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UK kids’ TV needs ‘more sexual diversity’

There are not enough gay characters on children’s television, according to a senior British politician, who has demanded action from the heads of the main UK TV channels.

Norman Lamb

Norman Lamb

Norman Lamb, who is in the running to succeed Nick Clegg as the next leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK, has called upon broadcasters to represent different sexualities on screen.

“It is deemed inappropriate to show same-sex couples on children’s television, in a manner not dissimilar from the treatment of mixed-race couples a generation ago,” Lamb said.

Writing for Pink News, which claims to be Europe’s largest gay news service, Lamb said he had written to all the heads of the main TV channels demanding that they show more same-sex couples on children’s television.

Asked if shows such as Peppa Pig should feature gay characters, Lamb added that it “should absolutely not be out of bounds, which it appears to be at the moment.”

“The legislation very clearly says that a loving relationship between two people of the same sex is of equal value, so in everything that we then do, as a society, we need to reinforce that, not deny it,” Lamb said.

It is not yet known whether any of the broadcasters contacted have responded to Lamb, who has said that he will stand up for LGBT rights should he become leader of the UK political party.

Joe Godwin, the former director of BBC Children’s, defended the diversity of people portrayed on screen on children’s television during a Bafta Question Time event last year.

Godwin has also previously said the broadcaster should produce more series such as CBBC’s award-winning Marrying Mum and Dad, which included an episode featuring gay parents, and sci-fi show Wizards Vs Aliens, in which a lead character came out as gay at the end of the second season.

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