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Jun 6, 2022

Twelve Forever: The First Gay Protagonist of Any American Children's Program

In Twelve Forever, a 12-year old girl named Reggie is terrified by the prospect of growing up, so she creates a fantasy world called Endless Island, and populates it with interesting characters like Flower Woman (with flowers for eyes), Brown Roger (a small, hairy thing), and Guy Pleasant (half rock star, half dog).


For antagonists, she conjures up the Butt Witch and her henchman Big Deal, who try to force her to grow up.  She convinces two of her real-life friends, Todd and Esther, to come along.


Sounds like H.R. Pufnstuf meets Peter Pan, except those islands were real.   I'm not so sure about Endless Island. It sounds very much like a psychotic delusion.

I became interested due to an episode in which the Butt Witch tries to break up the romance between two burly wrestlers, Mack and Beefhouse.  Two burly male wrestlers!

The other characters are completely nonchalant about their gender, saying things like "I can't wait to find my soulmate," and so on.

This is definitely a gay -positive show.  Reggie herself gets a crush on a girl named Connelly.

Unfortunately, Reggie is such a self-centered jerk that she's impossible to watch.  When Connelly displays interest, she makes an excuse and runs away.  Repeatedly.

Imagine: you're 12 years old, you find a girl you like, and she makes it very clear that she wants nothing to do with you.   How's that for a crushing childhood trauma?

Later, at the school dance (4 male-female couples and Reggie), Connelly shows up, and a flustered Reggie forces her friends to leave, even though they are having fun.

Isn't it always the way: you find a gay-positive character, and they're unpleasant and possiblypsychotic?

Oh,well, who am I to nit-pick?  This is the first gay protagonist of any American children's tv program, cause for celebration.



3 comments:

  1. Isn't all children's programming possibly psychotic? Land of make believe and all that.

    Yeah, it seems we've gotten to the point where most people understand that gay is something people are and that's fine.

    Reggie seems to be acting like a normal adolescent. In fact, you know who she reminds me of? She reminds me of Doug. Rich fantasy world, check. Comedically why around the girl she likes, check. Drawn in a surreal style, check. She's the lesbian Doug. All that's missing is learning about sex during a Christmas special.

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  2. thats part of her character though, maybe they didnt want to make it a big thing in the first season . it'll definitely be expanded in season two though

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  3. Having watched several more episodes, I found more gay characters, including a guy who is a silhouette of the night sky and a shark being. It also looks like Reggie's mother is in a butch-femme lesbian relationship with someone named Kathy, but in the next episode Kathy is a "best friend," and Mom goes out on a date with a man.

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