Disney To Feature ‘First Openly Gay Teen Romance’ In New Animated Film

The upcoming Disney animated film "Strange World" is set to take a controversial turn by having the studio’s “first openly gay teen romance in a feature”

The film stars Dennis Quaid, Lucy Liu, Gabrielle Union, and Jaboukie Young-White. It is set to be released in November and will feature a romantic plot between two teen boys.

This is not a rumor. It is a fact. It was confirmed on Twitter by Matthieu Saghezchi, an animation production designer.

He tweeted “Just saw the very first glimpse into Disney’s Strange World… it features the first openly gay teen romance in a Disney feature!!!"

He continued: “The scene describes the son [Ethan, played by Young-White] being very shy in front of his boy crush, and his dad comes in and says ‘so nice to meet you! My son talks about you all the time’ and further embarrasses his son. Very cute.”

The plot follows a family of adventurers who travel to new worlds.

The movie will most likely be banned in many countries, the same way in which the new "Lightyear" movie did.

"Lightyear" was banned in 14 countries because of a same-sex kiss that it featured. Disney was highly praised for refusing to remove the kiss, though it meant less revenue for the studio. Countries like Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Lebanon will not be premiering the film in cinema due to a “violation of the country’s media content standards”.

Disney had first removed the kiss but readded it after an open letter from Disney-Pixar bashing its parent company Disney for suppressing “overtly gay affection”.

The letter reads: “We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were.” 

What do you think about Disney featuring a gay romance in an animated film?