Alabama Public Television Is Refusing To Air ‘Arthur’ Episode That Features a Same-Sex Wedding

Same-sex marriage has been legalized in all 50 states and in recent years has been more widely accepted than ever before. And yet somehow, there are still places that don’t encourage this kind of love—even if it’s portrayed on a simple cartoon.

PBS started their popular show Arthur more than 20 years ago, and recently, they aired an episode displaying same-sex marriage. In the episode, called “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” Arthur’s teacher Mr. Ratburn celebrates his wedding to someone no one was expecting: a male aardvark named Patrick.

Most people had a positive reaction to the episode, congratulating the network on showing kids the true meaning of love and not discriminating against same-sex marriage.

“PBS KIDS programs are designed to reflect the diversity of communities across the nation. We believe it is important to represent the wide array of adults in the lives of children who look to PBS KIDS every day,” PBS said.

However, not everyone was on board with the message it was sending. In fact, Alabama Public Television has chosen not to air an episode Arthur on their network.

“Parents have trusted Alabama Public Television for more than 50 years to provide children’s programs that entertain, educate and inspire,” said Alabama Public Television director of programming Mike Mckenzie. “Parents trust that their children can watch APT without their supervision. We also know that children who are younger than the ‘target’ audience for Arthur also watch the program.”

This isn’t the first time Alabama Public Television had a problem with an episode of Arthur for a similar reason. The station had previously pulled a 2005 episode of the show when a character was displayed with two mothers instead of a mother and a father.

Do you agree or disagree with this network’s decision to pull this episode? Would you let your children watch this episode?