Arthur's Season 22 premiere same-sex wedding marks a poignant moment in children’s TV history

The Atlantic

"In an episode where a male teacher gets married to another man, the behavior that the other characters consider most worrisome is his dorky dancing, and the apparent moral of the episode is that kids needn’t meddle in the affairs of the adults in their lives, because the adults have it under control," write Ashley Fetters and Natalie Escobar. "That Mr. Ratburn is marrying a person (an aardvark?) of the same sex feels, for all intents and purposes, unremarkable. It attracts no quizzical glances from the other characters, nor is it used as an opportunity for a proverbial Very Special Episode that teaches viewers about same-sex relationships." ALSO: Reaction was in stark contrast to 14 years ago when Arthur spinoff Postcards From Buster sparked controversy with a lesbian couple.