Sebastian Payne

Norman Lamb on Peppa Pig: ‘It can start very young, this sense of attraction to someone of your own sex’

Is it time for a lesbian couple on Peppa Pig? Norman Lamb thinks so. In an interview with PinkNews, the Lib Dem leadership candidate said it should ‘absolutely not be out of the question’ to have a gay character on the children’s cartoon series. Lamb kindly graced the front seat of my Mini today for an interview about the leadership contest. On the topic of Peppa Pig, Lamb explained why he thinks it is important to relieve pressure on youngsters:

‘If we as a society have decided that it should not matter who you love and that same-sex marriage has the same value; that people can commit in exactly the same way as someone who loves someone of the opposite sex, then we have to follow that through.’

‘What we know in our society, if we’re honest with ourselves, is that many youngsters growing up, who find themselves to be attracted to people of their own sex, are under intense pressure, particularly as teenagers. But it can start very young, this sense of attraction to someone of your own sex. And if we ultimately don’t follow through on the philosophical judgment we’ve made about equality and everybody being treated equally, then we still impose on teenagers the most extraordinary strain that actually, despite legislating, it is a bit different, it is a bit odd, it is a bit unusual, it’s not the norm.

Lamb went on to say that a change in attitudes from broadcasters is needed to ‘follow through’ on the same-sex marriage legislation:

‘If we’re decent and honest and humane in our attitudes then we have to follow it through and be clear that when someone grows up they know that they can be themselves. It’s a really important principle. And that’s demonstrated in everything that the broadcasters do, in the way that education behaves – you can be yourself, you can love who you want, society won’t judge you on the basis of that.

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