the eternal debate

Until very recently, there was no way for English-speaking Sailormoon fans to directly confirm that Uranus and Neptune were to be perceived as lovers.

The matter is open to some amount of personal interpretation in the original anime, and relying on foreign translations would be of no help: not every country is faithful to the original where homosexual content (real or imagined) is concerned.

An Italian magazine published confirmation early on in 1998 ("...there can also be a homosexual love, in this case between two girls"), but that still comes out to a two-language hop with obvious room for distortion; also, some fans are reluctant to take the word of an unfamiliar source (especially when hard copies of the article would be difficult to come by).

Furthermore, Naoko Takeuchi explained that Haruka and Michiru were a couple to North American fans at the San Diego ComicCon in August 1998 (a writeup of the relevant portion is available at the World Shaking! shrine).

One would think that this would be enough. It's not; although the focus of SM fans in denial seems to have shifted from Haruka and Michiru to the Starlights, one still comes across the occasional fan who will insist otherwise, or simply not want to think about it, because our couple never actually come out and say what's going on. (Michiru actually states, at one point, that she isn't Haruka's girlfriend...Haruka appears quite surprised by this!)

English-speaking fans have a wide variety of choices when it came to deciding what manner of "not really a lesbian relationship" they can select. Many revolve around Haruka's own gender identity, which can be seen as either butch or just plain masculine; others draw from the tradition of close, intimate friendships between Japanese schoolgirls; still others adopt unfounded and poorly supported ideas about Uranus and Neptune's origins in the manga; some even resort to instinct and personal prejudice over anything else (often imposing Christian morality on a series that has very little to do with any of the YHVHist faiths.).

Below are some of these ideas, and refutations:

Haruka is or has been physically male in some way; either through hermaphroditism or through a past life (e.g. as "Prince Uranus").

Naoko's response: "Haruka has always been a girl, and always will be." Animerica does report that Naoko intends obvious gender polarity to some extent: "Uranus has the heart of a man, while Neptune is more girlish." This seems more like reference to a butch/femme relationship than any sort of comment on what genitals Haruka has or has had in the past.

Haruka and Michiru are simply close friends; lots of Japanese girls that age develop intimate friendships which ignorant Westerners see as lesbian.

It is true that not all of those relationships have a sexual component. However, the potential does exist:

[Naoko] said that in Japan, girls 16 and up go through a very emotional process so that such a relationship is possible. And when compared to the other 5 scouts (who are going to school) that, "...those two have a lot more free time." -- SOS: Comic-Con Report

She's not the only one who's noticed the possibility. Queer Japan, an anthology of first-person essays by Japanese gays, lesbians and bisexuals, has as a recurring theme intense friendships between schoolgirls which are either covers or triggers for same-sex relationships.

Haruka and Michiru might be lovers, but Uranus and Neptune aren't (or vice versa).

The series has never really made a distinction between mundane and Sailor personalities, apart from the unique case of Sailorsaturn. Usagi and Mamoru's relationship is not independent from Sailormoon and Tuxedo Kamen's, for example. Meetings of the Inners take place in mundane form. Even the Starlights remain internally consistent. There is no plausible reason why a relationship between H&M would not be carried over into transformed mode, and indeed we do find evidence for their relationship in both forms. (Michiru confesses her attraction to Haruka as Sailorneptune...)

Homosexuality is wrong, so the good guys in a children's television show wouldn't be homosexual.

While it is very likely that a DiC dub of SMS on (or any English dub geared for the American mass market) would eliminate all possible references to Haruka and Michiru's sexuality or relationship (among other things) to prevent protests from parents who follow some form of the above logic, that says nothing about the original series. Homosexuality is much more common in anime across the board, and is certainly not unheard of in children's programming.

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