Yet I’m able to ride the subway to work in one of the most diverse cities in the world and somehow muddle through my day.
@tpike12 It doesn’t matter what many Muslims and Christians believe. Children should be exposed to all types of people…be it race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. as that is the fabric of our country. Their religion may not embrace this or that, but the reality is that our country is made up of different people and these children go to school with kids of different religions, races, and sexual orientation and all those types should be represented in literature, history books, media, etc. The TV show is not teaching kids to celebrate gay marriage, but rather to include representation of all people that make up their communities and country.
As an aside, I find your statement of married people of the same gender as committing a lifetime of sin as extremely offensive. I will add that one of my daughters is married to a woman. Their life is not sinful. Hopefully, one day, their children will see families like theirs depicted in books and TV shows, and so will their classmates.
There is no obligation that entertainment producers create products that will appeal to every single person in the world. If a cartoon is going to offend the sensibilities of a parent who does not believe that his/her precious snowflake should be “taught” about the reality of the world outside their cocoon, the last time I checked, each and every television set/laptop/phone has the most effective of parental controls - the off button. But let the parent(s) make that determination, not the TV station.
Not a fan of banning books/tv/whatever. If the material offends or doesn’t appeal, don’t watch it or change the channel.
I love Arthur, and personally wouldn’t be offended by gay marriage, but if you are, redirect your kids to something else. Didn’t we all make different choices about what we let our kids watch or what video games they could play?
@skieurope - I agree with you 1000%. That is the society I want to live in. Put ALL the ideas out there, but that is not what is happening. Banning content and individuals is rampant throughout society and it is pretty one-sided.
If you think about it Arthur is really about diverse characters who may have differences of opinion but in the end all get along. Aside from the fact that the series has single parent families, kids who celebrate kwanza, adopted siblings, brains and jocks, kids who live in mansions and others who live in apartments, meat eaters and vegetarians, and more, it’s a show in which bears, dogs, cats, rabbits and rats can all be friends!
What it’s really about is parents who want as much time as possible to inculcate the appropriate amount of hate into their children before their experiences challenge it. It might be difficult to explain to your child that he/she has to hate a cartoon rat and have it stick.
^^BINGO. 
And that has been the show’s premise from the start.
It’s wonderful for gay children to see positive, matter of fact and positive media representations of gay marriages. Applause.
Smoking pot is legal in several states. So is the next episode “Arthur lites his bong?”
Or how about “Arthur takes his girlfriend to the abortion clinic?”
A gun episode is probably not age appropriate either.
Individuals who live in Alabama should have had the CHOICE to decide if they wanted to see this episode or allow their children to see it. But no, judgmental homophobes decided THEIR values should rule the day.
You know even if your child watches something you don’t agree with, you can use it as a teachable moment to talk about your family’s values …
The key issue is not including all things that are legal. Representing all types of people that make up the fabric of our country is important for children to be exposed to. For instance, a child may be gay. A child may have gay parents or their friends have gay parents. Including all types of people is important as being inclusive and representative of the make up of our communities.
It is not important for an episode to show Arthur lighting his bong because it is not acceptable for children to use drugs. However, it would be important to include learning about the risks of drugs.
An episode of Arthur taking his girlfriend to the abortion clinic makes no sense since Arthur is a child. It’s not age appropriate
A gun episode could be age appropriate if teaching about the risks of guns and for children not to touch guns they may find because of the implicit dangers.
Being exposed to either people who are like you (gay) or others in the community who are different from you (you’re not gay but there are others who are) IS age appropriate. Children should be made aware that there are people of different faiths, religions, and sexual orientation that make up the country they live in and to embrace acceptances of differences.
yourmoma, need a better argument. 
Arthur is too young for the things you mention… but attending a wedding is an age-appropriate activity for Arthur and his audience. BTW, pot is still illegal - on federal level.
Of course not, because in the books/show, Arthur is 8 years old. Therefore, it would NOT be portraying a legal act.
Should the TV station refuse to show an episode where there is a champagne toast at a wedding because people of XYZ religion think that taking a sip of champagne is a sin?
For starters, Arthur is 8, so it’s unlikely that he’s either using marijuana or having sex. Secondly, he’s an aardvark and everyone knows that aardvarks prefer blunts over bongs. Sheesh.
In school, children are exposed to many differences in our culture and in other cultures. For example, just because my kids learned about Christmas and Kwanza, even though they don’t celebrate these traditions, didn’t inculcate them. They were exposed to Muslim beliefs. Same with different races. The same should be true of exposure to those who are in same sex relationships or are gay. Exposure, inclusion, and acceptance are not the same as inculcation and being taught to believe in or value or follow something for yourself.
All I have to say is: WOW!
If you didn’t object to the episode where DW was a flower girl at a wedding then you can’t be cant be claiming that attending a wedding is an age inappropriate activity for children. Drug use and sex are however age inappropriate so your example is inaposite. So what exactly do you think is inappropriate. For children to be aware that marriage between two men is legal and that many people celebrate it?
@soozievt I don’t think I understand what you mean. What do you mean that this will teach children to “believe in” being gay? It’s not something to believe or not, it just is. It’s not like the Easter Bunny or something, people are gay and that is a fact. And are you saying Arthur having a gay character is teaching children to “follow something” as in it will make them gay?
I grew up watching Oscar the Grouch but I did not believe in him and I did not become grouchy after watching him.