The first openly gay character to ever be in a Disney movie is in Beauty in the Beast. The character is named LeFou, who is being played by actor Josh Gad. People found out after Director Bill Corden said it in an interview. After it was announced a lot of people liked the idea, and thought it was showing progress for LGBT rights. Others thought it had no place being in a children’s movie.

According to WHNT 19 News, a drive-in theater in Alabama announced that they would not be showing the movie because “If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it. I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision. That’s fine. We are first and foremost Christians. We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches. We will continue to show family oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language.”According to the Huffington Post, Russia has also banned anyone under 16 from watching the movie and Malaysia asked to have the scenes cut out of the movie which Disney refused to do.

Most people say the “gay moments” in the movie were blown out of proportion, since it is barely mentioned. A USA TODAY article said that “The ‘gay moment’ that Condon was referring to is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot in the film’s final seconds. LeFou, the villain Gaston’s (Luke Evans) side-kick, dances with a man in the final ball sequence just before the credits roll. There are oblique references to LeFou’s sexuality over the course of the film.”

Sir Ian Mckellan was asked by CNN what he thought about the controversy: “For people to complain about it and say they don’t want children to see it is absolute rubbish,” McKellen said. “I know people who don’t like gay people and make a fuss. It’s a very small moment in the movie, no one should get too excited.” He finished by saying ”People who don’t like the idea of gay characters appearing in fairy stories should think what they would think if they were gay themselves and why should they be excluded?”