Whooot whoot!!

Disney Channel is officially bumping up its diversity efforts. The television channel recently confirmed that it is debuting its first bisexual lead character in a new series. Disney’s latest series “The Owl House” is an American animated fantasy television series created by Dana Terrace and premiered earlier this year on January 10, 2020.

Luz Noceda is the series’ 14-year-old Dominican-American girl and the channel’s first LGBTQ+ character.

#TheOwlHouse the perfect family sitcom with witches and demons for silly kids comes back next Saturday on @DisneyChannel 🦉 💫✨

📹 SlatzD pic.twitter.com/HSpA0dzeVZ

— Disney TV Animation News (@DisneyTVANews) July 5, 2020

While Luz isn’t the first LGBTQ+ Disney character to be featured on Disney (that goes to a character in Pixar’s short “Out” on Disney Plus) she is the first bisexual character to appear on a Disney television series.

“The Owl House” is a series that follows Luz a teenage girl who accidentally falls into a portal leading to another world instead of going to a juvenile detention summer camp.

Speaking about making Luz, her creator Dana Terrace shared that initially “certain Disney leadership” had not been thrilled about the LGBTQ+ character.

In dev I was very open about my intention to put queer kids in the main cast. I'm a horrible liar so sneaking it in would've been hard haha. When we were greenlit I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could NOT represent any form of bi or gay relationship on the Channel.

— Dana Terrace (@DanaTerrace) August 9, 2020

“I was very open about my intention to put queer kids in the main cast. I’m a horrible liar so sneaking it in would’ve been hard,” she explained in a tweet. “I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could not represent any form of bi or gay relationship on the channel.”

Terrace, who identifies as bisexual, said she fought hard to have Luz be bisexual on the Disney series as well. “Luckily my stubbornness paid off, and now I am very supported by current Disney leadership,” she explained.

Fortunately, viewers have given Terrace and her character quite a bit of support.

I can’t put into words how thankful I am for you in creating this show! As someone who is gay myself & never went to prom either cause I was too scared, this episode spoke to me a lot. I really hope we can see Disney pull through and explore them together more than just—

— Madzuka Maison (@madzukie) August 9, 2020

Fans of the series have thanked Noceda for bringing the representation of the LGBTQ+ community to Disney.

I thank you so much for this
I didn’t know being gay even existed Till I was 11 cause I went to a catholic school
I found out when my cousin married her girlfriend
LGBT representation is so important for kids trying to find themselves and I thank you so much for including it

— TheBlightStack (@BlightStack) August 14, 2020

Alex Hirsch, the creator of Disney’s “Gravity Falls,” shared in the comments that Disney kept him from including LGBTQ+ in his series. “Apparently ‘happiest place on earth’ meant ‘straightest,'” he remarked. “Thanks to Dana Terrace and team, there are explicitly queer animated main characters on Disney TV… This time, Disney- you did good.”

In response to all of her support, Terrace urged her supporters to continue to fight for representation on-screen and other forms of media. “Representation matters!” she exclaimed.

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After months of delays and waiting, Disney has announced that Mulan fans will no longer have to wait for a major theatrical release to see the live-action version of the animated classic. On Tuesday the Walt Disney Company revealed that the film will no longer seek a major theatrical release and that the blockbuster’s debut will take place on the subscription streaming service, Disney+.

To see the movie, customers will need to pay an additional $29.99 on top of the cost of the monthly subscription for Disney+

“In order to meet the needs of consumers during this unpredictable period, we thought it was important to find alternative ways to bring this exceptional family-friendly film to them in a timely manner,” Disney CEO Bob Chapek explained in a statement according to Variety. “We see this as an opportunity to bring this incredible film to a broad audience currently unable to go to movie theaters.”

The company has said that it plans to release Mulan in theaters in areas where Disney+ is not available to audiences.

According to Variety, “The decision to put Mulan on premium video-on-demand further emphasizes the studio’s increased reliance on Disney Plus at a time when most of their business — from theme parks and cruises to movie theaters and retail stores — have been crippled by the pandemic. Research, Chapek says, suggests that bringing a high-profile release like Mulan to homes “will act as a fairly large stimulus to sign up for Disney Plus.”

Mulan had been originally scheduled for a theatrical debut on March 27 and was meant to be Disney’s biggest theatrical release for the year.

Disney shelled out a $200 million budget and in early March the studio set up a lavish red carpet premiere at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Days later, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Disney to postpone the movie’s release. The movie’s debut was then pushed back several times before Disney announced last week that they would indefinitely remove it from the release calendar. Fortunately, they’ve changed their mind and Mulan will debut on the streamer’s new platform on September 4, 2020.

Disney’s latest version of Mulan stars actress Yifei Liu as the titular character based on the legend of a female Chinese warrior who disguises herself and takes her father’s place as a soldier.

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