Velma Dinkley’s fans had been speculating for decades now but her creators refused to allow her to really come into her own. Finally, all speculation has been put to rest and Velma Dinkley is ready to show up as a lesbian. But it was not really a shocking revelation to her fans, who had long assumed that she was a lesbian icon.
However, the long-running franchise has finally acknowledged her sexuality for the first time in the recent movie “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!”, thrilling many fans though they do claim to be a trifle disappointed that it took so long for Velma to step out of the closet.
In the 2002 and 2004 live-action movies, Velma was portrayed by Linda Cardellini, who subsequently voiced her for the “Scooby-Doo 2! Monsters Unleashed” video game and “Robot Chicken”. The 2009 live-action film “Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins” and the 2010 sequel “Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster” featured Hayley Kiyoko as Velma. The 2018 direct-to-video film “Daphne & Velma” featured Sarah Gilman playing the young Velma. But the change becomes apparent only if you are a keen follower of Velma’s story from the beginning.
As the crime-fighting heroine in 100s of Scooby-Doo cartoons and movies for decades, Velma Dinkley was perfect material to show up as a lesbian. And when Warner Bros made two live-action Scooby-Doo movies in the early 2000s and the screenwriter James Gunn wanted to depict her as a gay lesbian too, the studio was not ready for the transition.
Although Velma flirted and briefly dated Johnny Bravo in a '90s cartoon crossover, her romantic feelings were rarely as central to the plot as other characters said. According to Matthew Lippe, who runs the very popular Scooby Doo History account on Twitter, “the fact that she dates doesn’t feel natural for both of them” in “Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated." She has been shown to be more interested in women in recent shows and movies, so it is definitely not something that is coming out of the blue.
Velma relates to a common struggle that many people have experienced since she is the clever, awkward person who usually leads the gang in the right direction but does not receive as much credit as the others. That is one of the main reasons why she is popular among Scooby Doo fans.
Now that all that talk of speculating about her sexuality is finally over, we can move on and enjoy some more great movies and shows - with Velma in her new avatar.
However, coming out as LGBT is an outlier news item, not a norm. A few years ago when CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, came out as gay, he regretted he could not do it earlier. The society certainly has been transitioning into a more inclusive and egalitarian society.