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Buzz Lightyear Werks At Disney World And Becomes An Instant Queer Icon
The toy Story astronaut celebrates Pride by strutting his stuff!
Is Buzz Lightyear a queer icon?
Many celebrities have joined the fam this year, from Noah Schnapp (Stranger Things) to Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), but what has really surprised us is the number of cartoon mascots who have also joined our ranks!
Earlier this year, Clarabelle Cow vogued her way into our gay hearts at Disney California Adventure, then just this week Grimace — you know, McDonalds’ purple mascot — became an LGBTQ+ icon because his birthday falls during Pride Month, and now the Toy Story astronaut may be gay too. Who knows how this trend started, but we’re all for bringing more people (or characters!) under the queer umbrella.
TikToker BrittBrattCattt posted a video of Buzz Lightyear turning heads at a Walt Disney World Resort park parade earlier this week. The clip shows Buzz grabbing a rainbow-colored Pride hand fan from an audience member before dancing away and flicking the fan open — honestly? He ate!
@brittbrattcattt Buzz is an ALLY (now canon) #disney #waltdisneyworld #hollywoodstudios #toystory #buzzlightyear #pride #pridemonth #ally ♬ Born This Way - Lady Gaga
The video was posted alongside the caption, “Buzz is an ALLY (now canon)” and featured Lady Gaga’s LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way.”
Toy Story fans ran to the comments to welcome the Pixar character into the family. “You can’t tell me Buzz isn’t at least a little bi,” one commenter wrote. “Come on, there’s definitely some underlying tones with Woody,”
Others referenced the scene in Toy Story where the little girl dresses Buzz up in an apron and a hat with a flower in it and calls him Mrs. Nesbit. “YAS MRS NESBIT WERK,” someone wrote.
“I’m convinced now that all of these Disney performers, are PERFORMERS. So much slay,” another person commented.
On top of the Buzz mascot dancing up a storm, we know that canonically he’s an LGBTQ+ ally because his best friend in 2022’s Lightyear is Alisha Hawthorne, who is in a sapphic relationship in the film. There was even a controversy over Disney removing a kiss between Hawthorne and the woman she’s dating. The scene has since been put back after an outcry from Pixar employees.
In a year where our rights are being systematically stripped away, we all need a little levity. So welcome to the fam Buzz!
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Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
Ariel Messman-Rucker is an Oakland-born journalist who now calls the Pacific Northwest her home. When she’s not writing about politics and queer pop culture, she can be found reading, hiking, or talking about horror movies with the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network.
