Bert and Ernie: A Couple?

Some will recognize the address 123 Sesame Street as a famous children television show that has, for decades, been hugely popular due to its famous characters and educational value. Now, many believe that this popular street should become the location for what would be televisions first same sex marriage. Bert and Ernie are the ones subject to a great debate and a very long petition on their relationship and marital status. My question for you is: Is this right?

From interviews around the Cherokee high school campus I have found that the majority of the mass say no. One very enthusiastic teacher, Mr. Ingham, will say "Things of that matter do not belong on a children's television show...Let me raise my kids the way I want to raise them!" Many will say "It doesn't affect me, why do I care?" Very few will say, "Of Course! Let them marry!" two of our freshman, Taylor Cowart and Kelsei Rowe will say those exact words. I'm with those who say it doesn't belong on television.

This argument can be settled with the question of "is this necessary?" The target audiences of Sesame Street are kids to 2-4. This has always been the target audience when the show debuted in November of 1969. Allowing Bert and Ernie to marry would spark curiosity, questions, and conversations that parents don't want to have at ages as early as two and four. A local Atlanta sex therapist and Educator, Erika Pluhar, has done extensive research on when kids learn "sexuality". Pluhar claims, Kids as young as 9 begin to have "crushes", and some physical feelings of other people. To my understanding, kids in third and fourth grade don't watch Sesame Street anymore. Kids between the ages of 9-12 begin to figure out who they are attracted to. By the time kids are figuring out themselves and who they are attracted too, Sesame Street is not a show they should be watching in the first place. I would hope kids know how count and sing their ABC's by the age of 9 and 12.

Would you let your kids watch a show with a publicly open gay couple? Would your parents let you? I'm not saying being gay is wrong. I'm saying its

People may say that Bert and Ernie shouldn't get married, well why not? Personally I think its fine. It wouldn't be the first time children are exposed to this kind of controversy. Many children have gay parents themselves. By having Bert and Ernie marry, it would show kids that it's not that uncommon. I acknowledge the fact that the majority of the kids watching are quite young and that this may bother some parents. I don't believe that this should be an issue; if they want to marry let them marry. I'm not the only one who believes this.

We recently asked people around the school what they thought about this topic. Though many people disagreed with the petition, quite a few others did agree. One