Bath time and bananas would never be the same.

I'm sure you've seen the news this week.  It's been all over the place, as if we had nothing better to worry about this week.  Or maybe we just want to escape whatever roller coaster the stock market is sending us on?

Yes, people are getting up in arms about Bert and Ernie.  Sure, quite a few of us grew up singing about our rubber duckies, but I guess we can't just leave it alone.  Bert and Ernie are examples for children these days, as they always have been, and it appears we are concerned about what that example might be.

One might think, given my hefty support of same-gender loving marriage, that I would be in full support of the idea of a wedding for Bert and Ernie.  But they'd be quite wrong.

It's not that I'm opposed to the idea of them getting married.  Sure, if that's who they are, then go for it.  But is that who they are?  The good folks at Sesame Street keep telling us that Bert and Ernie aren't gay, and are instead best friends and roommates.  I don't think they were created as gay characters, and if they weren't then, why are they now?

In an age where we are fighting for a revolution in gender identity, is it fair for us to project our own ideas of who somebody is or isn't onto their lived experience absent their own input?  I understand they are puppets (as the folks at Sesame Street are also keen to point out) and subject to whatever character traits and thoughts created for them by human writers, but I know I didn't think about that when I was growing up. I knew of Bert and Ernie as people that are friendly with each other, because that's what they are portrayed as.  Anything else added to that is our own projection of what we want to see, for better or for worse.

Should Sesame Street have gay, married characters?  Well, I think an example of all forms of love, as well as an example of the different areas of gender identity would be good for an educational program to show, especially for those that might not get it in any other context.  But that's a different argument.  For us to decide that Bert and Ernie are gay and should be married is no better than us deciding who is gay based on how they dress, the people they hang out with, or how they speak.  Same goes for gender identity.  It is not for us to project our own desires and perceptions on other people.  That's how we end up with stereotyping and discrimination.

So if we want to petition Sesame Street to address gender and sexual orientation topics in an educational and positive way, I'm in.  But if we want to petition Sesame Street to address our own ideas of what people (or in this case, puppets) should do without respecting who they are, then I'm out.  I'll have fun with Bert and Ernie over bananas and bath time: