By Anthony Jauregui
Opinions Editor
Once again a disenfranchised, oppressed and offended group of people have taken to petitions, with boycotting and Facebook statuses to expres their growing anger of an alleged homosexual in a major Disney production.
And they’re not even critics either, but the archaic people who still believe homosexuality is something that goes down in dark alleys and bathhouses are those that are offended.
My strife is not with Disney, conservatives nor women who run mom blogs, but with people who are entitled enough to make a big deal out of literally 3 seconds of “explicit homosexuality targeted to young viewers.”
On March 16th Disney’s remake of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ made its debut starring the former Harry Potter star Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as The Beast, Luke Evans as Gaston and Josh Gad as LeFou.
The discourse from viewers is not that Gaston was way too old to play Gaston nor that this is a live action film bursting at the seams with computer generated images but people are actually upset that LeFou wears a pink tie, loves Gaston and dances with another man for about three seconds.
Apparently three seconds of dancing was enough to throw Malaysia and Kuwait over the edge because after the premiere it was banned from viewers. They aren’t the only ones offended, though.
Christian mom, Brooke Poston, posted on her blog “This Modest Mom” that she was boycotting Disney by canceling her $6000 trip to Disney World because she doesn’t want to support Disney’s LGBT agenda.
“Disney isn’t just aiming their efforts towards parents of Disney-aged children anymore. They are pointing a desperate finger at the innocence of our youth. Disney is targeting our youth like they’re aiming at big game on a corporate hunting trip” says Poston on her blog.
At the top of her blog, Poston prefaces her views as: “WARNING: This post is based upon my very conservative opinion and my own Christian, Bible based, beliefs. I may not agree with your choices, but I love all people, no matter your race, ethnicity, political beliefs and/or lifestyle choices.”
The point of Poston’s blog is that she has her beliefs and morals, and those beliefs and morals require the need to disagree with homosexuality as per her religious beliefs.
And that’s perfectly fine.
We have the right to protest what we disagree with, and I admire her position in denying her child a trip to Disney World for the greater good.
The issue I have with people like Poston, are that sentiments like “They are pointing a desperate finger at the innocence of our youth” puts you in a couple positions.
The first is the “I am a virtuous person and I stand up for all and say that Disney is attacking the innocence of our children” position, which at first glance seems acceptable and dandy but it really makes you a narcissist.
The second being the narcissistic part of yourself that puts you in a victim’s mask and tells the world that this huge corporation with all this power is shoving “gay” down my child’s throat when they weren’t the ones asking for it.
People like blogger Poston speak from a conservative stand viewpoint and with that comes a natural disagreement with homosexuality.
The bigger issue here is that Disney is making attempts to include all in their movies.
Showing homosexuality, minorities and other oppressed people’s stories in their films puts their stories in the mainstream and prohibits them from living in the shadows of hollywood watching the “privileged” people thrive.
Disney’s incorporation of a gay character in Beauty in the Beast is a step in the right direction for inclusivity for all just like Moonlight winning best picture did for the academy awards.
So think about the bigger picture: Inclusivity goes a long way.
