knowhomo:

LGBTQ* Media, Programming and WTF?!

What Shows Are YOUR Children Watching?

- Rants about “lgbtq*” images in children’s programming 

— 1993: “The Purple Messiah” — Reverend Joseph Chambers accused BARNEY (the Purple Dinosaur) of being a cult leader of children, educating them on the lifestyle of “diversity” (which was Chambers’ word for homosexuality).

— 1994: Chambers tries to convince PBS and Public Broadcasting to REMOVE Bert and Ernie from SESAME STREET. “They are two grown men sharing a house and a bedroom. They share clothes, eat and cook together and have blatantly feminine characteristics.”

Children’s Television Workshop, SESAME STREET’s producing company, released this statement: (Bert and Ernie) Do not portray a gay couple and there are no plans for them to do so in the future. Like all Muppets created for SESAME STREET, they were designed to help educate pre-schoolers. Bert and Ernie are characters who help demonstrate to children, that despite their differences, they can be good friends.

— 1999:  Reverend Jerry Falwell warned parents about Tinky-Winky, the PURPLE Teletubby, because there were signs of his “homosexuality.” Falwell claimed that Tinky-Winky’s male voice, paired with his red magic bag (which Falwell called a handbag) and the purple triangle on his head were all symbols of a gay lifestyle.

— 2005:  James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder/leader, accuses the makers of SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS of creating a children’s show which promotes homosexual friendships and lifestyles. (This is brought forth after a gay rights group declares their enjoyment of the series.) 

Earlier in 2002, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS creator Hillenburg denies lead character is homosexual, stating he considers the Squarepants to be “almost asexual.”

— 2005: POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER, a television series on PBS which follows Buster Bunny from the Arthur series as he visits families around the country, pulled it’s episode about a Vermont family after Margaret Spelling (former Education Secretary) voiced outrage. The episode, titled Sugartime! because it focuses on harvesting maple syrup, is scrapped for public airtime because the family Buster visits has two moms. The episode never showed any type of embrace or interaction between the lesbian mothers, but Spelling argued that it promotes the homosexual agenda (which in this case is literally, “going to work”). Spelling went even further and asks PBS to return all federal funds used to make the episode.