#even if you didn't care for SU -- which is totally fine!! -- you cannot ignore the impact she had on queer representation

[blakelywintersfield]

The Owl House would not have the kind of representation it does now if not for Steven Universe. Alex Hirsch tried having a brief appearance of two old ladies falling in love. Not even kissing. And it was struck down by Disney. Same with the trans symbol appearing on a necklace. This was in 2014. And in Gravity Fall's season finale, he couldn't even have two side characters explicitly say they were together -- it's used as part of a joke and could easily be written off as such (or as non-queer). That's as far as he could get by 2016. The fact that Lumity gets to be canon is a huge fucking break that we wouldn't have gotten five years ago.

And Nickelodeon isn't innocent in this either -- did y'all forget how hard the writers of The Legend of Korra had to fight back in 2014 to have the ending they did where Korra and Asami smile at each other and hold hands? That was their limit! They weren't allowed to show them kiss! Not even a quick peck! It was unallowed! Do you think they would've allowed one of the sisters from The Loud House to be queer or had two husbands with a child back then?

Not to mention the fight to show Bubbleline on screen for years and years, and it was thanks to Rebecca Sugar that we got to see them kiss. Like. All these shows? That you're mentioning right now? Where they've clearly shown portrayals of queer relationships and nonbinary representation? They premiered these specific reveals in the past 5 years. The McBride husbands were introduced in 2016. Luna was shown to have a crush on Sam the year after (and the intention of her being named Sam was to keep her gender vague during the pitch); requited feelings in 2019; and confirmed to be her girlfriend this year. In 2021. The "I'm texting my girlfriend" bit mentioned? 2019.

All these examples being thrown around to snub SU's representation happened extremely recently; all of them happened after Steven Universe showed Ruby and Sapphire embrace and kiss briefly in the first season finale. All of them are possible because of Rebecca Sugar's tireless fight to have more queer representation in children's media.

They faced immense backlash from the studio. They faced backlash from other countries. Not only was Ruby given a man's voice in the Russian dub, they edited her to have a mustache so it wouldn't appear queer. Y'all want to see the list of censorship done to this show that you think did such a milquetoast job of queer representation? It's really fucking long because there were different edits done depending on which of the 30+ countries were censoring them. Sure, not all of those edits are specifically aimed at queer content. But the fact that the UK straight up censored Pearl and Rose Quartz's dance in 2016 because it was "too intimate"? (No inappropriate touching, no kissing, nothing that could be possibly inappropriate for children to witness -- just too queer!)

And, as a final little sidenote before I get off my damn soapbox -- Rebecca Sugar is a nonbinary woman. Perhaps part of her reason for never explicitly stating they were "girlfriends" was because the gems are all nonbinary as well? They prefer to take feminine forms, but they are all still nonbinary in the end, and even binary gender-leaning nonbinary people may not be comfortable with gendered titles like husband/wife, boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. I'm all for clear representation, but y'all also have a history of erasing nonbinary and mspec sexualities in favor of fitting gay binary ideology (I could get into a whoooooole separate rant on that, especially erasing canonical bisexuality and pansexuality; but I've said enough for now). So like. For all that has been won, you all still have work to do yourselves in unlearning views and opinions that hurt your fellow community members.

10 years ago my 16-year-old baby queer self would never have thought that I'd see... any of this in my lifetime on G-rated media. I thought I'd only be lucky to see non-sexualized queer women, non-stereotyped queer men, and genuine, non-demonizing trans representation in adult media. The strides we have seen in these past 10 years are immense. The implications of yesterday are the reason you have confirmation today. Do not forget your history.

Steven Universe: Eh, I don't really feel like saying "girlfriend" or "wife". Maybe they're together. They have a special connection...

(gets violently shoved aside)

The Loud House/Craig of the Creek/The Owl House: Pfft, amateur. "My GIRLFRIEND Sam and I..." "I'm texting my GIRLFRIEND, mind your business." "Luz's new GF showed her..."