Kailey James, Staff Writer

Rumors have surfaced about Disney’s upcoming sequel to hit movie “Frozen,” and the main character, Elsa. It all started with fans begging “Frozen” director Jennifer Lee to give Elsa a girlfriend in the next movie. Fans even launched a campaign and spread the hashtag “#GiveElsaAGirlfriend” on Twitter.

This campaign and hashtag were inspired from the Oscar-winning song in the first movie, “Let it Go,” which caught the attention of the LGBTQIA community. The song was seen as a “comingout” anthem due to the gayfriendly lyrics. Jennifer Lee commented
on the push for this saying, “Where we’re going with it, we have tons of conversations
about it, and we’re really conscientious about these things.” It seemed that she may either be tiptoeing around the topic to keep the fans curious or not doing it at all.

In reality, we should think of the type of representation that this could offer children. This could show children that love exists between not only a man and a woman, but it exists in many forms. For children to see that who they are is more than enough is needed. With the push for more representation of women and those of color in movies and media, the timing for this push as well is impeccable.

“Frozen” has a huge platform where not only children enjoy the movie. Even I, shamelessly, have the soundtrack saved on my Spotify. It could be a huge move by “Frozen,” and it could save lives. LGBTQIA teens and young adults have one of the highest rates of suicide attempts, and with the heterosexual culture, political divide and institutionalized homophobia in this country, this movie could offer the community something they haven’t had. If we were able to start young with the children growing up today to teach them about acceptance, we could stop the statistics and change the future. If we want change, we need to start with progress. Otherwise, nothing will be done.
Of course there will be backlash with people refusing their children see
the movie if this is followed through. I, for one, would love to see how angry this will make homophobic America. Any good movie is going to make a few people upset, and
any movie that would make Fox News viewers angry, I’m here for. It is 2018, don’t you think it’s time for one of the best Disney movie characters to have a girlfriend? For
the children of America and the world, I hope this is followed through. I also hope
this makes Mike Pence very angry.

This article first appeared in the Friday, March 23, 2018, Edition of The Echo.