I recently read a post on a Swedish parenting website from an irate mother complaining that, when she took her young son to see a children's film, an ad was shown featuring a gay couple telling each other: "I love you." Irate Mother says: "This is not something kids should be subjected to." I, on the other hand, am extremely grateful for the inclusive nature of Swedish advertising – thanks to it this boy now has some hope of growing up less bigoted than his mum. Sadly, however, he's unlikely to see any representations of LGBT relationships in the children's movies he watches.

The Disney Channel recently made headlines by featuring a lesbian family in kids' show Good Luck Charlie, but the closest Disney have got to an LGBT feature-film family is Frozen's brief cutaway to a father and kids in a sauna. In case you blinked and missed the tableau, this takes place at Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna. Many viewers feel it's implied that the sauna man is Oaken's gay partner, as Oaken calls, "Hello, family!" and waves at them. That's sweet, but surely it's time for some clear and open portrayals of LGBT parents in children's films, rather than ambiguous hints aimed at pacifying liberal-minded adults?

Last year I interviewed Kori Rae, Pixar producer and lesbian, and asked when we'll see a gay Pixar character. She replied: "The answer is, I don't know if there'll be a gay character. I hope so, I really hope we get to a place were we can do that."

With growing numbers of LGBT families across the world, aren't we are already at that place? The children interviewed for the Team Angelica short film Kids of Gay Parents Speak Out don't think their families are strange for being LGBT; but in order for other kids to realise that non-heteronormative families are as "normal" as any other, gay parents need to be given cultural and social visibility. Which means we need LGBT families to feature in ads, kids' books, Disney/Pixar movies – everywhere we see heterosexual parents.

When searching for gay parenting in kids' movies, I found the short film Family Restaurant, about a picky toothpick dispenser who thinks ketchup bottles shouldn't be allowed to date; he changes his tune after learning a valuable lesson from a little boy with two dads. It's a good film, but billed as "a media project for young children whose parents are lesbian or gay". I'm not saying these children don't need or deserve media made specifically for them, but it's straight parents and their children (like Irate Mother and son) who really need to see Family Restaurant. And they won't, because it's only shown at LGBT film festivals.

There is hope, however: Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy – featuring gay parents Ben and Cillian – is being adapted for the screen. Provided screenwriter Charlie Kaufman leaves the relationship intact, it looks like Hollywood will have its first family-film franchise featuring gay dads. Hopefully, this will prove we are in the right place for more LGBT representations in kids' movies, so that when Ellen DeGeneres stars in Finding Dory (Pixar's sequel to Finding Nemo, slated for release in 2016), maybe Dory will have a girlfriend? Or, at the very least, please can we have some gay seahorse parents as supporting characters? Flippers crossed.

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