Chucky, Queer Icon?

During Pride Month, it can seem as if their faces are everywhere: Madonna, James Baldwin, Elton John, Judy Garland, Grace Jones, Bea Arthur. The well of queer icons is as deep as it is colorful. But how about Chucky, the homicidal redhead doll?

Chucky, the killer doll who first appeared in the 1988 horror film “Child’s Play,” was thrust into the L.G.B.T.Q. spotlight this month when Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, displayed a banner on its home screen advertising a collection of queer-themed movies and TV shows. The image included the demonic doll, as well as the evergreen gay icons Cher and Alan Cumming, beside the words “Amplifying LGBTQIA+ Voices.”

Through the years, viewers have come to learn quite a bit about the horror movie character, watching him navigate companionship (“Bride of Chucky”) and parenthood (“Seed of Chucky”). But many seem to have been taken by surprise that he was also a queer ally.

In the first season of the TV series “Chucky,” one of several “queer horror” offerings in Peacock’s Pride collection, the doll reveals to Jake, a gay teenager who bought him at a yard sale, that he has his own queer, gender-fluid child.

“You’re cool with it?” Jake asks.

“I’m not a monster, Jake,” the doll responds. Chucky, it seems, is a PFLAG parent.

Also inSeason 1 of the TV show, Chucky is living his life — including his sex life — in a woman’s body, and he remarks on how interesting it has been. Chucky has broadened his sexual horizons.