By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – For Donna Senk Beil, the national furor over a cartoon bunny hits pretty close to home.

Senk Beil was on hand Friday at the Lewiston offices of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network with 12 other protesters urging the release of a controversial episode of “Postcards from Buster.”

The episode, called “Sugartime,” has a cartoon bunny interacting with children of lesbian moms.

Conservative groups and the U.S. Secretary of Education have been critical of the episode and many PBS affiliates have decided not to air it.

As a lesbian mom herself, Senk Beil is upset that PBS is appearing to bow to the pressure.

“The message they are sending is that my family is not worthy of being seen,” she said. “It says that the truth should not be told and we just shouldn’t exist.”

MPBN has put off a decision about “Sugartime” until April. Lou Morin, marketing and communications manager, said the network’s advisory board will watch the program at its April 9 meeting and decide whether it should air in Maine.

“It’s their job to look at controversial materials and decide if, when and where something should air,” Morin said.

“Postcards from Buster” is a spinoff of the popular PBS show “Arthur.” In the show, bunny Buster Baxter travels from city to city with his pilot father, meeting new friends and tasting the local food. Buster videotapes the visits and send them back to Arthur and his other friends in Elwood City.

The animated portions of Buster and his cartoon father are intercut with video of flesh-and-blood children playing and talking about their lives.

The cartoon bunny has traveled all over the United States, Canada and Mexico – including stops in Salt Lake City, Utah; Boulder, Colo.; and Los Angeles – since the show’s debut in October.

The show raised the hackles of conservative groups when Buster visited Vermont to see how maple syrup was made. During the show, he notes that a girl he’s visiting has “a lot of moms.”

The controversy grew out of that and another reference to families headed by lesbians. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings criticized PBS for the show, and PBS national pulled the episode.

WGBH-Boston, the creators of the show, made the episode available this month. So far, 46 PBS stations have aired the episode or agreed to air it.

Friday’s protest was led and organized by the Many and One Coalition. That group delivered a letter to the local affiliate, urging it to air the episode before the April 9 meeting.

“We have to say that GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) families are here and they are part of the mainstream,” said coordinator Paul Young. “They are, in fact, some of the most affluent, loving families in America. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that.”

MPBN’s Morin said the 20 members of the PBS advisory board come from all over Maine and have been asked to talk to members of their local communities to find out how they feel about the issue.

The board’s April 9 meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Lewiston offices and is open to the public. The board is taking public comments via e-mail at contactus@mpbn.net.

Copy the Story Link