"Beauty And The Beast" To Feature Disney's First Ever "Exclusively Gay Moment"

Josh Gad as "LeFou"

"My, what a guy, that Gaston!"

According to a new interview in Attitude Magazine with Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon, the upcoming live-action film will feature a subplot revealing a long hidden romance in the fairy tale.

Condon describes the surprise as "Disney’s first ever 'exclusively gay moment' on film."

LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realising 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.

Also, in related LGBT news, it seems Howard Ashman, the lyricist for the songs for the animated film, had just been diagnosed with AIDS when he was approached to do the film. It was his idea, apparently, to make the character of "The Beast" one of the two main characters, which was a departure for the traditional story. Ashman saw a parallel to his own situation.

“He (The Beast) was cursed and this curse had brought sorrow on all those people who loved him and maybe there was a chance for a miracle and a way for the curse to be lifted,” says the filmmaker. “It was a very, very concrete thing that he was doing.”

Watch the new clip from Beauty and the Beast featuring Luke Evans as "Gaston" and Book of Mormon's Josh Gad as "LeFou."