Disney has made some (slow) strides over the last few years to include more LGBTQ-inclusive material in its various shows. In 2014, Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie aired an episode that featured a lesbian couple bringing their kid over for a play date, and Gravity Falls’ final episode confirmed that two of its recurring characters were in a same-sex relationship. (Creator Alex Hirsch had previously expressed his desire to include more gay and diverse characters in the fan-favorite show.)
Now, Mashable reports that Disney XD has featured its first same-sex kiss (and the first same-sex kiss ever for a Disney cartoon), as part of last week’s episode of Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil. The episode in question sees Star and her friend Marco travel to a boy band concert; the band’s crooning romanticism is so overwhelming that couples in the audience quickly begin to kiss. (Not Star and Marco, though: Sorry, shippers.) The episode doesn’t make a big deal out of it, but there are several kissing couples drawn as same-sex, or otherwise not identified explicitly as heterosexual, all blissfully making out on a Disney Channel show without the nation’s children immediately murdering their parents in an outburst of hedonistic, decadent self-expression. Who knew?