In the non-stop barrage of thinkpieces that followed Frozen’s premiere, one of the big themes to emerge is the idea that Elsa might be gay. After all, she’s the rare Disney princess (er, queen) without a love interest, and many took her story of repression and acceptance as a metaphor for coming out. In that reading, “Let It Go” becomes an anthem about embracing your true sexuality, which is probably why it’s now a staple for drag queens everywhere. The “Elsa is gay” theory has only grown in popularity since the film’s release, and with a sequel on the horizon, fans are now asking Disney to officially canonize Elsa’s sexuality.
Using the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend—which became a trending topic on Monday—Frozen fans shared their views on the importance of a gay Disney princess:
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend because lgbtq women are just as deserving of love as any other disney character you put on the big screen @Disney
— elisa (@astronomyhoe) May 1, 2016
The hashtag was started by 17-year-old Alexis Isabel, who penned an essay for MTV explaining the importance of an LGBT princess. As she puts it, “The entertainment industry has given us girls who have fallen in love with beasts, ogres who fall for humans, and even grown women who love bees. But we’ve never been able to see the purity in a queer relationship.”
While skeptics might find it unlikely Disney would actually introduce a gay lead in one of its animated films, it’s not entirely implausible. Many viewers also once assumed the ABC series Once Upon A Time would leave its gay subtext as just that, but the show recently introduced Dorothy and Red Riding Hood as its first same-sex couple. Disney Channel made waves for introducing a lesbian couple on Good Luck Charlie in 2014 and later canonized a gay couple on Gravity Falls as well. Outing Elsa would definitely be a much bigger step for the company—OUAT didn’t canonize Mulan’s gay subtext for instance, sticking with characters outside Disney’s official princess line—but it’s not totally outside the realm of possibility, either.
Unsurprisingly, people upset by the #GiveElsaAGirlfriend hashtag started their own rival #GiveElsaABoyfriend hashtag:
#GiveElsaAGirlfriend is stupid, I do not want my 3 year old niece seeing that. so, #GiveElsaABoyfriend
— Princess Mercy (@OhMercyMee) May 1, 2016
So we’d like to issue a public service announcement to Disney fans upset at the idea of the “gay agenda” mixing with their beloved films: If you’re going to boycott Frozen 2, you should also be sure to swear off The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast, and Aladdin, whose lyrics were all penned by openly gay Howard Ashman; The Lion King, with its Elton John score; Tangled and Zootopia, which were directed by openly gay Bryon Howard; and Tarzan, Mulan, Pocahontas, Robin Hood, and the first Frozen film, which all featured openly gay voice actors. In fact, probably just stop watching Disney animated films altogether to be on the safe side.