In this op-ed, contributing writer Ryan Houlihan unpacks what it means that dastardly sidekick LeFou will be gay in the live-action remake of Disney's Beauty and the Beast — and why this representation misses the mark.

After years of pleading with Disney to include an explicitly LGBTQ character in one of their big-budget productions, the House of Mouse finally released news that LeFou – Gaston’s sidekick in Beauty and the Beast – would be involved in an “exclusively gay” moment in their upcoming live-action remake of the 1991 classic. There’s a lot to be excited about regarding this step — but it certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

Director Bill Condon told Attitude magazine that LeFou (played by Josh Gad, who is straight) “is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston.”

“He’s confused about what he wants,” Condon explained. “It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”

While this is admittedly a big leap for the company (which has not officially sanctioned its fandom’s wildly popular Gay Days at its theme parks and resorts), it’s not exactly what many fans behind last year’s #GiveElsaAGirlfriend and #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend campaigns were looking for.

It’s nice to hear the words “gay” and “Disney” used in a sentence by the director of one of the company’s films — and especially regarding the massive remake of one of their most universally adored projects, no less — but this fails in some basic ways. They made the gay character a villain, relegated him to being a sidekick, gave this explicitly queer role to a straight actor, and then muddled the issue by making him sexually “confused” – just to hedge their bets.

There is a long tradition of fans perceiving characters as coded as queer by traditional (and often detrimental) stereotypes, including Jafar in Aladdin, whose mannerisms and speech patterns could be interpreted as effeminate; Ursula of The Little Mermaid, who was directly influenced by drag performer and LGBTQ icon Divine; and The Lion King’s Uncle Scar who has been rejected from larger society. LeFou, who rallies the people of Belle’s provincial town to follow Gaston in chasing down the Beast, doesn’t break with this tradition of sidekick and villains – he’s simply an admission by the company of what viewers have believed for decades: that if a character is queer, it's going to be the villain.

Moreover, there’s the apparent fact that LeFou’s run of the film leads up to some kind of payoff, which raises two issues: Firstly, is this “explicitly gay” moment tacked on to the end of an otherwise ambiguous role á la ParaNorman, when Courtney’s hunky, athletic love interest Mitch was revealed to have had a boyfriend all along? If so, will it have an emotionally resonant message, like that film did about about stereotyping, or is it simply an easy way for the company to edit out LeFou’s identity for international markets that either want to censor the film or are deemed “not ready” for such a development? If so, that’s pretty shrewd and feels devaluing.

It remains to be seen if Disney will have Gaston reciprocate LeFou's feelings in the film; but if they do have him reciprocate, could that perpetuate the persistent myth that gay men’s sexuality is caused by an animosity toward women? (As the song goes, no one’s as chauvinistic as Gaston.) Not only is this false, it ascribes gay men’s sexuality to a flaw in their character, one which would cause them to harm other people. We don’t need two gay villains running around whose misogyny and physical/emotional violence seems to stem from repressed homosexuality. LGBTQ people are not monsters here to hurt you; they’re just people. If any Disney film should understand that, it’s Beauty and the Beast.