Disney Channel features its first gay couple on 'Good Luck Charlie'

Near the beginning of last Sunday’s all new Good Luck Charlie, parents Bob and Amy Duncan briefly tangle over who, exactly, is coming over for a playdate with their daughter Charlie. Amy says she’s invited a kid named Taylor and his parents, including his mother Susan. Bob says that he’s also met Taylor’s mother — but he could swear her name is Cheryl.

There’s some classic sitcom back-and-forth arguing before the doorbell rings and the truth is revealed: Taylor has two mothers. And perhaps more importantly, the show treats this fact like it’s no big deal. (Taylor and Charlie’s playdate isn’t even the episode’s A-plot; instead, most of the half-hour revolves around big sister Teddy and her best friend Ivy, who’s preparing to leave for college.)

As a Disney Channel spokesperson told TV Guide back in June, when the episode was first announced, the storyline was developed “under the consultancy of child development experts and community advisers. [And] like Disney Channel programming, it was developed to be relevant to kids and families around the world and to reflect themes of diversity and inclusiveness.” And while the anti-gay group One Million Moms was predictably up in arms about the episode — “Just because something may be legal or because some are choosing a lifestyle doesn’t make it morally correct,” the group wrote in an anti-Charlie letter in June — others have lauded Disney for its forward thinking, including Miley Cyrus:

https://twitter.com/MileyCyrus/status/348876239676772352

https://twitter.com/MileyCyrus/status/348876832675872768

Good Luck Charlie airs its next — and final — episode on Feb. 16.