The British preschool animated television series Peppa Pig has received plaudits from just about everyone except conservatives since the show's creative team responded to calls for more LGBTQ+ characters on the show.
The show—which has delighted young children for 18 years—recently aired an episode titled "Families" in which Peppa's classmate Penny Polar Bear talks about her two mothers.
Penny announces her parents are two lesbian polar bears, saying:
“‘I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti."
Viewers then see shots of the happy family sitting down for dinner together, which you can see below.
The inclusion of the loving lesbian couple is a win for LGBTQ+ rights advocates, who have long campaigned for more representation in film and television on the basis the mere existence of LGBTQ+ people and those who love them is not inherently political.
In 2019, campaigners launched a petition calling on Peppa Pig's writers to include a family of same-sex parents in an effort to make the show more inclusive for all children, noting "excluding same-sex families will teach [young children] that only families with either a single parent or two parents of different sexes are normal."
But the episode has raised the ire of conservatives who denounced the move, evoking the ongoing "groomer" hysteria they've used in recent months to disparage LGBTQ+ people, accusing them of building relationships, trust and emotional connections with children so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
Many have taken to social media to air their grievances with the program.
As disheartening as that pushback might be, the move has been hailed as a win for representation by LGBTQ+ advocates and allies.
Peppa Pig has for years been targeted by conservatives who objected to its positive messages and efforts to be more inclusive.
Last year, a conservative children's book publisher released an ad branding the beloved animated character a "communist" before featuring a caricature of Peppa wearing Soviet Russian garb and declaring children "are being told by the media and the school system that socialism is great."
But Peppa Pig is only one of the children's entertainment characters conservatives targeted.
Last year, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz made headlines for attacking Sesame Street after Big Bird announced on Twitter he'd been vaccinated against COVID-19. Cruz claimed the announcement was evidence of "Government propaganda... for your 5 year old."
Cruz would later reignite his bizarre feud with Sesame Street after Elmo, everyone's favorite furry red monster, announced he'd also gotten vaccinated against the virus.
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