Why Bert and Ernie won't be getting hitched

                                          Bert and Ernie have lived together on Sesame Street since 1969

Sesame Street bosses say Bert and Ernie will not get married, despite almost 9,000 people signing a petition calling for the same-sex puppets to make things official
Thousands logged onto to the Facebook page www.change.org and became friends of a special "Bert and Ernie Get Married" page in support of the petition.
The Facebook thread quickly descended into a debate on the pros and cons of having a gay character on the children's programme.

Campaigners argued that the marriage of the characters from the long-running TV show would help to put an end to bullying and suicides of gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual young people.
"We are not asking that Sesame Street do anything crude or disrespectful by allowing Bert and Ernie to marry," the petition read."It can be done in a tasteful way."
However, Sesame Workshop said that as puppets, Bert and Ernie do not have sexual preferences
"Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach pre-schoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.
"Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics, they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation."
Sesame Street is seen in either the US or local TV versions in more than 140 nations and has won multiple awards for its educational content for pre-schoolers.
Bert, who is fascinated by pigeons and gets easily upset, and oval-headed, free spirit Ernie, have lived together at 123 Sesame Street since 1969.