‘Sesame Street’ Introduces First Gay Couple in Special Pride Month Episode – Decider
Sesame Street is celebrating Pride Month with a groundbreaking episode. The long-running children’s program introduced a family with two gay dads for the first time ever on its June 18 episode, Yahoo Entertainment reports. The episode, titled “Family Day,” features couple Frank (Alex Weisman) and Dave (Chris Costa) with their daughter, Mia (Olivia Perez).
Alan Muraoka, who plays Sesame Street character Alan, directed the historic episode and shared a statement on Facebook celebrating its premiere, per Yahoo. “I am so honored and humbled to have co-directed this important and milestone episode,” he wrote. “Love is love, and we are so happy to add this special family to our Sesame family. Happy Pride to all!”
The episode follows Big Bird as he worries his grandma won’t make it to his party. Luckily, he’s surprised by his own Sesame Street family, which includes Frank, Dave, Mia and more. During the episode, Frank explains, “there’s all kinds of different families, but what makes us a family is that we love each other.”
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told Yahoo Entertainment, “The ‘Family Day’ episode of Sesame Street sends the simple and important message that families come in all forms and that love and acceptance are always the most important ingredients in a family.” She added, “Frank and Dave, as Mia’s dads, are the latest characters in an undeniable trend of inclusion across kids & family programming, one that allows millions of proud LGBTQ parents, and our children, to finally get to see families like ours reflected on TV.”
While Sesame Street has featured LGBTQ representation in the past, last week’s episode marks the first time the show featured a family like Frank and Dave’s. In 2017, the show celebrated Father’s Day with an episode in which the narrator told viewers, “You might have a stepdad, or even two dads.” And later that year, Sesame Street included a child and her two moms.
But long before 2017, Sesame Street was featuring a famous gay couple. Former Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman revealed in 2018 that Bert and Ernie are a couple, explaining that he modeled the two puppets’ relationship after his own with his partner, Arnold Glassman.
Sesame Street airs on PBS and HBO Max. Watch the “Family Day” episode in the video above.