Disney keeping same-sex kiss in Toy Story spin-off

Disney’s Pixar will restore a same-sex kiss to its upcoming film Lightyear after it was previously cut from the movie.

Disney’s Pixar has decided to restore a same-sex kiss to its upcoming film Lightyear after it was previously cut.

The animated prequel for Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear character (to be voiced by Chris Evans) features a relationship between two female characters, one voiced by three-time Emmy winner Uzo Aduba.

A kiss between the two had originally been removed – but following recent uproar from staff claiming that Disney executives had actively censored “overtly gay affection” in its feature films, the decision has reportedly been reversed, according to Variety.

“We at Pixar have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were,” read a joint statement from employees.

The upcoming Toy Story spin-off tells Buzz Lightyear’s origin story.

This internal controversy follows a recent “Don’t Say Gay” rule passed by the Florida Senate, which was also addressed in the letter.

It spoke of Disney’s mishandling of the bill that seeks to ban teaching of sexual identity and gender orientation in early-grade education as well as in “a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students”.

The kiss occurs between two female characters in the film.

Disney initially remained quiet on the bill, however, decided to take a stance once it was revealed that every politician who sponsored it had received donations from the studio. An internal statement from the CEO, Bob Chapek, said that the studio would “unequivocally stand” with LGBTQI employees but said that a public statement could be “weaponised”.

A group of company employees staged a walkout in protest of Disney’s political donations, resulting in Mr Chapek’s decision to pause all political donations in Florida.

The same-sex kiss in Lightyear will mark the studio’s first, making it a major milestone for the LGBTQI community. In 2020’s Onward, Lena Waithe voiced a lesbian police officer but her girlfriend was never seen. The brief scene led to the film being banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

This story originally appeared on Decider and is republished here with permission