Thu. August 11, 2011
New York City -
The Children's Television Workshop, creators of Sesame Street, came out on Facebook on Thursday and said that Bert and Ernie are not gay.
Sesame Street was responding to an online petition on change.org asking that the longtime roommates get married.
"Bert and Ernie are best friends," Sesame Street said on Facebook. "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation."
"We are not asking Sesame Street to do anything crude or disrespectful," said Lair Scott on his change.org petition. "It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different."
Scott also has a petition to convince show producers to "Out Bert and Ernie as Gay."
The petitions on Change.org don't stop with Scott's, now there is a "Leave Bert and Ernie alone" petition and a "Stop Pressuring PBS to make Bert and Ernie Gay" petition.
For the complete article (non-reader view with multimedia and original links),
Tap here.
Head to the local LGBTQ news, events, directory and people network at ChicagoPride.com