Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: A 'tribute' to gay and lesbian characters in children's television shows and cartoons

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A 'tribute' to gay and lesbian characters in children's television shows and cartoons

I don't care what anyone says, there were a lot of subtle gay characters in children's television. And I'm not saying that in the spirit of ~~James Dobson~~ Jerry Falwell when he went after the Teletubbies years ago.

I'm just noticing something that probably a lot of us knew and this youtube clip from dangoist bears out (in its own way, that is). Feel free to laugh if you want (or not):

21 comments:

Anonymous said...: Where were Race Bannon and Dr. Benton Quest?

I disagree with Mary Poppins, though. She clearly had a thing for Bert - probably involving latex catsuits and a whip in private. BDSM, yes, lesbian? Not so much.; 6:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, I was a little surprised about Mary Poppins, too. She seems pretty straight to me--and right: she wouldn't be the submissive one with Bert. And Mr. Krabs, straight, too. But I agree about the rest of them: Spongebob, Patrick, Squidward, etc.

But you missed Ren and Stimpy! Man, talk about gay...hopelessly in love with each other.; 10:06 AM
Anonymous said...: And don't even mention Harry Potter without mentioning Dumbledore, outed by JK herself!; 10:20 AM
Joe G said...: Yeah, everyone knows Mary was boffing Bert behind the scenes.

What about Dumbledore? He's actually confirmed!; 10:32 AM
Anonymous said...: What about James the Red Engine, from Thomas and Friends? Any locomotive who talks endlessly about his "splendid red coat", has gotta be gay. :)

Observation about Dumbledore is thirded.; 12:19 PM
Anonymous said...: A few more suggestions from the world of popular sci-fi:

From Star Trek--Sulu and Q, obviously. (And not just because George Takei is gay--John deLancie, who plays Q, is not...)

For Star Wars, there's Jar-Jar, obviously. And Grand Moff Tarkin--the title "Grand Moff" gives it away. But the shocker from the Star Wars saga is...

Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Assuming that he is faithful to his order, he is celibate, of course--but just as the Roman Catholic priesthood is full of sexually-repressed, closeted gay men--perhaps they weren't all that enlightened a long time ago and a galaxy far, far, away... and the same applies to the Jedi. But he's Andrew Sullivan with a light-saber.; 12:56 PM
Pat O'Connor said...: Max Detweiler from Sound of Music.; 2:28 PM
F.S. said...: Dr. Smith became gayer as Lost in Space went on. In the pilot episode, Dr. Smith kills an armed guard with his bare hands and throws the body in a dumpster. I think he was in love with the Robot.; 3:15 PM
Lumpmoose said...: That misses Lexington from Disney's Gargoyles, who's been confirmed as gay by the creator of the show: http://gargoyles.dracandros.com/Lexington#Characteristics; 3:27 PM
Anonymous said...: What about Mr. Rogers? You can't convince me that he and Good King Friday were just friends.; 3:29 PM
Bunche (pop culture ronin) said...: Okay, gotta weigh in on this. While actor Jonathan Harris was obviously as gay as a tree full of birds, Dr. Smith was explicitly stated to be a man with an eye for the ladies. The two examples that immediately spring to mind are Oona, "the girl from the green dimension," and Maleficent lookalike and would-be planet conqueress The Mighty Neolani. That story even features an incredible and hilarious bit in which the robot explains to Will Robinson that "the female of the species always has a soft spot for artists." (Smith has ingratiated himself with Neolani by wooing her and being all "artsy.) Will looks at the robot with great skepticism and asks him point blank how he knows so much about the female of the species, at which point the camera cuts to a closeup of the robot's featureless bubble as he matter-of-factly states in that famous voice and delivery of his, "I have been around, Will Robinson. I have been around."

Anyway, Smith was portrayed as straight several times. I always considered him to be sci-fi's even more "I wanna kill this guy" precursor to Tony randall's also allegdly hetero Felix Unger.; 3:35 PM
Tom Bucceri said...: It was Jerry Falwell who went after the Teletubbies.

Jerry Falwell claimed in 1999 that Tinky Winky, one of the Teletubbies, was homosexual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletubbies; 6:34 PM
BlackTsunami said...: touche. u r correct.; 6:58 PM
Anonymous said...: no Jack Sparrow?; 10:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Where is Uncle Arthur from Bewitched?; 10:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Brilliant, but you missed a big one...HE-MAN! "Fabulous secret powers"; 4:27 AM
eyelessgame said...: For "know your lgbt characters", what about the Jody Dallas on Soap?; 8:48 AM
BlackTsunami said...: If I can find a clip of Soap, sure.; 8:54 AM
eyelessgame said...: Oh, and btw this video, in addition to being hilarious, is really, really well done. The synching of the characters to the music and lyrics is... if you'll pardon the expression, absolutely fabulous.; 9:08 AM
BlackTsunami said...: thanks but the video isn't my creation. i pulled it from youtube.; 9:12 AM
sarahl said...: I always thought Bert was the gay one in Mary Poppins?... "A lady needn't fear when you are near, Bert. Your sweet gentility is crystal clear!"
Not really that subtle...; 9:37 PM