Frog and Toad are Gay

 That's right. Your favorite children's book authors? Gay. Beloved book characters, Frog and Toad? Gay. They were putting chemicals in the water that turned the freaking frogs gay.

two frogs on a flower. one has an arm over the other

Ok, jury is out on if the frogs were gay. But Arnold Lobel, author and illustrator of the wonderful Frog and Toad book series was gay! He came out later in his life, almost twenty years after getting married and having two kids. He separated from his wife shortly afterwards. “I think ‘Frog and Toad’ really was the beginning of him coming out,” his daughter Adrianne said in a 2016 interview. Frog and Toad All Year was dedicated to James Marshall, another gay author and illustrator, famous for the George and Martha books. Soon after, Lobel met his partner Howard Weiner. Lobel died just a few years later at age 54 from AIDS-related complications.

His books remain popular because of their queerness, really. Frog and Toad have a loving, anxious, intimate relationship that a lot of us find really relatable. There's a subtle humor to a lot of the stories that still make us smile as adults. The illustrations have this lovely warm color palette that's soothing to look at. And of course, Lobel was totally ahead of the cottagecore trend. Running away to the woods with my spouse and getting sick on too many cookies sounds pretty good to me.

What do you think, are Frog and Toad gay? Maybe the art I've done of them will convince you, if you aren't already.

- Jasper

a gif of a a studio ghibli scene of a leaf going over a waterfall

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.