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Twitter Sends Emotional Thanks To 'Sesame Street' After Pride Message

Twitter Sends Emotional Thanks To 'Sesame Street' After Pride Message

Sesame Street” sent a heartfelt message to LGBTQ people as cities across the U.S. celebrated Pride this weekend, and the response from the queer community was truly incredible.

On June 23, the classic children’s TV series tweeted a photograph that featured seven of its beloved characters, including Elmo, posed to form a rainbow.

By Tuesday afternoon, the tweet had received over 129,000 likes and 53,000 retweets. Billy Eichner and Audra McDonald were among the celebrities to share the image.

Meanwhile, the inclusive message received heaps of praise from LGBTQ rights advocates. “It’s nice to see positivity when there is so much negativity in the world,” one person wrote. Added another: “There is true beauty in seeing a children’s show that so openly accepts people like this.”

Check out some of the best responses below.

Of course, not everyone was thrilled. LifeSiteNews, a web site that “emphasizes the social worth of traditional Judeo-Christian principles,” blasted the image in a June 26 blog post, accusing “Sesame Street” of “promoting the politicization and sexualization of kids” by sending a queer-inclusive message.

“As a political matter, ‘Sesame Street’ is no longer neutral in the LGBT culture wars,” the blog read. “It used to be that the Muppets were sexually non-ideological because, let’s face it, Muppets don’t exist from the waist down... But in the current climate where what exists below the waist is no longer indicative of sexual identity, where sexual identity can be a figment of one’s imagination having nothing to do with either nature or natural law, ‘Sesame Street’ is able to emerge as a natural promoter for LGBT ideology.”

Fortunately, such dissenting voices were in the minority, and given the cultural impact of “Sesame Street,” it’s safe to say they’ll stay that way.

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