Buster the Bunny comes under attack from Bush’s new secretary of education, proving that tolerance is not a White House priority.
By: Hank Kalet
A sign of the apocalypse:
PBS is slated to run a program that shows a family with two moms. The show, "Postcards from Buster," is a spinoff of the popular "Arthur" series, takes kids on a tour of the country, introducing them to an array of people of different races and ethnicities, different economic classes and different jobs. The show slated to air Feb. 2 was to visit Vermont where he would learn to make maple syrup.
But the new secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, has decided that the show is bad for kids and bad for America. She is threatening to pull funding from PBS.
The best way to understand the absurdity of Spellings’ thinking is to read this from Dana Stevens’ Surfer Girl blog on Slate (scroll down to Thursday):
"I’m as concerned as the next potential parent about young children’s exposure to tree-tapping hijinks on public TV. So I called Jeanne Hopkins, communications director for WGBH in Boston, where "Postcards from Buster" is produced. Ms. Hopkins obligingly granted me an interview, which I reproduce here in its entirety.
"What is the specific nature of the content that the Secretary of Education is objecting to? What exactly happens in ‘Sugartime!’?
"The animated character Buster Baxter meets real kids. In this episode he is in Vermont … [he] meets kids with two moms. The moms are not central to the story, the kids are. But their family structure seems to be what has triggered the concern.
"Is there any nudity in ‘Sugartime!’?
"No.
"Is there any sexual contact between the two women? Romantic contact? Do they kiss, touch, grope each other onscreen?
"No, no, no, no and no.
"Is the word ‘lesbian’ or ‘gay’ ever used in the episode?
"No, no.
"How about ‘dyke’?
"No.
"How do we know that the couple pictured are lesbians?
"One of the kids introduces her mom and stepmom, and Buster comments that she has a lot of moms. That’s pretty much it. Remember, this is a show from a kid’s point of view, not an adult’s.
"Is ‘"maple sugaring’ actually code for some sort of sexual practice between women?
"Not that we uncovered.
"Is the lesbian couple married under Vermont’s civil union law? Does the issue of marriage come up in the episode?
"There is no mention of the women’s status and marriage is not mentioned. We know from meeting and talking with them off-camera that they are in a civil union.
"In the ‘Buster’ theme song, Wyclef Jean sings : ‘He’s got his camera /And he’s gonna explore /All the neat things he’s never done before.’ By showcasing a lesbian couple in this episode, is PBS promoting a homosexual agenda by implying that two women living together as domestic partners is a ‘neat thing’ that children should ‘explore’?
"No, we are not promoting anything. Buster visits kids whose parents are divorced, too – we’re not promoting that either. Buster is exploring the neat things that kids all over this country do, and experience, and can teach each other.
"As one of Bush’s senior domestic policy advisors, Margaret Spellings was once interviewed on C-Span about some census data that indicated a decline in traditional family structures. She answered, ‘So what?’ and added that, as a single mother, she understood that there were ‘lots of different types of family.’ How do you explain Ms. Spellings’ shift on this issue since she assumed office as Secretary of Education on Monday?
"We cannot explain, nor would we try.
"What do you think is really at stake when the new Bush administration picks an issue like this to set the tone for the next four years? Is the government trying to find excuses to withdraw funding from public television? Or is this just a symbolic bone thrown to the Christian right? What do you think is going on?
"It’s not clear to us what this means. …"
Is this what we have to look forward to for the rest of the Bush presidency. I certainly hope not.
PBS should stand its ground on this one and show the show.