There must be something about this time of year that winds cultural conservatives in our fair city a bit more tightly than usual. First,
Dr. James Dobson, a conservative Christian activist, suggested at an inauguration event last week that SpongeBob Squarepants was featured in a “pro-homosexual video” that was to indoctrinate school children. After much liberal snickering, it turns out the whole thing might have been an innocent mix-up over the name of a group that produced the video, and since SpongeBob has yet to announce any overt agenda. (One Nickelodeon spokesman was even forced to point out “It’s a sponge … he has no sexuality.”)

Just when we thought SpongeBob’s sexuality may be behind us, another scandal seems to be brewing that could cut close to the core of the seemingly vast liberal animated conspiracy. It turns out the best friend of animated PBS star Arthur actually might have gay friends. Let’s set the scene carefully: Arthur’s friend Buster (a rabbit) is the star of his own program called “Postcards from Buster” where he travels the country with his father (his parents are divorced), who is the pilot for a rock band called “Los Viajeros.” Along the way he travels to Vermont where they film an episode called “Sugartime!” where he ate sugar on snow and “we visited Emma, David, and James, who live with their two moms, Karen and Gillian. Karen and my mom used to work at the same newspaper together.” To top it all off, he had to go and write about it on his blog.

Ok PBS, let’s see: we’ve got divorce, bands with non-english names, Vermont, same-sex couples, rock music, newspaper columnists, and a recipe for hummus all on a blog targeting small children? If you think that all sounds to be too much for a Bush administration official, you’d be right. Newly appointed Education Secretary Margaret Spellings made one of her first acts whipping out a tart letter to PBS telling them she didn’t appreciate the use of federal funding to “introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.” (The show is funded in part by a grant from the federal government.) Although PBS has said gay civil unions are “not at all the focus of the show,” they decided yesterday not to distribute the program nationwide, although the station which produced the program, WGBH in Boston, will air the episode.

We’re just glad Buster still has his blog. Maybe he’ll get a recipe for a good latte up there one of these days.