Senate Homosexuality: the Thread

Draft of new Cuban constitution opens path to same - sex marriage.

 

I attended Austin's Pride Parade yesterday, and it was fab to see so many people come out in spite of the rain. The parade proceeded after the rain. Austin is a wonderful town.

 

Same here.

 

India decriminalizes gay sex.

 

Double post

 

Pretty big deal for the second most populous country in the world to do this. Great news.

 

New Cuban President backs same - sex marriage.

Because we need some positive **** in this world this morning.

 

In Response to Comments by a Sesame Street Writer, The Organization Behind Sesame Street Says Bert and Ernie Are Not Gay (BBC.com)

(Sorry for the drive by...I do have thoughts about this to share but I only have time to drop this here for now...)

 

One step forward....

 

I feel like every 2 years there's a "creators confirm Bert & Ernie aren't gay" news article.

 

My aunt and uncle wouldn't let their kids watch Sesame Street cuz of that.

 

Your aunt and uncle are repressed morons.

 

I just reset the clock for another 2 years.

 

Somehow I must have missed the previous rounds of this story. I'm often out of touch though, so I guess it's not a surprise.

It's kind of disappointing, considering all the ways Sesame Street has made a point of incorporating diversity in other ways.

 

No argument here.

 

The muppets are, and always have been, asexual.

 

The Sesame Street characters are, because they're meant for preschoolers. The Muppets meant for older children and adults engage in unnatural frog-on-pig relations.

 

For me the most disappointing thing about this story isn't about representation on Sesame Street. What's most upsetting to me is that an openly gay writer for the show gave his own perspective on how he saw those characters while writing for them, and how his writing for them was informed by his relationship with an ex-partner. Sesame Workshop somehow saw it as appropriate to man the battle stations and deny his perspective as an artist by shutting him down with a snotty statement.

A statement that completely missed the point and was arguably incorrect. While Sesame Workshop wanted to stress that puppets are asexual objects, they ignore the fact that they have characteristics attributed to them, which can include a sexuality.



With my urge to post Charlie Brooker snogging a hairy little gremlin out of the way; there are plenty of puppet characters that have well defined, heterosexual characteristics. Punch was always married to Judy, Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog are enamoured with each other, and so on.

Now if Sesame Workshop had come out and said something along the lines of "We don't portray any romantic relationships in Sesame Street, gay or straight, as we don't feel the subject is appropriate to the show's target demographic," then they'd be making a fair point with their statement. But the release of the statement itself is still a problematic act, because in releasing it they're saying that Mark Saltzman, whose work they hadn't had a problem with until now, was wrong to ever relate those characters to his experiences of being in a loving partnership. It's a gross overreaction, an attempt to shut down a gay creator's perspective and a refusal to accept that his perspective as a gay man directly contributed wholesome characteristics to their show.

 

very well said^ @Chewgumma :- ) That is really the more important point.

 

When your son views the video you mention above, does he acknowledge/know that the presenter is gay or that the presenter is just being funny/entertaining?

Quick example: I loved watching the X-men animated cartoon on Fox as a kid and thought Storm was awesome because she could control the weather and I fantasized about be able to make it sunny when it was raining or cloudy. It wasn't until years later someone said to me that Storm was black. I never noticed her skin color as a child. It took someone else pointing it out.

My point is that maybe your son doesn't realize or care about the host's sexuality. He likes watching him play and review the games he likes.

So if I were you, I'd chat with my son about the videos and ask him what other hosts/videos he likes. It's tough finding G/PG rated content when, for example, you go on Twitch and the host may be cursing or discussing X rated related material because of the people in chat bringing it up.

 

Punk Jr’s gay, son. Accept it.