(LifeSiteNews) –– Stories have storytellers, and in our 21st century entertainment industry, those storytellers are either allies of the LGBT movement – or part of the movement themselves.
As I’ve noted many times over the past several years in this space, almost every children’s TV show and franchise is caving to the LGBT movement’s demand to include LGBT content and characters in their storylines. This has been an openly expressed goal of LGBT activist organizations like GLAAD for a long time; they release report cards each year rating every studio and network on how “LGBT-affirming” their content is, and make it clear that they expect a constant escalation of LGBT material (their reports come with names such as “Where We Are On TV Report” and the “Studio Responsibility Index.”
The latest show to bend the knee is the Australian children’s TV show Bluey, which launched in 2018 and rapidly became one of the most critically acclaimed shows in its genre. After its TV debut, it showed up on Disney+ in 2019, and the stories of the seven-year-old puppies Bluey and Bingo have proven incredibly popular amongst children. Millions of families watch it. Each episode generally tries to convey a life lesson to the audience. Thus, it was inevitable that LGBT content would show up eventually – or activists would attempt to make it a very public issue.
As Unilad reported: “Now, three seasons and over 150 episodes into its existence, Bluey has not only garnered praise for being a tremendous kid’s TV show but also for its inclusivity in the final episode of season 3. In the most recent episode of the series, the show made reference to its first same-sex couple, with a friend of Bluey’s – a chihuahua named Pretzel – noting that he has two moms in an anecdote about his pet guinea pig.” (A similar storyline showed up on Peppa Pig with the introduction of lesbian Polar bears.)
The LGBT content is slipped in. One of the characters states: “When my guinea pig ran away, my mums told me he might come back, but he didn’t.” It might seem like a throwaway line, but LGBT activists certainly didn’t think so – LGBT outlets like Pink News immediately celebrated the “representation.” As Unilad noted, the moment “is considered a step forward for LGBTQ representation and the normalization of same-sex couples appearing within kid’s television.”
As Pink News put it, “Disney+’s animated preschool show Bluey has joined the likes of Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol as a kids’ show that includes LGBTQ+ characters and topics,” adding that the reference to lesbian moms is a “groundbreaking” moment. LGBT activists on social media concurred, praising the showrunners and the storyline—and giving the creators precisely what they wanted. Of course, they will be expected to include more such content now. Subtle references to same-sex parenting may be “groundbreaking,” but LGBT activists will not be satisfied with that—the show will be expected to have an LGBT main character.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Watch what your kids are watching. Be careful. Stories have storytellers. Do you know who those storytellers are? Do you know what they wish to “normalize” to your children? Do you know what their agenda is? You should – and the fact that a children’s franchise has been clean and wholesome for many years is no guarantee that it will stay that way.
