Disney finally makes queer history with long-awaited bisexual lead
Disney Channel series The Owl House looks set to explore a queer romance. (Disney)
Disney continues to make positive steps on LGBT+ representation, confirming for the first time that a lead Disney Channel protagonist is canonically bisexual.
The billion-dollar entertainment giant has for some time fallen far behind what is expected when it comes to LGBT+ representation.
After a few tentative – and not always well received – steps towards inclusion and diversity, it’s now been confirmed that a major character is canonically bisexual.
The Owl House, which airs on the Disney Channel, has previously dropped hints that its lead character Luz, a 14-year-old Dominican-American, might be queer.
Luz (Sarah-Nicole Robles) has previously shown interest in guys, but in recent weeks fans have noticed her growing closer and closer to her once-enemy Amity (Mae Whitman).
In the latest episode, viewers discovered that Amity was planning to ask Luz to go to prom with her, prompting creator Dana Terrace to confirm that at least one of them is bisexual.
Terrace wrote on Twitter that it had always been her intention to include “queer kids in the main cast”.
“When we were greenlit I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could NOT represent any form of bi or gay relationship on the Channel,” she tweeted.
“I’m bi! I want to write a bi character, dammit! Luckily my stubbornness paid off and now I am VERY supported by current Disney leadership.”
Though Terrace didn’t confirm whether she was talking about Luz or Amity (or both) as the bisexual character, most fans have assumed her words to be about Luz given the numerous hints that have been dropped, and the fact that she’s the show’s protagonist.
https://twitter.com/DanaTerrace/status/1292321440696422400
Terrace’s announcement was met with celebration, including from Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch.
When Hirsch began making his show in 2012, he said, Disney “forbade” him from any “explicit LGBT+” representation (though its final episode revealed two supporting male characters were in a relationship).
“Apparently ‘happiest place on earth’ meant ‘straightest’,” he said, adding that he was “so proud and happy” that Owl House has brought “explicitly queer animated main characters” to Disney television.
In 2012 the Disney censor note on this image would have been:
“inappropriate for channel, please revise, call to discuss” (to avoid a paper trail)Now in 2020- there’s no note at all.
Props where props are due! This time, Disney- you did good. pic.twitter.com/HLDux1jNUk
— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) August 9, 2020
Despite the sprawling and historic nature of Disney’s media empire, its number of out queer characters is pitifully low.
The upcoming Marvel epic Thor: Love and Thunder is set to explore Valkyrie’s (Tessa Thompson) bisexuality, which has not yet been depicted on-screen.
Last year the Disney Channel introduced its first-ever gay character, Andi Mack’s Cyrus Goodman (Joshua Rush), who became part of its first-ever same-sex relationship in the show’s series finale.
Since then, Disney’s Pixar imprint has debuted an openly lesbian character, with Lena Waithe making a cameo in Onward, and has released its first-ever LGBT-themed short, Out.
