“It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,” said Jack Hunter, the artist behind next week’s cover, “Moment of Joy.” Hunter, who originally submitted his image, unsolicited, to a Tumblr, continued, “This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.” 
 
 See more of our coverage of the Supreme Court and same-sex marriage. 

 The cover of next week’s New Yorker, drawn by Jack Hunter and titled “Moment of Joy,” celebrates the fall of DOMA by showing Sesame Street favorites Bert and Ernie snuggled on the sofa of their sparsely appointed living room. As they learn the news of the Supreme Court’s decision on a black-and-white television, Bert drapes his arm lovingly around Ernie, while Ernie rests his head on Bert’s shoulder.* 
 
 June Thomas June Thomas is managing producer of Slate podcasts. 
 
 It’s a cute image. Everyone loves Bert and Ernie. But it’s a terrible way to commemorate a major civil-rights victory for gay and lesbian couples. 
 
 You see, Bert and Ernie aren’t lovers. Back in 2007, the president of the Children’s Television Workshop said that they “do not exist beneath the waist.” Then, two years ago, the Children’s Television Workshop declared: 
 
 Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers 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 (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation. 
 
 That’s not the only lesson Bert and Ernie have to impart. You see, straight America, there’s a difference between same-sex friends and gay lovers. Does America contain households in which lovers pass themselves off as best pals? No doubt. And as prejudice against gays and lesbians fades, more of these ambiguously gay couples will declare themselves. But that doesn’t mean that every pair of cohabiting friends is madly making out on a nightly basis. 
 
 Bert and Ernie clearly love each other. But does Ernie suck Bert’s cock? I don't think so. 
 
 (All that said, whoever goes to Pride this weekend dressed as Bert and Ernie is going to gay heaven.) 

 Are they gay? 
 
 It's the age-old (well, several-years-old) question intriguing fans of muppets Bert and Ernie. Today, Sesame Street weighed in on Facebook: 
 
 "Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers 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 (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation." 
 
 The controversy emerged most recently with an online petition suggesting Bert and Ernie be allowed to marry. Thousands of same-sex couples have been married in New York since gay marriage was legalized in the Empire State in July. So why not Bert and Ernie? 
 
 Chicago resident Lair Scott started the online petition at Change.org to pressure the Sesame Street Workshop to "Let Bert & Ernie get married on Sesame Street." The petition reads, "We are not asking Sesame Street to do anything crude or disrespectful…. It can be done in a tasteful way. Let us teach tolerance of those that are different." The petition has collected more than 1,600 signatures. 
 
 But are Bert and Ernie even gay, never mind ready for the ultimate commitment? Scott clearly thinks so. In an interview with ABC News.com, Scott said, "A lot of people have wondered about Bert and Ernie.... Living in the same bedroom and the same home would make anyone question their sexuality." His aim, he added, is to get 20,000 petitioners to encourage the Sesame Workshop to either marry Bert and Ernie or introduce a gay or lesbian character. 
 
 A few days before he posted the marriage petition, Scott had generated another, asking Sesame Workshop to "Out Bert and Ernie as Gay." 
 
 The characters were developed 40 years ago by Jim Henson, the creator of Sesame Street. The felt-based duo both wear stripes and have mops of black hair. But that's where the similarities end. Ernie has always played the lovable doofus to Bert's boring straight man. Bert likes pigeons, Ernie prefers rubber ducks. 
 
 For a couple of puppets geared toward preschoolers, the two have generated controversy over the years, centered primarily around their sexual orientation. 
 
 The rumor mill went into overdrive last year when Bert wrote on the Sesame Street twitter account that his haircut resembled Mr T's -- "the only difference is mine is a little more 'mo, a little less 'hawk." That was enough to convince many bloggers that the Sesame Workshop was secretly signaling Bert's sexual orientation. 
 
 But the folks on Sesame Street have always pushed back against the rumors. 
 
 In 2007, Sesame Workshop president and CEO Gary Knell wrote, "They are not gay, they are not straight, they are puppets…they do not exist below the waist." 
 
 Perhaps. As the Los Angeles Times noted today, Sharkey Violet responded skeptically to Sesame Street's Facebook pronouncement by writing, "Muppets do not have sexual orientation? So ... all along Miss Piggy was after Kermit for .... his frog legs for supper?" 
 
 That debate will no doubt occupy fans for some time. Meanwhile, the petitions continue, and Lair Scott now has some competition. There is now a "Leave Bert and Ernie alone" petition and a "Stop Pressuring PBS to make Bert and Ernie Gay" petition. 
 
 As of this writing, the number of people signing up for those petitions is climbing. 

 Sesame Street‘s official party line on Bert and Ernie is as follows: “Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers 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 (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.” 
 
 Uh huh. Sure, guys. Just don’t tell that to the New Yorker, which just revealed its next cover — a piece called “Moment of Joy” that pictures two “roommates” looking awfully snuggly as they watch a certain major news event play out on TV. 
 
 Look on the bright side, Sesame Workshop — maybe Bert and Ernie just hate affirmative action! 
 
 Fun fact: Jack Hunter, the artist who created this image — and no, he is not Shawn’s older half-brother — actually made it last year for a contest at New Yorker art editor Francoise Mouly’s now-defunct “Blown Covers” blog. Originally, the TV pictured President Obama rather than the Supreme Court. 
 
 “While I’m certainly not the first person to speculate about Bert and Ernie’s more personal and private relationship, I thought they were well suited to represent how a lot of gay couples must have felt hearing Obama’s comments,” Hunter said at the time. “After all, they’ve been together for almost 50 years … as ‘just friends’ or otherwise.” 
 
 Follow Hillary on Twitter 
 
 Read more: 
 
 DOMA reaction: ‘Modern Family’ considering gay marriage 
 
 Watch President Obama call Prop 8 plaintiffs 
 
 Google has a fun Easter egg in support of Supreme Court ruling
– Odds are you have, at some point in your life, made a joke about Bert and Ernie's sexuality. Well, a just-revealed New Yorker cover takes those jokes to the next level, making them downright sweet. Titled "Bert and Ernie's Moment of Joy," the image is intended, according to artist Jack Hunter, to celebrate "how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime." The image was originally submitted on Tumblr for a competition last year, EW reveals; the TV in the picture originally showed Barack Obama instead of the Supreme Court, in reference to Obama's change of heart on gay marriage. But not everyone is in love with the cover. This "is a terrible way to commemorate a major civil rights victory," writes June Thomas at Slate. Sesame Street Workshop has repeatedly said that the two characters are simply best friends, and, as its president once said, they "do not exist beneath the waist." And Thomas thinks we should respect that. "You see, straight America, there's a difference between same-sex friends and gay lovers."