Banning of Beauty in the Beast

Alexus Reed, Online Editor

It’s no surprise that when the trailers started rolling in for beauty and the beast most people were hyped up for it. Other people however were not. An Alabama theater decided to shut down the showing of the movie because of a certain gay moment between Josh Gad’s character and another male character. The drive in theater was under new ownership and they had taken to Facebook to state that they were not going to show a film that featured same-sex couples or their first homosexual character.

Alabama hasn’t been the only ones to shut down or not show the movie at all. A Hong Kong group also called The anti-gay Family School Sodo (Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance) wanted to disband the movie for merely the same reason. They felt that the movie rating, which said it was mature for all audiences was a lie. They had said “this could instill in some children values that their parents do not agree with, such as believing that being gay is normal and not a problem.” The groups convenor Roger Wong has urged the Hong Kong government to take immediate action by either banning it, deleting the scene or by classifying it as not suitable for those under 18 years old without parental supervision. Unfortunately for Roger Wong the administration said the film has already been screened for all ages and found appropriate. That’s not where it stops either.

Christian leaders in Singapore has advised moviegoers to “protect”their children from the films so-called “pro-LGBT agenda” with the country’s National Council of Churches denouncing the supposed gay character as “totally unnecessary,” but homosexual acts are considered a crime in Singapore. Malaysia has also wanted to cut four and a half minutes of the film out, but Disney said they hadn’t and will not cut it for Malaysia.

A Russian lawmaker also wants to ban the movie from its theaters but Russia won’t ban the movie, instead they slapped it with a 16+ rating. Honestly to have this much controversial over a scene that less face it is only 6 seconds long is insane, but the fact that she falls in love with an animal raises nothing. It’s okay for a girl to fall in love with a beast but its not okay for homosexual characters to fall in love.