What a wonderful kind of day! Arthur character Mr. Ratburn comes out as gay AND gets married in the cartoon's season premiere - and Twitter users are over the moon about it
- Arthur premiered its 22nd season on Monday with a wedding episode
- In the episode, teacher Mr. Ratburn was getting married to his significant other
- The characters thought he was getting married to a woman named Patty
- But the character actually walked down the aisle with his groom
- People on Twitter raved about the gay wedding online and praised PBS for promoting inclusivity in its children's show Â
Arthur, the popular children's animated show, made progressive strides for its season 22 premiere by featuring a gay wedding.Â
In the long-running PBS series, Mr. Nigel Ratburn has been an elementary school teacher for the animated characters, but his sexual orientation was never mentioned.Â
On Monday, the series premiere titled Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone featured Mr. Ratburn getting married to another man — and Twitter was loving the plot decision.Â
Love is love! Arthur premiered its 22nd season on Monday with a wedding episode. In the episode, elementary school teacher Mr. Ratburn was getting married to his significant other
Supportive: The characters thought their teacher was getting married to a woman named Patty. But to their happy surprise it was to another manÂ
Congratulations! The heartwarming episode was well received by people on Twitter who praised PBS for incorporating inclusivity into its showÂ
Reaping the praise: Support for the plot of the episode poured in on Twitter after it aired on Monday morningÂ
The beginning of the episode was ambiguous to whom Mr. Ratburn might be marrying, as most of the characters thought he was tying the knot with a character named Patty.Â
But it was revealed that Patty was actually Mr. Ratburn's sister, not his fiance. Â
Viewers then watched Mr. Ratburn happily walk down the aisle with a groom on his arm, as the two men prepared to get married. The groom in question was a man named Patrick and owned a chocolate shop in the fictional town. Â
Later in the episode characters Muffy, Arthur and Buster discussed the wedding and seeing their teacher happy with his new husband.Â
Buster is then heard saying, 'It's a brand new world,' hinting at how society has changed to be more accepting of people's sexual orientation and ability to get married.Â
The heartwarming episode was well received by viewers who praised PBS on Twitter for incorporating a gay character into the children's show.Â
'Welcome out and congratulations Mr. Ratburn,' one person tweeted.Â
Another person wrote: 'PSA: Mr. Ratburn from "Arthur" is gay. Do you know how amazing it is that someone who's been on the show from the start, someone who's a main character, is openly gay and getting married on a kids show? PBS Kids really is that b****. Plus, all his students are at his wedding!'Â
Share this article
Exciting: GLAAD even congratulated the cartoon couple onlineÂ
Hilarious: Some people joked how they were more surprise the popular cartoon was still releasing new episodesÂ
Living for it: Another fan said the episode with Mr. Ratburn getting married was their Game of Thrones finaleÂ
Let them know: People were excited to see gay rights featured in the popular cartoonÂ
In the know: Some people claimed to knowing Mr. Ratburn was gay back when they watched the show as childrenÂ
Amazing: Twitter users started calling Mr. Ratburn the 'gay icon' they neededÂ
Over the moon: The cartoon show has been on air since 1996, but this episode was the first one to mention gay rightsÂ
Represent! People online praised PBS for tackling the topic in the educational showÂ
Praise poured in for the show with even GLAAD, which handles LGBTQ representation in the media, tweeting out its support for the episode.
'Congratulations Mr. Ratburn,' the organization wrote.Â
Some people joked about how they were more surprised Arthur has been on for 22 season instead of the fact that Mr. Ratburn is gay.Â
'I think the biggest surprise about Mr. Ratburn from Arthur being gay is that I'm just now finding out that Arthur is coming out with new episodes,' one person wrote.Â
But there were other avid viewers who claimed they knew the teacher was in the LGBTQ community way before the episode released.Â
'Mr. Ratburn is the gay icon I never knew I needed,' a viewer wrote.Â
Arthur aired its first episode in 1996 and is based off the Arthur Adventures book series. The show follows eight-year-old Arthur Reed, an aardvark who is going through life with his friends and family in fictional Elwood City.Â
The educational show targets kids aged four to eight and often tackles difficult topics families deal with in their daily lives. These topics include asthma, diabetes, cancer and dyslexia.Â
Arthur was announced by PBS to run for at least another four seasons until season 25 where it could tackle more topics about acceptance and the LGBTQ community. Â
