Eric Hinton

‘Arthur' Character Mr. Ratburn Comes Out as Gay, Gets Married in Season Premiere

The episode, titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” starred lesbian actor Jane Lynch as a special guest and aired Monday on PBS.

Mr. Ratburn from the children’s show “Arthur” got married to another man in the show’s 22nd season premiere, spurring effusive reactions from those who grew up watching the program.

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The episode, titled “Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone,” starred lesbian actor Jane Lynch as a special guest and aired Monday on PBS.

According to TVLine, which first reported on the historic episode, the show began with Arthur and his friends discovering, to their great surprise, that Mr. Ratburn is engaged. The group of animal friends, who seem to perpetually remain 8 years old, find it hard to believe that teachers might have a life outside of school.

“When they go home, they sharpen pencils, eat kale and dream up homework assignments,” Buster, a fun-loving rabbit, said in the episode. “They don’t even sleep! They just go into low-power mode and watch documentaries.”

This disbelief leads the group to spy on their third grade teacher and learn more about his future spouse. During their investigation, they see Mr. Ratburn having lunch with a woman and overhear his lunch partner (voiced by Lynch) telling him that he’s “too soft” and “needs to toughen up.”

The group is determined to prevent Mr. Ratburn from marrying the woman and show up at the wedding fully prepared to object to the nuptials.

But there’s a plot twist: The woman they saw at the lunch is Mr. Ratburn’s sister, not fiancee. Instead, Mr. Ratburn is marrying another man (well, aardvark, actually) named Patrick.

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