Amy Poehler is a gay rights activist,
at least her character on Thursday's season premiere of NBC's Parks
and Recreation is.
In the show, Poehler's character of
Leslie Knope, an enthusiastic but incompetent government employee,
inadvertently marries two male penguins at the Pawnee city zoo. The
gay community rallies to her side as conservatives decry her actions
and call for her resignation.
Knope is apparently well known at the
Bulge, the local gay bar, and says of the bar, “the nights I've
wasted there.”
The episode is likely inspired by the
recent high-profile breakup of Harry and Pepper, the San Francisco
Zoo's gay penguin couple. The pair called it quits this summer after
six long years when Linda, the window penguin, won over Harry.
The concept behind Poehler's political
sitcom is derived from NBC's The Office. Both shows draw
laughs at the expense of their stars who happen to be in over their
heads – Knope for instance is a perpetually conflicted do-gooder
leading an ultimately indifferent staff.
Poehler came on board Parks and
Recreation after starring in Saturday Night Live for seven
years.