I’m going to get a bit technical here. I’ve always been more of an analytical person, so this is going

to get more into concepts and ideas than what you may be expecting. So hold on to your hats, folks.

It’s not very often that I find a couple in fiction that I can truly admire. I’m not much of a shipper

type, and I usually consider romance to get in the way of an otherwise good story. However, I find exceptions.

I’ve heard of Steven Universe, sure, but until around season three, it was just background noise. It

wasn’t until the start of season three that I began really watching it. Needless to say, I quickly fell in love. It’s a charming show, living up to the hype I spotted throughout both my blog’s feed, and my local animation community.

I don’t often get attached to main characters, preferring side and supporting characters more than anyone else. However, you just can’t help but grow to like her.

I watched The Answer, a late season two episode, at my godparents house on a lazy afternoon. I

heard it was good. More than good, actually. I gave it a chance.

It is one of my favourite episodes, hands down.

Wonderful art, beautiful song. And jeez, that was one of the best relationships I’ve seen. As a whole, Ruby and Sapphire (who fuse together to form Garnet) have a certain devotion to each other that I have sparsely seen in fiction. In most movies and shows I’ve seen, one character in a couple would only show up occasionally, and usually just for the other to fawn over, or to rescue. It’s not often you see a couple interact naturally. And I love the interaction. Just let two people bounce off each other instead of going through the same motions, the same checklist for every show known to mankind.

And to see this from a gay couple? Incredible!

Far too often, gay people and couples in fiction fall into the “Very Special Episode” problem. They seem much less like people and more like topics that are just discussed, doomed to be forgotten by the opening of the next episode. But to see Ruby and Sapphire, and Garnet, just existing as characters in this show, it’s amazing.

It wasn’t until around grade four that I learnt about the concept of being gay. I remember back in kindergarten, my babysitter suggested that maybe me and my friend (having an imaginary wedding for our ponies) could both play brides. I was utterly perplexed at the idea. Then in second grade, a classmate told me off because I named a character “Gae”. Apparently, it was a bad word.

This is weird in hindsight, because my mom is gay. Somehow, though, I was completely ignorant to the possibility that girls could marry girls and boys could marry boys. Until I learned it in school around fourth grade.

For being such a big part of my life, I was very limited in what I had to teach me about this. Pretty much all I had was the occasional snippets of “The L Word” that I’d catch on my mom’s TV while I headed to the bathroom. It wasn’t until I was allowed on the internet that it became normal for me.

I just adore the fact that being gay is just normal in this show. Characters aren’t making fun of it, but also not constantly bringing it up even when it’s completely irrelevant. We need more of this. And we’re slowly getting more of it, too. I’ve found that now more and more shows and movies are adopting this concept as well. I know it’s going to seem out of place at first, slightly. People are going to say they just did it to be progressive. But eventually, it will come to be viewed as normal.

More normal than I would have thought as a child.

I’m proud of this show. I’m proud of Ruby and Sapphire, and Garnet. Though I won’t benefit from this normalcy, I know for sure current kids will. It’s an essential step in history, I just know it.

Also, “Stronger Than You” is a fantastic song and I confess to singing it out loud when I’m home alone.

This #MVPride guest post was contributed by Allison V. Lewis. Thanks Allison!

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