I’ve been writing about Sesame Street’s need for LGBTQ inclusion for well over a decade, and been a fan since it first aired in 1969, when I was two. I was disappointed, however, by producer Sesame Workshop’s denial this week of a romantic relationship between Bert and Ernie, not only because that would be awesome, but also because they missed an opportunity to highlight the existing (though limited) queer inclusion on the show and to commit to more.
For those who missed it, this week’s discussion started when former writer Mark Saltzman told Queerty in an interview published Sunday, “I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were [lovers]. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them…. So I don’t think I’d know how else to write them, but as a loving couple.” Cue celebrations across much of the LGBTQ Internet. Saltzman appeared to temper his remarks, though, in a New York Times article in which he differentiated between “bring[ing] what you know into your work” and having Bert and Ernie actually be gay. The NYT reported, “He said he did not restrict Bert and Ernie to one sexual orientation, or any at all. While he believes that ‘Sesame Street’ should include a gay couple in its programming, he said it should be done with human characters, not puppets.”
Sesame Workshop similarly tweeted that Bert and Ernie are “best friends” and as puppets, “do not have a sexual orientation.” That tweet has since been deleted (though you can see a screenshot here, along with an explanation of why it’s ridiculous to say that puppets don’t have a sexual orientation). They then tweeted:
Please see our most recent statement regarding Bert and Ernie below. pic.twitter.com/gWTF2k1y83
— Sesame Workshop (@SesameWorkshop) September 18, 2018
Muppet creator Frank Oz also tweeted:
It seems Mr. Mark Saltzman was asked if Bert & Ernie are gay. It's fine that he feels they are. They're not, of course. But why that question? Does it really matter? Why the need to define people as only gay? There's much more to a human being than just straightness or gayness.
— Frank Oz (@TheFrankOzJam) September 18, 2018
and replied to a commenter:
Agreed. When a character is created to be queer it is indeed important that the character be known as such. It is also important when a character who was not created queer, be accepted as such.
— Frank Oz (@TheFrankOzJam) September 18, 2018
He has a point, in that not every character has to be queer just because we want them to be. BUT.
But: People come out, and characters can, too. Just because they didn’t identify as gay (or LBTQ) earlier in their lives doesn’t mean they can’t later. This is even more true for fictional characters than real people, since writers can take them in any direction they choose.
And to Oz’s statement that “There’s much more to a human being than straightness or gayness,” I ask, what better proof than to show these two characters, with nearly 50 years of adventures and character development behind them, add a romantic relationship to their already rich history?
Such representation is vital. As LGBTQ PR expert Cathy Renna told PR Week, “Frankly, their being a couple falls in the ‘in other news, water is wet’ category of announcements, and it should be celebrated along with all the other diversity the show has striven to model all these years. LGBTQ kids and children of LGBT families need to see themselves reflected in appropriate ways in children’s programming.” Jamie McGonnigal writes more on this theme over at HuffPo in “I’m A Gay Dad And I Want My Son To Know Bert And Ernie Of ‘Sesame Street’ As A Couple.” I’d add, too, that it’s also important for straight, cisgender kids with straight, cisgender parents to see LGBTQ characters in children’s television. We’re part of their world, too, and it’s important for television to reflect that. I often hear people ask how to explain a same-sex couple or someone transitioning genders to a child. LGBTQ characters on television could help.
Saltzman, in his NYT interview, tries to convey that Ernie and Bert could still be part of this. He says about Ernie and Bert’s relationship, “It’s like poetry. It’s what you need it to be.” He explains they could reflect friends having a sleepover, a boy in foster care sharing a bedroom, or even help “a preschooler learning what it means to have gay parents.” That flexibility isn’t a bad thing. Characters that can stretch to reflect different viewers’ experiences are generally commendable. Still, that’s not an excuse to always avoid clearly and unequivocally depicting certain aspects of some characters’s identities. Bert and Ernie don’t have kids, so I’m really not sure how they can teach a preschooler what it means to have gay parents. We’ll never see them with a photo of their wedding on the mantel or kissing each other good night or tucking their children into bed. Maybe they can represent gay parents to some kids, and if so, that’s great. Others (especially ones who aren’t LGBTQ or in LGBTQ families themselves) will totally miss the possibility.
What’s gotten lost in the buzz about Bert and Ernie, too, is that for the past year or so, Sesame Street has been depicting same-sex couples. Not a lot, as I wrote in February, but some. This week’s news would have been the perfect opportunity for Sesame Workshop to remind people of this—and perhaps, especially if they’re going to insist that Bert and Ernie are just friends, for them to commit to further storylines about other LGBTQ characters. They could even commit to introducing brand-new Muppet characters who are queer—maybe ones who are parents and could offer children a reflection not just of a same-sex couple, but of an entire family like theirs (or like a friend’s; or like their future one could be). I’d also love to see gender creative or transgender Muppets, as I wrote earlier, who could provide gender creative and transgender children (and their parents) with role models. Sesame Workshop missed an opportunity this week, though, to highlight what they’ve already done in the realm of LGBTQ inclusion, much less promise more, which makes me wonder how committed to it they really are.
Having Bert and Ernie in a relationship would be terrific, of course. They’re high-profile, beloved, long-term characters, and the visibility for same-sex couples would be tremendous. I would worry, though, that if they did come out, the show might stop there, feeling that it had checked the LGBTQ box. But Bert and Ernie alone aren’t enough. Rather than just agitate about them (which I have no objection to), we also need to put pressure on the show to amp up its overall LGBTQ inclusion across the spectrum.
If Sesame Street wants to retain its reputation as a leader in diverse, inclusive representation—nay, if it wants to remain contemporary and relevant to children in our world today—they need to step it up, especially as other award-winning shows for young children, like Disney Junior’s Doc McStuffins, have already given more airtime to explicitly queer characters, and newcomers like Hulu’s The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived are offering LGBTQ-inclusive alternatives to network children’s programming. (Not that the industry overall couldn’t still use more work, as I wrote in this longer piece for Xfinity on the state of LGBTQ-inclusive kids’ programming.)
Here’s Sesame Workshop’s Contact Us page, so you can let them know what you think.
