Disney Channel is not releasing a completed Season 2 episode of its kids’ Marvel animated series Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur centered on the challenges faced by a trans character. Titled “The Gatekeeper,” the episode spotlights Brooklyn (voiced by transgender and non-binary actor-model Indya Moore, named one of Time‘s 100 most influential people in 2019), a classmate of Lunella/Moon Girl’s, who comes up against a bigoted coach while competing at a girls’ volleyball tournament.
Artists who worked on the episode shared on social media that it has been put on ice because of “the party that won the recent election,” referring to the re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency and a surge in Republican seats in the House and Senate. The original post making this claim has since been removed, as has a leak of episode.
A statement issued by Disney insists that the episode is not “banned” as reported but is being “held” without an official release date, saying that “in this case, this decision was based on this specific episode, not because of the character being trans.” The source added that Disney is “respectful of the role that parents play in the discussions they have with their children,” presumably about LBGTQ+ identities and communities.
This decision comes just two years after the #DisneySayGay controversy sparked by the studio’s “momentous misstep” (per The Animation Guild) in response to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
In “The Gatekeeper,” Brooklyn talks about “the darkness” of being made to play on a boy’s soccer team before, and is overheard by the opposing team’s coach, Greer (voiced by Amy Sedaris), who tries to get her disqualified. After Brooklyn’s coach (Fred Tatasciore) insists, “Brooklyn is a girl, and she’s gonna play,” Greer goes full super villain, using a magic key to lock Brooklyn, her teammates and water girl Lunella in the girl’s locker room.
Brooklyn explicitly expresses her identity in the episode, telling her peers, “I’m trans, my very existence breaks Greer’s rules.” She is also seen wearing LGBTQ Pride rainbow kneepads and sporting a “Trans Is Beautiful” sticker on her water bottle.
[Source: Polygon]
