12 January 2011

Zap2It: Should the Disney Channel Feature Gay Characters?

"We leave it up to our audience to interpret who these characters are and how they relate to them," [Disney Channel Worldwide President Gary] Marsh tells AfterElton, noting that while characters may not be clearly identified as gay, viewers are free to interpret them that way. According to Marsh, the channel is trying to "create a diverse cross section of characters on television that kids can have different access points and entry points to connect with."
Marsh has said, "We don't deal with sexuality on the Disney Channel in general. That's just sort of not where our audience's head's at. They're really a pre-sexual audience, for the most part, and so sexuality is not how we look to tell any kind of stories."
But while straight characters have gone out on dates and shared kisses on the channel, there hasn't been an equivalent for gay characters. "I don't know where the series or the Disney Channel or the world might evolve to in that regard. But I don't see it has some sort of second class," Marsh says.
I can understand why there are no openly gay characters on the Disney Channel, but I don't think it's a great policy.

I do think it's only a matter of time, though.