Sesame Street Introduces First Openly Gay Characters

The PBS show Sesame Street has been monumental in children’s programming for decades. In a recent episode, Sesame Street passed an important milestone not only for the iconic television show, but for children’s programming as a whole. Last week, the characters Dave (Chris Costa) and his husband Frank (Alex Weisman) alongside their daughter Mia (Olivia Perez) made their first appearance on the block.

The episode centered around celebrating Family Day, and how families can and do look different than what we expect. The main focus of the episode was surprising Big Bird with a visit from his Granny Bird, while introducing new characters along the way. The audience is shown that families can have a mom and a dad, two dads, a grandmother, a cousin, and many more. What is most important, and what makes them family, is that they all love and care about each other. Adding queer representation to children’s programming, especially on shows that have such an impact like Sesame Street, is incredibly important for teaching children to accept diversity.

Dave and Frank are not the only queer characters to appear on Sesame Street, but they are the first to represent families that have two fathers. There have been characters that have been speculated to be queer, references to queer characters and families, and many out and proud celebrities have made guest appearances on the show.

Children’s shows are incredibly important when it comes to teaching diversity and acceptance in the lives of adolescents. Sesame Street has always been a show that pushes to reflect how the world looks, not just what is popular in the mainstream media. Hopefully this is not the last time we will get to see Dave and Frank and their daughter Mia, and that this means there will be further queer representation to be seen on Sesame Street.