"Raven's Home": Lesbian Couple, Gay Son, Both, or Neither?

 That's So Raven (2003-2007) was a Disney Channel sitcom about a teenage girl, Raven (played by Raven-Symoné), who gets into humorous scrapes, sometimes by using her mild psychic abilities.  As an adult, the actress stated that she does not identify as gay, but her relationships have all been same-sex, and now she is married to a woman.  

In 2017, 10 years after Raven ended, the Disney Channel premiered Raven's House: Raven, now divorced with two kids, shares an apartment in Chicago with Chelsea (her best friend on the old series), divorced with one kid.  

The entire cast recorded a "Happy Pride Month" message.

So, have they come out as a lesbian couple?  

I've read through the plot synopses of every episode, and find neither of them getting a boyfriend, but no references to them being a same-sex couple, either.  In 2017, a writer on the lesbian blog Lipstick Alley thought that they were a gay-subtext couple, "testing the waters" to see how audiences would respond.  

Well, maybe there are other open gay characters?  Maybe Chelsea's son Levi, an aspiring thespian?

The plot synopses don't specify any romantic relationships for anyone except daughter Nia, who is heterosexual.

I watched the Season 4 Episode "Play of Our Lives": Raven's son Booker, who inherited her psychic powers, has a vision of Levi's first starring role.

Scene 1: While the family sings and dances to make washing the dishes fun, Levi (13-year old Jason Maybaum) is in a dour mood: he's been cast as Mercutio in the school production of Romeo and Juliet, and his understudy, Griffin, keeps trying to undermine him.

So far so good. Mercutio can be played with a strong gay subtext.  

Introduction: The blended family dancing and getting psychic visions on an animated set.  It really should be updated.  The kids are now teenagers.  

Scene 2: School.  Dimwitted hunk Ramon (Max Torina, left) and his girlfriend painting a set, when the stage manager, Raven's daughter Nia, rushes up to tell them they're doing it wrong.  Plus she's anxiety-ridden because Wyatt (Paul-Mikel Williams, below), the "arrogant" (that is, sexy) captain of the rival debate team, has transferred to their school, so she'll have to look at his infuriating, perfect face all the time.

Scene 3:  Levi practicing his lines while Griffin glares at him.  Booker, his blended-family brother (middle), approaches to help him practice.  They are both freaked out by Griffin's stare.

Scene 4: Raven knocks on the door of wacky downstairs neighbor Clark.  He invites her to perform stand-up comedy at the Neighborhood Watch Committee's open mic night. 

Scene 5: Levi and Booker practicing the sword fight between Tybalt and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, which ends with Mercutio's death.  Booker: "I don't know what you're so stressed about.  You die like a pro."  Levi: "Don't tell Mom I'm stressed.  She used to be an actress, and she is putting the pressure on me to live up to her legacy.  She'll be disappointed."

Suddenly he gets a vision of the director saying "After that performance, I'll have to rethink my casting decision,"  while Griffin grins evilly.  I assume that the visions depict a potential future, so it can be changed?

Scene 6: Booker in the hallway trying to decide whether to tell Levi's Mom, "Aunt Chelsea,"  about his vision.  What could she do to help?  When she arrives, he stutters and stammers and finally uses charades to tell her.  I don't understand this at all.  

Chelsea wants to coach Levi so he'll perform better, but Booker doesn't want him to know about the vision.  "Why don't you coach me, and then I'll coach him?"

Scene 7:  Backstage: more drama with Nia and her enemy-crush Wyatt.  "What's he doing here?" "He's big and important, so he joined the stage crew."  Growl, growl: "I can't work with him!  He's too sexy...I mean, arrogant!"

Scene 8: Booker coaches Levi while his Mom mouths instructions from a hiding place. 

Scene 9:  Everyone watches a video of Raven's stand-up routine.  Mostly she makes fun of Booker and Nia.  They become upset. When she arrives, they insist: "No more jokes about us."

Scene 10: Back stage during Act 1.  The director yells at Levi for performing badly: "What happened to the kid I cast?  Where's that raw talent?"   Booker tries to help: "You can do this.  You just have be emotionally available." He reveals that he told Levi's Mom about his nervousness, and Levi gets angry and runs away. (I still don't see why.)

Scene 11:  Levi runs through the auditorium -- everyone is sitting at little tables instead of in stadium seats.  There's only a few minutes of intermission left.  Aunt Chelsea and Booker search for him, while Raven stalls by performing her stand-up routine.  Some people are wearing pandemic masks.  Nice that they normalized it.

Scene 12: Chelsea and Booker find Levi hiding among the costumes.  Levi: "I can't live up to your legacy.  I'm no good."  Chelsea: "I'm proud of you, no matter what."  

Thus reassured, Levi and Booker go onto the stage (behind the curtain) and dance.

Meanwhile, Nia and her frenemy Wyatt are so distracted by their fighting-flirting that they open the curtain prematurely, so everyone sees the boys dancing.  They immediately rush into the sword fight scene (hey, what about the actor cast as Tybalt?).  They perform beautifully.  The curtain drops.  

Scene 13:  More about Nia and Wyatt.

Scene 14: Backstage, Booker and Levi are whooping and hugging, when the director comes in: "After that performance, I'll have to rethink my casting decision."  Say what?  Levi was great!  "You skipped several lines and died an act too early, but you showed raw talent!  Perform like that, and I'm casting you as the lead in our next play." Ok, I see: the visions always come true, but not the way you expect them to.

Scene 15: Dinnertime sharing and joking.

Beefcake: Some high school hunks.

Heterosexual Characters:  Nia-Wyatt and Ramon-his girlfriend.

Gay Characters:  Levi is rather feminine.  He never states that he wants to be an actor in order to meet girls.  He's cast as Mercutio, not Romeo.  And Mom's "I'm proud of you, no matter what" sounds very much like a "if you are gay" reference. But he's only into drama in that one episode, and I find no evidence that the character is canonically gay.

I went through three other episodes on fast-forward.  Neither of the boys expresses any heterosexual interest.  

What about Raven and Chelsea: They barely interact, and then only through their kids. Maybe they have scenes together in other episodes.

My Verdict: Subtext only, therefore fragile and easily denied.