The case for more LGBTQ representation, not less
a family scene from the movie Lightyear
Toy Story was the first fully computer animated film and the first breakout hit for Pixar that ended up turning it into an instant classic. The excitement for the continuation of a feel good classic, however, was at times overshadowed by the manufactured outrage of a minority of Americans who are still living in self-imposed religious dark ages.
\u201cLos pap\u00e1s homofobicos con la escena de 1 beso entre lesbianas en la pel\u00edcula de Buzz Lightyear // Los ni\u00f1os\u201d— Sex\u00f3logo David Aceves (@Sex\u00f3logo David Aceves) 1655477473
Lightyear features an LGBTQ+ space ranger named Alisha Hawthorne, a character in the new film who is married to a woman and who share a child together. Disney had previously alluded to having queer characters in previous films, but had never had explicit representation - something that almost didn’t happen for this film either. While it was still planned for the character to be married to a woman, the kiss between the couple that some complained about almost didn’t make it to the big screen. It was only after Pixar employees sent a statement to the Walt Disney Company demanding that the scene be put back into the film.
Despite decades of progress on LGBTQ rights, there are still people who consider a kiss between two women controversial and the movie was subsequently banned in 14 religiously conservative countries like Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
\u201cBuzz Lightyear was banned in 14 countries because of a 1 second kiss. Conservative homophobic boomers on facebook are being overly dramatic and it's freaking hilarious how they are losing their minds over this.\u201d— \u1701\u1707\u1713\u170c\u1708\u1714 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\udded\ud83d\udd1e | asawa ni kaeya \u2744\ufe0f (@\u1701\u1707\u1713\u170c\u1708\u1714 \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\udded\ud83d\udd1e | asawa ni kaeya \u2744\ufe0f) 1656044306
The response from some in the older generation who were mainly manufacturing the outrage over the 1 second scene cited the typical “concern” for their children, yet many of these same parents allow their children to be exposed to violence, sexaul harassment and abuse, and a litany of other arguably more terrible movie scenes on a daily basis and often from other Disney and Pixar movies.
\u201c*in a Buzz Lightyear voice* "Hypocrites. Hypocrites elsewhere." \ud83d\ude12\ud83d\ude12\ud83d\ude12 https://t.co/6g2fDEVrVz\u201d— \ud83c\udf3bKatya\ud83c\udf3b (@\ud83c\udf3bKatya\ud83c\udf3b) 1507105051
What’s evident is that more of these scenes and media representation of the LGBTQ+ community are needed, not less.
@malloriekrizan The kiss everyone’s talking about. Pixar’s first gay kiss. I didn’t post this for a debate or whether or not you think it’s wrong or right. I only posted it because there are so many questions regarding this scene. #Disney #Lighthyear #buzzlightyear #pride #LGBTQ
So grab a ticket and some popcorn because despite some legitimately questionable reviews, if you want to show support for Lightyear, sitting through a mediocre movie will still be worth it for LGBTQ representation.
Photo by 
