By Cynthia Lee

There was a petition to have Sesame Street’s Bert & Ernie get married last week in which 9,000 people or so signed. Now I’m one that is all for teaching children tolerance and so on, but personally I think that would have been going just a tad overboard. I am also not one to force anything on a child because that’s what it may seem like to parents. The petition had no effect on the show,Sesame Streettold The Today Show that the puppets would not be married. “…They remain puppets and do not have sexual orientation,” said the show’s creators.

Now of course hearing about this got me to thinking about how my sister and best friend would explain to my nephew or Goddaughter about myself being gay. I’m not going to start telling either of them about same-sex relationships. First of all, it isn’t my place to tell either of them. Second of all, it’s not my place. There is a point when yes they will come across a same-sex couple and may ask, “What are they doing?” or there may even be the question that they might ask their mother, later on “Why doesn’t auntie have a boyfriend or husband like you, mommy?” I’ve asked my sister and her husband about how they would respond to such a conversation. For the both of them their responses were simple and not so complicated. They both agreed, “We’ll tell him that auntie has a wife/girlfriend because that’s who she chooses to be with.” When I asked my best friend how she would respond, she said basically the same thing that, “If a girl makes her happy than we’re happy for her.”

Children, when they come upon something they don’t understand they will be sure to ask every question, but that’s where it’s the parent’s job to educate their children tolerance and acceptance. The way I think about things and the way I hope others think about those types of situations, especially dealing with children is that, your belief is not to be forced on a child. A parent is allowed to their opinion but you have this child whose view of the world isn’t tainted by the cruel speculation of what is “right or wrong.” There is such a thing called tolerance, after all we are a new generation that has a better understanding of things that weren’t so common 20-30 years ago.