By: Evan Yang

After Disney decided to not remove a same-sex kissing scene from their new film Lightyear, Malaysia and other Muslim countries have banned the film from being shown in theaters.

Lightyear includes a scene where a female character voiced by Uzo Abuba briefly kisses her female partner. This scene crossed the line in terms of censorship for many countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Many Muslim countries consider same-sex relationships to be sinful. In some places, members of the LGBTQ community have been persecuted or even arrested.

This is a major roadblock to the box office success of one of Disney’s biggest animated films of the year. For a film industry coming out of a pandemic, this is a significant setback.

Disney had previously cut the scene in response to a Florida bill publicly criticized as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for students from kindergarten through third grade. The company later reinstated the scene after Pixar employees protested Disney’s original “Don’t Say Gay” response.