After other children’s shows took the lead in representing families with same-sex parents, the venerable Sesame Street is finally showing viewers a bigger picture of what families look like today.
As a GLAAD Media Award winner (Outstanding Blog, 2012), I’m always excited to see the new crop of nominees. This year includes not only a number of terrific bloggers, but also a brand-new Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category—which speaks volumes just by its existence.
The award-winning Disney Junior show Doc McStuffins has just featured its first two-mom family, with the moms voiced by Actual LesbiansTM Wanda Sykes and Portia de Rossi (the former a mom herself). And the moms are named after one of the most famous lesbian couples ever!
Venerable children’s television show Sesame Street took a step towards LGBTQ inclusion last Friday in its social media feeds—but does this mean the show will actually include clearly LGBTQ characters?
Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast is a prime example of how not to please anyone when it comes to LGBTQ representation in children’s media. After enormous hoopla over the first gay character in a Disney film—who would have, director Bill Condon said, an “exclusively gay moment”—the moment was too brief and inconclusive for me as a queer person to celebrate. At the same time, the mere announcement of a gay character inflamed many conservatives.
A new Kickstarter project aims to create an animated cartoon, possibly a series, about a girl with two dads and her friend with two moms.
Play School, the second long-running children’s television show in the world, will feature a child with two dads in an upcoming episode.
Sesame Street has been a pioneer of diversity in children’s television, unafraid to incorporate characters of various ethnicities, languages, and physical abilities. They had a multi-episode storyline with an adoptive single mother in 2006. Why then, have they still shown no clearly LGBTQ characters (rumors about Bert and Ernie notwithstanding)?
In honor of the 40th season of Sesame Street, which starts tomorrow, I thought I’d rerun this video, which made the rounds earlier this year and is based on a much older episode of the show. Yes, this is exactly what marriage equality proponents want to teach children. The horror. I was two when Sesame
Amidst all the talk of potential progress for LGBT rights under President Obama, one opportunity has made few headlines: the prospect of more LGBT inclusive children’s programming on public television. Talk with almost any LGBT parent, and they will bemoan the dearth of LGBT families in children’s media. There is a clear need—and a new
