Disney has gotten trouble for paltry LGBTQ+ reprentatn the past - but Disney has actually had gay characters sce the begng.
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HAPPY PRI! THE ARE THE GAYT THGS DISNEY HISTORY
"Jafar's orig story is that he's gay and pissed." * gay disney bound *
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 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. * gay disney bound *
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. A PkNews headle went so far as to say, "Avengers: Endgame's gay character reveal is sultg, not progrsive. " 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.