An Oak Park man is sitting at the center of an international debate about same-sex marriage, but he isn't talking about gay people.
Lair Scott wants Bert and Ernie, the Sesame Street television puppet duo, to tie the knot on the show.
On Aug. 4 Scott launched an online petition on Change.org, calling on Sesame Street to join the puppets in marriage. The petition picked up more than 8,000 supporters in just 10 days and set off an international debate about children and LGBT media representations.
"I think it's the responsibility of Sesame Street and PBS to discuss same-sex parents," Scott said. "Never have they included the gay and lesbian and community."
Sesame Street has a history of tackling tough issues in its programming, including conversations about HIV/AIDS, diversity and death. Scott said its time that Sesame Street talked about LGBT issues.
"There's a human hand behind [ the puppets ] and a corporation that has the power to educate and change peoples' lives," he said. "We need to discuss homophobia. We need to discuss bullying."
However, Sesame Workshop, the organization behind Bert and Ernie, insists that while the oddly-matched pair might be two male characters, they have no sexual orientation.
"Bert and Ernie are best friends," Sesame said in a statement. "They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves."
Gay-rights activists have argued for years, sometimes in jest, that the pair must be gay, living together and sleeping in the same bedroom, albeit in separate beds.
However, Scott's petition has also sparked outrage from many who say that the puppets should be left out of the same-sex marriage debate.
"A kid of 3 or 4 does not know what a gay person is. So why should they have it pushed in their faces... Just because you're gay does not mean the whole world has to be gay also," one posted wrote on Scott's "Bert and Ernie Get Married" Facebook page. "Leave the kids alone. Let them have their childhood."
Several copycat petitions have popped up on Change.org against the marriage, but none have gained the same level of support as Scott's.
Despite popular belief, Scott said, the win for same-sex marriage in New York didn't inspire his petition. A friend of his posted a picture of Bert and Ernie with a caption congratulating the puppets on 40 years of marriage.
"I thought well, they're not married… yet," Scott said.
