As you may or may not already be aware Rugrats now has a Paramount reboot. As most modern reboots of old cartoons, Paramount is trying to be more forward with all of the show's marginalized representations. For example Susie Carmichael's parents are more present, and active in the show now, which is fantastic, and Betty, the mother of Phil and Lil, will now be openly lesbian, however Howard, Phil and Lil's dad, is nowhere to be seen, with most articles claiming Paramount plans not to include him in the reboot, and plans to simply portray Betty as a single mom now. This is a problem because it is a perfect example of hollow representation, and erasure of real LGBTQIA+ culture. As a child watching the old show, without the words, terms, and definitions to really understand how, I still had this understanding, that Betty and Howard had an understanding, that their partnership was a quite conscious agreement between them to have kids of their own, and to appear 'normal' in their circles despite the fact they were both clearly very different from the straight parents in the show. Now that I'm older I've finally learned the term for this kind of agreement, it is called a Lavender Marriage, and has been a very common practice in the LGBTQIA+ community for centuries, though the term wasn't coined until the early 20th century, it is defined like this "A lavender marriage is a male–female mixed-orientation marriage, undertaken as a marriage of convenience to conceal the socially stigmatized sexual orientation of one or both partners.". Now that gay marriage is legal in the U.S. and a good amount of LGBTQIA+ acceptance has fallowed, it makes plenty of sense for Betty and Howard to call off their pairing to pursue partnerships that match their orientations now, while still co-parenting their children, BOTH of them. Erasing Howard from the show erases a fine opportunity for gay representation in a kids show that isn't just lesbian (it is a well-known fact that all media and public opinion has always favored female gays to male gays, it's a problem) and it erases that once fairly clear acknowledgement of a centuries-old LGBTQIA+ practice, that has been a familial reality for a large demographic of children throughout history. The reboot is still new, only about 24 episodes, it is far from too late to save Howard, they can still make a choice to include him, simply explain his absence in the first season as him being on vacation, and introduce the watchers to Phil and Lil's very good, and very present, gay father figure, and their beautiful Lavender Family, in season two. Single parenthood representation is important, but this show already has that in Chaz and Kira, Betty doesn't need to be that, her and Howard need to represent the group they come from, the LGBTQIA+ community. Please sign if you agree that by excluding Howard the LGBTQIA+ community is being cheated out of our deserved level of representation in The Rugrats reboot.