‘Clifford the Big Red Dog’ gets 2 lesbian moms; 1 Million Moms protest
The PBS network has rebooted a kid’s TV cartoon show, Clifford the Big Red Dog, with two lesbian moms as characters, and this has an evangelical right-wing Christian group outraged.
The show began airing on both PBS Kids and Amazon Prime last December 2019, with a child character named Samantha having two mothers, Dr. and Ms. Mulberry.
Controversy hounds Clifford the Big Red Dog
The TV series of Clifford is based on an American children’s book written by Norman Bridwell and published in 1963 by Scholastic.
From September 2000 to February 2003, Scholastic Studios produced a 65-episode adaptation shown on PBS Kids.
A new series came out last December with the said lesbian moms included. This has the right-wing Christian group One Million Moms (OMM) criticizing the show.
OMM director Monica Cole said that “the recent reboot of the PBS children’s series Clifford the Big Red Dog contains a child character named Samantha who has two mommies, Dr. and Ms. Mulberry.”
“The same-sex couple was first introduced in a mid-February episodes titled ‘The Big Red Tomato/Dogbot’,” Cole said.
She added: “There was no disclaimer at the beginning of the episode where their relationship is explained.”
Clifford the Big Red Dog versus One Million Moms
OMM is part of an anti-LGBT hate group, American Family Association. Supposedly, it only has one member: Cole.
The group had come out with an “action alert” entitled, “PBS KIDS is Taking Advantage of Parental Trust,” and slammed PBS for being inclusive.
“Many families have already discovered that PBS KIDS, largely supported by federal funds, is anything but family friendly,” the group warned.
Previously, the group had attacked PBS for showing an episode of another kid’s TV cartoon show, Arthur, that featured a same-sex wedding.
“Discussion of such controversial topics and lifestyle choices should be left up to parents. PBS KIDS should not introduce the LGBTQ lifestyle to young children,” the group said.
“PBS KIDS should stick to entertaining and providing family-friendly programming, instead of pushing an agenda,” it added.
The very loud One Million Moms against LGBTQ media
The group also cited other children’s shows that have included LGBTQ people, like Sesame Street and Arthur.
Cole said in an email: “Apparently featuring a same-sex wedding between two males on the children’s animated series Arthur wasn’t enough for those who are pro-LGBTQ at PBS KIDS.”
“And if a same-sex wedding and a same-sex relationship in children’s programming weren’t enough, PBS recently announced that Sesame Street will feature a drag queen activist wearing a gender-bender tuxedo gown in one of its episodes this year,” she said.
Earlier studies have shown that children raised by LGBTQ parents actually do better at school. They are just as happy and healthy as their counterparts raised by heterosexual parents.