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Learning the ABC’s and how to hide cookies from the Cookie Monster. But, how about gay marriage as a topic on the PBS children's show, "Sesame Street"?
An online petition through Change.org is calling for producers to allow Bert and Ernie to tie the knot. With more than one thousand signatures, the petition recognizes what some have called the characters’ questionable sexuality. Supporters call it the perfect opportunity to illustrate a new life lesson: tolerance. Here's the call from Change.org:
“In this horrific age of LGBT kids taking their own lives, they need to know they are beautiful and their lives are worth living... Let us teach tolerance of those that are different. Let Sesame Street and PBS Kids be a big part in saving many worthy lives.”
It’s in scenes where Bert and Ernie “bicker and cuddle” that left many to wonder if the creator, Jim Henson, wanted to imply a gay relationship between the characters. For years, the Children’s Television Workshop has consistently denied the rumors.
An editorial for the The New York Daily News says the show’s audience is too young to be exposed to issues concerning adults.
“But some stages of life - for example, the years from 2 to 4 - must be walled off from the passions of adults... The only hands Henson ever intended to go up Ernie’s horizontally striped shirt, or Bert’s vertically striped one, were human puppeteers’.”
Still, the show has tackled tough issues before. As The Washington Post points out:
“Sesame Street has always been considered a show that brings a progressive message to children, having touched on topics like race, AIDS, death and self-acceptance over the years. Petitioners say the time is now right to add homosexuality to that list.”
Transcript by Newsy.