How I Learned My Brother Was Gay — Howard Ashman

Contents:

• THE TOUCHG TRIBUTE BEHD DISNEY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER
• ‘HOWARD’ ON DISNEY+ IS AN UNYIELDG PORTRA OF VAL, GAY POWER
• WHY DISNEY+'S HOWARD IS THE STUD'S FIRST TE "EXCLIVELY GAY MOMENT"
• HOW I LEARNED MY BROTHER WAS GAY
•  HOWARD ASHMAN DISNEY PL GAY AIDS DISNEY ANIMATN STUD ALAN MENKEN
• DISNEY FILM HIGHLIGHTS HOWARD ASHMAN - THE GAY MAN BEHD SOME OF THEIR MOST INIC SONGS

THE TOUCHG TRIBUTE BEHD DISNEY’S FIRST OPENLY GAY CHARACTER

And then, the April issue of Attu, director Bill Condon nfirmed that Gad’s LeFou is, ed, Disney’s first openly gay character. What’s more, his sexualy may pay homage to one of the creators behd the origal, beloved 1991 animated is beg ma of what Condon is llg “a nice, exclively gay moment a Disney movie.

” For Disney to take “subtle and lic” and actually make explic—as Condon says do the new Bety—is a huge step forward for the Hoe of he don’t draw a direct le to Gad’s LeFou, Condon, who is openly gay himself, pots out that the gay muny has a long history wh this Disney prcs tale particular. As Ashman was battlg for his life, the stigma of beg both gay and sick the early 90s crept to his work. There was one song particular that I would requt on repeat, and don't take a psychiatrist to cipher why a five-year-old gay boy would be so drawn to s lyrics:When's my turn?

And what I didn't know then — and somethg I have thought about so often my adult life — was that the man rponsible for those lyrics (and so many rpects, that entire movie) was a gay man who would die of AIDS a ltle over a year after I first heard "Part of Your World. And really, to thk that an openly gay man serted a queer in to the sence of a lead character a Disney film the late 1980s is credibly radil. "Here I am, a gay man, and I'm workg on a movie for kids, and I didn't want to be fired.

‘HOWARD’ ON DISNEY+ IS AN UNYIELDG PORTRA OF VAL, GAY POWER

And yet 's unniable that whout him they wouldn't exist, or at least they wouldn't have been the universally beloved sensatns that they, along wh The Ltle Mermaid, all Ashman was a gay man, secretly dyg om a disease that most of society refed to even acknowledge, who mtered somethg wh himself to alter the urse — and sentially save — Disney. Ryan Evans From ‘High School Mil’ Com Out As Gay Disney+ Seri – Here’s What Actor and Director Said About The Character's Sexualy. 'Breers' Season 4 Sh Wh An Epic Love Story, Teen Pregnancy and A Big Gay Crisis.

I watch Howard, and I’m simultaneoly a 36-year-old gay pop culture cric and a 5-year-old gay boy, a boy still too obliv about his own queerns to be ashamed of . For all the other gay boys who are now gay men out there, watchg Howard will be a visceral experience. But before that tragedy, the one we know is g, Howard is a ttament to the strength, passn, and power of gay people.

I jt marvel at the majty and the power of a gay md. The tal of Ashman’s childhood imagatn rang so te to me, bee they’re tal of every gay boy’s childhood fantasy land.

WHY DISNEY+'S HOWARD IS THE STUD'S FIRST TE "EXCLIVELY GAY MOMENT"

Bee of that fear, bee of the disgtg stigma that keeps gay men who work children’s entertament om g out, there’s a tge of tharsis when you see footage of Ashman’s widower, Bill Lch, acceptg the Osr on his late partner’s behalf and acknowledgg their relatnship to an dience of lns.

Ashman’s life as a gay artist—a life kept hidn om all of 5-year-olds who didn’t know how to be ourselv, the on of whose film snapped and we had no ia how to fix —no longer needs to be hidn. Disney's first steps to LGBTQ+ clivy – LeFou's "exclively gay moment" 2017's Bety and the Beast and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker's gay kiss – were a ltle Bambi on ice.

That is to say,, pany boss Bob Chapek promised "creased mment" to LGBTQ+ reprentatn back March and new Disney+ documentary Howard marks a genue turng pot as celebrat Disney's greatt-ever gay talent – one of the chief archects of the Disney Renaissance, Howard Ashman. Here I am, a gay man, and I'm workg on this movie for kids. )We now know Ashman's mob song 'Kill the Beast' is a metaphor for homophobia and HIV and AIDS stigma ("we don't like what we don't unrstand").

HOW I LEARNED MY BROTHER WAS GAY

Griff has wrten that the lyricist the song to monstrate “a gay dilemma of tryg to choose between different worlds” by discsg “fantasy, pe and forbidn romance.

I didn’t figure my brother was gay when he drsed up as a Girl Sut for a Boy Sut Halloween party (the first and last Boy Sut party he ever attend). I didn’t figure he was gay when beme clear that I ro a bike better than he did and that he applied my makp better than I did. “You’re gay, ” I said.

 HOWARD ASHMAN DISNEY PL GAY AIDS DISNEY ANIMATN STUD ALAN MENKEN

But the fact of the matter is that was bee of Ashman, a gay, Jewish man om Baltimore who went to theatre school Indiana, that Disney stands tall today. Disney World has anized gay pri events sce 1991, and the pany also began offerg gay health surance benefs for s partners 1995.

DISNEY FILM HIGHLIGHTS HOWARD ASHMAN - THE GAY MAN BEHD SOME OF THEIR MOST INIC SONGS

However, all of this wouldn't have been tly possible whout the fluence of Ashman, an openly gay man who also went on to bee an example of the pany's tolerant atmosphere. The animatn giant has for years, s rporate practic and the ntents of s film rporated a 'gay agenda' which may as well have ntributed to s missn to help make the world a better place.

Disney largely promoted the "love who you want" and "eedom to marry whoever you love" spir that is imperative to gay rights.

This is how the stigma of beg gay, as well as sick the early '90s, crept to Ashman's work while he was engaged a losg battle for his life.