Bert and Ernie snuggle on the cover of the New Yorker while watching the Supreme Court

[WilliamPitt]

All the Win.

[riqster]

1. Yeah. nt

[n2doc]

2. Comment by the artist

“It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,” said Jack Hunter, the artist behind next week’s cover, “Moment of Joy.” Hunter, who originally submitted his image, unsolicited, to a Tumblr, continued, “This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.”

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

[avaistheone1]

4. Awww

Sesame Workshop’s Facebook responds with this statement:

“Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics…they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/08/11/quote-sesame-street-responds-to-gay-marriage-petition/

[loyalsister]

5. Which preschoolers...

"They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves."

Apparently is escapes them that marriage equality is a step in that very direction regarding our LGBT friends.

[nomorenomore08]

30. Agreed. The whiff of defensiveness does somewhat undermine their own message.

nt

[nomorenomore08]

29. That's from a couple years ago. But it is unnecessary, at the least, if not misguided.

nt

[Deep13]

38. Honestly, I never thought they were gay.

I've always thought the satirical depictions of them as gay were funny. Still, I kind of assumed they were brothers. The simple fact is that most love is not erotic.

[Johonny]

6. Before you know it Bert will be snuggling Big Bird -Rand Paul

[Scurrilous]

8. LOL

[11 Bravo]

19. DUzy!

[Bertha Venation]

42. + 1

[tclambert]

21. Kermit and Miss Piggy are fair game.

"Oh, Kermieeeeeeeee!"

[xxqqqzme]

7. Made me smile!

[solara]

9. I remember when mean spirited "christians" began to speak out

against puppet characters attributing them (Tinky Winky and Bert & Ernie) with a base sexuality that could only come from their own sick minds.

In 1990, the Reverend Joseph Chambers, a Pentecostal minister from Charlotte, North Carolina, decided that Bert & Ernie were a gay couple. Jerry Falwell took up the banner and called for a boycott of Sesame Street and people actually took them seriously!

I thought it was horrifying and disgusting for well known "christian' leaders to rail against these innocent and sweet characters that were created for young children. These 'paragons' of christianity used their self-mandated and self-righteous spiritual "authority", which obviously sprang from their own twisted, repressed sexual fantasies in an attempt to paint these fictional and innocent characters as the "poster puppets" for any relationship that was considered by them as "out of the norm" and a terrible, terrible sin.

I have to say that I am somewhat disturbed to see that whole debacle immortalized and validated by the New Yorker cover. I really don't think it is all that cute.

[WilliamPitt]

10. Look at it this way

Chambers, Falwell and all the rest of them hooted and hollered and raised a fuss at a bunch of puppets as a way to steal rights from actual people.

The end result of their efforts: two puppets sharing a happy moment together in freedom and peace.

In other words, the puppets win.

[solara]

12. Yeah, I can see that..

I just have a problem with giving any credence to such hatefulness. But I get what you are saying.

DOMA is the kind of thing that should never have been created in the first place IMO.. Human rights are just that.. rights. Yesterday's decision by SCOTUS was definitely a step in the right direction. But we all have a very very long way to go.

Sorry, I guess I am just pissed off in general because we are still dealing with this hatefulness on every level. We are definitely dancin' the two-step - two steps forward and one step back.

Why are these poisonous cretins still in charge?

[WilliamPitt]

13. "Why are these poisonous cretins still in charge?"

Because 50% of the country doesn't vote, but the assholes always do.

Simple truth.

[mountain grammy]

27. I didn't see it as cute, I saw it as, well, wonderful!

Just two sweet puppets my kids and I grew up with sharing a moment of joy with the black and white supreme court, a rare moment these days.

[Rozlee]

35. And they threw a shit fit because SpongeBob Square Pants and Patrick occasionally hold hands.

They claim cartoons were never like that when they were growing up; that gender roles were strictly defined. I guess they never saw Popeye in drag, posing as a nurse, or Bugs Bunny decked out like Scarlet O'Hara. And wasn't Bugs always distracting his pursuers by giving them big smacking kisses on the lips? They'd like to think that today's world is Sodom and that it's steeped in evil. But, today's cartoons are actually more sensitive to culture, gender and race than cartoons in the past. I never really stopped to think that what Bluto was doing to Olive Oyl when he dragged her by the hair and forced her to kiss him while she screamed for him to stop was sexual assault. I mean, it was a formula that was repeated in the cartoon over and over and as a kid, I never gave it another thought. And as a minority, I often got upset at the way old cartoons portrayed people of color. I enjoy the old cartoons I grew up with. But, I consider the humor in some of them inappropriate for my younger grandchildren that aren't in school yet. Nowadays, I'd much rather have my grandkids watch Phineas and Ferb and Dexter's Laboratory rather than Popeye. I really feel that my favorite childhood cartoon is more appropriate for tweens and up.

[sibelian]

37. ... but wouldn't it be WONDERFUL if Bert and Ernie came out now?

I think it would just be so beautiful...

[William769]

11. Kick & recommended.

[Ter]

14. So they are gay?

I thought they denied this when it was a rumor in the late 90's.

[BlueStater]

16. They were never intended to be gay.

They're based on the real life partnership/friendship of their performers, Jim Henson and Frank Oz.

[jeffrey_pdx]

32. Their names came from "It's A Wonderful Life"

I forget who was who, but they were the cop and cabbie.

[ismnotwasm]

15. K&R

[SpartanDem]

17. I wonder if theyll get some flack from CTW

In the past they said the characters are not gay.

[eggplant]

18. As CTW has repeatedly said...

...not only are they not gay, they don't have genitals, or even lower torsos. They're puppets.

So despite my great joy at the SCOTUS rulings (well, not for the VRA) the cover depends on the misappropriation of the two characters for this fight, which disappoints me. CTW gets enough crap from the right-wing already. They don't need this.

That having been said, yay for the rulings!

[Phentex]

41. Agreed!

I don't find this funny/amusing/helpful at all.

[SCALA13]

20. As its known, a picture can say a thousand words.

[OnionPatch]

22. Awww!

[BrainMann1]

23. I didn't know they were lovers

[blkmusclmachine]

24. OK

[typeviic]

25. Oh no!!!,,,,

The gap-toothes will be dirtying their collective diapers over this.

[MrSlayer]

26. Ernie is a child.

He bathes with a rubber ducky, he's scared of the dark, he acts on impulse, he needs to be told that snowmen aren't alive, so on and so forth. He's a little kid.

I'm all about the equality but the Ernie & Bert are gay thing bugs me. Bert is the adult figure and Ernie is a child. It's fucked up. I know Bert is evil but is he that evil?

http://www.bertisevil.tv/

[mountain grammy]

28. When I saw this on fb, I laughed and cried and immediately shared it.

My first son was born in 1968. We grew up with Bert and Ernie. I loved seeing them together watching our supreme court, in black and white, do something for the good for a change. Five justices agreed that a law against equality is unconstitutional, what a concept.
Bringing in Bert and Ernie just shows people are people and puppets are puppets and some days are just "sunny days, chasing the clouds away."

[Phlem]

31. you knows it

brotha!

-p

[Liberal_in_LA]

33. cute cover

[Rod Walker]

34. Avenue Q - "If You Were Gay"

[jazzimov]

36. K & R!

[PatrynXX]

39. when I grew up they were brothers

never showed the parents.

so right now still hard seeing them snuggle in front of a tv. know it's not promoting incest but they were brothers back in the day.

[tavernier]

40. They are puppets on a kid show.

Doesn't it sometimes seem that our whole society has waaaay too much time on its hands? Go to a war torn country where a family is grateful for the next meal. I bet they don't have long conversations as to whether or not their baby's home made rag doll is gay or straight.

[Up2Late]

43. I still don't understand how anyone could make the leap necessary to think B & E are gay...

I mean, at most, they are two male roommates who share an apartment in New York or any town, USA, but even to think they are any more than two boys who hang out and play together, not "adult men in a relationship," is pushing it for me.

[Behind the Aegis]

44. What I find interesting...

...is the number of self-professed "liberals/progressives" shitting themselves over this. "Muppets aren't gay!!' "They're just roommates!!" and the list goes on and on; but, it isn't from right-wing nut jobs, oh no, it is from so-called allies to the cause. What's even more interesting is...well, I spy with my little eye, at least two people who think this is "wrong" but had no problem "pretending" Romney and Ryan were a "homo" couple or making cracks about Lindsey Graham. (There may be a few others, but I am tired of looking.)

Today's lesson is brought to you by the letter "H" (as in hypocrisy).

(This is not directed at the OP(oster).)

[FreeState]

45. +1

You expressed what I was thinking exactly.

Besides, why assume two men leaning on each other are gay? They could be brothers, friends, lovers, etc.