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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Mexican climber Viridiana Álvarez Chávez, might just one of the few people in the world to know what it feels like to actually be on top of the world.

Recently, the climber managed to scale three of the world’s highest peaks to break the Guinness World Records title. And she did it all in under just two years.

Incredibly, Viridiana climbed to the top of the three highest mountains in a year and 364 days.

According to the Guinness World Records, Viridiana’s quest to break the record started on May 16, 2017, with Everest (8,848 meters; 29,029 feet high), followed by K2 (8,611 meters; 28,251 feet) on July 21, 2018, and ended at Kangchenjunga (8,856 meters; 28,169 feet) on May 15, 2019.

Viridiana is the first Latin American to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. To celebrate her amazing accomplishments, Viridiana was honored with a remote ceremony in which Raquel Assis, the Senior Manager of Guinness World Records Latin America Records Management Team, also attended.

Speaking about her accomplishments, Assis congratulated Virdiana saying “We continue to inspire the world through our record holders. Records motivate people to recognize their potential and look at the world differently.”

Before Viridiana, the Guinness World Records title was held by South Korean climber Go Mi-Sun who climbed the three mountains in two years and two days.

Viridiana says her next mission is to climb the 14 highest mountains in the world which would make her the first North American to do so.

Besides being a climber, Viridiana is a public speaker who encourages young people to break standards. Her talks emphasize the importance of accomplishing goals through emotional intelligence, positivity, discipline, and consistency.

“My career as a mountaineer started with an unusual and inspirational purpose: a simple personal challenge to exercise, but I ended up giving up my office job; risking comfort to experience the magic of the mountains, Viridiana told Guinness Book of World Records. “It was proof that dreams do not have to be lifelong dreams and that anyone who sets them can achieve even what are considered ‘unattainable goals,’ such as breaking a world record.”

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