That’s the thing that’s so exciting,” Sugar said.) “From the very beginning, one of my main goals was to find a way to create an interracial, queer-coded relationship that a whole generation of kids would see,” said Sugar, who identifies as nonbinary and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns. The Gems in “Steven Universe” are also nonbinary women - they are coded female and are referred to by feminine pronouns but are biologically sexless, as a Gem’s form is actually the physical manifestation of the magic in the respective gemstone. This means relationships among Gems are coded queer too. Gems’ ability to fuse expanded the possibilities for representation: One fusion represents a polyamorous relationship another is intersex and nonbinary. It turns out that Garnet is unlike the fusions deemed “acceptable” by the rigid Gem Homeworld: She is a fusion of two types of Gems, who are fused simply because they want to be together.įor Sugar, this story line is especially personal.īut Ruby and Sapphire’s love story is something special. Ruby and Sapphire are based on her and her husband, “ OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes” creator Ian Jones-Quartey.
Sugar’s commitment to getting Ruby and Sapphire’s story on TV stemmed from her firsthand understanding of how harmful it can be for queer youths to not see their experiences reflected in media.