(sighs and shakes head in shame over our country)

from NYTimes:

Culture Wars Pull Buster Into the Fray
By JULIE SALAMON

Published: January 27, 2005

Wayne Godwin, chief operating officer of PBS, got a bit tangled as he tried to explain the PBS stance on gay characters appearing on children's television shows.

"In fairness I would have to say a gay character is not one we would not include," he said, and then clarified. "The fact that a character may or may not be gay is not a reason why they should or should not be part of this series."

Yet on Tuesday PBS decided not to distribute to its roughly 350 PBS stations an episode of "Postcards From Buster," which was scheduled for Feb. 2 and included lesbian mothers, even though a few days earlier PBS officials, among them PBS's president, Pat Mitchell, viewed the episode and called it appropriate. That was before Education Secretary Margaret Spellings denounced the program, starring Buster Baxter, a cute animated rabbit who until now has been known primarily as a close friend of Arthur, the world's most famous aardvark. Ms. Spellings said many parents would not want children exposed to a lesbian life style.

Buster joined another cartoon character, SpongeBob SquarePants, as a focus of the nation's culture wars. SpongeBob was recently attacked by Christian groups for being pro-homosexual, though SpongeBob's creator said it was all a misinterpretation. Buster's offense was appearing in "Sugartime!," the undistributed "Postcards From Buster" show, in which he visits children living in Vermont whose parents are a lesbian couple. Civil unions are allowed in Vermont.

"Postcards From Buster" is a spinoff of "Arthur" that combines live action and animation and went on the air a year ago. In the series, aimed at young elementary schoolchildren, Buster travels to 24 different states with his father and sends video postcards home.

Buster appears briefly onscreen, but mainly narrates these live-action segments, which show real children and how they live. One episode featured a family with five children, living in a trailer in Virginia, all sharing one room. In another, Buster visits a Mormon family in Utah. He has dropped in on fundamentalist Christians and Muslims as well as American Indians and Hmong. He has shown the lives of children who have only one parent, and those who live with grandparents.

Marc Brown, creator of "Arthur" and "Postcards From Buster," said in a statement: "I am disappointed by PBS's decision not to distribute the 'Postcards From Buster' 'Sugartime!' episode to public television stations. What we are trying to do in the series is connect kids with other kids by reflecting their lives. In some episodes, as in the Vermont one, we are validating children who are seldom validated. We believe that 'Postcards From Buster' does this in a very natural way - and, as always, from the point of view of children."

Jeanne Hopkins, a spokeswoman for the show's producer, WGBH-TV of Boston, added, "We feel it's important that we not exclude kids because of what their family structure looks like." WGBH plans to broadcast the episode in March and offer it to other PBS stations.

Like the grown-ups in most of the episodes, the lesbian mothers in the "Sugartime!" segment are mainly background. "The concern really was that there's a point where background becomes foreground," Mr. Godwin said. "No matter if the parents were intended to be background, with this specific item in this particular program they might simply be foreground because of press attention to it and parental attention to it."

The question is, does the episode violate the grant under which WGBH received federal funds? Mr. Godwin said, "The presence of a couple headed by two mothers would not be appropriate curricular purpose that PBS should provide."

The grant specifies the programs "should be designed to appeal to all of America's children by providing them with content and characters with which they can identify." In addition, the grant says, "Diversity will be incorporated into the fabric of the series to help children understand and respect differences and learn to live in a multicultural society."

Brigid Sullivan, vice president for children's programming at WGBH, has been producing children's shows for 20 years, including "Arthur," for many years the top-rated children's show. "This asked for a project on diversity to all of America's children," she said. "We took it seriously and thought that with 'Arthur,' the No. 1 show on television for kids for years, we had something to draw kids in. Buster is Arthur's best friend, the child of divorce, he has asthma. Children sympathize with him. We had a breakthrough format, this animated bunny with his camera getting live-action sequence. Not to present a make-believe world of diversity but a real world."

Explaining the goal of the show, Ms. Sullivan said: "We want to reflect all of America's children."

"This is not about their parents," she said.

This country is being held hostage by people are trying to impose THEIR morality on the rest of us.
Appalling.

Ummm, Bert and Ernie...

And Arthur is not the world's most famous aardvark.

I am tired of homophobic fundamentalists. My dad has basically cut my aunt out of his life because she's gay - he doesn't really get the unconditional love part of the New Testament, I guess.

< - - - - depressed by this.

To be fair, these people believe someone else's morality is being forced upon them when moral values that are not in line with theirs are displayed on public television. Who has the right to moral indignation when they feel someone else's morality is forced upon them? You? Them? Both?

You know what the weird thing is about that? I *know* for a fact that my parents are against the whole idea of homosexuality, but I also know for a fact that there are gay men and lesbians that they interact with fairly frequently, and THEY DON'T KNOW. If they did, I know they would treat them differently. That's the sad thing.

And like Billz said, you could easily suggest that Bert and Ernie were gay. Who the hell cares? We never see them below the waist anyway (except when Bert does his little pigeon dance).

The difference is, they can turn the channel. Whereas, if it's kept off the air in the first place, the viewpoint is completely stifled.

I think this is all a bunch of hooey. These people don't give a flying fuck about what is on TV, they just want something to bitch about, and the more people they can get to the join them, the sooner they can push their radical fundamentalist beliefs on me.

Personally, I don't really enjoy watching men shower together, so this season's Real World is not my fave. Guess what I do? Change the channel.

I'm not agreeing with those leading the charge, but I question the relevancy of lesbianism/homosexuality in children's programming.

I think most of you are aware that I'm not into legislating bedroom activities, nor am I anti-gay.

But for children this age, sexual orientation shouldn't really be an issue. Sexual activity in and of itself is really over the heads of the target audience, so to me it makes it more necessary to explain the "Why does this character have two mommies" question when it isn't really a pressing issue with pre-schoolers.

I also don't like the way those trying to stem the tide of the gay agenda associate every single homosexual relationship with sodomy of the vilest order. I don't think that because this show had an appearance of a lesbian couple that the Christmas special will feature the proper application of a dental dam or "How to clean up after a Roman shower".

Children don't need to learn everything right away. Give 'em some time.

My father went to a newspaper thinktank-type shindig where they shared some interesting demographic data. One very promising piece was this: As you examine younger American generations, age becomes the most dominant factor of social acceptance.

Not race. Not religion. Not sexual orientation.

Each generation is becoming more progressively more open to different types of people. Before you ask, I know not from where this data came, nor from how many sources. But, I do know that my father was quite optimistic, even mentioning the realization of Dr. King's Dream and how it seems to slowly creep into our society.

It's not a matter of sexuality, but of inclusiveness. In showing different ways of living, it is allowing children to be exposed to different views of family, different viewpoints and different lifestyles, all of which should be welcomed. Go back 50 years ago and imagine this discussion over a TV show wanting to have the character visit a black household...

But you can see black, you can't necessarily see homosexual. It's right there, in front of you. Homosexuality isn't an outwardly physical trait.

If we are aiming to be inclusive and show different ways of living, why not include an uncle who is a pill-popper?

Or on the same note, why not include someone who suffers from a mental illness?

These two new characters would require further explanation that is not integral to a child watching the show for entertainment with the added benefit of education.

My feelings are that you can teach and foster basic senses of inclusiveness and acceptance without naming each and every group that you may encounter. I think that's where Sesame Street was successful. There were a number of different looking characters, including a Snuffleuppagus, an enormous bird, a blue cookie devouring beast and a hairy green monster who lived in a garbage can, yet they all seemed to enjoy each other's company and even shopped at the same store.

By allowing the different characters from obviously different races and backgrounds to assimilate and succeed within the social structure of Sesame Street, there was no need to spell out that Bert & Ernie were gay, Gordon was a foot fetishist, Mr. Hooper was bipolar and the two-headed purple monster voted for David Duke...twice.

It taught the basics of understanding and tolerance without requiring an explanation. You should not accept homosexuals because of their chosen sexual practices, but because they are human beings. I believe that slapping a label on every single group brings differences, not similarities, to the forefront. Do not celebrate diversity, appreciate it.

Kung Fu=dropping bombs.

very well said. those are probably the most cogent posts I've ever read on a message board. seriously.

Thank you, kind sir. That means that I can only go downhill from here.

so true, so correct, perfect examples(both, bert & ernie, aardvark too)

The Decent Senator Writes:


Where and why is this not an option for these supposed moralists?

I think we should set up special colleges throughout America where we can give courses to fundamentalist Christians on how to do this.

As a side note, I see nothing wrong with the episode. It doesn't say homosexuality is bad or good, but that kids live with parents who are (or claim to be, depending on your views) gay. I mean, Buster apparently comes in contact with fundamentalist Christians too and as an atheist, I'm not calling PBS to try and get them to cancel the show just because I think fundamentalism is weird or irrational.

Now, if the show explicitly promoted homosexuality by saying gay marriage is definitely good or definitely bad, then I could see a problem, but it doesn't take sides. It simply presents reality.

Or anybody..I don't bitch about the fact that here in GA, and in both places I've lived in AL (and my pop's place there) Meet the Press is pre-empted by whatever local Church of the Sacred Bleeding Heart of Jesus is being broadcast in the early AM on the NBC affliate..I stay up and watch it on MSNBC.

Seriously, all these people need to get the fuck over themselves. NO ONE, with the possible exception of Anton Levay or Anton Newcombe is 'at war with Christianity,' many of us simply wish to live w/o it crammed down our throats and are able to do so, just as Christians can distance themselves from whatever music they want by simply looking at whatever Billzebubba and Radcliffe are listening to, and find the contemporary Christian equivalent.

I think what I'm trying to say is, and it applies to politics equally is, we have much more in common than we do not. Everyone just wants loose shoes, tight pussy (or big dick, or whatever) and a warm place to shit. Move beyond that and motherfuckers start to take shit too seriously.

Apparently comes into contact with them in what way? I don't mean to be contentious, but I really think that if you saw an episode where Buster met some fundies and they explained their viewpoint, liberal America would raise an outcry that fundamentalists were taking over the airwaves because of the influence of Rupert Murdoch. In fact, there recently was an outcry about this issue on this very same board when that Crossfire guy got a show on PBS. Who's upset that protesting this move is an effort to stifle a perspective?

This made me laugh.

Buster apparently comes into contact with fundamentalist Christians just like he does with the homosexual couple. But remember, the article doesn't say that either of these two families tries to rationalize their beliefs or ways of life and the program certainly doesn't present a one-sided agenda because it introduces children to a variety of families. It simply shows that these families do exist and children are sometimes involved in the situation.

I haven't seen the show myself, but the article makes the situation pretty clear to me.

Kung Fu, I bow to your superior rhetoric.

That said, if the eleven years olds on the Katie Couric* teen- and pre-teen-sex special are well-versed in oral, then why couldn't five-years-olds who watch Buster know about homosexuals?

* I did not watch it myself. So, there. I am not quite the perv you know I am. I did, though, here the morning zoologists on Kiss103 talking about it.

Couldn't they just airbrush a moustache on one of the moms and call her "dad"?

I, as a parent, HAVE seen this show.

The children are ALWAYS the focus, with the parents simply providing a backdrop.
It is, in fact, one of Cary's favorite shows and he has picked up a lot from it. If there were viewpoint expressed on there that I did not agree with, I would view it as an opportunity for a dialogue. You see, that is what being a parent is all about. It's about COMMUNICATING with your child, and helping them make the right decisions -- to become a good person. (Whatever your definition of "good" might be.)

By this definition, it is an excellent show. It allows for these parent-child dialogues to be opened up; for these topics to be discussed. And, even if you are a Fundamentalist Christian, you can use this opportunity to tell your kin that "those evil people are going to hell."

Point is, that even if they showed an Aryan Power family (which I doubt they would), as a parent it is up to ME to talk to my child about what he saw and how I, personally, feel about it.

It's about parenting --- even if your kids are exposed to things on TV (lord knows, there'll be things in REAL LIFE) that you don't want them to be exposed to --- YOU are the ones that will have the largest effect on shaping their morality and values. You can't protect them forever. FUCKING TALK TO THEM!!!

I agree with Todd that you should talk with your children about the situations as they arise.

My concern is trying to cover all the bases before kindergarten. Start with the basics of understanding, not the specifics. I will reinforce this point: Do not accept them because they are homosexual; accept them because they are human beings.

I do believe everyone, not just children, should pursue the benefits of tolerance. But before we bog them down on why we shouldn't goof on Hindus for not eating beef or why we shouldn't giggle when a woman leaves her underarms unshaven, we teach them to accept without reservation.

As a parallel, I believe that all people should learn algebra, geometry, physics and u.s. history. I don't believe they should learn it when they are but four years old.

EDIT: Where the hell did that post go? My mind playin' tricks on me. Ha.

Have you seen the show?
This is exactly the tack that it is taking.
While the diffrences between families IS noticeable, it is the similarities that stay with you. They are all just kids. And that is why this is such a great show.