Earlier this week, the Disney Channel celebrated a watershed moment in terms of LGBTQI+ representation: they featured their first-ever 'coming out' storyline about a gay child, in the popular show Andi Mack.
The show featured a plot about 13-year-old Cyrus, who comes out to a schoolmate after he realises that he has feelings for another boy named Jonah.
The announcement of the storyline led to anti-LGBTQ group One Million Moms creating a pledge to boycott Disney if they refused to produce "family-friendly entertainment".
Now, 'Mission: America' founder Linda Harvey alleges in a column, published on evangelical news site World Net Daily, that sexual abuse "frequently" makes children homosexual, and that Disney should therefore produce a storyline where gay child 'cures' his sexuality that was created from abuse.
“America’s innocence-endangered kids deserve better than normalising sinful, high-risk behavior. What if Disney told the truth about the frequent origin of same-sex attractions in youth?
“A heartbreaking but realistic angle could explore what happens when a boy is molested by an adult male or an older teen boy, and then finds himself with same-sex desires – feelings absent prior to the abuse.”
She adds: “Disney is unlikely to explore the reality that many teens would never experience same-sex attractions except for corruption by an abuser. Someone who knew better. Someone who may have broken the law.
“Predators use a sleazy historical revisionism to claim that, for instance, a boy was already ‘gay’ and chose the child/adult relationship. The Disney Channel is aiding this apologetic for pedophiles. How convenient.”
She also says, "Disney is whitewashing the reality that some kids with same-sex attractions have been abused, so this behavior should never be endorsed.
“Homosexuality is a developed desire, not inborn. You have to seriously wonder what fills the minds and desires of executives who produce material in such bad taste, with messages that will mislead so many vulnerable youth."
Harvey also goes on to cite the recent allegations about Kevin Spacey, which saw the actor come out as a gay man after being accused of sexual assault. This was followed by his brother alleging to media that their father had been violent and sexually abusive.
The column also cites examples of people "curing" homosexuality, including Stephen Black, the "ex-homosexual" head of First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma - a well-known conversion therapy venue.
Harvey concludes the piece by stating that she wonders what Walt Disney would have thought of the storyline. "You have to wonder what Walt Disney would do," she laments. "Probably fire every writer and producer on this show, for starters."
