Posted on 08/11/2011 11:26:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
An online petition that has amassed more than 4,000 signatures is calling on producers of venerable children's show "Sesame Street" to have Bert and Ernie tie the knot.
The change.org petition, started by Lair Scott on August 4, insists that "Sesame Street" can help teach children about "the tolerance of those that are different."
"We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful. Only that they allow Bert & Ernie to marry or even add a transgender character to the show," the petition reads.
Producers of the show say Bert and Ernie, two male characters who have shared an apartment and bedroom for decades, will not be getting married to each other or anyone else.
"Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics ... they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation," Sesame Workshop said Thursday in a statement to The Christian Post.
"Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves."
As of Friday morning, at least 4,391 people had signed on to support the push for the non-profit PBS program to introduce the issue of homosexuality to children.
A Facebook page linked to the petition, entitled "Let Bert & Ernie Get Married On Sesame Street," had also attracted more than 2,000 supporters.
Comments were mixed on both change.org and Facebook, with some responders applauding the petition's push for "equal rights" and others wondering about the wisdom of introducing sexuality on a children's program.
A user on change.org identified as Heather Davis expressed support for gay rights, but added, "I dont feel like its right to let little kids watch it... If you get older and decide you are LGBT then that is your choice but to instill it in children is wrong..."
An oppositional petition had also been launched on change.org and had only gained about 50 signatures by Thursday morning.
According to the program's website, "Sesame Street" is "the place where multiethnic, multigenerational, and even multispecies residents coexist in harmony."
The show, on the air since 1969, starts its 42nd season September 26, 2011.
Tax dollars at work.
Fools.
Uh, but that IS crude and disrespectful.
Besides, the rubber ducky will get jealous.
They have already said NO to this.
Furries.
Where do you find Scott's lair....? Oh...it's right behind him.
The founders of NAMBLA must be proud. What was once abhorrent — pushing the homo agenda onto children — is now viewed by many as “healthy.”
Sorry, but there are no tax dollars being used to establish a Facebook group to petition that Bert and Ernie take the next step in their relationship and get married.
I was referring to PBS. :)
For the last 42 years, Bert and Ernie have been monogamous, well except for that one night where Bert got drunk and had the misfortune of passing out right by Grover’s trash can.
Cool - the very next week PBS will lose their federal funding and the new 'in your face' Sesame Street will be yesterday's memory... as only obscure cable channels will buy the series...
It's a twofer - we dump PBS from the feeding troth and a liberal show for kids at the same time....
Wait, but we’re all told that homosexuality is not a choice. So if the muppets weren’t CREATED that way, how can the producers CHOOSE to make them gay??
This is going to ruin, i mean outright ruin all the fun jokes that used to be made about all the innuendo surrounding Bert and Ernie’s “relationship”. How can comedians continue make jokes concerning Bert and Ernie with innuendo.
How funny is a joke about how Bert and Ernie possibly being gay if they have already been “merried”.
Won’t someone think of the comedians?
As a child, I hated Sesame Street; I just knew there was something inherently wrong and un-American about it. As I grew older, I could see the in the multiculturalism of that show the influence of communists and other collectivists. Disgusting.
“I could see the in the multiculturalism..”
In what ways is Sesame Street multicultural?
the same perverts with regards to batman and robin.
bert and ernie are the two brothers who share a room.
these are PUPPETS for a children’s show.
what next? wife swapping charaters? Gruff the leather fetish puppet?
Perhaps they need an adult novelty store on sesamee street to give the lost city of detroit feel to the area.
these people are just plain sick for trying to steal the childhood from children.
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