In an age when we think that society is progressing towards the acceptance of diverse characters in film, there is a cold backlash coming against Disney's new live action take on Beauty and the Beast. Yesterday there were reports that an Alabama movie theater is not going to show the movie due to an openly homosexual character. Now, Russia may ban the film entirely from showing anywhere in the country.
It seems that Russia already has a law against any type of 'gay propaganda' aimed at children and they're taking a stand against the release of the film anywhere within their borders. In Condon's film, LeFou (Josh Gad) has a man crush on Gaston (Luke Evans) and their censors are crying foul. This is obviously a silly reason to shut a movie down and is definitely a step in the wrong direction.