The Moderate Republican

Thoughts from a "Sesame Street Republican"

What's odd about this picture?

Okay, yes, there is an animated bunny sitting in the middle, but that's not what's odd. What is odd, at least to Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, is that there is a lesbian couple in this picture. Can you guess which one?

If you can't, then maybe you're like me and wondering what Secretary Spellings is smoking these days. As you may well know by now, Ms. Spellings has denounced an episode of "Postcards from Buster" that includes a visit to child in Vermont who has two Moms. The parents are in the background, but that didn't seem to satisfy Spellings. She clamined that some parents would not like to see their kids exposed to a lesbian lifestyle.

Do you see any lesbian lifestyles going on in the above picture?

I know that there are some on the far right who think that showing two lesbians is part of some left wing agenda. Now, PBS does at times tend to have a more left wing slant, but PBS wants to teach kids about the diverse world they live in. That is not left or right, that is what it is.

Sesame Street started the year I was born (1969). When it aired, some people in the South objected to this multicultural cast. But millions of kids like me learned that there were a whole lot of different people in the world. For an African American/Puerto Rican kid like me, it was important to see people who looked like me and even spoke like me (English and Spanish). I have to think it was instructive for white kids to see kids of all different colors living together. PBS was only reflecting a society that had become more aware of differences than ever before.

Buster Bunny is a kid whose parents are divorced and has asthma. All of this has been detailed in this show and its companion show, "Arthur". Again, just reflecting what many kids are facing.

And many kids live with gay parents. That's a fact. I would hope that a kid who has two moms or two dads could see these this lesbian couple and say that they aren't so weird after all. They can know that they are part of the American fabric like anyone else.

I have to think that there are other people under the age of 40 who regardless of their political persuasion, wonder what all the fuss is all about. Diversity is not a socialist plot, it is simply being honest that we live in a diverse society and that's a beautiful thing. Too bad Ms. Spellings doesn't see it that way.

Oh, and the lesbian couple is on the upper right corner.

Posted by Dennis at January 27, 2005 11:58 PM