Florida teacher in trouble for showing Disney movie with openly gay character to class

A fifth grade teacher in Florida is currently under investigation by the state's Department of Education after she showed her class a PG-rated Disney movie which included LGBTQ+ representation.

As NPR reports, Jenna Barbee, who works at the Hernando County School District, said she received a complaint from one child’s mother after she let her students watch the 2022 animated Disney film, Strange World. For those unfamiliar, Strange World follows a family of adventurers who are forced to put their differences aside as they embark on a journey into an uncharted land in an attempt to save their energy source. It’s a pleasant film with a cool twist (which I won’t get into here for the sake of spoilers), and it also happens to include an openly LGBTQ+ character.

Take a look at the trailer for Strange World below.

For context, this LGBTQ+ representation basically amounts to a few lines of dialogue about one of the main characters, Ethan, having a crush on his male friend Diazo. By the end of the film, it’s implied (but not explicitly stated) that the two end up in a relationship, as there’s a scene where the pair have their arms around each other. In total, all of the LGBTQ+ references amount to less than three minutes of screen time (the full film is one hour and 42 minutes long).

One spokesperson for the school, Karen Jordan, told NPR that there’s a school board policy which guides the use of movies in classrooms, and furthermore, it’s thought that Strange World could violate the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act (more commonly known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill), which was signed by the Republican governor Ron DeSantis in 2022.

As UNILAD reports, on TikTok, Barbee has now responded to the situation, and explained that she had signed permission slips from parents of the children which allowed her to show them PG-rated movies. She added that no child in the room (or their parents) had indicated that they had any objections to specific content.

“I chose this movie because it relates to our curriculum. Our unit at the time was Earth science and ecosystems and how they interact - plants, humans, animals,” she explained. “So this movie is perfect - my thought process was, ‘What a better way to showcase all these standards, along with huge lessons of overcoming differences, spreading kindness, communication and chasing your dreams.’”

She continued: “The LGBTQ aspect of the movie [is] harmless. It’s just a talked about crush and it's only a couple of lines in a total scene time of just over two minutes. The parents in the movie kiss - a lot. And that wasn’t even brought up, and that’s the issue.”