The Australian children’s show Bluey is the latest object of right-wing outrage for briefly acknowledging that queer kids and families are everywhere.

The season three finale of the wildly popular cartoon, which aired April 14, centered on the show’s eponymous blue heeler puppy coming to terms with her family moving into a new house amid a wedding. However, the episode quietly introduced some LGBTQ+ representation as well: Bluey’s friend, a chihuahua named Pretzel, opened up about his pet guinea pig running away and casually mentioned having two moms.

“My mums told me he might come back, but he didn’t,” Pretzel said.

It may be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, but hey, some kids have two moms, so why not nod to that fact in a subtle, organic way? The widely viewed show has been criticized by Australian viewers for lacking diversity so here’s hoping this brief mention of the off-screen mums is just a first step toward more representation. After the episode dropped, the show’s many adult fans flocked online to express their excitement over the moment. On IMDb, the episode, entitled “The Sign,” scored a 9.9 out of 10 average based on nearly 1,000 user ratings.

“This is what I’ve been waiting for 🥰🥰🥰🥰,” one TikTok user commented on a video about the scene.

“As a gay chihuahua mum that makes me happy 🏳️‍🌈,” another wrote.

Unfortunately, even a one-off mention of a cartoon character’s two moms was enough to set off conservative trolls. The Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham blasted the moment on X, writing, “I’ll be honest, sometimes the glee LGBTQ activists take at seeing the destruction of something that was once wholesome, something that championed mothers and fathers and children’s need for both, is really demoralizing.”

Too bad! Basham and her ilk will have to get used to it, because Bluey isn’t the only children’s show that has casually incorporated queer and trans characters in recent years. Millennials and Zoomers who were raised on Arthur will be happy to know that, back in 2019, the PBS show treated us to teacher Mr. Ratburn’s gay rat wedding, and honestly? We need more gay rat weddings on our screens!

In 2022, queer icon Peppa Pig’s titular cartoon featured a lesbian polar bear power couple and the Disney show Baymax briefly showed a trans guy buying tampons. Last fall, Paw Patrol spin-off Rubble & Crew, introduced a nonbinary skateboarder. These moments can be small, but in an era when the LGBTQ+ community are being demonized by the right as inherently perverted, predatory “groomers,” I’ll take all the lesbian chihuahua asides that Bluey is offering.

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