#they don't get credit for jughead having the strongest trans energy i've ever seen a cis person express

[jupitermelichios]

you know, riverdale really doesn't get enough credit for its queer representation

sure there's a bunch of memeworthy cringy moments (mostly from the first season, when it was functionally a different show, but i can't give "it's not queerbait if it's to save the world" a completely free pass even if it is one of the funniest lines ever said on television), and we absolutely should be side-eying them hard for erasing jughead's asexuality (although we might finally be getting that in the current season)

but for all that, there's so much stuff i love

Toni and Fangs being explicitly a queer couple, despite being opposite gender, because the show didn't just forget that they're both bi when they got together. I geuinely cannot think of another example of that on tv, and it really meant a lot to me to see it

Cheryl having lost her childhood to her mother's emotional abuse and homophobia immediately agreeing to foster Britta when Britta's parents throw her out for being gay. (everything season six did with Britta was insane, but for season 5 at least her and Cheryl and Nana Rose were a little gay family and I loved it sm)

Betty figuring out she's bi while in a relationship with a man and that just being some new self knowledge she has, rather than it being seen as a threat to her and Archie's relationship

Kevin continuing to be refered to as Anthony's dad and having a relationship with him, even though he's not his biological father and he and Fangs split up before Anthony was even born. (They were using a friend as a surrogate, the relationship ended before the birth, later a DNA test is done that shows fangs is the biodad, but when he's not being mindcontrolled by evil wizards he continues to have a relationship with the baby - he chose to have this kid, and that's the thing that counts, not whether he's on the birth certificate)

And yes the Abigail episodes are all very silly, but they're also all about how queer people have always been here and will always be here, and no attempt to erase us will ever succeed. and yes sometimes we're immortal witches driven mad and evil by the loss of our one true love, but afterall, don't my evil immortal wlw witch girlies deserve some representation too?

And yes the hedwig episode is so dumb, it's maybe the dumbest of the musical episodes and I'm including the american psycho one in that, but at the same time, it's an epsiode about how drag is important art and teenagers should if anything be exposed to more drag than they are because queer art is important, yes even the stuff with sex in it, and in the current political climate i can't help loving it for taking that stance, even if the songs are all really bad

the show's representation isn't perfect by any means, and yes the fact that it look them 7 seasons to even think about acknoledging that jughead is ace in the comics really sucks, but it also does a lot of things really right, and i just think those should get the same level of attention as the cringeworthy stuff

also "it's not queerbait if it's to save the world" is still an incredibly funny line