LGBT outlets ‘a little uneasy’ over inclusion of Christian character in Disney+ series
Disney Pixar’s latest animated series, “Win or Lose,” has ignited a cultural firestorm with the introduction of its first explicitly Christian character in nearly two decades — a move that starkly contrasts with the studio’s recent decision to drop a transgender storyline from the same project.
“Win or Lose,” which premiered on Disney+ on Feb. 19, after a delay from its planned 2023 debut, is set in the whimsical world of Pixar’s “Inside Out” films. The series follows the Pickles, a middle school softball team, in the week leading up to their championship game. Each of the series’ eight episodes focuses on the thought lives of a different character, similar to the “Inside Out” films.
The series’ premiere episode, “Coach’s Kid,” introduces Laurie, the daughter of the team’s coach, who grapples with insecurity and anxiety. One of the episode’s first scenes depicts Laurie, who, as she prepares for an upcoming game, bows her head and folds her hands in prayer as she asks God for strength.
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“Dear Heavenly Father, please give me strength … I just want to catch a ball or get a hit,” she says. “I promise I’ll be good, and I, uh, won’t do that thing again.” In another scene, Laurie prays, “Please help me be good. I’m gonna train so hard.”
The scene marks the first time a Disney character is portrayed offering an explicitly Christian prayer since 1996’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and its song “God Help the Outcasts,” which includes the lyrics, “God help the outcasts/ Hungry from birth/ Show them the mercy/ They don’t find on earth/ God help my people/ We look to You/ still God help the outcasts/ Or nobody will.”
Not all of the content in “Coach’s Kid” is biblical: in another scene in the same episode, Laurie talks to her tarot card-consulting mom, who attempts to read her cards to guess Laurie’s big news.
“Let me guess, you got a home run?” the mom says, turning one of her tarot cards upside down. “No, wait, is that sacrifice? Oh that’s morbid.”
The introduction of Laurie’s overtly Christian character follows Disney’s decision in December to drop an LGBT-related storyline involving a transgender-identified child from “Win or Lose” after facing backlash from conservative groups.
Laurie’s prayer also drew criticism from LGBT outlets, including Pink News, which wrote that while the inclusion of an “explicitly Christian character is fairly innocuous,” taken in its larger context, it could make LGBT audiences “a little uneasy.”
The outlet added, “while Laurie’s Christian beliefs aren’t depicted as being [anti-transgender], and Christian characters aren’t incongruous with [transgender] characters — of course, someone can be both religious and transgender — some viewers feel the two conjunctive decisions are indicative of Disney moving back toward a more traditional, conservative worldview.”
LGBTQ Nation went even further in its criticism, linking Disney’s decision to include a Christian character with President Donald Trump and Republicans, who they claim “continue to terrorize the [transgender] community and use Christianity as justification, all the while claiming that Christians are being persecuted by diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”
Another outlet, Them.us, linked the episode with the “Christian Right” and warned that the inclusion of Laurie’s character “hints at Disney’s embrace of a cultural shift toward traditional conservatism during the second Trump administration.”
Originally scheduled for release in 2023, the debut of “Win or Lose” was delayed to February and is streaming on the Disney+ platform.
As explained in a description of the series on the Internet Movie Database, “Win or Lose” tells the story of a “middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game,” with each episode “told from the perspective of a different character.” The show, which is Pixar’s first-ever animated series, features the voice of “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Will Forte.
Disney’s decision to abandon a storyline focusing on a transgender-identified character comes after the company drew outrage for its advocacy against a Parental Rights in Education bill passed in Florida in 2022. The measure, denounced by critics as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, prohibits public school teachers and staff from discussing matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through the third grade.
The following year, the Florida Board of Education amended the law to apply to all students through the 12th grade with exemptions in cases where “such instruction is either expressly required by state academic standards” or “is part of a reproductive health course or health lesson for which a student’s parent has the option to have his or her student not attend.”
Disney expressed vehement opposition to the initial bill, with the company’s then-CEO Bob Chapek vowing to increase “financial support for advocacy groups to combat similar legislation in other states.” In the weeks after Disney first made a commitment to combat the legislation, video recordings surfaced showing employees at the company discussing an effort to incorporate “queerness” into children’s programming.
Following the company’s embrace of LGBT ideology, a poll of 1,079 likely general election voters conducted by the Trafalgar Group in conjunction with Convention of States Action in April 2022 found that nearly 70% of Americans were less likely to do business with the company because of news reports that “reveal Disney is focusing on creating content to expose young children to sexual ideas.”
