You may have heard the buzz by now: ?SpongeBob is gay!? I know, it?s the whole Tinky Winky scandal of ?99 all over again. (To jog your memory, that was the Teletubby Reverand Jerry Falwell thought was gay because he was purple and sported a triangle on his head.)Here?s the story, short-form: a video made for schoolchildren with the aim of celebrating diversity is being criticized by Christian groups for ?promoting homosexuality.?� It?s a music video of the '70?s song ?We Are Family? starring a veritable hall of fame of cartoon characters and onetime kid heroes like SpongeBob Squarepants (who lives in a pineapple under the sea), Barney, Winnie the Pooh and the Rugrats.How, exactly, do animated singing animals and babies and a good ol? big purple dinosaur promote homosexuality? Well, the video in and of itself (overlooking the fact that some may have drawn their own conclusions about Sponge Bob?s fey nature or the video?s use of a disco song) actually isn?t the real issue to these groups. The website and supplementary teaching materials that accompany the video, which were made in conjunction with a group created post-September 11, 2001 to teach young people about diversity, include a few references to same-sex parents, as well as ways for educators to address the topic of ?non-traditional? families with children.Aside from the Christian groups' stance being blatantly homophobic, it echoes the Religiou Right sex-education terrors of how merely making someone aware that birth control exists will automatically make him or her ragingly promiscuous. To my knowledge, educating kids about queer parents will not ?make? them gay if they aren?t.One final note: the ringleader anti-video group is called ?Focus on the Family.? The group that created it is called the ?We Are Family Foundation.? So there you go?there are obviously different kinds of families. That in itself can be a lesson for both America?s schoolchildren and the Christian right.