This is a piece that was knocking around my head since the announcement about Shiro from Voltron: Legendary Defenders for season 7 and I finally managed to get it done, so I’ll allow myself to be a lil sappy about it for a minute.

I grew up not really knowing anything about LGBT and didn’t much realize it was a thing until I had not-dial-up internet in middle school. Being a weird kid who was bullied ruthlessly, I didn’t really have anything except for comics, cartoons, and RP to turn to for escape, especially with an extremely volatile home life. I watched a lot of shonen anime and western action/adventure cartoons and I know I would’ve died to have Voltron on as a kid.

When I heard Shiro was going to be canonly gay, I felt an unexplainable happiness about it that I still don’t know how to put into words. Animation means so much to me and it’s led me to my degree and now career. I can’t help but think how life would have been different, better, if I got to see LGBT people in media I loved. I’m 26 now and only now just beginning to feel comfortable with my sexuality and gender identity. It’s been an heinously difficult road and to see “yourself”, in a way, in a show you love, that you know kids who are like you were at that age, gives me hope that other kids won’t have to struggle as much growing up.

I just wanted to draw something that encapsulates some of those feelings when words are hard to put together for it.