Are There Any LGBTQ Characters in ‘Bluey’? Explained

If you are well-versed in children’s shows, then you are most likely familiar with Bluey, an extremely popular show that follows the adventures of a Blue Heeler puppy named Bluey and its family. The show reached an incredible amount of popularity, even being nominated for some awards in areas of animation, storytelling, and the ability to convey emotional and significant messages for audiences of all ages. But one aspect of ‘Bluey’, despite the good-natured messages that it conveys, remains controversial, and those are characters. Some viewers noticed the lack of LGBT characters in popular shows, and today, we’re going to explore this. 

How does a children’s show find itself as a target of diversity representatives? 

First, we need to clarify what ‘Bluey’ is all about; as we’ve mentioned, the show centers around a family of dogs, the most important being six-year-old Bluey; all main dogs in the show are extremely young, and the show mostly deals with the power of imagination and adventures. The show is all about creativity, children-appropriate humor, family dynamics, and problem-solving at an appropriate level. 

But, some viewers noticed a clear lack of representation in the cartoon. The first person to point that out was Beverley Wang, a journalist for ABC Everyday. Beverley generally adores the show, but she struggled with a clear lack of representation in it, pointing out that no characters are people of color, LGBTQ, disabled, etc. Basically, there are no characters that go outside of the norm of what is perceived as “normal.” in a society. 

And yes, it might sound funny, as if some people are clearly overthinking children’s shows about dogs, and how do you exactly measure representation in a show that is almost exclusively centered around anthropomorphic dogs? Still, others pointed out that since the show technically takes place in Australia, it’s unrealistic for all dogs to be the same, considering how diverse the areas where the dogs live are. Whatever that means. 

Where are the disabled, queer, poor, gender diverse, dogs of colour and single-parent dog families in Bluey’s Brisbane? If they’re in the background, let them come forward. 

Beverley Wang

‘Bluey’ doesn’t have LGBT characters

Considering that most of the dogs in the show are underage, it wouldn’t make sense to feature complex relationships between young dogs. So no, there are no LGBT characters or characters that question their gender, any of that for that matter. The show features families, but almost all of them are cookie-cutter families. There are some talks about an episode in which Bing (Bluey’s sister) marries her friend ‘Lila,’ but that episode is not canon, and it’s most fan fiction; Bingo and Lila are only best friends in the show and too young to be married in any case. 

‘Bluey’ was also criticized for being fatphobic and is censored in some countries 

‘Bluey’s’ lack of representation is not the only thing that was controversial. Episode 39 of Season 3, called ‘Excercise,’ was censored and edited due to fat-acceptance activists calling the opening scene of the show for promoting harmful ideas about body image and promoting aesthetics-motivated weight loss. The episode was edited and has a shorter runtime than other episodes. It was a completely innocent scene, however, and I’m sure that the only people overthinking it are adults, who are not the target audience of the show in any case. 

There were also controversies with episodes ‘Teasing’ and ‘Flat Pack’ that featured a term with racial connotations and a problematic history for indigenous Australians. Both episodes were edited and re-released after being pulled from various streaming services.

Other instances of ‘Bluey’ being censored are related to bathroom humor and one episode that featured childbirth and “silliness,” I mean, the concept of the show is silly in itself because, once again, it’s for kids, but mostly it’s censored in the rest of the world due to specific cultural norms and guidelines.

In any case, if you’re looking for LGBT representation in ‘Bluey’ you will not find it, but that doesn’t make the show any less worthwhile for young audiences. 

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