When Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” opens in cinemas on March 10, the movie company would make Disney history with the debut of the company’s first openly gay Disney character. He is Le Fou (Josh Gad) who would come to terms with his sexuality in the movie.

Those Strange Feelings

In the film, Le Fou is initially confused about what he wants. He would realize he has those strange feelings, but he would make something really subtle and delicious out of it in “Beauty and the Beast.”

He would finally end the internal struggle within him wherein he wants to be Gaston (Luke Evans) one day and to kiss Gaston on another day, “Beauty and the Beast” director Bill Condon says. He adds Le Fou would have an exclusively gay moment in the movie, Mashable reports.

MovieWeb notes that a Disney character coming out openly as gay is long time coming, and “Beauty and the Beast” is the perfect venue for it. The entertainment website believes that despite Le Fou’s coming out, it would not likely affect the film’s box-office results.

Watershed Moment For Disney

Matt Cain, editor-in-chief of Attitude, a gay magazine, says Le Fou’s coming out in “Beauty and the Beast” is a watershed moment for Disney. “It may have been a long time coming but this is a watershed moment for Disney. By representing same-sex attraction in this short but explicitly gay scene, the studio is sending out a message that this is normal and natural - and this is a message that will be heard in every country of the world, even countries where it's still socially unacceptable or even illegal to be gay,” Cain says.

Mashable notes that some fans speculated that other Disney characters such as Elsa of “Frozen” and Merida of “Brave” could be gay, but “making Le Fou’s sexuality apparently explicit will set the film apart.