History of LGBTQ characters in animated series: 2000s

In the early years of the 21st century, the Class S genre saw new life,[3] even as Sailor Moon, key work for the yuri genre,[4] came to a close,[5] with no new anime films since 1995 (apart from one set to air in 2020).[6] Sailor Moon stopped broadcasting on Cartoon Network's Toonami in October 2000[7] despite efforts by fans to continue its run.[8] From 2005 to 2009, a plethora of anime including LGBTQ+ characters began showing despite the fact that the number of anime productions began to decline after peaking in 2006 due to alternative forms of entertainment, less ad revenue, and other reasons, with TV Tokyo remaining one of the only channels airing anime shows.[9] The same year, one Western anime fan, Erica Friedman, created what would become Yuricon, a conference of those who appreciated yuri animation.[10] She did so in a broader context of homosexuality in Japan. While the country does not have a puritanical history saying that homosexuality is a "cardinal sin," meaning that there could be anime with gay characters, although this didn't translate to an easy ability to be out as gay in Japan, even as late as 2015.[11] This manifested itself in the fact that yuri manga is often geared toward male readers[12] which is relevant because anime has a "steady relationship" with manga.[13]^:8 While the days of "laughably wrong" American anime dubs in the 1980s and 1990s had long past,[14] anime began entering U.S. homes like never before, with fans able to get their hands on Japanese-language originals of animesthey watched, thanks to the internet.[15] Anime further became entrenched in U.S. households with the launch of Adult Swim by Cartoon Network in 2001, aimed at those in the "older OVA & tape trading crowd," with a new fandom forming.[16]

In the early 2000s, LGBTQ+ representation in U.S. animation faltered, with under-representation of gay characters through the Fall 2000 television season for all broadcast shows, with trend continuing until at least 2003.[17] It would not be until 2005 that GLAAD would began their annual “Where We Are on TV” report"[18] starting its continuing effort to compile statistics on characters in the LGBTQ+ community, and other marginalized groups.[19] GLAAD, for their part, bemoaned the lack of LGBT representation. They noted in the regular 2006–2007 season, LGBTQ+ characters only comprised 1.3% of all regular characters on major broadcast networks (NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox, The CW, and UPN).[20] In a report the next year, they noted in the 2007–2008 season, the FOX network only featured LGBT characters in animated comedies like The Simpsons and American Dad.[21] In a report for the following year, GLAAD assessed the "considerable" LGBTQ+ representation in animated primetime programming," citing shows such as The Simpsons, American Dad, Sit Down, Shut Up, The Goode Family, Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World, and Drawn Together, even as they had their reservations about existing LGBTQ+ characters on television.[22] In later years, GLAAD painted a bleaker picture, noting that no black LGBT characters were regular characters[23] on television networks, again noting American Dad,[24] The Simpsons,[25] and Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All the World.[26] They stated that most animated LGBT characters were on FOX, lamenting that while South Park historically had LGBT characters and storylines, it could be "hit or miss" like Family Guy.[27]

• List of LGBT-related films by year
• Cross-dressing in film and television
• List of yuri works
• List of animated series with crossdressing characters
• List of anime by release date (1946–1959)
• List of animated films with LGBT characters
• List of yuri anime and manga