Sunday, December 15, 2013

The final episode from Wizards vs Aliens received almost universal praise on social media for the way it handled Benny coming out as gay. Towards the end of the programme Tom suggests he could use his enhanced magic to "change" Benny and make him happy. Benny, though, says he is happy the way he is.

The BBC has frequently faced criticism that it is biased against LGBT people, not least from Newsround Blog itself. Others disagree and claim the corporation is not homophobic. Wizards vs Aliens would seem to suggest the latter point of view is correct ...

However, the BBC makes loads of children's TV programmes each year, and this excerpt from Dani's Castle, first shown on Friday, is far more typical of the CBBC channel. In fact, the previous time there were young gay characters on CBBC was over eight years ago. So we await proportionate representation - a third series of Wizards vs Aliens in which Benny kisses a boyfriend in the way Tom kissed Chloe, or perhaps completely new CBBC series ideas where some of the protagonists are lesbian or gay.

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