For those who don’t follow preschool-TV news, here’s what happened: Last week, an online petition called “Let Bert & Ernie Get Married on Sesame Street“ circulated. And it isn’t actually a joke — its inspiration comes from the same place as Dan Savage’s wildly successful, dead-serious It Gets Better project. “In this horrific age of LGBT kids taking their own lives, they need to know that they ARE BEAUTIFUL and their lives are worth living,” writes creator Lair Scott on the petition’s site. It collected over 5500 signatures.
In the past several days, the campaign has gone viral, eliciting pro and con arguments from every corner of the Internet. The noise has grown so loud that Sesame Workshop has finally decided to respond. In a statement on their Facebook page, the Sesame Street team writes, “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. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.” Listen, we don’t really have an opinion on whether Bert and Ernie should or shouldn’t be depicted as gay. But the idea that Muppets are, by nature, asexual? Please. Tell that to Miss Piggy. [via Slate]
Hooray! As most of you probably already know, last night New York State senators voted 33-29 to legalize gay marriage, and Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law. New York is the sixth state to pass marriage equality legislation, and by far the most populous one to do so. ”This vote today will send a message across the country,” Governor Cuomo said. “This is the way to go, the time to do it is now, and it is achievable; it’s no longer a dream or an aspiration. I think you’re going to see a rapid evolution… We reached a new level of social justice.” Needless to say, many New Yorkers agree. [Photo via BoingBoing]
Twitter and the blogosphere are starting to go abuzz with a video shot at a Miley Cyrus concert in Kentucky. In it, the pop star replaces a lyric from one of her songs with a gay slur. Innocent mistake? Or yet another example of this girl’s innate prejudices?
This isn’t the first time that Cyrus has been accused of being discriminatory. Last February there were accusations that she was racist after a photo of her making “slanty-eyes” circulated, generating headlines in major news outlets. After apologizing for the photo, claiming that she was just making a “goofy face” and that the media had taken it out of context, the controversy died down and her career survived without so much as a scratch. It seems odd that Cyrus would stir the pot up again intentionally, and risk alienating part of her core demographic.
CNN reported today that, rather than repeal the woefully out-of-touch policy, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is considering the “selective” enforcement of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. We can’t really imagine how it’d be “more humane” to lead someone to believe their sexuality is OK only to single them out afterward, but sure, we’ll give it a go. After the jump, we help folks in the field apply this dubious idea with a Seven Point Field Test to See if You’re Too Gay for Gates.
Our favorite line: “Too late. We’re captured and forced to do showtunes for Kim Jong-il.” Now if we could just get the Obama Administration to stop endorsing it…
“The amount of dicks that are going to be rubbed on this stupid, pretty girl’s food by gay waiters is mind boggling.”
- Kudos to Gawker commenter WindowSeat for his witty response to anti-gay Miss California Carrie Prejean, the pastel pink-clad source of such gems as, “It’s not about being politically correct, it’s about being biblically correct.” Click here for an awful clip of her interview with Matt Lauer this morning on the Today Show about her pageant snafu. Also: Prefacing something offensive by saying “In no offense to anybody” doesn’t give you carte blanche to run your mouth. [Thanks for the tip, Leah!]
