"Errmmm... Ackshually... Lillith is canonically ace/aro... Her VA said it in a stream-"

" Errmmm... Ackshually... Stevonnie is nonbinary.... Sugar said it in a tweet...."

" Eeeerrrrmmmm... Ackshually, Kora and [I forgot her name sorry] ARE dating at the end of LOK...... They confirmed it in a tweet...."

I don't need to continue with the examples because you can already spot the problem. Notice how Lillith's, Kora's, Stevonnie's, and [I forgor 💀] identities were confirmed OUTSIDE of the actual show, and not in the show itself. Usually this is done with LGBTQIA+ characters to avoid conservative backlash. If they do it like this then the studio or producers can say "Oh, it's not canon! It's not in the show directly!"

Lemme let you in on a dirty little secret in the cartoon industry. Cover your ears, hyperfandom.

Producers are constantly getting high off a pack.
And that pack is called their massive fucking ego.

LGBT representation standards are on the god damn floor and because of it, producers can make the sloppiest representation and it will be held up as ""revolutionary"". This is another reason why show faculty only reveal the character's identity outside of the show: Because it's quicker. As a surprise to nobody, cartoons take a long time to make.  A very. Long. Time. Usually by the time something gets publicly announced it has been in the works for a year or two. Maybe three. Seasons aren't made like "Season one created, air it, start creating season 2" (or at least aren't supposed to). What usually happens is
• Season 1, 2, 3 created
• Season 1, 2, 3, air
• while season 1, 2, 3, air, staff starts making season 4, 5, and the final season. Last 3 seasons are done/close to done by the time seasons 123 are completed airing.
Yeah, sure, you can confirm your character as pansexual in the show, but you're working on season 5 and you're currently airing season one. It's gonna be at least two years before the episode you're writing airs!

Or

You can confirm the character is pansexual on tumblr instantly, recieve praise and never expand on it in the show just incase of backlash.

Guess which one is more appealing to ego driven producers.

Now before you say: "But Madi! Rebecca was working with CN! There's no way she was gonna be direct with representation when the studio had a stick up their ass about gay people in 2014!"

There's a show called 6Teen.
This is Jean.
This episode aired around 2005.

YES. THEY. COULD.
REBECCA. ABSOLUTELY. COULD.
6TEEN HAS THE SAME AGE DEMOGRAPHIC AS STEVEN UNIVERSE.
IT RAN ON CARTOON NETWORK.
WHY DOES ALL OF OUR REPRESENATION NEED TO BE CLOAKED IN LAYERS OF ALLEGORY AND VAGUERY WHEN 9 YEARS AGO THIS WAS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

AND LET ME JUST TOUCH ON ACE/ARO PEOPLE REALLY QUICK—

Look
Imma be real with yall
A lack of romance does not translate to asexuality. I know why ace people do it, because they have little to no representation. And when you're starved for representation, it makes the tiniest crumbs look like steak. You deserve actual. Canonical. Asexual representation. This goes for Nonbinary people too, and Demigenders, and all the other not-as-well known identities.

We deserve real. Clear as day. Representation. And not just specifically the villains, aliens, and monster characters. (I'll just assume you'll see the problem when only the villains/monsters/literal fucking aliens are queer coded, and not a human adjacent character or a good guy)

We.
Deserve.
Better.
Representation.