Disney’s ‘Gay Moment’ in ‘Beast’ Is Part of a Leftward Push

Mark it down: This is the year Disney — the purveyor of movies and shows for kids and families for over 60 years — finally put a major gay character in one of its movies.

In the new “Beauty and the Beast” flick due out shortly, one of the characters, LeFou, is “somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston” — as director Bill Condon told Attitude magazine. “It’s an “exclusively gay moment,” Condon said.

“Nice move, Disney,” The Huffington Post said. “Keep the queer visibility for kids coming.”

HuffPo’s remark suggests, correctly, that this is not as much a breakthrough as a logical and even calculated step for Disney which — despite its image as a maker of family-friendly movies, theme parks and other products — has long shown a bent for progressive ideology and edgy sexual mores.

LeFou is Disney’s first gay main movie character, but the Disney Channel aired its first same-sex cartoon kiss on the animated adventure show “Star vs. The Forces of Evil.” Several other TV shows in recent years, including “Good Luck Charlie” and the animated “Gravity Falls,” featured gay and lesbian couples.

Related: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Pushes ‘Exclusively Gay Moment’

And even that was not the first time Disney sought to move social mores in a liberal and not necessarily family friendly way.

“Mary Poppins” was magical and full of songs, lessons, and childhood fun. But P.L. Travers, the author of the story, was a staunch socialist. Mr. Banks, the male star, was a tireless banker who focused solely on supporting his household. Mrs. Banks, meanwhile, was a suffragette, consumed with marching and protesting for women’s right to vote.

Despite all of the fanciful adventures that Mary Poppins has with the children, in the end, her biggest lesson is a naive and dangerous one. It’s that their father’s work in banking is an evil institution, full of greedy people. When the bank executives sing enthusiastically to the children about investing — their response is disgust and delusional collectivism.

Walt Disney’s worldview was a complicated one. He grew up with a socialist father and learned how to draw cartoons from his father’s subscriptions of “Appeal to Reason,” a weekly left-wing political newspaper and mainstay of the Socialist Party of America.

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In 1941, Disney’s animators and writers, who had strong leftist political agendas themselves, went on strike for several months. Disney, who called the strikers communists and reported them to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, evolved from a socialist at the time to a supporter of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.

The animators took aim at a number of left-leaning targets. They targeted circuses out of opposition to what they considered cruelty to animals. By Disneyfying animals — giving them human-like personalities and diminishing the humans involved — Disney taught generations of kids that animals such as Harambe deserve priority over human lives.

Bambi’s mother was killed by a hunter to teach us the evil of guns and hunting. Dumbo taught us about the cruelty and despair of circus life — so well it almost has wiped out circuses in the United States. “Zootopia’s” creators openly bragged about the political messages they had inserted into the film.

Related: Christian Conservatives Will Reject LGBT ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Parents know they are going to have to have “the talk” with their kids when it comes to sex and perhaps to sexual orientation. And they understand the wider world is not their home — and have a responsibility to protect their children from harmful images and messages. But the fact is parents want to be the gatekeepers of their children’s understanding of these issues. They don’t want any of this shoved down their throats on TV shows or movies they’re attempting to watch with their children. Pushing agendas through entertainment products adds a burden for parents they neither want nor desire.

There’s a lot of toxic messaging out there and sadly, Disney is not the apolitical and wholesome “kid zone” many people thought it was or hoped it would be — as the recent “Beauty and the Beast” news indicates. Parents have to step up and keep this beast at bay — even if that means pausing before they show their kids the latest Disney offering.