Earlier this year, the educational children's animated television show Arthur, debuted for their 22nd season with a huge controversy. Lakewood Elementary's third grade teacher, Mr. Ratburn, married his partner, Patrick, in the show's first gay wedding.

It was a reminder that PBS kids' programs were created to teach children about diversity across the world.

As for the wedding, it was a giant leap for all animated children's programs and should be considered a beautiful way to help teach children that may be confused about themselves, or those that feel all alone that it is ok to be yourself, no matter what.

Mr. Ratburn is not the first openly gay cartoon character and he will not be the last. But as the world continues to adapt to diversity, we forget that some of our favorite character have been gay all along. In fact, most of us have even forgotten about these characters'  sexual orientation.

20 Maggie Sawyer (Superman: The Animated Series)

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In 1988, DC Comics released Action Comics Volume One, number 600, which featured stories involving Superman and Wonder Woman. One of the Superman stories features Maggie Sawyer, the Captain of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, which is a group that handles crimes when Superman is not available.

She would eventually realize privately that she was a lesbian but hide it from the force for obvious reasons until she eventually came out openly. She remains one of the first openly gay characters in mainstream comic books history.

19 Stephen Stotch (South Park)

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South Park is a dangerous show to talk about when referring to gay cartoon characters because of how they have been portrayed. However, the one character from the show that many people often forget is Stephen Stotch, Butters father.

He is actually bisexual and over time, those repressed feelings could no longer be held back and he had no choice but to be honest with himself and his family— in a very funny way that only South Park can pull off.

18 Oaken (Frozen)

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This might come as a shock to you but one of the characters from Disney's blockbuster film, Frozen, just might be gay. Oaken, the owner of the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna, has one scene in the film, but it features a moment that most people missed.

While introducing Anna and Christoff to his family, we are shown a grown man, and a bunch of kids, hanging out in the hot tub. It is almost a certainty that the man was his husband, otherwise, why even feature the man in the first place?

17 Gobber (How To Train Your Dragon 2)

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Craig Ferguson is the voice for Gobber the Belch, from the How To Train Your Dragon film series. Although it was never a big deal when the second film in the series came out, there was one line that many people missed where Globber mentions that settling down with a woman was never in the cards for him. He even hints later on in the film about it.

Craig Ferguson added some extra lines in the film that openly gay director Dean DeBlois decided to keep. This has led to questions, of course, which Dean has answered and confirmed already.

16 Harley Quinn (Batman)

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For years, fans of Harley Quinn have been waiting for the official confirmation that she was, in fact, a bisexual, and not just love drunk for the Joker. The comics teased about it for awhile until they finally crossed over the line and gave the fans what they wanted by including the first real in-canon kiss between Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

This opens up an entire world of possibilities for the future of Margot Robbie's adaptation of the hot, young vixen on-screen.

15 Aunt Holiday & Auntie Lofty (My Little Pony)

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In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty are both ponies, obviously, but they are also involved in a lesbian relationship, which can be kind of awkward given the fact that they are ponies and not human beings.

But when a majority of your fan base shares similar sexual orientation feelings, it was only a matter of time before the show started appealing to their audience.

14 Fox (Gargoyles)

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We are featuring Fox, who was born Janine Renard, not only because she is bisexual but because the entire Gargoyles show is stacked with people who are gay, bisexual, and asexual. Outside of Fox, the shows creator has revealed that Lexington is also gay, but has yet to realize it.

Puck is also a bisexual and Owen is the lone asexual. Demona could even be bisexual, but Greg Weismann has never revealed if that were true or not.

13 Sailor Neptune (Sailor Moon)

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Sailor Neptune is the perfect example of what many people think anime is. She is a beautiful young schoolgirl that is drawn with a mini skirt and high heels. Everything about her makes us believe she is supposed to tease the audience, mostly the men, and get them buying into the Sailor Moon product.

However, as it turns out, she is a lesbian that is involved in a relationship with Haruka, which was all confirmed by Takeuchi, the creators of Sailor Moon.

12 Ren & Stimpy (Ren & Stimpy)

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Although you will never get an official confirmation about their relationship, Ren and Stimpy were always assumed to be homosexual partners who lived together and even shared the same tiny bed every night.

There are many other clues that lead us to believe they really were a couple including that time where they discussed a planned wedding or that time they had a child together.

11 Marceline The Vampire Queen (Adventure Time)

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The revelation that Marceline the Vampire Queen was actually a lesbian ended up becoming a huge controversy in the Adventure Time community. After the episode "What Was Missing" revealed that Princess Bubblegum and Marceline had been in a previous relationship, the show's producer, Fred Seibert, decided to backtrack.

He ended up apologizing for the storyline and even pulled down the YouTube video that revealed the two kissing. It hurt the show's liberal fan base by making people feel as if that was wrong.

10 Rick Sanchez (Rick And Morty)

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Justin Roiland, co-creater and executive producer for Adult Swim's number one show today, Rick and Morty, has come out and confirmed that Rick Sanchez, one of the show's main characters, is pansexual.

Although Justin does not try to hide the fact that Rick is pansexual, he also does not go out of his way to demonstrate it. If you did not watch the show all the time, you would probably never even realize it.

9 Agent Ohio (Red Vs. Blue)

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The surprisingly successful Halo animated series, Red Vs. Blue, featured several freelance agents including Agent Ohio, who became best known as "Oh" throughout the series.

During the 22nd episode of the 14th season, they did reveal that Agent Ohio was in fact, a lesbian, becoming the first confirmed LGBT character in the entire series.

8 Shannon Glaser (Big Mouth)

Not all of our characters have reached the point where they can comfortably talk about their sexual orientation. Shannon Glaser from the shockingly good Netflix series, Big Mouth, is the mother of one of the shows main characters, Jessi. Although Shannon is still married to Jessi's father, she is secretly dating another woman.

Shannon's love interest, whom she is having the affair with, is Cantor Dina Reznick, who shows up randomly throughout the series.

7 Gangstalicious (The Boondocks)

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How many times do you see a hardcore rapper pretend to be straight when he is, in actuality, a closet homosexual, like Gangstalicious, whose name should tell us all we need to know?

The secret does not become public until one of his exes, Jessica Ethelberg, ends up writing a book where she talks about it and confirms to his fans that it is true.

6 Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)

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There are not many animated shows that continue to air new episodes that can get away with the political digs and constant jokes about the world's most important people like Family Guy.

For years, one of the show's main characters, Stewie Griffin, has been assumed to be homosexual but was never confirmed until earlier this year when Seth MacFarlane finally decided it was time. Stewie's big reveal episode became one of the best ever.

5 Waylon Smithers (The Simpsons)

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If you do not already think that human beings are human beings and we should all treat each other the same, regardless of sexual orientation, then you might be in the wrong place. You can either adapt to the changing world around you or go back into hiding.

After 27 years, The Simpsons finally did adapt by having Mr. Smithers come out as gay, after years of teasing around the idea that he might be. In 2016, they finally did it and many fans probably missed it.

4 Pam Poovey (Archer)

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There is a specific audience that loves Archer, and we are one of them. Not only is the show hilarious, it features very subtle jabs at our current society, especially the government and secret agencies. One of the main characters on the show is Pam Poovey, the former Human Resources Director at ISIS (No, not that other group).

Pam loved to use a dolphin hand puppet to help mediate while working in H.R. and was eventually beaten with it by Sterling. Her bisexuality is something only true fans know about, or even remember.

3 Terry Kimple (The Cleveland Show)

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The Cleveland Show introduces us to a whole new world of characters including Terry Kimple, one of Cleveland's oldest friends. He used to be a baseball player and has a family of his own. He is always confused about whether or not he is bisexual but he does not pretend to be straight.

He eventually marries the love of his life, Paul, and is not afraid to admit that he is his boyfriend prior to the marriage.

2 Herb Kazzaz (Bojack Horseman)

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Without going into details about the plot of Bojack Horseman, all you need to know is that the show is set in a world that features both humans and anthropomorphic animals who all live in harmony, including Bojack.

Bojack's former best friend, Herb Kazzaz, was the creator of Bojack's old hit show, Horsin' Around. After Herb was caught with another man, the media boycotted the show and he admitted he was gay to Bojack.

1 Foxxy Love (Drawn Together)

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From what we can gather, Foxxy Love is either bisexual or pansexual. There is no definitive answer to that question, but we do know that she does not have a problem being with other women.

She has never tried to hide her bisexuality, and prefers men, but has not turned down a chance to go after characters like Clara, among other females on the show. .