SpongeBob's sexuality center of controversy
A guide featuring SpongeBob will be distributed to elementary schools in March.
Published Feb. 4, 2005
Inside the Evangelical United Church of Christ, a tree filled with sponges and ribbons helps spread the ever-increasing importance of all that is SpongeBob.
SpongeBob SquarePants has become embroiled in controversy after the Nickelodeon cartoon was featured, among other characters, in an educational video, singing the 1979 Sister Sledge hit, "We Are Family." The video will be distributed to 61,000 public and private elementary schools on March 11 to correspond with the National We Are Family Day, according to a We Are Family Foundation news release.
In addition to the video, the We Are Family Foundation is releasing a booklet containing educational lesson plans. The discussion guide stresses tolerance and diversity, according to the press release.
Paul Batura, assistant to the founder of the Focus on the Family, a non-profit organization aimed at preserving religious, traditional values, said the organization is unhappy with the video, however, because the foundation's Web site contained a tolerance pledge, which includes sexual orientation.
"We were concerned the group would carry over its agenda from the Web site into the classrooms because the teacher's manual had questions about homophobia and whether students knew of any other students who were homosexual," Batura said.
One of the cartoon characters being singled out was SpongeBob SquarePants because of media reports in 2002 that questioned the cartoon's sexual orientation.
Katherine Hawker, a pastor at the Evangelical United Church of Christ in Webster Groves, said her congregation recently held a SpongeBob SquarePants Sunday, in which a tree filled with sponges was placed in the congregation to represent the yellow, porous, pineapple-dwelling sponge. A discussion on the importance of diversity and acceptance followed.
"We wanted to be the counterpoint because too often the religious right is the only voice that gets heard, and it was a great opportunity to be on the other side," Hawker said. "What's going on is name-calling, labeling, bullying and dismissing others, which is dangerous for society."
Batura, however, said he believes his organization was not singling out any characters, only the mission of the video.
"This organization is taking cartoons kids love and gravitate to and makes it seem like the video and questions in the guidebook are endorsed by the characters, as well as the school," he said.
Jerry Keeny, interim pastor at the Columbia United Church of Christ, said he believes SpongeBob SquarePants is a normal cartoon who portrays normal friendship.
"I think there is a lot of anxiety about the influences cultural symbols, figures and icons might have on a child," Keeny said. "I think folks see children as vulnerable to a wide range of influences and concerned about what their children see coming from the wider culture."
Batura said one of his main concerns was whether the video could expose children to ideas and beliefs that were inconsistent to their parents' wishes.
"Parents are the only ones who should be addressing sexual identity," Batura said. "We are worried that the video could cause conflicting messages between children and their parents."