Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins, and One
Million Moms have expressed outrage over a gay wedding on the PBS
children's series Arthur.
The animated series, based on the
Arthur Adventure book series, revolves around 8-year-old
Arthur Read, an aardvark, his family and friends.
In the 22nd season premiere
of the series, Arthur's teacher Mr. Ratburn marries Patrick, who owns
the local chocolate shop. Arthur and his friends crash the wedding
because they assume their teacher is marrying a woman named Patty
(played by Jane Lynch), whom they do not like. It turns out Patrick
is Patty's brother.
One Million Moms immediately issued an
alert calling on parents to call on PBS to pull the episode, titled
“Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone.”
“Just because an issue may be legal
or because some are choosing a lifestyle doesn't make it morally
correct,” One Million Moms' Monica Cole wrote, adding that PBS was
“pushing an agenda.”
Christian conservative Franklin Graham
also warned that the PBS show was “promoting the LGBTQ agenda.”
“I hope everyone will rise up and
clearly tell PBS that they do not want to see this kind of
programming slipped in to try to influence the hearts and minds of
our children and grandchildren,” Graham, a vocal opponent of LGBT
rights, wrote in a Facebook post.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family
Research Council (FRC) and a supporter of President Donald Trump,
called on the government to stop funding PBS.
“Now that PBS has shown that it can't
be trusted, it's time for Big Bird's liberal friends to feather their
own nest!” Perkins wrote.
PBS “spent the last umpteen years
using its half-billion taxpayer dollars promoting the agenda of the
far Left,” he added. “Now, apparently, that agenda includes
pitching same-sex marriage to kids as young as four – and using one
of their favorite characters to do it. … [T]here's no reason to sit
your kids in front of live TV and wait for messages like this to
assault them.”