First of all Kevin, thank you for having a dedicated thread for this topic. Given some of the MC Forum's darker moments of suppression of gay perspectives (which ultimately causes major disrespect of the Muppets' gay fanbase), it's nice to see that level of respect/validation of MC's gay members but also the MC community's ability to intelligently discuss this as a whole.
[I'm warning everyone now - this will be a long post - as this is pretty much a major essay i was saving for Muppet Freak (and may repost there if i can get back to maintaining it). This will be a long read but i encourage everyone to take the time to read and mull it over even if it means saving it for later when you have more time as i promise that everyone who does take the time to read this will gain some valuable insight regardless of where their own stances/experiences may lie...]
Ernie and Bert are open to such debates and questions as to whether they're gay or not mainly because EVERYTHING about E&B is ambiguous and left open to question/interpretation. They're abstract colors transcending race; they transcend age - sometimes seeming as if they're children and other times adults; even their very (ingenius) simple minimalistic designs emphasize their universality in just about all areas. There are so many ways people can view Ernie and Bert in a number of categories; orientation being just one of them. (Even in the climactic scene in Follow That Bird when Maria's listing all the examples of different creatures living and peacefully co-existing on Sesame Street, "Bert and Ernie" seem to be included as a class of their own!]
Not counting tie-ins like books or anything of that nature, you'll note that there's never any reference to either Bert or Ernie's parents on the show. They have Aunt Matildas, twin brothers, nephews - but the question of who/where are their parents is forever never addressed - as it opens up the question of "how old are they?" and "how did they come to live together?" - two questions that would take away much of their ambiguity/universality.
Homophobic people often tend to define gay people strictly by their sexuality and more specific - their actual practices! Something that society does _not_ do with straight people. People that are more enlighted know that a gay person's being gay is one small part of who they are overall; on the par with what color their hair is and left/right-handedness. The only thing that binds gay people together is the fact that they are attracted and drawn towards those of the same gender. What kind of relationships/values each individual holds onto and how they behave in their interactions are all very different from person to person - as is the case with their straight counterparts.
I'm one of those rare individuals in 21st century American society - someone who maintains old-fashioned values in terms of virginity and saving myself for a life partner and who strongly values and looks for the friendship-based connections in a partner far over the sex-based. That's rare enough in straight society these days; in gay society - well... let's just say i've long ago made my peace with the idea that i'm destined to spend my life alone.
I would not want to see E&B (or any other Sesame Muppet save for those rare ones who are unmistakably adult and coupled like Humphrey and Ingrid) display more grown-up levels of displays of affection regardless of gender. It's out of place and not appropriate for its intended audience. We can see Luis and Maria or Gordon and Susan kiss each other but it will always be that "friendly" kiss that parents do in front of the children - not the "adult"-style kissing one would see in more grown up fare (including from their adult Muppet counterparts like Kermit and Piggy!) How people express their love for each other - including the married adults - is all gauged with how appropriate it is for the audience they serve.
In this aspect, Ernie and Bert are as far from a gay couple there can be. They may hug from time to time but they won't kiss (unless it was in a more comical context). Those are all issues the audience won't even begin to understand until later in life...right now they're still learning the alphabet, language skills, and concepts like "far" and "near".
A sidenote - in earlier sketches, Bert has been established as being able to have a girlfriend. He makes reference to one in the audio version of "I Want to Hold Your Ear" and there was a street story where Bert fell in love with a girl named Bertha (a female version of Bert!) I don't remember Bertha lasting more than one episode though.
However, Sesame Street CAN and DOES have a way they can introduce children to the reality and acceptance of gay people ... though you'll probably never see them tout this in a press release given the volatile nature of being a kids show on public broadcasting - for many years, they have included a healthy number of gay celebrities visiting the street. It's never said that they are...some have been in various states of being out when they made their appearances, but they've ranged from the "open secret" caliber of Lily Tomlin and Jodie Foster to open and not afraid if people know it such as Ellen Degeneris, R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Nathan Lane, Rosie O'Donnell and Neil Patrick Harris to flamboyantly unmistakably gay figures as Harvey Fierstein. Children see them interacting with their favorite characters, find them friendly, funny, and entertaining and as someone who would make a great friend. That's EXACTLY how it should be done and SW has done this EXTRAORDINARILY well for a long time. Kudos should also be given for showing a gay couple in the brief montage of different kind of families in the Family episode of Elmo's World. SW may not be able to devote a sketch or song to the issue of gay families/parents in today's political climate (even divorce and seperation is touchy enough - with the late 80's "Mama's tree is over there, right here is Daddy's tree / They live in different places but they both love me" still pretty much the definitive... and well done... sketch on the matter) - but in a brief montage like that, they can fit the message in (with still a fair amount of risk - after all we all saw the huge overreactive firestorm over POX News TWO YEARS AFTER THE FACT!)
All of what i've said so far leads to this...What E&B ARE able to show is the Value and Importance of Friendship in its Highest Form. Pure and unconditional (though sometimes having to be worked at). They represent how all levels of friends should deal with each other - whether it's children playmates, straight best buds, or yes...gay couples. Remember when i said how i personally value friendship-based relationships with my (pretty much hypothetical!) partners over sex-based ones? E&B totally represent the best of platonic friendships and values and that's what i get out of them and why gay people can identify with them so strongly. In part because they do carry the innocence that comes with childhood (in their part-adult, part-kid like nature) relationships and perspectives. They can both be friends and not be shy about or hold back in expressing their love (however you wish to define it) for each other. That's something humankind should strive for in general and gays value to acheive in particular. So there's a certain amount of openness mixed with purity that E&B represent that can be viewed as parallels with not only gay relationships but also "bromances" or strong straight same-gender friendships. When people get older and they learn about the differences between gay and straight (and the oft-neglected degrees in between), they grow afraid to express love and affection or develop strong bonds with those of the same gender (males especially). This is truly one of the biggest shames of modern society but E&B are among our greatest teachers of how to get "back to basics" with our varied levels of friendship. That ultimately is what E&B are all about no matter how one interprets the specifics of their friendship level.
In closing i do have to address Gary Knell's infamous statement in answer to The Question: "They are not gay, they are not straight, they are puppets. They don't exist below the waist." On the one hand, that could be interpreted as a rather homophobic way to answer the question as it goes back to what i mentioned about the unbalanced tendancy for people to define gays by their affectional habits (the fact that he at least gets in the "they are not straight" in equal footing saves him from really being offensive). However even though that particular statement could leave a bad taste in some people's mouths, one must consider the mentality of the bulk of the people he's addressing that statement towards and he actually sets it in terms that they will most likely understand and relate to. So i give him a pass - he's talking in terms those who most need to "get the message" need for it to sink in so i can applaud that while at the same time would hope he would use a different tone if he was directly addressing a more enlightened audience.
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