A Brief Timele of Disney's 17 'First Gay Characters'

Contents:

• DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE
• WHY THERE ARE SO MANY “FIRST” GAY DISNEY CHARACTERS
• DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)
• ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’: JOSH GAD PLAYS DISNEY’S FIRST-EVER GAY CHARACTER
• THERE’S A ‘GAY MOMENT’ DISNEY’S NEW ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ — SO ONE THEATER WON’T SHOW THE MOVIE

DISNEY FILM FEATURG GAY MA CHARACTER BOMBS AT BOX OFFICE

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. "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.

WHY THERE ARE SO MANY “FIRST” GAY DISNEY CHARACTERS

'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. 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? '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.

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

Gay viewers seekg mastream self-intifitn the cema have ually had to settle for wkg nuanc and allns, or at worst, the more obliv homoeroticism of sundry Michael Bay-style brawnfts. A flurry of headl – rangg om the overly enthed to the overly outraged – greeted Bety and the Beast director Bill Condon’s announcement Attu magaze that the Moe Hoe’s live-actn remake of their 1991 fairytale smash would boast the pany’s first “exclively gay moment”.

History’s first overtly gay Disney character, turns out, is LeFou, unctuo manservant to preeng, hyper-macho villa Gaston – an unrlg who, Condon’s words, “on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston” obsequ servant who alternat between worshippg and hopelsly sirg his straight master? It’s not exactly the regnn that gay viewers have been wag for, even if the fished film giv LeFou the most fleetg of hts at future romance wh a kdred, a gay film-maker known for such telligent queer vtigatns as Gods and Monsters and Ksey, mt realise that this is no giant leap forward for on-screen reprentatn, though cred him for stokg the off-screen nversatn on the subject.

‘BETY AND THE BEAST’: JOSH GAD PLAYS DISNEY’S FIRST-EVER GAY CHARACTER

For Disney animatn has a long history of LGBT dg, tend and otherwise, that mak Bety and the Beast’s more “official” gay gtur look rather may not have granted a gay inty to any of s characters prr to LeFou, but dienc have been dog so for s. (Image cred: Walt Disney Studs)Disney’s “First Gay Moment” It would not be until 2017 that we got anythg remblg an overt reference to anythg other than a straight character a movie om Disney.

(Image cred: Marvel Studs)The Mor Mentns Concurrently wh the background scen that you might not have even noticed, we saw the first direct referenc to gay characters some other Disney movi. The at least had the benef of beg characters who were the center of the ame and liverg dialogue, though they were also mor characters who viewers were likely to fet about Stud’s “first gay character” appeared Avengers: Endgame, and was played by one of the move's directors, Joe Rso. (Image cred: Disney)2021 - The Year Of Actual Gay Characters In Disney Movi Disney still has a long way to go when to LGBTQ+ reprentatn s films, but 2021 was at least a signifint step forward as we saw three films where signifint characters who were important to the stori beg told were queer.

That would seem to dite the gay scene was cut, as Cha ually do not allow such ntent the movi releas, but I have been unable to nfirm that, so 's possible the scene stayed . Intertgly, the word is that the scene was origally cut om the Chris Evans-led movie before beg add back followg the aftermath the ongog battle between Disney and Florida over the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Bucky and Pronk don't do much the film except the typil argug of a married uple, but their mere existence the film broke ground as the first gay uple to be acknowledged a Disney film.

THERE’S A ‘GAY MOMENT’ DISNEY’S NEW ‘BETY AND THE BEAST’ — SO ONE THEATER WON’T SHOW THE MOVIE

The short stars gay uple Greg (Kyle McDaniel) and Manuel (Caleb Cabrera) a happy and lovg relatnship spe Greg's cisn to hi om his parents, and featur the first same-sex kiss a work by Disney-Pixar. The hbands are said to have humanized a gay uple the film, their relatnship not beg flnted for the sake of reprentatn nor a last-mute addn to the movie, but simply existg as part of the MCU jt like any other uple. Airg a time of cln, The Proud Fay: Lour and Prour has much more to be proud of pared to s early 2000s precsor The Proud Fay, which received backlash 2005 for referrg to a gay character as "sissy, " rultg the episo beg pulled om the work for nearly two s.

It's Not Jt Frozen: Most Disney Movi Are Pro-GayBy preachg acceptance and qutng genr, the pany's kids films offer a queer-studi crash urse.DisneyThe culture warrrs have cid: Disney’s Frozen is queer. Elsa hidg her ice-powers uld be read as a metaphor for the closet, the Osr-wng “Let Go” plays like a g-out anthem, and a character the film evok the qutn of whether homosexualy is a choice by quirg of Elsa’s powers, “born wh or cursed?” Some liberals have praised the film for s subtext; some nservativ have nounced .Remend ReadgBut the most remarkable thg about queer readgs of the film may be how unremarkable they really are.

Through both s rporate practic and the ntent of s films, Disney for s has implemented the so-lled "gay agenda"—which is to say, helpg make the world a more acceptg place.To start the most obv place: As a bs, Disney has long held a progrsive attu toward LGBT people. Gay pri events have been hosted at Disney World sce 1991, and the pany started offered s gay employe health surance benefs for their partners sce 1995, a cisn that wasn’t entirely popular back then.One of the most poignant exampl of the pany’s tolerant atmosphere is the se of lyricist Howard Ashman, who was openly gay and died of AIDS 1991. In this way, even though Disney films ually offer a tradnal happy endg wh a heterosexual marriage, the journey always volv rejectg parental and societal expectatns, and exercisg a “eedom to marry whomever you love” spir that is enmic to gay rights.Ined, many Disney romanc are exampl of “impossible sire,” a trope that is ccial to the queer experience, as genr-studi theorist Heather Love argued Feelg Backward.