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THE Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is outraged that two gay dads were featured on the long-running children’s program Play School.

The ABC show – which recently celebrated its 50th year on air and is the longest running children’s television show in Australian history – showed two children being raised by a same-sex couple on its Through the Windows segment yesterday as a part of its My Family, Your Family series.

The conservative group said parents should be able to trust their toddlers to the program “without worrying if they are being exposed to controversial political and social agendas”.

“Parents and grandparents should not be forced to explain to little children how it is that two men come to have a baby,” ACL spokesperson Wendy Francis said.

“As a grandmother I find it disappointing that the ABC is seeking to include rainbow politics for toddlers when millions of their parents do not agree with redefining marriage in law.”

“The ABC should also not assume that producing children through harvested eggs and a rented or donated woman’s womb to meet the desires of two men is a public good.

“As ACL warned in February this year, Play School is not the place for the ABC to run agendas… particularly as this is a taxpayer-funded program that should refrain from pushing confusing adult messaging to our children.

“Parent’s (sic) shouldn’t be forced to have adult conversations about sexuality and bioethics with their kids at such a young age and it certainly should not be the government broadcaster raising the subject with them.”

The most recent Australian census in 2011 revealed 78 per cent of children living with same-sex parents were under the age of 15.

Rainbow Families’ Scott Williams could not disagree more.

“Play School has been entertaining preschoolers for the past 50 years, encouraging them to wonder, to think, to feel and to imagine,” he said.

“Yesterday’s episode once again showcased the wonderful diversity of Australian society, teaching kids how to say hello in Tiwi language, showing a character named Sarah, who’s stepdad takes her to school, and in the Through the Windows segment, featuring a normal Australian family which just happens to have two dads.

“Rainbow Families fully supports Play School’s decision to to show that families come in all shapes and sizes. There is nothing “unethical” about having two dads.

“It’s disappointing, but altogether not surprising, that the Australian Christian Lobby would seek to portray this as pushing a political agenda.”

The ACL are one of the most influential conservative lobby groups and are strongly campaigning against marriage equality.