Teen who started #GiveElsaAGirlfriend perfectly explains why LGBT representation matters
LatestOn Saturday night, Alexis Isabel Moncada floated an idea on Twitter:
Elsa is the protagonist princess of the incredibly popular 2013 Disney film Frozen. A Frozen sequel is set to premier in 2018, and Moncada has some thoughts on what could happen in the film.
Quickly, a hashtag was born:
With that, Moncada, 17, started a movement. By Sunday, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend was tweeted more than 10,000 times.
In an interview with a local NBC affiliate Moncada, who identifies as bisexual, pointed out that Frozen is already seen as sending an empowering message to LGBT youth. “A lot of us see it as a metaphor for coming out and accepting who you are,” she said.
Moncada said that LGBT representation in movies for children is extremely important. “There are more than just one kind of person,” she said, adding, “And to be seeing the same stories over and over about a girl and her prince charming, it’s repetitive, and it leaves so many people out, and it makes so many people feel alone.”
Her suggestion was embraced by many on Twitter:
Moncada and her supporters pointed out how hypocritical it is for people to argue that a gay princess would confuse children:
On some occasions, Moncada took on the haters head on—providing something of a script for others encountering hateful reactions:
The online campaign coincides with GLAAD’s 2016 Studio Responsibility Index, a report that “maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in films released by seven major motion picture studios during the 2015 studio year.” Walt Disney Studios is one of the seven, and it did not fare well in 2015. GLAAD wrote, “For the first time since beginning this report, GLAAD did not find any LGBT-inclusive content among Disney’s yearly slate of films.”
Seems like the right time to give Elsa a girlfriend.
Danielle Wiener-Bronner is a news reporter.