Sesame Street guys Bert and Ernie are not gay – among other things they are not, and these are many. This fact was brought to public notice due to an online petition that, following the state of New York legalizing same-sex marriages, proceeded to discuss whether the Sesame Street favorites should jump at the chance to get married as well.
The petition that collected more than 8,000 signatures appealed to a further lesson of tolerance and “saving many worthy lives” through a puppet marriage conducted “in a tasteful way,” assuring that no disrespect or crudeness have been intended.
This outbreak caused the Sesame Workshop to respond posting an official statement on its Facebook page last Thursday, reminding the petitioners that Bert and Ernie are only Muppets divorced from many human issues.
The Workshop accentuated that these characters had been created for a show aimed at preschool children to let them understand the fact that difference does not necessarily means animosity. So, in spite of their manifesting some male identifiers – the way other Sesame Street characters are represented as male or female Muppets – they are basically puppets to whom any sexual life related realities are inapplicable.
Source of the image: Newsfeed.
