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Ernie, will you take Bert to be your lawfully wedded Muppet-Husband? That’s the question that LGBT activist Lair Scott hopes to hear as she pushes forth a petition for the “Sesame Street” roommates to wed, reports Time.
With New York state legalizing same-sex marriage just this past June, and considering Archie Comics recently introduced its first gay character, some people feel it just makes sense that the progressive children’s TV show, which has covered sensitive topics such as race, HIV, self-acceptance, and death, should follow suit.
While Scott feels that Bert and Ernie’s union could significantly help struggling LGBT kids “know that they ARE BEAUTIFUL and their lives are worth living,” opponents fear that marriage between the two iconic Muppets could possibly confuse children (e.g. When two men live together, does that mean they’re automatically gay?), while others argue that the show shouldn’t tread on politicized issues.
Kabal of the Void Dominator - now with more purple!
"And the moral of the story is: Appreciate what you've got, because basically, I'm fantastic."
Well, yea...this kinda makes me facepalm...but that said: Is anyone really surprised? REALLY? I mean they were always bickering like an old married couple, sometimes when I watched the show as a kid I wondered if they WERE married.
Bert and Ernie aren't homosexuals, they're just roommates who are often at odds with each other. Making them marry is a political agenda that shouldn't be involved in a kids program that has traditionally not pushed political agendas and having them marry would be even more confusing for kids. They would assume that all guys who live with each other are homosexual couples and that homosexual couples always fight and play with rubber ducks.
Seriously, Bert and Ernie are a juxtaposition. Ernie is the immature man-child while Bernie is the serious one who probably pays for most of the rent.
This would go against a fair amount of what LGBT groups stand for, seeing as they're constantly arguing (quite rightly) that you don't just become gay all of a sudden, and it's not something you have much control over; pushing for two homosexual characters who have previously had no such ties, is just blatant contradiction for no purpose other than to introduce kids to homosexuality.
If anything, kids will be more confused than if they hadn't seen it, as it'll have just taken a step towards saying that you can just become homosexual at any time.
I'm all for homosexual characters, but only when it's been thought through; this idea isn't even half-baked, it's just been shoved in the oven and expected to cook there and then.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/08/10 22:46:46
Mandorallen turned back toward the insolently sneering baron. 'My Lord,' The great knight said distantly, 'I find thy face apelike and thy form misshapen. Thy beard, moreover, is an offence against decency, resembling more closely the scabrous fur which doth decorate the hinder portion of a mongrel dog than a proper adornment for a human face. Is it possibly that thy mother, seized by some wild lechery, did dally at some time past with a randy goat?' - Mimbrate Knight Protector Mandorallen.
Excerpt from "Seeress of Kell", Book Five of The Malloreon series by David Eddings.
"You need not fear us, unless you are a dark heart, a vile one who preys on the innocent; I promise, you can’t hide forever in the empty darkness, for we will hunt you down like the animals you are, and pull you into the very bowels of hell." Iron - Within Temptation
Yeah... this is stupid. The whole "Bert and Ernie are gay" thing is a joke people make. I have no problem with gay characters on kid's shows, and if Sesame Street wanted to introduce gay characters, I wouldn't care.
I reiterate; this is stupid. I agree with Avatar; this would make a couple of characters who pretty much aren't gay suddenly gay which is something that doesn't happen.
If the people behind this campaign actually bothered to go back and read some Sesame Street history, I think they would find that Bert and Ernie (or at least Bert) is in fact, straight. He has had romantic interaction w/ female characters in the past, I think he even had a girlfriend at one point.
CoALabaer wrote: Wargamers hate two things: the state of the game and change.
chaos0xomega wrote:If the people behind this campaign actually bothered to go back and read some Sesame Street history, I think they would find that Bert and Ernie (or at least Bert) is in fact, straight. He has had romantic interaction w/ female characters in the past, I think he even had a girlfriend at one point.
Not sure but I don't think the Cookie Monster or Big Bird count.
Count? Mwhahahahaha! One girlfriend
Mwhahahahah
Two girlfriends Mwhahahahahahaha
chaos0xomega wrote:If the people behind this campaign actually bothered to go back and read some Sesame Street history, I think they would find that Bert and Ernie (or at least Bert) is in fact, straight. He has had romantic interaction w/ female characters in the past, I think he even had a girlfriend at one point.
Not sure but I don't think the Cookie Monster or Big Bird count.
Count? Mwhahahahaha! One girlfriend
Mwhahahahah
Two girlfriends Mwhahahahahahaha
this post was brought to you by the letter P
I'm pretty sure that the Count suffers from some sort of mental illness where he is compelled to count things. Cookie Monster is an addict, the Grouch is a hobo, and Big Bird is the side effect of a LSD trip for sure. Grover suffers from narcissism and Elmo is a representation of the innocence of childhood, as far as everything else goes, the Muppets were better.
Personally I say let Bert and Ernie stay as is ( the Felix and Oscar of Sesame Street)...
However, I see nothing wrong with Bert and Ernie getting some new neighbors..." Bob and Frank" could move in next door to them...might work out better that way as you then have not only the potential to show a gay couple expressing themselves...but also the opertunity to show acceptance on behalf of the other characters.
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
It is not about sexual preferences of a couple of puppets.
This is (presumably) about the agenda of a bunch of activists.
When really there is no need for it.
It adds nothing to the show, does bugger all (pardon the unfortunate pun) for gay rights and is therefore a big pile of ploppy stuff.
As said above, if they want a gay couple, go write and produce another show instead of retconning this one.
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Just not seeing a need for this.
It is not about sexual preferences of a couple of puppets.
This is (presumably) about the agenda of a bunch of activists.
When really there is no need for it.
It adds nothing to the show, does bugger all (pardon the unfortunate pun) for gay rights and is therefore a big pile of ploppy stuff.
As said above, if they want a gay couple, go write and produce another show instead of retconning this one.
I don't know Chibi, Sesame Street has always prided itself in depicting people from all races and backgrounds coming together for a better community...and AFAIK their are no openly Gay characters on the show, so I don't believe it would be a bad idea to include some.
But, taking two iconic Characters who have always been room mates and have them suddenly " turn gay"...no, I don't see the point to that, just write in some new characters.
I am both selfish and chaotic. I value self-gratification and control; I want to have things my way, preferably now. At best, I'm entertaining and surprising; at worst, I'm hedonistic and violent.
That is what I mean Fitzz
No problem about gay characters in the show tbh, I perhaps went too far by suggesting it shouldn't happen in Sesame Street.
Just I don't see what there is to be gained by "outing" Bert and Ernie. It is imposing an ideal on established characters, whose sexuality has only been inferred for comedic reasons extrinsically, rather than an established fact in the show, afaik.
halonachos wrote:Bert and Ernie aren't homosexuals, they're just roommates who are often at odds with each other. Making them marry is a political agenda that shouldn't be involved in a kids program that has traditionally not pushed political agendas and having them marry would be even more confusing for kids. They would assume that all guys who live with each other are homosexual couples and that homosexual couples always fight and play with rubber ducks.
Seriously, Bert and Ernie are a juxtaposition. Ernie is the immature man-child while Bernie is the serious one who probably pays for most of the rent.
I agree. Why can't two men be close friends without being gay these days?
People are like dice, a certain Frenchman said that. You throw yourself in the direction of your own choosing. People are free because they can do that. Everyone's circumstances are different, but no matter how small the choice, at the very least, you can throw yourself. It's not chance or fate. It's the choice you made.
Dreadwinter wrote:Shouldnt they have a common law marriage by now?
How long have they lived together?
The problem is is that people who watched the show a bazillion years ago, and watch it today assume since they lived together for so long that there is something more than being roommates and friends to their relationship?
Suspension of disbelief; they're perpetually stuck together by the mechanisms of a show that tries not to timestamp the relative time a character marches forwards through (like Baby Blues the cartoon strip, or Doonesbury the cartoon strip). They are not going to ever evolve to a point where one gets so fed up of the other that he'll leave the other forever, nor will their relationship blossom into something else. They're not going to grow old, nor will they ever change their relationship.
They exist pretty much as they are forever. The continuity demands it of these iconic characters that are used to teach your average child about basic fundamentals of human life. They're not symbolic of anything other than puppets used to teach children.
It's good and fun to subvert children's television by looking at through more adult eyes, and that's basically the entire joke behind saying 'obviously Bert and Ernie are gay'. It's applying real world understanding to a show that just doesn't exist in the real world.
Thing is, if you actually flat out state in text that the two characters actually are gay, then you take away all the fun the rest of us have. So thankyou very much for ruining the joke, LGBT activist Lair Scott.
halonachos wrote:I'm pretty sure that the Count suffers from some sort of mental illness where he is compelled to count things. Cookie Monster is an addict, the Grouch is a hobo, and Big Bird is the side effect of a LSD trip for sure. Grover suffers from narcissism and Elmo is a representation of the innocence of childhood, as far as everything else goes, the Muppets were better.
The Count's obsession actually comes from early vampire myths, which said if a vampire was chasing you the best thing you could do was throw a handful of beans to the ground - the vampire would have to count them before continuing to chase you. Which is kind of stupid, but lots of early myths were. In fact, it's kind of weird how many monster in old myths are basically showing elements of OCD.
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
In all the years I watched SS, I never had thought that bert and earnie were a same sex couple. The gay myth was something that was a background joke for the adults as was a lot of that sort of thing in childrens shows at that time.
I sincerely hate the political correctness gone absolutely mad at the moment. Sesame street was good how it was in the old days.
chaos0xomega wrote:If the people behind this campaign actually bothered to go back and read some Sesame Street history, I think they would find that Bert and Ernie (or at least Bert) is in fact, straight. He has had romantic interaction w/ female characters in the past, I think he even had a girlfriend at one point.
Are you making an argument about the continuity of Sesame Street?
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
djphranq wrote:Anyway... I'm just happy this thread isn't "Bert and Ernie Vs. Space Marines".
Great...now I cannot fathom how this thread could survive without the comparative.
Bert and Ernie are puppets. Space Marines are ten foot tall super humans.
I guess Bert and Ernie could wrap their bodies around a Space Marine's face and attempt to strangle him to death, but what happen's when they shoot the puppeteer's hand off? Can Bert and Ernie magically animate or automotize and attack independently?
djphranq wrote:Anyway... I'm just happy this thread isn't "Bert and Ernie Vs. Space Marines".
Great...now I cannot fathom how this thread could survive without the comparative.
Bert and Ernie are puppets. Space Marines are ten foot tall super humans.
I guess Bert and Ernie could wrap their bodies around a Space Marine's face and attempt to strangle him to death, but what happen's when they shoot the puppeteer's hand off? Can Bert and Ernie magically animate or automotize and attack independently?
Bert and Ernie are actually the fifth and sixth gods of Chaos. They have powers unfathomable.
Kabal of the Void Dominator - now with more purple! 
