Steven Universe fans are aware that the large-and-in-charge Gem known as Garnet is actually a fusion of two Gems named Ruby and Sapphire, who would later have the first same-sex wedding to be featured on a Cartoon Network series. This was a historic moment for television and Cartoon Network, one that series creator Rebecca Sugar will never forget.
"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,” Sugar told The Los Angeles Times. While Steven Universe received push-back throughout the years for its inclusion of LGBTQ elements, Ruby and Sapphire's on-screen marriage changed all that.
"It was at that time [when the episode received the go-ahead from the network] that the final decision was made that we would no longer be getting bigoted notes," Sugar exclaimed. "That everything that a heteronormative couple could do on the show, this queer couple could do. That was it. And it also applied to every other [Cartoon Network] show."
Beginning in 2013, Steven Universe found great success on Cartoon Network, producing 160 episodes and a feature-length film. The official series ended in Jan. 2019 with a follow-up limited series, Steven Universe Future, premiering in Dec. 2019.
New episodes of Steven Universe Future air Fridays at 7 p.m. ET on Cartoon Network. The hour-long series finale will air on March 27.