Korra and Asami only held hands because Nickelodeon wouldn’t let them do more. Nick infamously cancelled Korra and put out the rest of season 4 as a webseries only.
Marceline and Princess Bubblegum only kiss in the very final episode because Cartoon Network wouldn’t let them do more. There are a ton of interviews with Pendelton and with the voice actresses where they talk about the CN censorship.
Steven Universe got as far as it did because Rebecca Sugar fought tooth and nail, and risked the show getting cancelled (which it did in many countries, if not heavily censored), because Cartoon Network wouldn’t let her. Ruby was often dubbed over with a male voice, and Pearl/Rose interactions were completely cut.
She-Ra managed to do it largely because it was specifically on Netflix only, and even then, Noelle has said they had to build 4 seasons of storyline very subtly around it so they had enough ammo to convince the execs that Catradora was the only logical conclusion to this show they had already aired. She didn’t just go in on Day 1 and make it gay; she had to plan many years in advance for how to set up her argument. Her argument, y’all.
And now we have The Owl House. Which is an absolutely wonderful show. And it’s so amazing that we actually get to see queer characters get the kind of representation that so many straight characters get. And it’s amazing we get to see the romance build up, instead of just a quick peck in the series finale!
Let’s not forget that in the US, it was illegal for gay people to get married until 2015. Korra aired in 2012. In Texas, it was a punishable felony to even be gay until the mid-90s. No, literally. Just being gay was an arrestable offense here in Texas until 1993. We have come a really long way in 20 years!
But don’t fucking dare disrespect any of these other shows by saying they didn’t try, or that their representation didn’t matter. The Owl House is standing on the shoulders of giants. Lumity is only where it is because Korrasami and Bubbline helped get them there.
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