Bert and Ernie, gay or not? Anyway, you're right

If you grew up watching Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street, the PBS youth series, you already know that the Muppets are good friends.

But the question is "how good"?

Are they just the best buddies and roommates who like to go out, give thoughtful gifts and debate pigeons and rubber ducks? Or is there something romantic?

The question is not new. But this week, it has resurfaced when former Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman revealed in an interview with LGBTQ Queerty website that yes, the beloved duo is indeed in a homosexual relationship.

"I remember one time that a chronicle of the San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler from the city, turned to mom and asked," Bert lovers. & Ernie? "And that, coming from a preschooler was fun," said Saltzman. "It went around, and everyone had a chuckle and I came back to that, and I always thought that without a big agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they would have it. were … I did not have any other way to contextualize them. "

Saltzman, who is gay, told Queerty that he still considered himself Ernie and his partner Arnie Glassman as Bert.

As the news spread, the former Sesame Street writer finally declared what many of us already suspected, the Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization of Sesame Street, tweeted an official statement On Tuesday, the pair is only a pair of good old friends.

"They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves," the statement said. "Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and features (as most Muppets do on Sesame Street), they remain puppets and do not have any orientation. sexual. "

While Sesame Street may have wanted Bert and Ernie to be straight, we see their relationship to a real world filter that, in adulthood, probably says more about us than puppets.

LGBTQ representation in children's shows is important, so why not add LGBTQ characters to the Muppet list? Muppets may be mere puppets, but Sesame Street has used them to tackle real problems, such as the very adult HIV.

Kami the Muppet starred in Takalani Sesame, the South African co-production of Sesame Street, and was created in 2002 specifically to teach children about HIV. In fact, Kami was introduced and promoted as the first HIV-positive Muppet in the world.

Muppet designer Ed Christie spoke with the US television archives about Kami, the Muppet monster.

"When we include monsters in one of our shows, it defuses certain categories," Christie said. "It does not allow to classify them, because the monster is very abstract, you interpret it in a way that you interpret it differently … Each one brings his experience to this character and what? he draws from it. "

"I think developing the character of HIV as a monster means you do not stigmatize it," added Christie. "She is adorable … and she has a positive attitude, but because she is a monster, she allows you to accept this character and her message more, people adhere to it, they love it because they bring their own experience with it. he."

And maybe that's the biggest picture here. Bert and Ernie's relationship is what you make of it. If you want the Muppets to be the best friends and roommates who met by chance when Bert left his parents' home for Sesame Street, that's fine.

But if you're a curious kid about the gay community, this could be a great tool for a parent or teacher to explain what LGBTQ means and how it might relate to Bert and Ernie's relationship.

Everyone just wants to feel that they belong. Who are we to deny them?

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