In 1930, the [[Hays Code]] was established, which regulated the content of films and prohibited the portrayal of homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Billheimer |first1=John |title=Hitchcock and the Censors |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=2019 |isbn=9780813177427 |pages=9–23 |chapter=Origins of the Code |doi=10.2307/j.ctvfjcx5v.4 |jstor=j.ctvfjcx5v.4 |s2cid=214143884}}</ref>
In animation, cartoon artists were able to portray the gender of characters in androgynous, asexual, and gender-fluid ways. Paul Wells and Patrick Brion argue that Jerry from the ''[[Tom & Jerry]]'' cartoons has been noted{{by whom?|date=September 2024}} to have an androgynous and even feminine design. The 1966 short "[[Jerry-Go-Round]]" has been interpreted{{ by whom?|date=SeptemberJo 2024}}Johnson as containing a coded [[lesbian]] relationship between Jerry and a female elephant, even though Jerry is male.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Jo |url=https://archive.org/details/queersinamerican0000unse/mode/2up |title=Queers in American Popular Culture Volume 1: Film and television |publisher=Praeger |year=2010 |isbn=9780313354571 |editor-last=Elledge |editor-first=Jim |volume=1 |___location=Santa Barbara, California |pages=256–257 |chapter="We'll Have A Gay Old Time!": Queer Representation in American Prime-Time Television from the Cartoon Short to the Family Sitcom |access-date=September 23, 2021 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/queersinamerican0000unse/page/246/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}</ref> Cade M. Olmstead, a philosopher, has argued that ''Tom and Jerry'' "subverts normalized gender and sexuality structures" through theatrical play and performance, transgressing the normal construction of gender.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=ugswork |title=Tom and Jerry: Performative Queerness in Action |last=Olmstead |first=Cade M. |date=2018 |website=Undergraduate Student Work |publisher=[[University of Northern Iowa]] |access-date=September 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200318122855/https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=ugswork |archive-date=March 18, 2020 |pages=1–8 |url-status=live}}</ref> "Queer coding" has also been observed in the ''[[Bugs Bunny]]'' cartoons.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Fisher |first1=Deborah A. |last2=Hill |first2=Douglas L. |last3=Grube |first3=Joel W. |last4=Gruber |first4=Enid L. |date=2007 |title=Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Content on Television: A Quantitative Analysis Across Two Seasons |journal=[[Journal of Homosexuality]] |volume=52 |issue=3–4 |pages=167–168 |doi=10.1300/J082v52n03_08 |pmid=17594976 |pmc=2000838 }}</ref>
In the late 1980s, villains in Disney films which were "queer coded" began to appear.<ref name="insidersnydes">{{cite web|last1=Snyder|first1=Chris|last2=Desiderio|first2=Kyle|url=https://www.insider.com/the-evolution-of-queer-characters-in-kids-animated-tv-shows-2021-6|title=The evolution of queer characters in children's animation|website=[[Insider (website)|Insider]]|date=June 29, 2021|access-date=July 1, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210701050407/https://www.insider.com/the-evolution-of-queer-characters-in-kids-animated-tv-shows-2021-6|archive-date=July 1, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> Commentary on the treatment of LGBT+ characters in film is made in the 1995 documentary ''[[The Celluloid Closet (film)|The Celluloid Closet]]'', and is one of the first instances in which the idea of queer coding is presented to the public.<ref>{{Cite book|jstor = 10.3366/j.ctt1bgzbtn.12|doi = |chapter = Youth, Realism and Form|last1 = Pullen|first1 = Christopher|title = Straight Girls and Queer Guys|year = 2016|pages = 147–168|isbn = 9780748694846}}</ref>
