In March, after nearly seven years on the air, Steven Universe officially ended with the final episode of its epilogue series. Throughout its run, creator Rebecca Sugar and her team made bold strides in LGBTQ representation. When the show first premiered, all-ages animation was pretty bereft of queer characters. While shows like Adventure Time had whispers of past queer relationships, in 2013, cartoons just didn’t center on visibly LGBTQ characters.
But in 2020, Steven Universe not only ended joyously, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power wrapped up with a world-saving kiss between two female leads. Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts had a beautifully understated coming-out moment. And Disney Channel’s The Owl House featured a swoon-worthy, romantically charged dance sequence between two girls.
And older cartoons got in on the act as well. Adventure Time: Distant Lands — Obsidian turned the spotlight to Marceline and Bubblegum’s romantic relationship, which the show only made explicit in the final seconds of the final episode. Meanwhile, The Legend of Korra — with its brief yet definitive hand-holding scene — debuted on Netflix, bringing a hallmark of queer representation in cartoons back into the conversation. 2020 was a bummer of a year, but when it comes to all-ages animation, it was a culmination of the many small steps building up to the current state of queer representation: a glorious gay celebration that was unheard of just five years ago.