The thought of an openly gay Disney hero has the Religious Right engaging in a gigantic circle jerk of heterosexual solidarity. If you’re familiar with Twitter’s “give Elsa a girlfriend†movement (#GiveElsaAGirlfriend), begun by 17-year-old Alexis Isabel Moncada, then you know what I’m talking about.
Frozen was the Religious Right’s most hated movie EVER. Kevin Swanson, whom you’ve met in these pages before, and who is the big Ted Cruz supporter who wants to execute Girl Scout leaders for “promoting homosexuality,” really hated Frozen. Even before the idea surfaced of giving Elsa a girlfriend, Swanson was convinced the movie was a Satanic plot to convince our little girls to take a swim to the Isle of Lesbos.
In response to the move to give Elsa the freedom to love another woman, conservative group CitizenGo, reports Right Wing Watch, “is circulating its own petition demanding that Disney ‘follow its normal trend and create a Prince character to fall in love.’ Maybe they should just go ahead and make Elsa look like Phyllis Schlafly while they’re at it.
So now we have, in response to the “give Elsa a girlfriend” movement, the #CharmingPrinceForElsa movement, because what gal is complete without a guy to mansplain things to her? You know, so she can understand her place in the world.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
As RWW explains, “In an email to CitizenGo members yesterday, Gregory Mertz wrote that the prospect of Elsa being a lesbian was ‘frightening’ and urged members to tweet with the hashtag #CharmingPrinceForElsa:
Disney is facing fierce pressure from liberal groups who are demanding their writers turn Queen Elsa into a lesbian during the sequel, “Frozen 2.â€
Please join the 37,000 who’ve already signed our petition against thisabsurd “movement.â€
With our petition, we’re suggesting Disney with a much better idea… An idea that promotes solid family values to our children and represents the natural family.
Join the 37,000 — sign our petition, now, to Disney asking that Elsa fall in love with a Prince. #CharmingPrinceForElsa:
…
Queen Elsa a Lesbian? Thinking about our children, this idea is frightening.
I don’t know what the big deal is. These idiots already thought Elsa was gay for loving her sister.
Now, having hated the heck out of Frozen, Kevin Swanson is setting aside murdering Girl Scout leaders long enough to scream that giving Elsa a girlfriend is somehow “homosexualizing” kids:
“Anybody who has the guts to stand up against the homosexualizing of kids in the present day will be shamed for it,†he said, “and that means that the homosexualizing of kids will be, I think, wholesale happening across this country in the next two, three, four, five, 10 years. Of course Elsa is going to get her girlfriend eventually. That’s the way you destroy sexuality. That’s the way you destroy an entire civilization. The entire social system of the United States of America is collapsing.â€
“You have got to be sure that you have homosexualized four-year-olds and six-year-olds and eight-year-olds and ten-year-olds in order to destroy a civilization,†he added, “because the destruction of a civilization happens over two or three or maybe four generations max. In order to bring a civilization down, you’ve got to homosexualize the kids.â€
Somebody is obsessed about homosexualizing, isn’t he? But this is not the place to examine Swanson’s fantasies. The thing is, ‘homosexualizing’ isn’t a thing, because homosexuality isn’t really a thing. It’s not contagious. It’s not taught. It’s not a lifestyle.
The notorious Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, who does nothing but tell lies about “homosexuality,” claims that “LGBT activists will use any vehicle they can to indoctrinate children,†but as The Washington Post reports that isn’t really much of a problem:
Among the 126 releases from major studios that GLAAD analyzed, just 22 included characters identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and they were disproportionately white and male, according to the study. In 2014, 32.1 percent of LGBT characters were people of color. In 2015, that number dropped to 25.5 percent.
It’s too late for Elsa’s ethnicity to change, but it’s not too late for her to come out.
The funniest thing about this is that the Old Testament doesn’t even preach against lesbianism, because there is no fluid exchange. Every sperm is sacred, but female secretions are not. And let’s not forget about Ruth and Naomi in Genesis 1:14, who, according to the Bible, felt about each other in the exact same way Adam and Eve felt about each other.
It isn’t until the sexually frustrated Paul of Tarsus wrote to Rome (Romans 1:26-27) that we find out women on women are as bad or worse than men on men. But let’s not pretend this is a Law of Moses issue: it isn’t. Paul’s hangups are Paul’s hangups – there is no biblical basis for his prejudices.
So let’s leave Elsa alone. If she wants to get with another girl, so what? Don’t like it? Don’t watch the movie. There are plenty of heroes for white male Christians out there who are more than willing to mansplain things to their princesses.
The Religious Right talks a big fight about religious freedom, but as this latest example of them trying to shove their religion down our throats shows, the one thing they absolutely do NOT want is religious freedom.
Photo: Disney
Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.
