There are several unanswered mysteries from the old days of the Pokémon anime that persist to this day, yet there are false reports circulating that claim that one of them has been solved. We're here to debunk the reports that Professor Ivy from the Pokémon anime was a lesbian, which is why Brock left her and returned to Ash's side.
The delay of Pokémon Gold & Silver required the Pokémon anime to include a filler season. This led to the creation of the Orange Islands arc, where Ash competed in the Orange League and claimed his first major victory as a Pokémon Trainer. It was during this story arc that Brock left the show, as he decided to stay with the beautiful Professor Ivy on Valencia Island. Brock later returns to Ash and he never discusses why things never worked out with Professor Ivy. This has led to a number of theories over the years, but no definitive reason has ever been given.
Several websites have reported that this decades-old Pokémon mystery has an answer. A Twitter user claimed that Takeshi Shudo confirmed Professor Ivy was a lesbian in the Pokémon novels or his official blog, which people have taken as gospel without researching further.
Takeshi Shudo wrote two Pokémon novels, which focused on fleshing out his vision of the Pokémon world. Fan translations of these novels can be found online and there are no mentions of Professor Ivy in either book. The story only gets as far as the battle against Lt. Surge before concluding and it never comes close to reaching the Orange Islands.
Takeshi Shudo did have an extensive blog, where he discussed plans for the Pokémon anime that never made it to the screen. In order to find out more, we reached out to Dr. Lava on Twitter. Dr. Lava has translated a number of obscure pieces of Pokémon media over the years and he has produced many excellent articles and videos on Pokémon lore. Dr. Lava has read Shudo's blog in the past, and he had never encountered any mention of Professor Ivy's sexuality. This isn't something that would be easily missed, as it's information that answers one of the oldest mysteries of the Pokémon anime, as well as confirming (even unofficially) that the series had an LGBTQ character hiding in plain sight.
There is a reason why Brock left Professor Ivy, but it's a meta one. The reason why Brock left the anime and was replaced by Tracey was that the creators thought his design might be racist. The creators of the Pokémon anime never expected it to become an international success and they grew concerned that Brock's design could be perceived as racist, so they brought Tracey in to replace him. This caused a backlash from the fans and Brock was brought back for the Johto seasons. The entire Professor Ivy situation was caused by a need to remove Brock from the show and to bring him back, which was turned into a running joke. The writers likely never thought that people would still be wondering about the mystery all these years later.
If conclusive proof that Professor Ivy is gay is presented, then we will gladly retract this article. Until then, we can only conclude that this rumor only comes from the enthusiasm of fans and is not backed by anything substantial.