This Friday, the highly anticipated Pixar film Lightyear comes out, with Chris Evans voicing the iconic Toy Story hero.*
Now, Disney has a very interesting history of queer characters. Multiple films have touted having "Disney's first LBGTQ character" only to have a tiny moment from a minor character allude to the fact they're queer. Having a main character in an overtly queer marriage is a huge step for Disney — however, it almost didn't happen.
While the character was always married to a woman, the movie actually cut the kiss. It was only reinstated after Pixar employees sent a joint statement to Walt Disney Company. The employees alleged that Disney censored "overtly gay affection" in multiple films. They were also angry at Disney's lack of response to Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.
Lightyear is certainly not the only film to censor queer content — here are 17 other overtly queer moments that were cut from major movies and TV shows, either in the US or internationally.
1. Melrose Place made waves in the '90s with an openly gay character. And in the Season 2 finale, there's a scene in which Matt looks poised to kiss another man.
But then the camera cuts to Billy looking shocked, and we don't see any kiss. The kiss was reportedly filmed, but Fox decided not to air it, with the Fox Entertainment Group president Sandy Grushow saying, "We would have lost up to $1 million by airing that kiss."
2. While Dumbledore has long been canonically gay in Harry Potter, we didn't really get any in-universe confirmation until the recent Fantastic Beasts film, titled The Secrets of Dumbledore. However, when the film aired in China, references to a romantic relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald were cut.
Only six seconds of the film were actually cut — the lines “because I was in love with you” and “the summer Gellert and I fell in love.” While this certainly reflects badly on China, it's also pretty damning that a film about a queer character and his past romantic relationship with another man only featured six seconds that were actually explicitly queer.
3. One of Disney's aforementioned "first gay characters" was featured in Onward. Officer Specter briefly references her girlfriend in one scene in the film.
Russia reportedly censored the scene, changing "girlfriend" to "partner." The film was also banned entirely in multiple Middle Eastern countries — all due to that single line.
4. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker featured a two-second kiss between two female characters. The kiss remained in the US version but was cut out of the version shown in Singapore. Why? Because then Singapore would have to rate it higher than PG-13. It was also reportedly not shown in Dubai.
5. Another queer kiss that was cut internationally was a kiss in Downton Abbey between Thomas and a visiting duke. The kiss was cut in Greece. Left-wing political party Syriza called the censorship "an extreme act of homophobia and discrimination."
6. Yet another example — Ted and David's kiss during a game of Spin the Bottle on Schitt's Creek. Comedy Central India aired the episode without cutting anything (though the kiss was cut in the below promo), but other networks did cut the kiss "because of a code in the country that requires broadcasters to censor daytime content deemed inappropriate for children."
A rep from Comedy Central International said the kiss was cut because "it lasted longer, was more intimate and was filmed in closeup" — not because it was between two men. Actor Dan Levy blasted the decision on Twitter.
You showed the kiss between two women, you showed the kiss between a woman and a man, then removed the kiss between two men? This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message. #loveislove https://t.co/3ouNbuetq1
7. In China, a gay kiss was also cut from a film — this time, Alien: Covenant. The kiss was between identical cyborgs David and Walter, both portrayed by Michael Fassbender. Moviegoers reported the cut — which came in addition to several cuts on the violence/gore of the film — made it feel like something was missing from the scene.
8. Also, a prologue clip shared online showed Hallett and Lope kissing and cuddling...but the moment never ended up actually happening in the film. Not even in the US release.
9. Another US release to cut a gay kiss was Star Trek: Beyond. In the film, Sulu is married to a man. Actor John Cho has said that in a scene with their daughter at the airport, there was originally a kiss between him and his husband. However, the kiss had been cut by the final version of the film.
"It wasn’t like a make-out session," Cho said. "It was a welcome-home kiss. I’m actually proud of that scene."
Cartoon Network UK's response was, “Cartoon Network (in Europe) often shows amended versions of programs from US originals. The US broadcast system requires that shows are marked with a rating — in this case PG. In the UK we have to ensure everything on air is suitable for kids of any age at any time. We do feel that the slightly edited version is more comfortable for local kids and their parents.”
12. For Kid Cudi's second-ever film role, he appeared as a queer character in the film James White. In one scene, he even kissed another male character — however, the scene was cut from the final film, along with a scene where his character came out.
13. Booksmart featured a prominent queer storyline, with one of the two main characters, Amy, being openly queer. In the film, she has a sex scene with another female character. However, fans pointed out that most of the scene – along with other references to Amy's sexuality — had been cut out of the version they watched on a Delta flight.
The film's director, Olivia Wilde, slammed airlines (she didn't specify Delta) for censoring the film. "Turns out some airlines work with a third party company that edits the movie based on what they deem inappropriate. Which, in our case, is ... female sexuality?" Wilde tweeted. "What message is this sending to viewers and especially to women? That their bodies are obscene? That their sexuality is shameful?"
14. Marvel has featured a few queer characters over the years, but very few were actually confirmed as queer on screen. In particular, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi and actor Tessa Thompson have both said that Valkyrie is bisexual in the film. The film originally included a scene featuring a woman walking out of Valkyrie's bedroom, but it was cut — apparently because it distracted from some “vital exposition.”
15. Black Panther also apparently featured a brief scene where Okoye and Ayo (who is canonically queer in the comics) flirt that ultimately didn't end up in the film. In the finished version, Okoye is married to a man, and Disney denied any relationship between Okoye and Ayo.
16. Avengers: Endgame also briefly featured a queer character. While this scene wasn't cut in the US release, in the Russia release, the lines were dubbed over with a less obvious reference to a date with a man. The non-dubbed version (which would've been the US version but with Russian subtitles) was not released in Russia.
17. And finally, this isn't just one scene, but rather many opportunities to kiss that were barred from happening. Willow and Tara were a groundbreaking couple of early 2000s TV when they got together in Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, they weren't seen kissing until near the end of Season 5, at which point they'd already been together for a full season. This was because the network essentially forbade it.
In fact, it took show creator Joss Whedon threatening to quit to get a kiss included in the episode "The Body," which dealt with the death of Buffy's mom. To my memory, they didn't kiss again until the Season 6 premiere, after which their kisses became slightly more frequent (they even had an implied sex scene in Season 6).
What are other queer moments that you were disappointed to see cut from films and TV shows? Let us know in the comments below!
Looking for more ways to get involved? Check out all of BuzzFeed's posts celebrating Pride 2022.
