Arthur character Mr Ratburn comes out as gay and gets married in new season

Mr Ratburn’s new husband is an aardvark named Patrick, who is also a chocolatier

(PBS Kids)

The long-running animated series Arthur has revealed that one of its main characters is gay.

In the season 22 premiere, the PBS show saw Arthur, an aardvark, and his friends attend the wedding of their teacher, Mr Ratburn.

Although they assume he’s marrying a female rat named Patty (voiced by Jane Lynch), they soon discover that the wedding is between two grooms, not a groom and bride, as Patty is Mr Ratburn’s sister.

Mr Ratburn’s new husband is an aardvark named Patrick, who is also a chocolatier.

Arthur has depicted same-sex marriage before, with the spin-off show Postcards from Buster featuring a lesbian couple in the 2005 episode “Sugartime!”, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Then-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings denounced the episode, prompting PBS, which is publicly funded, to pull the episode. The episode was eventually broadcast on PBS affiliates.

Twitter users praised the depiction.