As 2015 begins, let’s remember a milestone from the end of 2014 that was not LGBTQ specific but was notable for parents: Sesame Street turned 45 in November. I was two when it first aired, making me part of the first generation to grow up with the show. Decades later, I was thrilled to watch it with my son. They’ve been a pioneer of diversity in children’s television, unafraid to incorporate characters of various ethnicities, languages, and physical abilities. They had a multi-episode storyline with an adoptive single mother in 2006. Why then, have they still shown no clearly LGBTQ characters (rumors about Bert and Ernie notwithstanding)?
Perhaps they are thinking of the reaction to another PBS show that tried. In a 2005 episode of PBS Kids’ Postcards from Buster, produced by Boston’s WGBH, rabbit Buster visits Vermont to learn how maple-sugar and cheese are made. His tour guides are children from two different families, one of which is headed by two moms. Buster’s one comment on their family structure was, “That’s a lot of moms!” Nevertheless, U. S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings denounced the episode and asked the producers to return all federal funding. The conservative American Family Association launched a campaign to support her decision.
PBS pulled the episode. WGBH aired it, however, and 57 other stations, representing more than half of PBS viewers, chose to broadcast it. Producer Jeanne Jordan told the New York Times in 2006, however, that the controversy made it difficult to find funds for a second season.
The Buster episode aired, however, when marriage equality was barely a year old in Massachusetts, and not even on the horizon in most other states. Awareness and acceptance of LGBTQ-headed families has increased dramatically since then.
Sesame Street has not been afraid to have LGB people guest star. Guests have included Lance Bass, Margaret Cho, Ellen DeGeneres, Melissa Etheridge, Harvey Fierstein, Neil Patrick Harris, Martina Navratilova, and Rosie O’Donnell, among others—but it was never clear they were LGB. (They have had no transgender guests, to the best of my knowledge — but who else here thinks Laverne Cox would be an awesome choice?)
Not that every appearance by an LGBTQ person has to note that they are LGBTQ—but it seems a missed opportunity for education and representation if the show never mentions it. Would it really be that hard to have one of them bring a spouse/partner and/or their kids? Neil Patrick Harris, husband David Burtka, and their adorable twins come immediately to mind.
The show might also take the opportunity to explain different types of families in a simple, age-appropriate way. Alternatively, they could commit to ongoing inclusion by having a pair of moms or dads and their kids move in down the street from Oscar’s trash can. (Sure, Hooper’s Store might have to stock up on extra hummus and granola for the gals, but I bet they’d manage.) They could also have a child Muppet whom everyone at first assumes to be a boy, but who identifies as a girl (or vice versa). Cue Laverne Cox’s guest appearance to help the character learn to be herself. Of course, a Pride Parade down Sesame Street would be one of the Best Things Ever, but we can take things one step at a time.
Sesame Street maybe kinda sorta touched on a two-dad family in the 1982 segment, “We All Sing the Same Song,” which has two children singing, “I have one daddy . . . I have two.” Given the era, it remains unclear whether they were referring to gay dads or with a straight dad and a stepdad. Still, it’s a great song about family diversity to have on your playlist, along with Grover’s explanation of “What is marriage?”
A sign that things could be changing on children’s public television was the recent appearance of gay dad Brent Almond and his family in a promotional spot for the PBS Kids’ animated show Daniel Tiger. Almond, who blogs at Designer Daddy, talks in the spot about how the show lets his son see many different types of families—though he noted in a blog post afterwards that he has yet to see any LGBT characters on it or any other mainstream kids’ television cartoon.
Sure, the usual folks on the far right would likely make the usual objections to LGBTQ characters. But with marriage equality in well over half the country, iconic companies like Procter and Gamble, Chevrolet, and Coca-Cola backing LGBT equality, venerable women’s magazine Family Circle showing same-sex parents last October, and more people from celebrities to neighbors coming out every day, I think Sesame Street would find more support than scorn.
All children need to see themselves and their families represented in the media, including children of LGBTQ parents. LGBTQ children need to see themselves represented and to have models of what their lives could be like when they grow up. Other children need to see LGBTQ characters in order to learn more about the diversity of the world around them. If the mission of Sesame Workshop, which produces Sesame Street, is “to use the educational power of media to help all children reach their highest potential,” then they must include LGBTQ characters in the show. They’ve led the way in diversity before. They should do so again. Will 2015 be the year?
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