'My Little Pony' features lesbian couple in last episode of final season
Joining "Arthur," the cartoon series "My Little Pony" will feature a same-sex couple in Saturday's episode to coincide with LGBT "pride month."
The show's ninth and final season will feature a lesbian pony couple in an episode called "The Last Crusade," BuzzFeed News reported on Wednesday.
"'My Little Pony' has always been about friendship and accepting people (or ponies) that are different from you. So it just felt like something important to do," Michael Vogel, the show's writer and producer, said in an interview with the outlet.
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Nicole Dubuc, co-showrunner, added: “I think it’s fantastic that we can show that what truly defines a family is love — that, to me, is the core of 'My Little Pony'.”
The pony characters portrayed as a same-sex couple in the show are Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty.
This is the first animated appearance of the two ponies that previously appeared in a 2017 media tie-in prose book called Ponyville Mysteries: Riddle of the Rusty Horseshoe, according to Comics Beat.
"It’s disturbing in every conceivable way to take a children’s program and use it for this sort of indoctrination, exposing them to confusing topics of sexuality at an age where they aren’t developed enough to deal with the complexity of such issues," wrote Elizabeth Johnston, who's also known as "The Activist Mommy," in a Friday blog post.
Johnston urged parents to remain watchful as sexually-themed messages and content are often snuck into programs geared toward children as many are unaware.
Last month, the children's cartoon show "Arthur" aired an episode where third-grade teacher Mr. Rathburn wed his male partner. In response, Alabama Public Television refused to air the episode, saying such content would "violate" the trust of their audience.
"PBS receives government funding — why should our government be financing programming that promotes behavior the Bible says is sinful?" evangelist Franklin Graham asked in a Facebook post at the time.
"I sure don’t want my tax dollars going toward that. I think many viewers may be surprised and disappointed in this content decision. I hope everyone will rise up and clearly tell PBS that they do not want to see this kind of programming slipped in to try to influence the hearts and minds of our children and grandchildren."
The inclusion of same-sex couples and expressions of LGBT-oriented themes in children's entertainment has notably increased in the past few years.
A 2017 episode of "Star vs. the Forces of Evil" on the Disney Channel depicted gay couples kissing among others during a boy band concert. That same year, the Disney kids series "Andi Mack" featured a 13-year-old character who realizes he is gay and comes out to his friends.
Disney's recent remake of "Beauty and The Beast” included an openly "gay moment" expressed by LeFou, the sidekick to the movie's villain, Gaston.
