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On last night's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo season finale, 17-year-old Anna gave birth to her daughter Kaitlyn. We've known about Kaitlyn for a while now, mostly because she has an extra thumb on her right hand. The family was just as fascinated and amused as their audience — Alana joked about coveting the extra thumb for its assistance in grabbing cheeseballs, while her sister Jessica gave her niece her first "high six." Probably won't be her last, either.

Lee, Sugar Bear's brother, was received with the same sort of tickled acceptance. Lee is gay and referred to as "Uncle Poodle." His sexuality was discussed at length on the episode, and while it wasn't free of stereotypes ("You know gay men, hello, they know how to dance and make the moves," said June), it's encouraging to see a child so enraptured with her uncle not despite but because of his gayness. Maybe Here Comes Honey Boo Boo isn't a sign of the apocalypse after all, but a model for tolerance. Wouldn't that be something?

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As a bonus of well-meaning, if not perfectly stated gay sentiment, check out these clips from this week's episode of Basketball Wives L.A., in which the nuttiest cast member, Jackie Christie, decides that her 17th wedding to her husband (they do it every year, apparently) will be a tribute to the gay and lesbian community. I guess if gays can't get married the next best thing is straights getting married on their behalf? A lot of talk about what gays are like follows, as does the phrase "the gay lifestyle," which is teeth-grindingly problematic, but I figure that if people's hearts are in the right place, their lexicon will follow. And in the meantime, at least we have hilarious growing pains like these to laugh at. If you're going to pander, at least have the courtesy to be absurd about it.