle Monáe, who has said she identifies with both bisexuality and pansexuality. and pushes the "boundaries of gender," performed a number of songs for the series. This included a reggae-influenced number, titled "Stronger," which focuses on the "fight for  justice and unity...unity, liberty and equality" and the title track for the series. Work conditions. On March 29, 2022, ND Stevenson, the showrunner and creator of "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" said that the working conditions for the series were not ideal, saying that Netflix exploited the passion of those on the crew "as an excuse to underpay, understaff, and overwork," responding to a tweet from Jeff Bennett, a storyboarder and director for the series. Stevenson and Bennett both called on supporting The Animation Guild negotiators and workers in the animation industry in "their fight for better  conditions."