A Russian lawmaker is calling on the
Russian government to ban Disney's upcoming live-action remake of
Beauty and the Beast over a gay character.
Director Bill Condon last week told UK
gay glossy Attitude that Gaston's bumbling sidekick LeFou
(played by Josh Gad) would have an “exclusively gay moment” in
the film.
In a letter to Culture Minister
Vladimir Medinsky, State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov said that the
film violates a Russian law which prohibits the promotion of “gay
propaganda” to minors, Russian news outlet Ria
Novosti reported.
(Related: Alabama
drive-in cancels Beauty
and the Beast
show times over Josh Gad's gay Lefou.)
“[The film is] an obvious,
unadulterated, unscrupulous propaganda of sin and perverted sexual
relations,” Milonov wrote.
Milonov has a long history of anti-LGBT
rhetoric. He wrote the St. Petersburg “gay propaganda” ordinance
that inspired Russia's nationwide law, often describes
gays as “perverts,” and has accused
gay people of “lying about their problems.”
Beauty and the Beast opens March
17.