11 times Mr Ratburn was queer AF

Hey! It’s a wonderful kind of day! Mr Ratburn is gay!


Mr Ratburn, our tough-love, cake-loving vermin teacher from Arthur is gay!

In the premiere of Season 22, Nigel Ratburn both came out and got married to another male character, leaving us all believing in happy endings.

The show holds a special place among Millennials who grew up with Arthur, Buster, Muffy, Brain, Francine and the rest of the gang, still spawning quizzes to see which character is most like you and reimaginings of what the Lakewood Elementary School crew would look like as hipsters.

Among the Twitter celebrations by now-grown-up fans celebrating the newlyweds are reactions from folks who always knew Mr Ratburn was gay.

Here’s a list of a few moments where it was glaringly obvious that Mr Ratburn was the queer hero we needed.

This childhood photo proving he had better taste than us

His band, The Ratburn Rats

His love of musicals

His sister Patty Ratburn, played by Jane Lynch

That booty, tho

His living room is basically the workroom from RuPaul’s Drag Race

His love of tall, phallic-shaped cakes

 

There was actually an episode called “Mr Ratburn’s Secret Identity”

His T-shirt, which basically tells us he’s into puppy play

He loves leggings and he ain’t afraid to show it!

This moment where he was probably listening to Lizzo and feeling himself

All photos courtesy of PBS.

Eternity Martis is an award-winning journalist and editor who has worked at CBC, CTV and Xtra Magazine. She is the author of the bestselling 2020 memoir They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up, the course developer/instructor of "Reporting on Race: Black Communities in the Media" at Ryerson University and UBC's 2021 Journalist-in-Residence.

Read More About:
Culture, TV & Film, Opinion

Keep Reading

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16, Episode 11 power ranking: Power(Point) rankings

The choice in winner this week—and the editing of another queen’s reaction—tells us a lot about the state of the competition

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16, Episode 11 recap: “You’re a mom and pop, I’m a corporation’

The queens take on drag seminars, and it’s as weird as it sounds

What ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ taught me about being in a queer relationship

How Seattle’s steamiest—and gayest—hospital helped me climb out from under a harrowing breakup

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16, Episode 10 power ranking: Lucky seven

A top two Lip Sync for the Win makes for interesting power rankings