'Arthur' Character Mr. Ratburn Is GAY!!!

Mr. Ratburn is here, he’s queer, and he and his new husband would like to say hello!
On the 22nd season premiere of Arthur, which premiered on Monday, the eponymous aardvark and his friends attend his teacher’s wedding, totally thinking Mr. Ratburn is going to get married to Patty, a female rat voiced by Jane Lynch.
Related: The Internet Thinks John Legend Looks Like Arthur!
When the gang arrive at the nuptials, they realize Patty is Ratburn’s sister, and that their beloved educator is gay and is getting married to another groom!

Of course, the children’s show — based on the Arthur Adventure book series, written and illustrated by Marc Brown — is no stranger to covering social issues. In previous episodes, the series has tackled subjects including autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and cancer.
When word broke out about Mr. Ratburn’s gay wedding, Twitter erupted in applause!
Social media users wrote:

“MR RATBURN IS GAY HELLO !! HE GOT MARRIED !!”
“This episode was wild too, Arthur and his friends thought he was marrying this pushy woman and tried to break them up only to find out the lady was his sister and Mr. Ratburn was marrying the guy from the chocolate shop they went to earlier in the episode”
“It turns out Arthur is more courageous and explicit than Avengers: Endgame when it comes to LGBTQ2 lives and storylines. Congrats Mr. Ratburn! Your move, Marvel….”
“for real tho I have loved mr. ratburn basically my whole life, it honestly lifts my heart to see he has a husband now”
“We been knew. Mr. Ratburn is an extremely slept on gay icon. Mr. Ratburn has done more for the LGBQT community than Harvey Milk and Ryan Murphy combined!!!!”
“PSA: Mr. Ratburn from Arthur is gay. Do you know how amazing it is that someone who’s been on the show from the start, someone who’s a main character, is openly gay and getting married on a kids show? PBS Kids really is that bitch. Plus, all his students are at his wedding!”
“Mr. Ratburn marrying his husband makes me so so happy. Like I cannot put into words how special this is to me, how a cartoon anthro rat teacher man is marrying another cartoon anthro man.”
“I think the biggest surprise about Mr. Ratburn from Arthur being gay is that I’m just now finding out that Arthur is still coming out with new episodes.”
“Mr. Ratburn is canon gay now and where was this when I was growing up. Arthur was one of my favorite shows.”
“Mr. Ratburn, the teacher of Arthur, had his same sex marriage showcased in the season 22 premiere of the show. It’s not the first time Arthur has delved into LGBTQ relationships and elements, but to showcase a wedding is pretty cool. Nicely done!”