Skip to main content

Home Culture Culture Film & TV

Alabama church to screen gay wedding episode of ‘Arthur’ after it was banned by Alabama Public Television

The episode saw Mr Ratburn exchange vows with an aardvark named Patrick

By Steve Brown

A church in Alabama is screening an episode of Arthur depicting a gay wedding after Alabama Public Television banned the episode.

Last month, the longest running American animated children’s TV show saw the titular character and his friends attend the wedding of their teacher, Mr Ratburn.

In the episode, Arthur’s friends assume he is marrying a female rat called Patty – voice by Jane Lynch – however, they discover that the wedding is between two grooms as Patty turns out to be his sister.

We discover that his new husband is an aardvark named Patrick.

Despite the international praise, the anti-LGBTQ group ‘One Million Moms’ – an offshoot off the ultra-conservative American Family Association – have created a petition to have the show cancelled and the episode was banned by APT.

Now, AL.com reported that the First United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, is hosting a free screening of the episode and plans to serve wedding cake and sparkling apple juice.