Disney's 8 'First Openly Gay' Characters: A Short History

Contents:

• ‘STRANGE WORLD’ IS DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD. WHY IS IT BEG BURIED?
• DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE
• HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?
• IT'S NOT JT FROZEN: MOST DISNEY MOVI ARE PRO-GAY
• DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)
• LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN

‘STRANGE WORLD’ IS DISNEY’S FIRST ANIMATED MOVIE WH A GAY LEAD. WHY IS IT BEG BURIED?

Updated on June 7th, 2022 by Danielle Bnti: In the wake of Florida's extremely ntroversial "Don't Say Gay" bill and the strong cricism that me om wh The Walt Disney Company for not speakg up, seems like Disney is fally unrstandg out important LGBTQ+ reprentatn is for s fans and s st members. Artie is able to be his thentic self and actor John McCrea is happy wh his portrayal of Artie and believ him to be a gay character, but Disney yet aga ma the mistake of not fully lvg to Artie beg an openly gay character. Orka and Flix Star Wars Ristance are two openly gay characters who aren't human and are actually two different speci but are openly a relatnship the seri.

Certa groups are upset at the ia of a children's movie reprentg the LGBTQ+ muny while progrsiv are upset at Jack Whehall's stg, believg a gay actor should be st, and the ia that might be a stereotypil, harmful reprentatn.

The show's creator and executive producer Terri Msky said that Cys and his story were largely spired by Terri's dghter's iends, who knew that they were gay middle school.

DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE

"Andi Mack" was the first seri on Disney Channel to feature a gay ma characterValkyrie, played by Tsa Thompson, appears two "Thor" films and two "Avengers" filmsWhen asked if Loki romanced would-be prcs or another prce, the god of mischief rpond wh, "A b of both"Is "Strange World" the first Disney movie that featur a gay character?

" It's the first Disney movie wh an out, gay November at the Los Angel premiere of "Strange World, " star Jake Gyllenhaal said Disney's animated fay adventure normaliz a "queer kid" character as part of s storyle about young people fdg their own inty. 'Florida teacher vtigated by state agency for showg this Disney movie classCrics' take on "Strange World":List: 'Strange World' reviews about Disney's first out gay, character, biracial queer teenDisney vs. In 2017, "Andi Mack" ma s but on Disney Channel, and was the first seri on that work to feature a gay ma Elizabeth Lee played the tle character, and her world is turned upsi-down (jt before her 13th birthday) when she learns her olr sister is actually her mother, and her mother is actually her grandmother.

HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?

Episo 1 rep:The ‘Loki’ premiere fds the God of Mischief a strange new realyIt's Hiddlton's Loki nfirmed as Marvel's first bisexual lead characterIs there a gay character Marvel's 'Eternals? "Eternals" also has the Marvel Cematic Universe's first love scene between Gemma Chan ("Crazy Rich Asians") and Richard LeFou gay Disney's 'Bety and the Beast?

'In the 1991 animated feature "Bety and the Beast, " 's clear LeFou worships Gaston − as his bt the 2017 live-actn film "Bety and the Beast, " starrg Emma Watson (the "Harry Potter" films) as Belle, Le Evans (the "Hobb" films) as Gaston and Dan Stevens as the Beast, LeFou worships Gaston − and, who was straight the animated classic, was gay this versn.

IT'S NOT JT FROZEN: MOST DISNEY MOVI ARE PRO-GAY

Long before announcements about "Disney's first gay character" beme somethg of a meme, the first direct reference to a gay person a Disney movie om a somewhat surprisg source: "The Prcs Diari 2: Royal Engagement" 2004. " Rpons to the episo at the time were posive among the LGBTQ+ muny, wh GLAAD and queer former Disney star Miley Cys celebratg, while the far-right anti-gay group One Milln Moms protted the episo. The 2017 live-actn remake of "Bety and the Beast" arrived wh signifint prs verage about featurg an "exclively gay" moment volvg Gaston's sikick LeFou, played by Josh Gad.

Disney Channel had briefly featured gay romanc before, but wasn't until 2019 when Cys Goodman (played by bisexual actor Joshua Rh) on "Andi Mack" beme the first Disney Channel character to say the words "I'm gay. Cys first out to his iends Buffy and Andi the show's send season, while the history-makg "I'm gay" le occurs the episo "One a Myan" om the seri' third and fal season. " Unnamed, non-speakg gay background characters alone, however, wouldn't qualify the show for this list — and while many queer viewers celebrated the genr nonnformy of male prcs Mar Diaz, Mar himself was never nfirmed to be queer.

"High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri" featur two major gay characters who enter a relatnship wh each other: The choreographer Carlos Rodriguez (Frankie Rodriguez) and the actor Seb Matthew-Smh (Joe Serafi). Officer Specter, a cyclops p voiced by Lena Wahe the 2020 film "Onward, " is the first gay character wh a speakg role a Pixar movie ("Fdg Dory" and "Toy Story 4" prevly clud same-sex upl as background extras). Followg "Avengers: Endgame" and "Star Wars: Episo IX — The Rise of Skywalker, " many LGBTQ+ viewers were creasgly cril of Disney's assorted "first gay characters" om s var studs beg hyped up, only to turn out beg so mor that all the reprentatn uld be easily censored jt by changg one le.

DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)

Up until this pot on our list, most of the gay Disney characters promoted as the "first" of their kd uld still be clearly labeled as a specific "first" (first Disney character, first Marvel character, first "Star Wars character, " etc. When "Cella, " a live-actn reimagg of the villa om "101 Dalmatians" as an antihero, was released 2021, there were headl that the fashn signer character Artie might be Disney's "first major gay character. " But while he was certaly more important than most gay characters Disney movi, 's batle if he unts as a "first" when LeFou had a siarly proment supportg role.

The six-year-old ballet dancer at the center of Moxie Peng's "The Ltle Prce(ss)" might or might not grow up to intify as gay, trans, or non-bary, but the fact that the story's them are all about directly challengg toxic enforcement of genr norms, homophobia, and transphobia is enough to make f fortably the Disney+ "Pri" sectn. Durg this long wa for the film's release, there was already signifint bate over the fact that Jack Whehall, a straight actor, was gog to play the film's "effemate" and "mp" gay character McGregor Houghton (per The Mary Sue). Charl Zeller, played by gay actor Jefey Bowyer-Chapman, is somethg of an outsir amongst the other doctors at Oahu Health Medil Center, havg e all the way om Chigo to work Hawaii.

Jok have been ma about beg awkward that the MCU's first gay black hero is someone who tak rponsibily for the bombg of Hiroshima, but even so, 's still a step the right directn for the mega-anchise.

LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN

At this pot the anchise's history, what might be most notable about lbian p Wendy Conrad (Atpo Thomas) is that she was able to be sually troduced whout any sort of big "first gay character" hype. It's not a lot, but 's as much of an "exclively gay moment" as LeFou has "Bety the Beast, " and 's nice to have a scene like this whout the overblown self-ngratulatory promotn that acpanied LeFou's gayns.