The Corruption of Today's Youth by...Sesame Street?

This week when I was reading the news online, I came across a story addressing the fallacy of the "Bert and Ernie gay rumor." The article describes how the controversy is based on how they are portrayed in the show: "The share a room...They bicker like husband and wife. They frequently break out into song. One has a curious obsession with his rubber ducky." It also points out how even in the very first episode of Sesame Street "Ernie can be seen taking a bath with Bert in the background." In 1994, this scandal resulted in an evangelist priest calling for the characters to be banned because of these characteristics.
And Bert and Ernie are not the only two children characters facing this controversy, as "Anti-gay groups have accused SpongBob SquarePants and Tinky Winy of the 'Teletubbies' of harboring a homosexual agenda."
But what I don't understand is how can the Teletubbies promote homosexuality if they aren't even defined by a gender- the lat time I checked, they were just giant, creepy looking, blob like figures with no characteristics of gender. Critics accuse Tinky Winky of being a homosexual figure because "he" is purple and carries a "purse" but for all we know, maybe Tinky Winky is a girl. It is completely arbitrary. And while Spongebob may be portrayed as a sensitive character, I have definitely noticed some sexual tension between him and Sandy in the show. And in the article, Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop describes it perfectly: Bert and Ernie "are not gay. They are not straight...They don't exist below the waist."
However, I find it ironic that this controversy arises just because of the characteristics of these characters. And it is the media that perpetuates these characteristics as "gay," when in reality, they are not. There are plenty of straight men who are sensitive (although, maybe not that many, but they are out there); and if you look in college dorms across the nation, roommates are based on gender- it is not "gay" that Bert and Ernie live together, it is just a commonality. In fact, on Will and Grace, Will was gay and he lived with a girl. Thus, I think this whole concept of characters created to entertain the minds of 5 year olds as really characters carrying this whole different agenda, to be absurd.

http://www.sphere.com/2009/11/09/bert-and-ernie-arent-gay-muppet-rumors-and-scandals/