The popular Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) children’s cartoon series Arthur has introduced the homosexual agenda into its storyline. This season’s May 13 premiere episode of the animated series, which has been on the air since 1996, featured the same-sex marriage of longtime character Mr. Ratburn, a rat, to his aardvark “partner” Patrick.
In the animal-themed animated series, Arthur, the main character, is also an aardvark, and Mr. Ratburn is his favorite teacher. A fan page for the cartoon notes that Mr. Ratburn “is primarily known for being a strict teacher, but he has many other hobbies outside of the classroom, including puppetry, playing in a rock band, and bird-watching. He is also seen as a role model by several students.” Additionally, the now-gay character is portrayed as “friendly, helpful and good-natured, rarely showing any hint of malice, and has shown that he truly cares about his students time and time again.”
In other words, he is just the type of favorable character needed to put a positive spin on the homosexual lifestyle.
Beginning its 22nd season, the daily PBS cartoon show is mainly aimed at children four to eight years old, and often deals with sensitive issues such as cancer, diabetes, dyslexia — and now the gay lifestyle.
In this episode, entitled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” Arthur and his friends are invited to attend Mr. Ratburn’s wedding, and assume he is marrying Patty, a female rat. But when they realize that Patty is actually Mr. Ratburn’s sister, it isn’t long until they see their teacher walking down the isle with Patrick, his soon-to-be “husband.”
The realization that Mr. Ratburn is gay and is marrying a man prompts one of the children to observe: “It’s a brand new world!”
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CBN News noted that “this is not the first time the cartoon series has featured a gay character. In a 2005 episode from the spinoff series Postcards from Buster, Arthur’s best friend meets several children who have two moms while on a trip to Vermont.” While the term “lesbian” was not used in the episode, PBS later took down the offensive episode after receiving a letter from then-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who condemned the episode and asked PBS to “strongly consider” returning the federal funding it used to produce it.
And while there were the predictable wild cheers from the homosexual community for PBS’ “courage” to introduce LGBTQ themes into its erstwhile innocent kids’ show, some observers challenged the network’s wisdom and sensibilities.
“Arthur is a kids show that tackles a lot of serious issues, which is a good thing,” tweeted one individual. “But now, they’re going a little too far with it.”
Another tweeted that “apparently Mr. Ratburn from Arthur is gay…. That’s cool and all but why? It’s a kids show, it doesn’t exactly ‘need’ an openly gay character.”
Opined another: “It’s not up to PBS to brainwash/recruit children. The gay community is in the vast minority. One wouldn’t know it though between TV, movies, commercials, etc. The Gay Mafia is out in full force.”
In response, PBS released a statement insisting that “PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation. We believe it is important to represent the wide array of adults in the lives of children who look to PBS KIDS every day.”
One parent whose children viewed the Arthur episode contacted pro-family website LifeSiteNews.com to say that while the cartoon children were portrayed as “a bit surprised but mostly nonchalant about the whole thing … in the real world, our children were shocked and confused.”
Writing in the American Thinker, Drew Belsky quoted LifeSiteNews that in the episode in question, Patrick the aardvark “winks knowingly” toward the viewers as he walks down the isle with Mr. Ratburn, “whereupon eight-year-old Arthur and his classmate exchange delighted smiles.”
Writes Belsky: “I wonder how many parents thrill at the thought of a homosexual ‘winking knowingly’ at their kids as he prepares to go to bed with another guy. A man winking at eight-year-olds on his wedding night is creepy even when he’s legitimately getting married — by which I must specify to a woman, since that redundancy has to be spelled out in our perverse generation.”
Belsky goes on to observe that with PBS’s insertion of homosexual themes, Arthur is no longer simply a children’s TV show, but a “surface-level indicator of deep societal degradation. Conservatives need to take good moral standards seriously, live that stance all the way down to their choices of entertainment, and expect the same from their neighbors. Otherwise, good luck protecting your kids.”
Image: screenshot from YouTube video
