Sesame Street today featured one of its human characters, Gina the Veterinarian, adopting a baby from Guatemala. The amazing thing wasn’t just that they covered adoption, but that they also chose a single mom for the adoptive mother. (We’ll see if the right wing jumps all over this like they jumped on Murphy Brown, or if we’ve made progress since 1992.)
Additionally, the show touched on issues of international adoption. Gina speaks only English, but made a point to say she wants her child to grow up speaking both Spanish and English. Several of the Spanish-speaking characters offered their support, reinforcing the opening song of the episode, “It Takes a Street.”
After the segment, there was a video montage of various types of families, with a background song proclaiming that “people living together, loving each other, that’s what makes a family.” I’ll have to try and watch it again to look more closely for families that could be viewed as LGBT. (The clips were short, and I had my own three-year-old crawling over me at the time.) The message is basically a positive one, though, and a good segue to discussing issues of family with your kids.
The episode was #4130, so you can check your local listings to see when it airs in your area. Episode #4131 apparently also continues the story. I’m looking forward to seeing how Gina’s storyline unfolds. Although Sesame Street has shied away from overtly LGBT characters (perhaps fearing an outcry similar to the one over Postcards from Buster), they’ve tackled many other issues of acceptance and diversity over the years, including race, language, and (dis)ability. Maybe in a few years, the climate will be right for them to show LGBT families on the street so many of us know so well. One more reason to get out and vote today.