Veggie Tales Creator on Gay Characters: 'Not Best for Kids'

The co-creator of the Christian-oriented children's video and TV series Veggie Tales predicts Christian kids' shows will soon be forced to be LGBTQ-inclusive, but he intends to resist.

"Parents are definitely going to have to deal with a growing LGBT presence in children's media," Phil Vischer told The Christian Post. "It's going to show up more and more as the world has decided that LGBT issues are in the same categories as race and civil rights issues. So to say you shouldn't have a same-sex couple on Sesame Street is the equivalent of saying you shouldn't have a black couple on Sesame Street." The famed PBS show is, of course, secular in nature.

He said that when another secular PBS show, Arthur,featured the wedding of two male characters this year, it was a "shot heard through the Christian parenting world." It sent "such a strong message of, well, kids, of course you're fine with gay marriage, because there's nothing to question about it," he said, which is "concerning."

"If I get pressure from Hollywood to show two men getting married because we've all decided it's right and correct, my pushback is: 'No, I won't. Because that's not what I believe is best for kids,'" Vischer continued. "It's more about what we show as normal rather than explicitly showing something and saying, 'That's wrong.' I'm portraying the positive rather than the negative."

Vischer, who is cowriting a new season of Veggie Tales, which features talking vegetables learning moral lessons in a humorous fashion, told the Post that if he has to deal with LGBTQ issues, he will do so from a "biblical perspective." But he admitted that Christians don't universally agree on what that perspective should be.

"I think it will have to be addressed at some point; I do think it's a matter of time," said Vischer, who also hosts a podcast. "But right now, I think it would be difficult for a couple of reasons. First: the nuance of how to treat LGBT issues isn't agreed upon within the church; and secondly, some parents may want to have that talk with their kids. It's tricky because it's so divisive. It would be hard to do it in a way that works and matches everyone's expectations."

"It would be easy to do it poorly," he added. "It's still so controversial; I'm not sure what I would add that would be helpful enough in the conversation that it's worth the number of people I could offend."