Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has a strange excuse for defunding the state's PBS TV station. It's all over Clifford the Dog, a cartoon he claims "indoctrinates kids." I will go out on a limb here to suggest that Republicans are taking this too far. Perhaps they've run out of books to ban.
LGBTQ Nation reports:
Stitt shocked many when he recently vetoed H.B. 2820, a routine bill that would have approved funding for the Oklahoma Education Television Authority (OETA) – which broadcasts PBS in the state – through 2026.
"I don't think Oklahomans want to use their tax dollars to indoctrinate kids," Stitt said at a press conference. "And some of the stuff that they're showing, it just overly sexualizes our kids. There are parents defending child transition on PBS that's being played. There's elevating LGBTQIA2S+ voices."
He oddly called it "an outdated system" that "had its place in 1957."
"If you want to watch that, that's fine, but why am I using taxpayer dollars to prop that up?" he said. "I don't think we need that, and I'm glad to veto that bill."
They're mad because it's an inclusive cartoon. OTOH, Republicans are always mad.
Later on, a Stitt spokeswoman provided examples of this LGBTQ+ "indoctrination" to Tulsa World. She explained that OETA had put on Pride Month programming over the past few years and also mentioned a PBS Newshour segment in which the parents of a trans child spoke about the benefits of gender-affirming care. She also decried episodes from two children's cartoons (Work it out Wombats! and Clifford the Big Red Dog) that included lesbian characters.
Ken Busby, a board member at the fundraising nonprofit Friends of OETA, said that Stitt's veto is putting the state's safety systems at risk, as OETA manages many of them.
"Tornado warnings, Amber Alerts, those kinds of things," he said. "They're from our broadcast towers, which are scattered across the state."
He went on to mock Stitt.
"I have a device called a remote control, and I can turn it off," he added. "I can change the channel. I can go read a book. I can go do something else. I can go play frisbee."
Imagine that.
