T Timmy Sesame Street

FIRST-PERSON: In the gay debate, let's leave Bert & Ernie alone

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--"It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail," Abraham Maslow is credited as having said. While the American psychologist's observation has many applications, it aptly sums up the reality of a person who has a very narrow and unyielding view of life.

Lair Scott is a man who, it seems, hefts the hammer of homosexual rights. Hence, it appears, he sees homosexuality anywhere and everywhere. As a result, he has initiated a petition on the website Change.org that seeks to persuade the children's program "Sesame Street" to "let Bert and Ernie get married."

For the uninitiated, Bert and Ernie are two of the more recognizable puppets who appear on the PBS children's program "Sesame Street." The pair has been a staple on the program since it first aired in 1969.

Change.org is a website that describes itself as "an online activism platform for social change that raises awareness about important causes and connects people to opportunities for powerful action." It is utilized primarily, though not exclusively, by liberal causes.

There are a variety of problems with Lair's petition, which has more than 7,500 signatures.

First of all, it assumes Bert and Ernie were created and/or intended to project or promote homosexuality, an assumption Sesame Street strongly denies. In a statement on its Facebook site, Sesame Street insisted its puppets are not intended to have a sexual orientation.

"Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have sexual orientation," the Sesame Street statement read.

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