Photo Credit: Rosaline/Hulu

Today Hulu debuts Rosaline, an animated fairy tale short film written by acclaimed children’s author Daniel Errico. The short depicts the adventures of Rosaline as she travels through the woods to gather a picnic for her sweetheart and the obstacles she overcomes in her quest – a conniving witch, a threatening wolf, and a fairy godmother. The Fosters’ star Teri Polo (Stef Adams Foster) narrates the story. The story is also available as a Kindle ebook.

Hulu previously released another animated short of another of Errico’s stories, The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived, which followed pumpkin farmer Cedric as he trained to fulfill his dream of becoming a Knight. During his training, he fought a dragon and saved two kidnapped royal siblings in the process. Upon their return to the Kingdom, Cedric and the Prince marry and Cedric finally gets his fairy tale ending.

“Children’s media is about finding a nurturing way to teach kids about the world around them. To me, that includes showing all forms of love and identity in a positive light. Our job is to foster children’s wonderful, natural ability to accept themselves and others,” said Errico.

LGBT representation in all-ages programming is incredibly important and has slowly picked up over the past few years. Nickelodeon’s Legend of Korra revealed that two of its main characters, Korra and Asami, were in love as the show came to a close in 2014, and Disney Channel introduced its first lesbian couple in an episode of Good Luck Charlie in 2014. Cartoon Network’s hit animated series Steven Universe includes fan favorite alien superhero Garnet, who is the physical form of two female-presenting Gem beings who are in love.

Steven Universe creator Rebecca Sugar announced in April  that a children’s book about the love story between Ruby and Sapphire – the Gems who fused to create Garnet – would be published later this year. These stories help LGBT youth to recognize they are not alone and their identity is valid, as well as accelerating acceptance among their peers leading to an ultimately safer environment for LGBT young people.