Disney's 8 'First Openly Gay' Characters: A Short History

Contents:

• HAPPY PRI! THE ARE THE GAYT THGS DISNEY HISTORY
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS
• EVERY SGLE “FIRST GAY CHARACTER” IN A DISNEY FILM
• POP QUIZ: WHO IS DISNEY'S REAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER?' IT'S COMPLITED
• HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?
• DISNEY'S 8 'FIRST OPENLY GAY' CHARACTERS, RANKED (BY HOW EMBARRASSED DISNEY SHOULD FEEL)

HAPPY PRI! THE ARE THE GAYT THGS DISNEY HISTORY

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.

Especially when the news broke that Pixar has been censorg gay ntent out of s films for Disney really been producg enough spirg ntent to unteract s donatns and lack of a statement? Fans didn't even notice this gay married uple Zootopia until years after the movie me out.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS' KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE COACH TO COME OUT AS GAY MAJOR U.S. SPORTS

When this live-actn remake me out, Disney touted LeFou (played by Josh Gad) as beg their first gay character and even said that he had an "exclively gay moment" the film. When turned out that gay moment was a flash of him dancg wh another man a group scene, fans weren't so exced.

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. Aga, they're only shown kissg for a send, but hey, at least we know that gays exist space.

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.

EVERY SGLE “FIRST GAY CHARACTER” IN A DISNEY FILM

Marvel's first gay superhero and the first married gay uple the MCU both happened 2021, which was que the year for "First Gays" for the pany. Artie is one of several characters advertised as the pany's "first major gay character" after both LeFou Bety and the Beast and MacGregor the layed-for-several-years Jungle Cise. In one of the episos season 2, Seb is worried that Carlos is only datg him bee he's the only other gay kid he knows.

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. 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.

POP QUIZ: WHO IS DISNEY'S REAL 'FIRST GAY CHARACTER?' IT'S COMPLITED

Disney has recently bee a very huge, somewhat unexpected ally the fight for gay rights, pecially Florida, where they are currently battlg out wh Gov Ron DeSantis a fight that n all be traced back to former CEO Bob Chapek and his rponse to the polician’s famo “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

While Disney may not have been able to do anythg too “openly gay” until very recently, s films are still filled wh referenc, homag, and wks to LGBTQ+ people – bee artists and creativ are so equently queer, this should e as no surprise. First thg is first: Disney obvly has a massive list of characters who, for whatever reason, jt seem really gay. There might not be any substantial evince or allegori outsi of the movi themselv that pot to this, but they set off the gaydar of many people who would know, and that’s not sayg nothg.

HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?

The characters clu, of urse, the ever-popular queer-d villas: Capta Hook is portrayed as a stereotypil, effemate dandy; Maleficent reads to many (pecially fans of Angela Jolie) like a morn-day bisexual queen; Kg Candy lerally walks around wh limp wrists; Has is Megara’s sarstic, toxic gay enemy; and there’s jt somethg about Jafar.

Disney has been cricized for s history of makg villas gay, as ’s easy to draw the le between that and gay people = villas – but at the same time, everyone mt adm that there’s nothg que like the mp and productn value that e om an excellent queer-d Disney Villa song.

While ’s te that no woman should be labeled a lbian simply bee she exprs distaste for the ncept of beg forced to marriage, the fact still remas that the characters are heavily gay-d. Oaken’s Fay Sna was jt a glimpse at a gay fay, ’s te, but Oaken of Frozen has been nfirmed to have a hband and three children – whom we see briefly, takg shelter om the ld the fay steam room. They didn’t do that thg where they advertised that the movie would feature “the first openly gay character” only to have be someone mor and nsequential to the story.

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

Here’s another example of a time Disney jt sually dropped a gay uple to their movi whout sayg a word: Zootopia. This act of normalizatn is subtle but still que different om the days when Disney had to hi their obvly gay portrayals of characters what many ll “queer-dg:” Utilizg mon stereotyp queer people have for one another, as well as mirrorg storyl that they would fd faiar, to make clear that the creators tend to imply that a character is gay.

Queer-dg was credibly mon the early days of film, as while the Hays Co strictly prohibed people talkg about beg homosexual or queer any way, many artists and animators very much were. Ferdand isn’t herently gay – there’s no love story to even really gus at – but he is also not performg his assigned genr as expected, so he’s fely queer, no qutn about .

This short telegraphs how gay men have, historilly, often had to hi their love behd fightg or aggrsn.