Disney has become a big supporter of the LGBTQ+ movement. While Disney has worked with members in the community and has had some characters in the live-action department, it has not equated to the animation side. However, according to one voice actor, that could change.
While speaking with ComicBook.com, Wish actor Harvey Guillen says Disney is making “strides in the right direction” when it comes to introducing the first queer Disney princess.
“I think they’re making strides in the right direction. I think it’s hard to rebuild a wheel that’s already been in motion for a while, and it’s hard to think of a new direction, especially in where we’re at with the world, but they’re putting their best foot forward, I think. And sometimes those things take time and I’m optimistic. And like you said, if a queer princess comes along, that’d be fantastic. And I think that we are in the lifespan of that potentially happening,” he continued. “And that could be a reality. It’s just, like I said, it takes time with stuff like that. Representation has taken so long just in film in general with every studio and every company. And so it’s taken us this far to come this far but look how far we’ve gotten.”
Harvey Guillen
Who are some of the LGBTQ+ Disney characters in recent years?
2017’s Beauty and the Beast remake saw Josh Gad’s Lefou dancing with another man, while that doesn’t really mean anything, Gad had said prior to the film’s release that Lefou has an “exclusively gay moment” in the film.
Marvel’s first bisexual superhero was never confirmed on screen. Instead, we learned Valkyrie, introduced in Thor: Ragnarok, was bisexual from the bisexual actor who plays her: Tessa Thompson.
In the 2020s Onward from Pixar Animation Studios, Lena Waithe voiced Officer Specter, a cyclops cop who mentions her wife, says “it gets better” and then leaves.
Jungle Cruise featured Disney’s first openly gay character, well… sort of, Jack Whitehall’s McGregor. In the film, MacGregor talks with Frank (Dwayne Johnson) and tells him he never got married because his “interests happily lie elsewhere.” “To elsewhere.”
Marvel Studios’ Eternals featured its first openly gay character Phastos (Brian Tyree Henry). This was, in my opinion, The Walt Disney Company’s best representation of the LGBTQ+ community. Phastos is seen with a husband, who he shares a kiss with, and a son.
It’s important to note that while these instances represent progress in LGBTQ+ representation, Disney’s inclusion of such characters has often been subtle or implied rather than explicit. Disney has a long way to go, that’s for sure but it looks like they are trying as new projects are released.
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