Sailor Moon is a popular Japanese animation of the 1990s that teaches lessons of acceptance, feminism, and friendship. I had drawn a picture of anime heroine Sailor Moon fighting villains, and the question was whether this was acceptable material for a child to be emulating. It was the day five year-old me was brought in for a parent/teacher conference regarding my interest in anime. Yet there was another incident in my kindergarten career that kept me in the closet, one separate but unexpectedly linked to the topic of my sexuality. My bisexuality was not necessarily revolutionary, but exhibits of same gender attraction were definitely unwelcome. Surely this experience is not unusual for American children, particularly those having grown up in small towns before the liberation of queer youth in the 2010s. I kissed a girl at recess and was scolded by my teacher, “girls shouldn’t kiss other girls on the lips.” (Note: If you read my name and are confused, this was 15 years pre-transition from female to male.) In contrast, the kisses I planted on boys at recess were acceptable. I was five years-old when I first entered the closet. Queer Representation in Anime Yuuri Katsuki in Yuri!!! on Ice ( source)
