The live-action remake of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” has sent various subgroups of our population into a dizzying haze of fury and contempt.
What did Disney do that was so abysmal?
Did they base the film off of a fairy tale where deceit is met with magical birds pecking out your eyes as punishment?
Did they base the film off of a story rooted in Greek mythology where Zeus tricks a woman into having sex with him?
No. They have done something much more sinister…
They’ve. Featured. A. Gay. Character.
People are so pissed at Disney that one theater in Alabama has even gone so far as to forego screening the film altogether. According to The Washington Post, Alabama’s Henegar Drive-In Theatre stated on its Facebook page, “If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it.”
Are we all choosing to ignore that Scar's main objective in “The Lion King” was to murder his brother? Can we take a moment to reflect on the fact that Captain Hook, a grown man, wanted nothing more than to see a child die? (Come to think of it, if someone isn’t brutally killed in a Disney film, is it a Disney film?)
I grew up in the church. I’ve been baptized, chastised, and belittled. In seventh grade, I was screamed at (not told) that if I didn’t accept Jesus into my heart, I would burn in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity. I was forced to sit through an entire class where my teacher played, on a loop, the scene from “The Passion of the Christ” where Jesus is beaten and whipped into oblivion. It was bloody, disgusting, upsetting, and it scared me into submission.
My relationship with God has been a rocky one; not because of God, but because of the people that call themselves “Christians.” I refuse to believe that Jesus would be anything but proud to sit with me, binge on popcorn, turn my bottled water into a nice Cabernet, and watch Emma Watson rock the big screen alongside a charming co-star who just so happens to play a gay character.
I’ve seen the status updates and the rants. I’ve read the articles that teach parents how to explain to their children why men marrying other men (and women marrying other women) is tolerated by our law but not by God’s law.
I’m all for freedom of religion. If you want to worship Sephora and bow down to the greatness that is its line of bronzers, go for it. What I’m not for is freedom to hate and that is exactly what you are doing by feeding your children some bullshit lines that our law tolerates the “gays” but God’s law does not. Gay people are people. They love, they feel, and some even worship the same God that you worship. To say that you love them, but not their views, because “that’s what Jesus would do” is a copout to the nth degree. Teach your children to love anyone and everyone. Teach them that love is limitless. The irony here is that more than a handful of you, in a few years, will be faced with what you will see as the ultimate “test” of your faith: your bright-eyed, Jesus-loving, church-going son or daughter will come out to you. How will you respond? Will you blame Disney? Will you blame Satan? Will you send them off to a camp to reverse something that can’t be reversed because it’s just as natural as you being attracted to who you are attracted to?
You are currently being presented with a monumental opportunity to teach your kids a life lesson that is so important to their overall existence. Raising them in a way that showcases same-sex attraction in a positive light will produce open-minded, tolerant, and loving human beings.
Take your kids to see “Beauty and the Beast.” Show them behind-the-scenes footage of Emma Watson being a straight-up #boss. Raise them to be the kinds of humans that my Jesus would be proud of.
I was going to wait to see the film once it came out on Vudu. Now, I’m making it a point to see it in theaters and to support the amazing character that is LeFou. I hope you will do the same.
“Beauty and the Beast” hits theaters March 17, 2017.