While cartoons have legions of LGBTQ+ fans, shows that centre queer plots, characters and episodes are often at risk of cancellation. With this in mind, we’re asking: is queer animation doomed to fail?

Two of the most popular examples of cancelled queer animation are The Owl House and Dead End: Paranormal Park. One was cancelled for not fitting the company’s image and the other was cancelled due to company budget cuts.

The Owl House follows a girl named Luz who is transported to a magical world of witches and attempts to learn magic while finding her way home. In a Reddit Ask Me Anything post, the creator of the show, Dana Terrace, explained: “At the end of the day, there are a few business people who oversee what fits into the Disney brand and one day, one of those guys decided TOH didn’t fit that ‘brand’.”

While the creator of the show said she didn’t believe its cancellation was due to homophobia about the multiple queer characters, it is also important to note the heightened homophobia in the US at the time. For instance, the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill was officially introduced in Florida in 2022.

The next show is Dead End: Paranormal Park, a Netflix series about two teenagers and their talking dog who work together in a park haunted by ghosts and demons. While not a massive success, this show was still relatively popular, especially as fans would go on to find out that one of the main characters was a gay transgender man and the other was an autistic bisexual woman. The show ran for two seasons from June to October of 2022 before being officially cancelled at the start of 2023 due to reported budget cuts.

Beyond Dead End: Paranormal Park, Netflix’s track record for queer animation is spotty. Since 2019, of nine Netflix originals that contained queer animations for families, three of the shows had a successful conclusion, five of them were cancelled, and the remaining show is still ongoing. From that list, two of the queer animations don’t have LGBTQ+ characters that are central to the story.

As far as adult queer animations are concerned, we also saw the cancellations of shows like Q-Force and Tuca and Bertie.

One could claim that the cancellation of queer animated series has nothing to do with their queer representation. While that may be a possibility, a number of episodes of shows have received backlash or been scrapped because of LGBTQ+ representation. Take Win or Lose as an example. Disney had cut the episode, specifically stating that parents should talk to children about queer people in their own time.

Additionally, an episode of “The Gatekeeper” from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was withheld. Conflicting information has surrounded the pulling of this episode, with one source stating that it was withheld due to the political climate in the U.S. at the time. Another source inside Disney claims the decision was made over a year before the results of the most recent US presidential election. This other source also made notes on the show’s age range demographic, alongside not providing a specific reason as to why this episode is being withheld.

This is a very small list of examples when compared to the hundreds of others out there, but the picture is painted that when major networks hear queer-oriented stories, they see them as too mature and more expendable for their network. These shows, even when successful, will often be the victims of budget cuts or cancellations. Queer animation is struggling to survive during a time when it’s deemed too mature for kids but too cartoonish for adults. It shouldn’t need to be said, but the existence of LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t be a political one. They are just like any other person and show that they highlight straight relationships or tackle issues that cis boys or girls face, they should also tackle those of queer ones as well. Our stories shouldn’t be erased when a network feels like it should.