As adults, we look at children's programming today and silently shake our heads and chuckle to ourselves when we notice that the voice actors, writers, or even animators have carefully added in adult jokes, themes, or innuendos that completely go over the intended audience's heads, giving a subtle wink or nudge to others out there who may be casually watching. This normally wouldn't be a problem until we realise that hindsight is truly 20/20 and we take a look at the programming that was around during our own adolescence. Suddenly, the fabric of our childhood becomes frayed as we realise the adult nature, dirty jokes, or sophomoric adult humor sprinkled throughout popular children's shows from back in the day such as Salute Your Shorts, Rocko's Modern Life, or even Josie & The Pussycats. Whether done on purpose or completely coincidental, some of these subtleties from television characters left an undeniable impression on a contingent of the television audience who would grow up to discover - or already knew - that they were gay. This invariably left the aforementioned character with the legacy of becoming a gay icon. In this article, we list ten characters from television shows aimed at children who became gay icons. Please be advised, being a gay icon does not necessarily mean we feel the character themselves were gay (although, in some instances, that can definitely be up to interpretation as you will soon find out on this countdown).
Tommy Bobby Watanabe is an aspiring American novelist, stage actor, playwright, former LGBT rights activist, and has three years of independent professional wrestling experience and has been a big fan since 1998. An avid horror movie buff and comic book aficionado, TBW is honored to be featured on WhatCulture with some of the Internet's most talented writers and looks to spread his own knowledge and wit to WhatCulture's loyal readers.
