‘Steven Universe’ Nominated for GLAAD Award
What a week it’s been for the Steven Universe fandom. Coming off of the amazing season finale Change Your Mind, the show has now been nominated for a GLAAD award in the Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category. It’s the third time the show has been nominated, and the second time in this category. Last year the award went to Disney Channel’s Andi Mack, which is nominated again this year.
The #GLAADawards nominees for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming are…
Adventure Time
Andi Mack
Anne with an E
She-Ra
Steven Universe✨
— GLAAD (@glaad) January 25, 2019
Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar, who recently came out as non-binary herself, has been a champion for LGBTQIA rights for many years. In 2018 the show featured the first same-sex proposal and marriage within a children’s cartoon in 2018, when characters Ruby and Sapphire, who make up main character fusion Garnet, made their fusion an official union.
In an interview discussing the storyline with Entertainment Weekly Sugar said “We started talking about the wedding episode, I think, in early 2016 and … what was interesting to me about the arc of this whole experience was that I ended up in many conversations where it was made clear to me that this was not something that should be in G-rated content and that there was a limit on how much we could show these characters, how close these characters could be with each other.”
The show has been a hit within the LGBTQIA community, and the series finale was no different, with fans all over praising it’s strong trans rights message.
#StevenUniverse SPOILERS!
It was just incredible. I was seriously having to hold back tears. There were some serious trans feels, Pink leaving home world and then Steven returning is kind of how I felt leaving home and then coming back for Christmas with a new name
— sebastian (@sebkewley) January 25, 2019
I have never in my life cared so much for and connected with fictional cartoon characters. Steven Universe is gonna stick with me and other for the rest of our lives. Also, TRANS RIGHTS!
— Jessica Nightmare (@JesskaNightmare) January 22, 2019
Oh. My. God. Steven universe has sincerely touched me in a way I never thought possible. Throughout this last episode I was sobbing harder then I have In ages. As someone who only recently came out as trans, this was everything I needed to hear. It taught me so many beautiful (1)
— Felidawn (@felidawnn) January 22, 2019
Cartoon Network have announced the Steven Universe movie will be arriving in the fall, and were tweeting to worried viewers that a season 6 is on the way, so it looks like Sugar and the crewniverse will be able to keep delighting viewers for a little while longer.