"Sesame Street" Celebrated Pride, And This Homophobic Site Flipped Out
Last week, beloved children's show Sesame Street celebrated Pride month with a sweet tweet showing Elmo and his rainbow-colored pals standing in solidarity with LGBT families.
The supportive message was retweeted thousands of times, with old and new fans alike expressing appreciation for the inclusive program.
IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! pic.twitter.com/ZIK52AKO6r
— ShePersisted (@fandomglam) June 24, 2017
This may be my favorite tweet from you ever. I love you @sesamestreet as I have literally my entire life. ?
— Elayne C. Burke (@chatelainedc) June 23, 2017
It's nice to see positivity when there is so much negativity in the world.
— Ｍａｒｓ ?️? (@Awkwarotl) June 23, 2017
You guys have made so many childhoods. ❤️
Despite all the positive feedback, there were of course some who blasted the kid's show for sharing content they didn't feel was family-friendly.
One of the ring leaders of this hate brigade was the conservative LifeSite, a news blog that celebrates "the social worth of traditional Judeo-Christian principles."
Their main critique of the tweet was that it abandoned "any notion of childhood innocence" as it promoted "the politicization and sexualization of kids" and forced children to "take sides in a political war... they have no chance of understanding."
"It used to be that the Muppets were sexually non-ideological because, let’s face it, Muppets don’t exist from the waist down," the piece concluded. "They were nothing more than child-friendly characters."
"But in the current climate where what exists below the waist is no longer indicative of sexual identity, where sexual identity can be a figment of one’s imagination having nothing to do with either nature or natural law, Sesame Street is able to emerge as a natural promoter for LGBT ideology."
While LifeSite clearly views this as a negative thing, one fan perfectly summed up why the nonbinary nature of the Muppets has always been an empowering aspect of the show.
The thing I liked most about the characters/muppets was that I never was under pressure to assign genders to any of them.
— Semiotic Hatpin (@semiotic_pirate) June 24, 2017
Or color, or ethnicity, or nationality. It was great. Any one of them could be me, or I them.
— Semiotic Hatpin (@semiotic_pirate) June 24, 2017
And the people that were differentiated (or played by humans) were diverse and working together w/o acrimony
— Semiotic Hatpin (@semiotic_pirate) June 24, 2017
