Earlier this week, Disney announced that the upcoming Beauty And The Beast will feature their first ever homosexual character, thereby taking the gay subtext of many of the studio’s films and turning it into actual text.
The character is Josh Gad‘s foppish villain LeFou, who serves as sidekick to Luke Evans‘ rugged Gaston, and has a lot of very confusing feelings for him, a number of them involving pashing.
“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” explained director Bill Condon, of the film’s extremely chaste-sounding bromance.
The decision to portray LaFou as a gay man has already caused some controversy – a drive-in theatre in rural Alabama is straight refusing to show it – but today, there are reports that the film may end up banned in Russia.
It seems Disney has run afoul of the country’s federal law “for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values”, otherwise known as the gay propaganda law.
Approved by the State Duma in 2013, this highly controversial policy seeks to prevent minors from being exposed to homosexuality, based on the premise that it will distort their ideas on family values and turn them gay.
Conservative MP Vitaly Milanov, a supporter of the 2013 law, recently penned a letter calling the film “shameless propaganda of sin”, and has urged culture minister Vladimir Medinsky to hold a screening of the film for officials.
“As soon as we get a copy of the film with relevant paperwork for distribution, we will consider it according to the law,” Medinsky said, adding that measures will be taken to ban it if elements of homosexuality are uncovered.
At present, the film is set for release on March 16 in Russia.
Source: BBC News.
Photo: Disney.
