“LeFou 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 said. “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.”

When I read this quote from Bill Condon, director of the much awaited reboot of the 1991 Disney classic Beauty and the Beast, I was sceptical. Disney’s problematic history with representing queerness and the fact that Condon hinted that LeFou’s primary characteristic would his pining for Gaston concerned me. It turns out I was right to be concerned; here’s how Disney’s ‘first openly gay character’ isn’t as progressive as they made him out to be.

Although LeFou may be the first character Disney have openly stated is gay, the company is no stranger to queerness in…