The newest episode of the popular children’s animated television series Arthur had some big news for Israeli children who faithfully follow the show: Mr. Ratburn got married–to a man.
The well-loved PBS program, which began in the 1990’s, is dubbed into Hebrew and has been a regular on Israeli children’s television for decades.
Arthur is an adorable and smart aardvark, and in the premiere episode of the show’s 22nd season, children find out that Arthur’s longtime beloved teacher, Mr. Ratburn, is gay. PBS’s promotion of homosexual marriage to kindergarten-aged children was not a passing slight, but the main object lesson of the episode titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone.”
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a nonprofit American public broadcaster and the main provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States. Arthur is broadcast in Hebrew by the Israel Public Broadcasting Cooperation, now known as Kan. Since almost all of its shows are broadcast during the daytime, parents are generally unaware of the content their children are watching.