Beauty and the Beast Getting Even Better

Disney/ABC hit new heights of highly publicized corporate diversity with We Rise Up, their 8-hour primetime miniseries on the history of gay and transgendered rights. We Rise Up marked the lowest TV ratings of the evening on its opening night. Decent bit of financial martyrdom for the cause.

Disney is now leaking that Beauty and the Beast will contain the first explicitly gay character in a Disney movie. LeFou, the song-filled man-servant to Gaston, will now love Gaston as only a man can love another man.

LeFou didn't used to be gay. Not in the original fairy tale dating back to the 1740's or the big Disney animated classic. That's not to say it would be surprising to find a gay minstrel in 18th century France. Or 2017 Paris. Log onto Grindr and hope your phone has enough RAM. But as a literary character, LeFou didn't used to wonder aloud how Gaston's cock might taste in his mouth.

The film's director and big musical numbers choreographer Bill Condon gushed over the opportunity to share a bit of modernism with the caveman world:

The studio is sending out a message that this is normal and natural – and this is a message that will be heard in every country of the world, even countries where it’s still socially unacceptable or even illegal to be gay.

Here's the best part. You pay to see the movie. The social messaging is free. Consider how Emma Watson is already teaching women that Colonial era French village wenches were female empowered Cosmo readers. You're packing a lot of enlightenment into an hour forty. Where's the line form? I'm bringing three notebooks. Fun never sounded so educational.