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We Baby Bears To Introduce Two Adorable Nonbinary Characters
Cue the inevitable right-wing meltdown.
Two new nonbinary animated characters are headed to the screen this weekend, in the season two premiere of We Baby Bears.
The popular children’s show, which is a prequel to the animated series We Bare Bears follows the same main characters of Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear as babies on the hunt for a new home by way of a magical teleporting box.
We Baby Bears is cute, sweet, and inclusive. As seen in a video posted on Cartoon Network’s YouTube channel, the bears have a reunion with their friend Polly the Pirate Captain, and their new crew. The bears introduce their box to Polly explaining that they use they/them pronouns to which Polly excitedly shares that they also use they/them pronouns. It’s a simple sweet moment that will no doubt elicit a backlash from corners of the internet for whom inclusion is a major issue.
However, the show’s team is passionate about representation, as they shared in a statement provided to USA Today, explaining that a few of the crew members on the show had come out as nonbinary.
“We felt that it was important to reflect that in the show,” according to the statement. “Our show team values representation because it’s something everybody on the show deeply cares about, and that’s why we aim to cast LGBTQ talent.”
The show actually has a history of inclusive representation and has previously released an episode that featured trans actress Dominique Jackson, and rapper Young M.A. guested on an episode as a rapping bat. It’s all in keeping with Cartoon Network’s larger history of LGBTQ+ support, having previously tweeted about being respectful of using people’s pronouns, on Transgender Day of Visibility.
“Addressing someone using their pronouns and name shows that you RESPECT them as their authentic self!,” the network wrote on Twitter. “We celebrate the journey of our trans and gender-non-conforming friends on this #TransgenderDayofVisibility!”
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Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq, and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq, and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
