Perhaps it’s trite to say that “representation matters,” but some things are cliché because they’re true. The first time I ever saw lesbians onscreen was when my high school’s Gay Bisexual Straight Alliance played part of the first scene of the original L Word series. (The “sweet little figs” scene, in case you were wondering—the girls who get it get it.) Even so, it wasn’t until years later, when I first saw Blue Is the Warmest Color , that I actually found a queer story that reminded me of my own. The Baby-Sitters Club is a middle grade series of novels written by Ann M. Martin (and later some ghost writers) and published by Scholastic. If somehow you’re here and you don’t know, The Baby-Sitters Club follows a group of middle school best friends: Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey, Claudia, and Dawn. Later, other members are added to that club, but that’s our core group. Martin started the series in 1985 with the novel Kristy’s Great Idea, in which everyone’s favorite tomboy, Kristy Thomas, comes up with the idea to start a babysitting club with her friends. Needless to say, it was, in fact, a great idea, and the rest is history. Think I’m the only one on the internet celebrating the queerness of The Baby-Sitters Club? That’s just not so! For instance, I absolutely loved this post from The Niche in which all 131 Baby-Sitters Club books are ranked by gayness. Would I have ranked Mallory Hates Boys (and Gym) and Kristy + Bart = ?a touch higher on the queerness scale? Sure. But it’s still a good list! Well, obviously, Kristy’s a lesbian,” another BSC fan wrote on The Hairpin in an article speculating where the club members would be now. “She and her partner, Tori, started up a gay softball league when they moved to Baltimore in 1999, which Kristy coaches. Reminds her of her old days with The Krushers! I guess now we know how she really felt aboutBart.” We all knew how Kristy really felt about Bart.