The pany’s tone af mishandlg of Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill has revealed a long-gtatg nflict
Contents:
- 17 GAY AND LGBTQ DISNEY CHARACTERS – OM D TO NON TO TASTROPHE
- DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)
17 GAY AND LGBTQ DISNEY CHARACTERS – OM D TO NON TO TASTROPHE
Some of your favore Disney Channel stars are also proud members of the betiful LGBTQIA+ muny. Whether they intify as gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer/qutng, tersex, asexual or somethg else, the inic celebs have shared personal rmatn about their inti to help provi more visibily for queer people around the world. Learn more about Miley Cys, Demi Lovato, Mollee Gray and more! * lgbt disney stars *
Garrett Clayton has appeared the DCOM Teen Beach Movie and the Disney show Shake It Up, before starrg the gay porn te crime movie Kg Cobra. " Advertisement - Contue Readg Below8 Bella ThorneDiree Navarro//Getty ImagAdvertisement - Contue Readg Below9 Raven SymoneJason LaVeris//Getty ImagThe star of 'That's So Raven, ' a Disney Channel staple, officially me out when gay marriage was legalized across the Uned Stat by tweetg "I n fally get married!
"Openg up about her cisn to e out publicly, Dove told Gay Tim: "When the song me out, everybody got the ia that the song was a big LGBTQ+ anthem song and I found myself this posn where everyone thought I was queerbag. " Rpondg to a fan, Rowan also add "y open to likg any genr future is why I intify as queer" a 2017 terview wh Nylon, Rowan opened up about the tweets: "I jt don’t unrstand why you’re straight or gay.
On the other si of thgs, creasgly vol homophobic and transphobic hate movements have attacked Disney for cludg any LGBTQ+ reprentatn at all (per CNN). 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.
DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)
"Jafar's orig story is that he's gay and pissed." * lgbt disney stars *
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. Even this fairly mor gay reprentatn, however, was enough for the blockbter remake to be pulled om theaters Alabama and temporarily banned Malaysia.
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. As such, Marvel Studs' first actual on-screen acknowledgement that gay people exist me the form of an unnamed character 2019's "Avengers: Endgame. " 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.
Bob Chapek mentned Disney creatg "spirg" queer ntent when addrsg the pany’s supposed support of the ntroversial "Don’t Say Gay" bill. Here are all Disney’s official gay moments om movi and TV seri. * lgbt disney stars *
"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).
Liam is straight and don't reciprote his feelgs, but Bobby do strike up a relatnship wh a gay classmate, CJ (Donov Miller), before the end of the seri. 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.
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.
Hawthorne Lightyear is famed for beg a gay character a Disney film, but shows like Raven's Home and movi like Eternals have featured LGBTQ+. * lgbt disney stars *
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.
Disney’s ntroversial rponse to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill unrsr the pany’s plited history wh the LGBTQ+ muny — a plex relatnship which Disney has played both champn and punchg bag. * lgbt disney stars *
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. 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. "Better Nate Than Ever, " Tim Ferle's movie adaptatn of his own novel, was released on Disney+ April of 2022 — right at the height of the ntroversy over Disney's ial rponse to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.
It was certaly odd timg for the release of a film that The Daily Beast scribed as "the most gay-posive and enuragg youth programmg that Disney has ever released. However, this isn't a se of Disney refg to "say gay, " but rather 's meant as a realistic portrayal of a young person still the procs of qutng and figurg out their inty. Those who know the ics will read this as dg Ameri as gay, but there's jt enough ambiguy that others uld see as jt a show of support for her parents.