Pokemon Fans Are Only Just Learning Squirtle Is Gay
The world of Pokemon is a sometimes colourful place, but in the 26 years since the franchise first came the Game Boy, it's not exactly known for flying the rainbow flag. Or has it? Now, some fans are joking it's taken them nearly three decades to realise Squirtle is gay.
With Pokemon largely split into the male or female gender, it's not as easy to throw them all in a box and say every male Clefairy is gay or every female Machamp is a lesbian, but still, it's fun to speculate. What about Squirtle, though? And by this, we mean Ash Ketchum's Squirtle, who became a fan-favourite of the anime.
Is Ash's Squirtle Gay?
Recently, Twitter user @GoddamnItGavin shared the 1999 children's book called Come Out Squirtle. Branding it an "iconic piece of literature," they posted a shot of the front cover and a scene where a happy Squirtle stands under a rainbow. Without context, you could definitely imagine Squirtle telling this as his coming out story on RuPaul's Drag Race.
It's obvious that Squirtle is actually coming out of his shell. Still, it's gone viral that he's actually coming out of the closet - yaaaas kween, slay. Over on Good Reads, one reviewer explained the analogy of Coming Out Squirtle taking on a whole different meaning, as Jacob Thornburg wrote: "This is the story of Squirtle learning to stop being afraid and come out of his shell. His best friend is a dinosaur-like creature who is literally FLAMING. His tail has fire on it, is what I mean.
"Eventually, he learns to come out, and the first thing he sees is a rainbow. I don't ever think that there is a subtle agenda to stories written for children, but I'll let you draw your own conclusions about this one." Others jumped on the rainbow-coloured bandwagon and championed Squirtle to join the LGBTQ+ community. Someone else joked, "People saying pokemon cannot be gay in the replies, where is Mrs. Mime??? I rest my case." We refuse to hear about anything other than a queer Squirtle in main 'Mon canon.
Does Pokemon Have Any LGBTQ+ Characters?
Recently, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet grabbed headlines for sexually confusing players with Grusha, the ice-type leader of Glaseado Gym. It's the same when Pokemon Sun and Moon came out (pardon the pun and left a trail of angry responses due to the androgynous appearance of Melemele Island trail captain Ilima. Many think Pokemon is behind the times due to its lack of LGBTQ+ representation, but when one of the Pokemon Unite devs tweets a homophobic statement, what else do you expect?
With Pokemon largely being aimed at children, there hasn't been much of a push to introduce LGBTQ+ characters - presumably due to the outrage it would cause among parents who think it's "not right" to teach diversity. Still, it's funny to see bits of queer canon that have slipped through the cracks under the nose of homophobic placards. Come on, we're going to rally gay Squirtle, James from Team Rocket, and Jigglypuff, then march to Pokemon HQ for our own pride celebration.
