An Alabama Theater Isn’t Screening Beauty and the Beast Because of the Film’s Gay Character

Sooooo … this is a thing.

Following a recent disclosure by Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon that Josh Gad’s LeFou is Disney’s first-ever openly gay character, an Alabama movie theater has canceled screenings of the live-action remake of the 1991 classic.

The Henagar Drive-In Theatre in DeKalb County, Alabama, proclaims in a Facebook post that, “When companies continually force their views on us, we need to take a stand.” The post goes on to say, “If we cannot take our 11-year-old granddaughter and 8-year-old grandson to see a movie, we have no business watching it. If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me, then we have no business showing it.”

Condon said of Gaston’s quirky sidekick that “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” and those sorts of gay feelings, along with any sex, nudity or foul language, are what the Henagar Drive-In Theatre apparently objects to.

Beauty and the Beast seems to have been on the schedule for the theatre before ownership of the drive-in changed on Dec. 16, 2016. Other films on the schedule include: Despicable Me 3, Smurf: The Lost Village, Boss Baby and Fierce, so the theatre does seem to be almost exclusively sticking to what they see as family fare. At least they’re consistent.

Beauty and the Beast comes out on March 17. Find the full text of Henagar Drive-In Theatre’s statement below, and watch the film’s final trailer here.

As of December 16th the Henagar Drive-In is under new ownership. Movies scheduled prior to that date and four weeks after this date were not scheduled by the new owners. That being said…It is with great sorrow that I have to tell our customers that we will not be showing Beauty and the Beast at the Henagar Drive-In when it comes out. When companies continually force their views on us we need to take a stand. We all make choices and I am making mine. For those that do not know Beauty and the Beast is “premiering” their first homosexual character. The producer also says at the end of the movie “there will be a surprise for same-sex couples”. If we can not take our 11 year old grand daughter and 8 year old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it. If I can’t sit through a movie with God or Jesus sitting by me then we have no business showing it. I know there will be some that do not agree with this decision. That’s fine. We are first and foremost Christians. We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches. We will continue to show family oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language. Thank you for your support!