Are we ready for a gay Disney prcs? We may be closer than you thk. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• 17 GAY AND LGBTQ DISNEY CHARACTERS – OM D TO NON TO TASTROPHE
• DISNEY ANNOUNC 'PRC,' FIRST FILM WH OPENLY GAY CHARACTERS.
• BRS ARE BACKG A GAY DISNEY PRCS SO HERE'S WHY IT'S GOTTA HAPPEN ASAP
• DISNEY PRCS PROMOT "GAY RIGHTS" AT DISNEYLAND, GUTS DELIGHTED - INSI THE MAGIC
• ARE WE READY FOR A GAY DISNEY PRCS? WE MAY BE CLOSER THAN YOU THK.
• RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON’S KELLY MARIE TRAN THKS HER DISNEY PRCS IS GAY
• KELLY MARIE TRAN SAYS HER DISNEY PRCS, RAYA, IS GAY - INSI THE MAGIC
• DISNEY'S ACTUAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER' HAS BEEN FOTTEN ABOUT
• IS ELSA GAY? WHY FROZEN 2 DON'T ADDRS THE TOPIC
•  RAYA LAST DRAGON KELLY MARIE TRAN GAY LGBTQ REPRENTATN DISNEY PRCS FROZEN MOANA TLE ROLE
• FROZEN 3 IS DISNEY'S PERFECT CHANCE TO INTRODUCE A GAY PRCS
• WHY DISNEY NEEDS A GAY PRCS
• THERE ULD BE A GAY DISNEY PRCS, MOANA DIRECTORS CLAIM
• DISNEY’S NEWT PRCS IS GAY, ACRDG TO RAYA AND THE DRAGON STAR KELLY MARIE TRAN

17 GAY AND LGBTQ DISNEY CHARACTERS – OM D TO NON TO TASTROPHE

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. 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. It’s logil to assume the character is queer-d, for the film rri the DNA of the late lyricist Howard Ashman, who was gay, and whose magil songs, cludg A Whole New World, were creded wh reversg Disney’s wang fortun the 80s/90s.

The pany has never been known for s great LGBTQ+ reprentatn or polics, but 's e unr even more scty than ual after fans learned that the pany was donatg money to legislators Florida backg that state's ntroversial "Don't Say Gay" bill. Disney and Marvel Studs proudly announced that 2019 they had troduced their first gay character the Marvel Cematic Universe, only to have fans fd out that was an unnamed character one scene played by the movie's straight -director.

DISNEY ANNOUNC 'PRC,' FIRST FILM WH OPENLY GAY CHARACTERS.

MacGregor, played by Jack Whehall, was supposed to be Disney's "first major gay character" when Jungle Cise was set to be released way back 2019, but bee of the global panmic, the film was layed until 2021. After news broke that Disney not only donated to legislators backg anti-gay bills, but also repeatedly cut queer ntent om their movi, Pixar cid to rtore a scene the Lightyear film where a female character named Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) kiss her female partner.

BRS ARE BACKG A GAY DISNEY PRCS SO HERE'S WHY IT'S GOTTA HAPPEN ASAP

Comedian Jaboie Young-Whe will be voicg a new character the upg animated film Strange World who is volved "the first openly gay teen romance a Disney feature" acrdg to Twter er Matthiew Saghezchi, who saw a clip om the film at the Annecy 2022 ftival. "Although I'd love for the number of people who would be happy to see a gay Disney prcs to be higher than YouGov's 49 percent, really is wonrful to see that people are gettg creasgly fed up wh heteronormative imag on their, as a lbian, do I thk that 's time for a gay Disney Prcs?

While the origal versn of Mulan (1998) sparked bate around reprentatn, as Che dienc largely rejected the movie, ially thought to be a great Asian-Amerin role mol, and sexualy, wh General Li Shang fallg love wh Mulan even before revealg her te inty, seeg the beloved prcs promote “Gay rights” at the Park shows that Disneyland tly wel “all who e to this happy place.

The hoopla over the "exclively gay moment" the live-actn versn of Bety and the Beast (2017) -- LeFou dancg wh a man while sgg Gaston's prais -- spurred several piec potg out there was another gay uple the film.

DISNEY PRCS PROMOT "GAY RIGHTS" AT DISNEYLAND, GUTS DELIGHTED - INSI THE MAGIC

It seems like gay men across the world have formed their own way to pe wh beg on lockdown that ually clus one or more for the followg: endls shirtls workouts, tasteful and/or tastels thirst traps, bakg banana bread, masturbatn, lnchg an OnlyFans, dyeg their hair, or the fal step to mania, buzzg off pletely. 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.

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. " 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.

ARE WE READY FOR A GAY DISNEY PRCS? WE MAY BE CLOSER THAN YOU THK.

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. 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).

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON’S KELLY MARIE TRAN THKS HER DISNEY PRCS IS GAY

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. The answer, available to sharp-eyed movie fans, the closg creds: Bucky and Pronk share a last name, gay and lbian characters are standard players movi and TV shows for adults, they rema a fleetg or barely acknowledged prence children’s week, a mpaign to change this ught fire on Twter, unr the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirliend — a plea to Disney to make one half of s beloved prcs duo a lbian the forthg sequel to s 2013 animated blockbter “Frozen.

KELLY MARIE TRAN SAYS HER DISNEY PRCS, RAYA, IS GAY - INSI THE MAGIC

But advot note that almost every gdy prcs film or actn-packed superhero rtoon, there are relatnships — moms and dads, nts and uncl, prc and prcs — that, th far, have quietly rerced a very tradnal standard for romantic of "Frozen 2, " many fans are hopg creators give Elsa a girliend, makg her the first gay Disney prcs. Some Disney fans argued on Twter that would have been a huge help for them to see gay characters movi when they were young — that they might have bee more sensive and acceptg towards gay peers, or better able to grapple wh their own sexualy.

“There is no doubt that kids seeg posively portrayed gay characters uld have a signifint effect that would ntribute to such children’s learng about the world and who is , ” said Edward Schiappa, a profsor of parative media studi at the Massachetts Instute of dog so is a risk for children’s entertament pani, who have a fancial centive to make movi as wily accsible — and therefore as non-ntroversial — as possible.

”When asked if Disney might clu an explicly gay character a kids’ film, the pany rpond that s brand “has always been clive, wh stori that reflect acceptance and tolerance and celebrate the differenc that make our characters uniquely wonrful their own way.... ” Butler drew cricism om some nservative viewers that he had sentially tricked the dience to likg Mch before revealg he was says his tentn was to have every character the film subvert stereotyp: The bully turns out to be weak, the mean cheerlear be lovg, the jock is revealed as proudly gay. ”Pop culture geeks have long swapped theori about rtoonish characters who maybe-sort of gave off a gay vibe, cludg cross-drsg Bugs Bunny, high-pched-voiced SpongeBob SquarePants and bt iends/roommat Ernie and Bert.

DISNEY'S ACTUAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER' HAS BEEN FOTTEN ABOUT

But for the pany that started toutg s “exclively gay moments” a few years back, and whose characters have long been embraced by queer muni, Raya has felt for many like one step closer to the was eager to add that jt bee she terpreted the Namaari and Raya relatnship as somethg more than platonic, that wasn’t the official Disney le. ” Disney films have been tiptoeg around the perimeter of queer reprentatn for some time now whether be the “exclively gay” lisend of Bety and the Beast, a fleetg, sapphic background kiss The Rise of Skywalker, Thor: Ragnarok’s allegedly bisexual Valkyrie, Onward’s brief mentn of a female p’s girliend, or Elsa’s totally platonic iend Honeymaren Frozen II. The latter is a term that dit a more cynil approach to teasg gay-iendly material orr to appear progrsive or queer-iendly whout, as Sugar puts , “alienatg their heteronormative dience or riskg ternatnal prof margs.

On the other hand, though queer muni have highly embraced other Disney characters spe beg nfirmed to be part of the LGBTQ muny, Raya has felt like the clost step to reprentg a gay character wh a Disney movie.

IS ELSA GAY? WHY FROZEN 2 DON'T ADDRS THE TOPIC

In as much as Artie n make any real "first" claim, 's bee he at least has more scen than Spectre Onward, who at least had a name unlike the gay guy Avengers: Endgame, whose inty was at least ls ambiguo than Lefou's the 2017 Bety and the Beast, and so on and so forth the list of Disney's bare-mimum "firsts. Unls you unt a lbian uple appearg the background of Toy Story 4, this might be the only direct reference to beg gay a G-rated movie ever, which is all the more imprsive given the MPAA's reputatn for ratg gay ntent more harshly than equivalent straight ntent.

Mia's reactn is also a stronger gay rights statement than most of Disney's other "exclively gay moments" movi (Disney's TV seri and streamg programs have notably been a lot more LGBTQ-iendly than s movi have been). The fact that Raya is troduced the film wearg what looks like splay for Nickeloon’s TV seri The Legend of Korra—which famoly featur one of the first nonilly gay leads a kid’s show—may only feed that terpretatn.

But while a third movie isn't the works jt yet, once do happen, would be the perfect opportuny for Disney to break the mold and make a big step forward terms of clivy and diversy by troducg Elsa as a gay prcs. Consirg there are many rners of the Inter (and even the entertament dtry) where younger viewers uld be misted on LGBTQ people, a gay Elsa -- if handled right -- would tastefully act as a posive statement for equaly and social jtice, and not, as some tractors might argue, a "rptg" one.

 RAYA LAST DRAGON KELLY MARIE TRAN GAY LGBTQ REPRENTATN DISNEY PRCS FROZEN MOANA TLE ROLE

While changg social tis have been reflected changg reprentatns of relatnships Disney films, may be at least a or two before an explicly gay character or relatnship mak s way to the foc of a mastream Disney “flagship” film.

” 1This article will provi the rear wh several tools and strategi for queer readgs of Disney characters and relatnships cludg how to look for thgs that are “queer d, ” how to read to “mp, ” s of queer thorship, referenc to LGBTQ history, and fally how to fd empowerment om “queer homosocial” relatnships and solidary wh other “transgrsive” romanc. 5 This ia subverts the notn that heterosexualy is the natural flt of human programmg and pots to the superficialy and fluidy of tradnal genr Khan is a queer d predator at a time when gay men were seen as a threat to the nocence of childrenTo say that somethg is “queer d” is to say that a character exhibs cultural signs of beg a member of the LGBTQ muny. The actns, however, potentially speak to the gay muny (pecially the whe, middle class gay muny) who mt sacrifice a part of their privilege to follow their love and often sacrifice much more, cludg one’s “voice.

” Both Ariel and Ursula are nnected their rebelln agast Tron, though they take different approach for different Rponse: As mentned above, Ursula has been claimed as an LGBTQ in and the phrase “Part of Your World” has been ed as a slogan favor of gay acceptance. Lumiere on the other hand is arguably bisexual or pansexual based on how much he enjoys kissg Authorship: Howard Ashman (producer and lyricist) and Adreas Deja (lead animator for Gaston who Deja has said he based on hyper-mascule gay men the urban gym culture of the 1980s).

FROZEN 3 IS DISNEY'S PERFECT CHANCE TO INTRODUCE A GAY PRCS

Homosocial Relatnships: While Jafar and Iago’s relatnship is homosocial, the most pellg relatnship the film (arguably more tertg than the one between Aladd and Jasme) is the relatnship between Aladd and the Genie. Aladd has several pellg homosocial relatnships the film cludg the monkey Abu and the Authorship: Howard Ashman (producer and lyricist) worked on this film before he died and animator Andreas Deja was the lead animator on Them: In this se, Aladd wants to break out of the sentialism which f him as jt a street rat sgg “There’s so much more to me. Th, the world of Aladd v the queer rear to dulge a world where genr and sexualy are as vast and myster as the Arabian Rponse: This was the first Disney animated film to specifilly market to gay dienc a mercial featurg the Genie as the queer d fashn nsultant.

WHY DISNEY NEEDS A GAY PRCS

15There’s One In Every Fay: The Ln KgCo/Camp Characters: Sr, Zazu, and Timon are all men wh feme Authorship: Openly gay Elton John did the mic for this film while Nathan Lane provid the voice of, the style of Shere Kahn plays the role of nscendg predator.

THERE ULD BE A GAY DISNEY PRCS, MOANA DIRECTORS CLAIM

” The more pellg homosocial relatnships the movie, however, are between Pohontas and Grandmother Willow and Pohontas and her bt iend Nakoma who, while she adms she thks Koum is soooo handsome, shows an awful lot of jealoy over Pohontas and John Smh’s relatnship. Kg Jam’ appearance Pohontas II: Journey to a New World mak him an official gay character a Disney There: The Hunchback of Notre DameHomosocial Relatnships: The relatnship between Hugo and the goat, Djali, is nsired to be Disney’s first openly gay lov that goat.

” There is also a theme of social jtice Esmeralda’s “God Help the Outsts” which n be read to clu the queer History: This film was released around the same time that fundamentalist Christian groups were boyttg the Walt Disney Company bee of their endorsement of homosexualy. The three soldiers Yao, Lg, and Chien-Po n be nsired queer d bee of their over-exaggerated mascule performance or feme Authorship: Openly gay Harvey Fierste voiced the role of Yao who asks if a drs mak him look Them: Mulan sgs the song “Reflectn” about how if she were to be herself, she would break her fay’s heart.

Also there is the fact that Capta Shang starts to have feelgs for Mulan, unr the imprsn that she is a Your Fate: BraveHomosocial Relatnships: One of the most impactful aspects of the film is that the end featur two women ridg off to the sunset. While she never mentns attractn to the same sex, her rejectn of heteronormativy queers her character to the pot where she acced of It Go: FrozenHomosocial Relatnships: The relatnship between Elsa and Anna is central to the film. Sven and Olaf, like Hugo and the goat are nsired to be another Disney gay prepar the world for the image of two women Authorship: Openly gay actor Jonathan Groff voiced Kristoff while actors like Ida Menzel and Josh Gad (while both straight) have been associated wh queer-themed mils such as Rent, Wicked and Book of Mormon.

DISNEY’S NEWT PRCS IS GAY, ACRDG TO RAYA AND THE DRAGON STAR KELLY MARIE TRAN

All we need is someone to show that there are other optns, other kds of prcs, and other ways to have the happy endg that you the #GiveElsaAGirliend mpaign has unsurprisgly lnched a rival #GiveElsaABoyiend mpaign, what’s more tertg to me is the phback om well-meang people who claim not to have a problem wh LGBT reprentatn yet still don’t feel que right about a gay Elsa.

While ’s te that female characters tend to disproportnately foc on romance, a world where gay and bisexual teens are four tim more likely to try to kill themselv than straight teens, I would argue the power of a gay Disney prcs far outweighs the power of a pennt one. But to pretend entertament only matters on an athetic level is to be woefully naïve about what ’s like to seldom see yourself reflected on the qutn remas: Would Disney ever actually nonize a gay Disney prcs?

” And while I still fd highly unlikely we’ll actually get a gay Elsa Frozen 2, a recent episo of the live actn Disney seri Once Upon A Time proved the pany isn’t que as averse to changg wh the tim as I would’ve expected.