Tips Clear News Portal Your Ultimate Guide to Clear Tips on Life, Tech, Health, and More Cartoons are magic (well, the majority). When you look at them with children’s eyes, you just see a relatively cute story between several people, often guided by love or something a little silly in this spirit. And then, when you grow up, you realize that some of them even convey rather modern messages of tolerance. Even if for the majority of these productions, no real coming-out was made by the characters, they became true LGBT icons! Yes… We’re happy about that!
1. Tinky Winky
The Teletubbies, traumatic cartoon and particularly perched, returns to the screens with a reboot launched by Netflix. There are a thousand reasons to hate this program, but clearly not those put forward by Poland and the USA at the turn of the 2000s! The problem according to American activist Jerry Falwell? “Eulolololo Tinky Winky is carrying a purse and it’s purple even though it’s a boy!!!! But what an atrocity!!! He must be gay!!! We can’t show this to our children! ». The saddest thing is that many people have lined up behind the homophobic remarks of this disreputable man. Never mind, the LGBTQ+ community has made Tinky Winky a true icon. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO, NOW, WITH ARREARS BLOCKED IN THE 17TH CENTURY?
2. Spongebob Squarepants
For a while now, Spongebob has been an icon of the LGBTQ+ community. For some, he would be gay. For others, he would be asexual. In any case, Bob cheerfully tramples all the stereotypes of masculinity: his voice is high-pitched, he is neither reckless nor muscular, when his boss tells him that he looks like a girl, he blushes with pleasure. Although his sexual orientation or asexuality has never been revealed in any episode, he has become a symbol of tolerance.
3. Li Shang
Aka the bg in power of the Disney “Mulan”. In addition to this very advantageous physique, Li Shang also embodies a beautiful message of tolerance to young audiences: he loves Ping (Mulan disguised as a male soldier) in the same way that he loves Mulan. It is for this reason that the LGBTQ+ community has made the character a bisexual icon.
4. Big Ben & Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast
Some consider the duo to be a gay couple, others consider Big Ben to be homosexual and Lumiere to be pansexual. The only thing that is certain is that their duet is clearly the best of all the cartoon. The romance between Beauty and the Beast next to their relationship is boring! (Source)
5. Elsa, the Snow Queen
In Elsa, several elements have echoed in the queer community: first, the fact that she is the only Disney princess who is not romantically interested in anyone. Then, many people in the LGBTQ+ community have suffered, during their childhood, from having to keep their sexual orientation (or non-orientation) silent, for fear of rejection and the gaze of others. For her part, Elsa, still a child, is isolated from all human contact by her parents in order to hide her powers. A social exclusion to hide a difference that echoed among some. Finally, “Liberated, delivered” has become a real anthem for the community, especially for the lyrics “Here I live the life I have chosen, I left to rebuild my life. It is said, it is so. Freed, freed: I will never lie again”.
6. Ursula
Ursula quickly became a queer icon. First, because her character is directly inspired by the drag “Divine”, as much in her appearance as in her dance movements. Then, and as in Frozen, his songs “Pauvres Âmes en Perdition” and “Partir Là-Bas” echoed the community. The second, recounting his dream of a universe where the personality of individuals would be free to express themselves without danger or oppression, is also frequently integrated into the canon of LGBTQ+ songs. (Source)
7. …and King Triton is considered lgbt friendly
First, as with Frozen, many members of the LGBTQ+ community have identified with Ariel’s story. They believe that, in the same way that they sometimes had to hide their genders or orientations, the little mermaid had to silence her attraction for the human world. At the end of the cartoon, his father (King Triton) paints a rainbow in the sky. This rainbow, a symbol of the gay rights movement, is seen as a benevolent nod to the LGBTQ+ community. (Source)
8. Bugs Bunny
Back when TV and movies weren’t open on the subject, Bugs Bunny was already a queer icon. Besides marrying a man in at least three different episodes, Bugs also represented drag and queer culture in a positive way. On numerous occasions, the rabbit cross-dresses, but it is never to ridicule the character. On the contrary ! When he dresses in dresses and puts on makeup, Bugs Bunny is handsome, elegant, and self-confident. A queer icon in a cartoon, at a time when these television appearances could be counted on the fingers of one hand, it feels good.
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