'Blue's Clues' pride parade celebrating LGBTQIA+ families in sing-along will warm your heart

Blues Clues, the popular Nickelodeon children's show, celebrated Pride by featuring a cartoon pride parade led by a fun-loving drag queen Nina West. She led the children in a sing-along using inclusive lyrics that celebrates queer families, diverse gender and sexual identities, disabled people, and the communal spirit of allyship. The video was published on "Blue's Clues & You!" YouTube channel, titled: The Blue's Clues Pride Parade 🏳️‍🌈 Sing-Along Ft. Nina West!, reported Today.

The video features an animated version of drag queen Nina West, a popular contestant from season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race. West sings to the melody of "The Ants Go Marching." The lyrics were tweaked to make it LGBTQ+ inclusive, with the visuals involving animals in various family dynamics including those that have two daddies, two mommies, or other types of parents from the LGBTQ+ community. "This family has two mommies. They love each other so proudly and they all go marching in... the... big parade," sing the lyrics."All families are made differently and they love each other so proudly. Allies to the queer community can love their queer friends so proudly… Love is love is love, you see, and everyone should love proudly," goes some of the other lines in the lyrics. The song also features other gender labels, including "trans," "non-binary" and "queer."

West stresses that ultimately life is about love. “Love is love is love you see, and everyone should love proudly,” sings West as the Pride parade comes to a conclusion. She signs off the video wishing everyone a “Happy Pride Month!” The video premiered on the website on May 28, in time for Pride month. "What a way to kick off Pride Month than with my pal, Blue!" wrote West on Instagram. "Singing and dancing in the streets celebrating Pride is so much fun, especially with all of our new friends! HAPPY PRIDE!" The video has since been viewed more than 700,000 times. 

Twitter users praised the Nickelodeon cartoon for being progressive and inclusive. Eugene Lee Yang tweeted: This children's cartoon segment has more queer representation than anything else out there and it is melting my cold gay heart. Nina West said it was the LGBTQ+ community that guided him through some tough times. "I love that there’s a community that has embraced, loved, and protected me and I’m very grateful how I’ve been raised by this tribe of people, especially during dark times," said West, according to Pride.

Lindz Amer, who produces the Queer Kid Stuff video series, collaborated with Nickelodeon to ensure the video and the lyrical were inclusive. "The team was an absolute dream to work with and it's for sure the queerest thing I've ever seen happen in the preschool space. My main goals were twofold: to try my best to bring specificity to the video, that's where the song's vocabulary came in using words like queer, trans, non-binary, ace, pan, and bi," Lindz Amer told Yahoo News. "And second, to expand the definition of family as it applies to the queer community, so acknowledging chosen family was a big part of that."

President Joe Biden marked the starting of Pride month by issuing an official proclamation. "Pride is both a jubilant communal celebration of visibility and a personal celebration of self-worth and dignity," said Biden, reported The Hill. "This Pride Month, we recognize the valuable contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals across America, and we reaffirm our commitment to standing in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans in their ongoing struggle against discrimination and injustice," he added.