USA TODAY, New York Tim review 'Strange World,' gay Disney character

Contents:

• FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS
• LIST: 'STRANGE WORLD' REVIEWS ABOUT DISNEY'S FIRST OUT GAY, CHARACTER, BIRACIAL QUEER TEEN
• DID DISNEY BURY STRANGE WORLD BEE OF GAY CHARACTER?
• ‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS
• ONE INTERRACIAL GAY COUPLE TRI TO TRAVEL FEARLSLY — AND SOMETIM FDS ACCEPTANCE SURPRISG PLAC
• SECTN 2: KNOWG GAYS AND LBIANS, RELIG CONFLICTS, BELIEFS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY

FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS

A Florida teacher unr a state vtigatn for showg a Disney movie featurg a gay character said she wasn’t aware the state’s ntroversial law banng stctn about certa LGBTQ topics had been recently expand to apply to her gra level.

When DeSantis signed the ban to law last year, he and other Florida Republins touted as a protectn of parents’ rights, while opponents slammed as yet another effort by GOP lawmakers the state to erase and opprs LGBTQ people schools, llg the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. It's the first Disney movie featurg an out-gay character named Ethan Cla, played by gay edian Jaboie Young-Whe.

" Below are 11 excerpts om media webs and the different tak crics had on the gay character, characters Disney, Marvel? Photos of 8 Disney, Marvel characters who are gay, lbian or bisexualUSA TODAY lls 'Strange World' 'extremely morn'"Fans of pulpy 1930s and ’40s hero such as Doc Savage and Flash Gordon will dig the over-the-top actn vibe, yet “Strange World” is extremely morn s them.

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

It taps to real-world issu of nservatn and staabily of natural rourc, and there’s a strong sense of cln – Ethan’s a biracial gay teen, Legend mak up for a missg leg wh boundls energy – and the most wele aspect is that 's all pretty normal.

(Ethan tak after gramps the adventurg partment, but he’s also sensive and openly gay a way that has never been more explic a Disney movie. Feels timid'"Ethan is the stud’s bajillnth 'first ever gay character' (and his fay is one of a few terracial fai all of Disney), but as progrsive as is, even that feels timid: His csh appears one scene at the begng of the movie, and apart om a short nversatn is not mentned aga — easily cut to appease the ternatnal censors that provi Disney wh so much of s revenue.

)"Vulture: 'Ethan is Black and unmistakably queer'"That Strange World’s sendary hero, Ethan, is Black and unmistakably queer (no “exclively gay moments” here — he do some sweetly awkward flirtg wh his csh one of his earlier scen) is noteworthy. "The Guardian: 'Wokens' and avodo toast"Ethan is Disney’s first openly gay teenager and, predictably, rightwg activists have lled for a boytt.

DID DISNEY BURY STRANGE WORLD BEE OF GAY CHARACTER?

In addn to Ethan beg gay, has that environmental msage and – oh, the wokens – a scene which avodo on toast is served. In rponse, the last few years have seen the stud attempt to tout var first “gay moments” and queer characters that for the most part were ’s a pleasant surprise that Ethan and his obv csh on his iend Diazo arrive wh mimal fanfare (pecially pared wh “Lightyear” and some Marvel stallments). "AP: 'Strange World' plot is more than a 'gay moment'"There’s also the not-signifint fact that Ethan has a same-sex csh.

That’s a b of a stretch, bee this buddg romance is a si plot, referred to by a number of characters, but by no means a major topic of maybe that’s the pot — if ’s not a major plot pot, nor is a sneeze-and-you-miss moment like, for example, that quick glance “Bety and the Beast” 2017 that was herald as the first Disney “gay moment. Sure, some untri will lose their mds over there beg a gay character a Disney movie, which mak all the more urageo that producer Roy Conli emed time to expand the stud’s “Someday My Prce Will Come” ia of romance.

"Hollywood Reporter: 'Strange World' character's sexualy is a fact of life"A particularly tenr sequence which Searcher meets Ethan’s csh, Diazo (Jonathan Melo), sets up, wh ltle fanfare, a historic moment for the nservative stud: Ethan is the first out gay teenager a Disney animated and Nguyen treat Ethan’s sexualy as a fact of life stead of a battleground on which he mt seek faial acceptance, a move that reliev Ethan of the banaly of beg an avatar. "Deadle lists among 'Biggt Bombs' of 2022"Some might say Disney’s embrace of a gay character the film turned off red-state dienc, while crics found the fantasy pic to be clunky and prehensible, and the animatn retro and stale. The animated tale clud Disney's first biracial gay teen, Ethan Cla (voiced by Jaboie Young-Whe), wh a small scene of him gettg tongue-tied near his csh, Diazo -- and there are those who thk that led Disney to liberately bury the film.

‘IT’S MY FLORIDA TOO’: PULSE SHOOTG SURVIVOR BRANDON WOLF ON BEG BLACK, GAY AND THE ANTI-RON DESANTIS

If you thk gay people existg is them shovg their 'liftyle' down your throat and stggle to have simple nversatns wh your children bee of that then maybe jt skip . Chapek had been cricized for, among other thgs, a belated and mishandled rponse to the "don't say gay" legislatn Florida, where Disney is the largt employer. ”Wolf had sought refuge Florida 15 years ago when he was done wh ral Oregon, the childhood home where he suffered embedd racism and homophobia on a daily basis.

Among his motivatns for wrg the book was to reclaim tersectnaly om DeSantis and others on the right who seek to hijack explas: “I wanted to give a human flavour to what tersectnaly actually looks and feels like and what feels like to experience racism and homophobia at the same time.

ONE INTERRACIAL GAY COUPLE TRI TO TRAVEL FEARLSLY — AND SOMETIM FDS ACCEPTANCE SURPRISG PLAC

Growg up a nservative majory whe town was difficult bee the same kid who would ll me the N-word on one day would ll me a homophobic slur on another day and I was nstantly navigatg the tersectns of those two thgs.

Last month DeSantis’s mpaign released an anti-LGBTQ+ vio assailg Tmp for his past support of gay and transgenr ments: “It is a sry time to be not jt LGBTQ but LGBTQ and Black this state and ultimately that’s the tent. Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.

'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough" said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'" Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3, 000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022.

SECTN 2: KNOWG GAYS AND LBIANS, RELIG CONFLICTS, BELIEFS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALY

Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos" relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife.

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage". My hband and I, undnted by whatever dangers might face a gay terracial uple abroad, have traveled fearlsly enough to ighten my -laws. Brendan and I don’t want to support the enomi of plac wh homophobic laws, like Myanmar, Kenya, or Sdi Arabia — the latter’s royal fay hardly needs our three-dollar bills.