For the first time in its 51-year history, the children’s educational TV show "Sesame Street" featured a family with two dads.
Episode 32 of season 51, titled “Family Day,” aired on June 16, 2021, as Pride Month was underway. The 25-minute episode guest-starred country-pop singer Kelsea Ballerini.
The episode description read: “Relatives from all over come to celebrate Family Day! Big Bird wonders if his Granny Bird will be able to make it to the party. Just as everyone gets ready to take a family portrait, she surprises him!”
The daddy duo debuted just after the 2-minute mark in the following video, announcing their entrance with a “We’re here!” and giving the other cast members hugs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iph6Sj44Zpo&fbclid=IwAR3WJXY7gpQnbtSCrJowqtHXXWDvHL4KgXfmydCBSczwN78MgGtJdxnM1II
"Sesame Street" character Nina introduced the couple as her brother Dave, his husband Frank, and her sobrina (niece) Mia.
“Papi, Daddy, 'Sesame Street' is even more amazing than you said,” Mia said.
Alan Muraoka, who plays the owner of Hooper’s Store on the children’s show, celebrated the appearance in a June 17 Facebook post, in which he described the show as a “welcoming place of diversity and inclusion.”
“Thank you for showing my boys a family like our own,” read a comment shared by a Facebook user.
"Sesame Street" was not the only children’s show to showcase support for the LGBTQ community in 2021. At the start of Pride Month, Nickelodeon shared a video on its official YouTube page for the show “Blue’s Clues and You!” that featured an animated Pride Parade led by American drag queen and activist Nina West:
Included in the video was a beaver with “top scars” (the scars from a surgical procedure known as top surgery or masculinizing chest reconstruction in which transgender men remove breast tissue).
"Sesame Street" is overseen by Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit educational organization that has been “reaching and teaching children since 1969.” In 2021, the program was available in more than 150 countries.