Guys, you are missing out on this! This happened, in a kids show, and everyone still accepted it. Nobody made a big deal out of it! This is great.

Thank you, PBS Kids. This is from the brand new episode of Arthur btw, Mr. Ratburn And The Special Someone.

Mr. Ratburn’s “Coming Out” was Perfect and Here’s Why.

Okay long story short, SOME people are arguing that the episode ‘copped out’ with the wedding scene because they didn’t go in depth with the struggles of being gay in this episode and that no one was opposing their wedding and it was portrayed too ‘sunshine and rainbows’ and just ‘ordinary’.

Okay you idiots, here’s what you do if you want kids to understand that gay marriage is valid: PORTRAY THE COUPLE AS MUNDANE, PLAIN, AND ORDINARY AS ANY HETEROSEXUAL COUPLE. Thats it, no fanfare, no applause, no big crescendo, nothing. Just plain, simple, couple stuff.

Kids aren’t stupid; if they see how everyone reacts to whatever the media is, and see everyone treating it the same as a heterosexual couple, they’ll connect the dots themselves. Its really that simple. 

i think it’s hard to emphasize how important it is that arthur showed the gay wedding of one of the most important adults on the show.

animation has made some great advancements over the years, but this is different. this isn’t a short-lived show on a network or steaming site. it’s not a modern show purposefully building up to this reveal after a season or two.

this show has been on as long as i’ve been alive (literally. it premiered ten days before i was born). it’s my favorite show from childhood, one i still enjoy watching every once in a while.

this show airs on public, government-funded television. it’s on a network literally everyone gets, whether or not they pay for cable.

and it’s the longest-running children’s animated show. that means something. they can’t just have a bad season and drop the show. this isn’t pbs taking a risk or passing off a bit character as token representation.

this is them taking a stand. this is pbs standing up and saying “children deserve to see a world that reflects the one they know, or to be challenged to see the world as it is.”

there are still many school districts and private schools that would fire a teacher for being openly gay, and yet pbs showed mr. ratburn’s students attending his wedding and supporting him.

this wasn’t a story about homophobia, or shock at seeing people being different. it was an otherwise run-of-the-mill story about students who are surprised to realize their teacher has a personal life. that’s relatable. cliche, almost.

it’s about kids who care about their teacher and just want him to be happy. they don’t react to him being gay, only to realizing he’s marrying someone they believe will make him happy.

i’ve seen a couple posts pointing out that mr. ratburn was probably always meant to be gay, and i’m inclined to agree. but to take that out of subtext and explicitly make it part of the show? in a way that can’t be undone? on a publicly funded children’s show that’s aired for 22 years?

i think i just want to say thank you. to marc brown and whoever pushed for this on the show (i’m sure those who watch this more regularly than i would actually know). to whatever executives at pbs agreed to this, and agreed to making the storyline so integral and unavoidable.

and to viewers like you. thanks.

BIG congrats to Mr Ratburn & his husband!!! I wish them all the happiness in the world💕💕 ;-;