'Beauty and the Beast' breaks Disney big screen barriers, has 'exclusively gay moment'

We're weeks away from the long-awaited live action version of the hit animated film "Beauty and the Beast" and this time, Disney is breaking social barriers.

Director Bill Condon told Attitude magazine that LeFou, who is the sidekick to Gaston, the villain, will have a side story about his sexuality.

Condon told the magazine "LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston."

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He added about the character, played by Josh Gad, "He is confused about what he wants. It's somebody who's just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that's what has its payoff at the end, which I don't want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."

This isn't the first time Disney has alluded to same-sex couples.

"Zootopia" had two male antelopes named Bucky and Pronk. The Washington Post said the pair lived together, argued like couples do and had the same last name. The show "Good Luck Charlie" had a character with two mothers.

But the paper is saying that this is the first time a Disney movie has had an "overt depiction of a gay man."

Gad confirmed the report on his Twitter account on Tuesday.

Last year, there was an online push to make Elsa, the queen from the blockbuster movie "Frozen," a lesbian, The New York Times reported.

"Beauty and the Beast" will hit theaters on March 17.

Cox Media Group