[Shaun]

Originally Posted by LemonJam

yeah gotta say I saw one episode of Glee and it obviously left too much of an impression on me. :\

can't even go for a pint with LemonJam now without him screaming Defying Gravity at you in a wheelchair

[LemonJam]

Originally Posted by Shaun

can't even go for a pint with LemonJam now without him screaming Defying Gravity at you in a wheelchair

prepare yourself for our next outing, it's mashup week. I'm doing Wonderwall and Watch me (Whip/Nae Nae).

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by LemonJam

yeah gotta say I saw one episode of Glee and it obviously left too much of an impression on me. :\

the lesbian on glee turned me <3

Nah, she didnt. but the show did help me realise i was more of a homo than I thought

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah I don't see why not, kids only get confused when adults confuse them

That is a brilliant point Niamh. I agree.

[Lostie!]

I read that The Legend of Korra hinted at a same-sex relationship between two female characters, and apparently ParaNorman had a gay character.

But yes, there should be nothing stopping it from happening more. Some people say it's inappropriate and harmful, I think it's more so to pretend that gay people don't exist and/or tell children that they are "wrong".

[armand.kay]

yeah if its appropriate to show straight relationships on kids shows I can't see the harm in having a gay character...

[Crimson Dynamo]

I by accident have watch bits of a lot of american kids shows over the years like zoey 101, hannah montanna, your so raven, jessie etc etc and there are lots of wee gay boys in them shows? In fact just about every one has little camp boy characters

[letmein]

Should there be black characters in children's shows?

[T*]

Originally Posted by letmein

Should there be black characters in children's shows?

there is

[Crimson Dynamo]

Thelma was a lesbian in Scooby doo

[Jarrod]

Luke Smith was going to "come out" as gay in the fifth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures - but due to the death of Elisabeth Sladen the production stopped immediately. I do think that if this would have happened, it would have been a great way to portray acceptance to a wider children's audience. The show had a massive following of young viewers.

This idea did come around in some form though as RTD's children's show Wizards VS Aliens now has a main gay character. I think it's wonderful.

[Will.]

Originally Posted by Jarrod

Luke Smith was going to "come out" as gay in the fifth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures - but due to the death of Elisabeth Sladen the production stopped immediately. I do think that if this would have happened, it would have been a great way to portray acceptance to a wider children's audience. The show had a massive following of young viewers.

This idea did come around in some form though as RTD's children's show Wizards VS Aliens now has a main gay character. I think it's wonderful.

Ah, I never knew that. I was only like 7 when it was on, was there signs/teasers he was Gay?

[Tom4784]

Originally Posted by Will1999

Ah, I never knew that. I was only like 7 when it was on, was there signs/teasers he was Gay?

If I remember right he talked about a 'friend' who would have eventually been revealed to be his bf.

[Will.]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

If I remember right he talked about a 'friend' who would have eventually been revealed to be his bf.

Ok, I never knew that, I guess at 7/8 I was just hooked on the actual adventures (monster and aliens etc).

But now watching kids shows I can see stuff like that and understand what it means.

I loved SJA.

[Tom4784]

Definitely. Quite surprised that it hasn't happened yet (to my knowledge) outside of Korra and plans for Sarah Jane Adventures.

[Dominic]

YES! In my opinion, if the parents don't want their children to be gay or don't want to set off that example for them (which I completely don't understand, I think everyone should just be able to love whoever they want), then there's plenty of children shows that have no homosexual couples, characters, etc.

[lostalex]

Yes, it would be nice to have some gay heros in disney. Instead of just the villains always being gay...Jafar, Scar, Ursela all seemed to play on gay stereotypes.

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Chaos

It's a very complicated subject... With people out there who have religious beliefs against gay people being married, having sex, actually living, etc etc, is it a bad idea to have gay characters on kids shows?

I'm a little on the fence. I was talking to my friends about this the other day when we had a movie night with pizza. One of my friends said 'disney need a gay princess or prince. It's 2015, they need to get with the times.' I was like, yeah I agree. I think that would be a great idea. but then my other friend said 'I don't know, wouldn't that confuse kids?' and I was like, yeah, it might, but it would also teach them that it's okay not to be straight...

I know that in showbiz, being out of the closet could totally ruin your career, but is it different with kids shows? Obviously the people in it arent real, but you'd face the problem of licenses not actually allowing it on TV and stuff. I don't see disney or any of these huge companys having gay characters soon, but what about smaller shows?

I'm a big geek and I watch all kinds of crap for kids/teens, whatever. I've never seen a gay character once, until last year. And even on that show, it wasn't clear until literally the last 5 seconds. It's the show from my avatar so if you was going to watch, sorry for the spoilers!!! But yeah, what I really noticed was that 'Wow, this hasnt ever been done before' and it's crazy to think that. There's been gay characters in soaps and tv shows for like 20 years now. Isn't it about time that we had the same for some kids shows?

And I don't think it should be like OTT 'WOOHOO IM SUPER GAY KIDS, THIS IS WHAT GAY IS!!!' lol. It should be subtle. Talked about only once or twice and the character should live life like everyone else does.

What are your opinions? Is it about time that kids shows had some gay characters?

..I think it's an interesting but complicated one, I said something similar yesterday about Disney princes/princesses in another thread..how that's portrayed to children as 'the ideal/or norm' type thing so then is it just potentially going to instil prejudice..?..I know that some people..(side eyes LT..) believe that religion shouldn't be taught in schools in any form and I do understand why but at the same time, it's also a learning of cultures which can only lead to more tolerance, so the same with sexuality..?.....from a child's point of view, most want to be what they consider 'normal' and just like their peers, they don't want to stand out in any way because standing out can be something that brings on teasing/bullying etc...so for instance, if they had gay parents themselves, should they only have TV shows that portray the 'norm' as male/female parents and not gay couples because also they have TV shows..(or maybe they do/I don't know that portray single parents etc..)..so why not gay parents..?..because that would make them feel not 'the norm'...

...but if you're explaining something like a single parent to a young child, it's easier to do than explaining 'gay' simply because it doesn't involve sex in any way, although homosexuality can be explained without having to refer to sex, I know ...just that those two people love each other etc...there is an age at school when sex/sexuality is covered by the curriculum but up until that age, parents want to decide themselves what age they think their child can understand certain things and would children's TV programmes which included homosexual characters take that choice away from them..invoke questions and discussions from their child that they don't want to have until they decide to have them..?..and they don't want to have to instil bans on TV programmes either...there is such an age range of children who watch 'children's time' TV... oh nothing to do with the topic, but I've known older parents over the years whose children have been teased etc because they're parents haven't fitted into the 'norm' of other parents in the playground, the young parents..and is that your grandma/granddad, type thing...so yeah that's obviously hurtful to a child and they don't understand because they're just mum and dad...

...in my working environment with colleagues who are gay and others I know from other schools etc...a member of staff can say/in assembly for instance or to their class..I'm getting married on Saturday etc so I'll become Mrs etc and not Miss whatever...and talk to the children a bit about their partner...but with a gay colleague, yes they can refer to their wedding but if it was a guy, then he couldn't refer to them as another 'he', just 'they' and he can't introduce his partner/husband etc as such but more just as a 'friend'...so that's quite wrong and hard for them, they don't get to celebrate with their class and their school in quite the same way as heterosexual couples do...but then if it was different, and they could ..would that just flood parents in with...this has just meant questions which I as a parent object to because I'll decide when those questions should be answered and when to have these talks with my child and you as a school should understand that..?../so the same with TV programmes..?..

..sorry if this is a bit fragmented but I sometimes draft a post like this and copy/paste but I don't have Word Office atm so I'm just typing it straight down and not reading back over...

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I think it's an interesting but complicated one, I said something similar yesterday about Disney princes/princesses in another thread..how that's portrayed to children as 'the ideal/or norm' type thing so then is it just potentially going to instil prejudice..?..I know that some people..(side eyes LT..) believe that religion shouldn't be taught in schools in any form and I do understand why but at the same time, it's also a learning of cultures which can only lead to more tolerance, so the same with sexuality..?.....from a child's point of view, most want to be what they consider 'normal' and just like their peers, they don't want to stand out in any way because standing out can be something that brings on teasing/bullying etc...so for instance, if they had gay parents themselves, should they only have TV shows that portray the 'norm' as male/female parents and not gay couples because also they have TV shows..(or maybe they do/I don't know that portray single parents etc..)..so why not gay parents..?..because that would make them feel not 'the norm'...

...but if you're explaining something like a single parent to a young child, it's easier to do than explaining 'gay' simply because it doesn't involve sex in any way, although homosexuality can be explained without having to refer to sex, I know ...just that those two people love each other etc...there is an age at school when sex/sexuality is covered by the curriculum but up until that age, parents want to decide themselves what age they think their child can understand certain things and would children's TV programmes which included homosexual characters take that choice away from them..invoke questions and discussions from their child that they don't want to have until they decide to have them..?..and they don't want to have to instil bans on TV programmes either...there is such an age range of children who watch 'children's time' TV... oh nothing to do with the topic, but I've known older parents over the years whose children have been teased etc because they're parents haven't fitted into the 'norm' of other parents in the playground, the young parents..and is that your grandma/granddad, type thing...so yeah that's obviously hurtful to a child and they don't understand because they're just mum and dad...

...in my working environment with colleagues who are gay and others I know from other schools etc...a member of staff can say/in assembly for instance or to their class..I'm getting married on Saturday etc so I'll become Mrs etc and not Miss whatever...and talk to the children a bit about their partner...but with a gay colleague, yes they can refer to their wedding but if it was a guy, then he couldn't refer to them as another 'he', just 'they' and he can't introduce his partner/husband etc as such but more just as a 'friend'...so that's quite wrong and hard for them, they don't get to celebrate with their class and their school in quite the same way as heterosexual couples do...but then if it was different, and they could ..would that just flood parents in with...this has just meant questions which I as a parent object to because I'll decide when those questions should be answered and when to have these talks with my child and you as a school should understand that..?../so the same with TV programmes..?..

..sorry if this is a bit fragmented but I sometimes draft a post like this and copy/paste but I don't have Word Office atm so I'm just typing it straight down and not reading back over...

It's basically just bigotry then, schools are not against teaching sex education in primary so where is the issue?
The gay teacher would be fearful of telling the truth not for the reactions from the kids but the parents, not because of timing but because they had burst the illusion that nothing outside the norm exists.

There have always been gay characters in kids programming but so ambiguous that it goes over the heads of children, if schools and TV were to work together to myth bust for all minorities then some kids wouldn't be quite so confused.

[Ammi]

..I did actually say that sex education is on the curriculum for older year groups in primary schools so I don't see what you're asking me there..and as for staff/school workers being fearful, well no that doesn't come into it at all, it's something that parents feel strongly about that they will choose when to explain, which is why there is always an opt out in these things as well if needed... and schools are fairly much damned if they do and damned if they don't in lots of things/just the way of it ...

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Ammi

..I did actually say that sex education is on the curriculum for older year groups in primary schools so I don't see what you're asking me there..and as for staff/school workers being fearful, well no that doesn't come into it at all, it's something that parents feel strongly about that they will choose when to explain, which is why there is always an opt out in these things as well if needed... and schools are fairly much damned if they do and damned if they don't in lots of things/just the way of it ...

Yes you did I'm saying that could be a great jumping off point for a discussion.

'.I know that some people..(side eyes LT..) believe that religion shouldn't be taught in schools in any form and I do understand why but at the same time, it's also a learning of cultures which can only lead to more tolerance, so the same with sexuality..?.'

I'm agreeing with you that it's needed to encourage tolerance, it's very sad that the gay staff can't share in their happy news for fear of angry parents.

[Ninastar]

dont worry ammi, i get what you're saying. ill post a proper reply later though when im not half asleep

[Ammi]

Originally Posted by Chaos

dont worry ammi, i get what you're saying. ill post a proper reply later though when im not half asleep

....no worries, I don't want you letting the gay down by posting before you look anything less than gorgeous...

[Niall]

Why is it a complicated subject? There are scores of queer people in society and kids are going to meet them no matter what, so why should gay people be censored from children's television? Queer people are a normal part of life just as the sun rising is, and quite frankly anyone who thinks they shouldn't be included reeks of homophobia to me.

[Ninastar]

Originally Posted by Niall

Why is it a complicated subject? There are scores of queer people in society and kids are going to meet them no matter what, so why should gay people be censored from children's television? Queer people are a normal part of life just as the sun rising is, and quite frankly anyone who thinks they shouldn't be included reeks of homophobia to me.

Because in some places in the world, it's still illegal to be gay. In some places, you can still be stoned to death for who you are. These are places where children may have family members from... It's not as easy as just putting gay characters on TV shows, when there are kids out there who could get beaten up just for watching a show with gay characters. It happens, believe me.

Having said though, I still think we should put gay characters on TV. Not because I want kids to get beaten up obvs, but because we live in a place where it's legal for Gays to get married. They have every right as everyone else. It's 2015, I think if you move to this country, you should get over any issues that you have with stuff like this.