It’s been over three months since the PBS show Arthur aired its same-sex marriage episode, and conservatives are still bemoaning the state of kids’ television because of it.
In a recent interview with The Christian Post, Phil Vischer, the co-creator of the longtime popular kids’ franchise Veggie Tales shared his concern over shows like Arthur normalizing same-sex relationships.
“The most striking thing about that episode of Arthur wasn’t that they thought it was time to introduce kids to gay marriage; it was the reaction of all the kids on the show,” he said. “None of them asked questions about why two men were getting married. Their reaction was, ‘Oh, OK! Great!’”
“It’s such a strong message of, well kids, of course you’re fine with gay marriage, because there’s nothing to question about it,” he added.
Vischer also said he believes Christian programming for children will eventually have to step forward and contradict the message of love and acceptance secular shows are starting to share. Or as the original interview repeatedly puts it, they’ll have to “address the issue from a biblical perspective.”
“[LGBT presence in children’s media] is going to show up more and more as the world has decided that LGBT issues are in the same categories as race and civil rights issues,” he lamented. “So to say you shouldn’t have a same-sex couple on Sesame Street is the equivalent of saying you shouldn’t have a black couple on Sesame Street.”
That anti-LGBTQ creators are struggling with the concept of representation and are already considering ways to manipulate children into believing being LGBTQ is wrong isn’t exactly surprising. Especially when you look at some of the initial reactions to the Arthur episode, including one politician’s fight to defund PBS entirely over it.
But Vischer doesn’t want to have to grapple with the existence of gay people in his shows just yet.
“If I get pressure from Hollywood to show two men getting married because we’ve all decided it’s right and correct, my pushback is: ‘No, I won’t. Because that’s not what I believe is best for kids,’” he said.
God forbid kids learn how to accept themselves or the people around them, right?
