Buzz Lightyear just came out as a huge queer ally, now cue the conservative outrage

A TikTok video taken at a Walt Disney World parade has quickly notched up over 2 million views. Shot by TikToker BrittBrattCattt, it captures the moment an employee dressed as Buzz Lightyear spots someone in the crowd waving a rainbow flag.

He takes the rainbow flag, snaps it open, and werks it like any good runway queen. The song “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga soundtracks the clip.

Given the video appeared during Pride Month, many are joking that this marks Lightyear out as an obvious LGBTQ+ ally.

Others wondered how Tim Allen, who voiced Ligthyear in the original Toy Stories movies, would react.

“Tim Allen is somewhere screaming right now! I LOVE IT!” was one well-liked comment.

Another said, “You can’t tell me Buzz isn’t at least a little bi. Come on, there’s definitely some underlying tones with Woody!”

Someone else quipped, “Well, it gives me meaning to his line of ‘Any doubt I had was pounded out of me at the academy’.”

Disney draws fire for LGBTQ+ support

Disney’s commitment to include queer representation within recent movies, and to embrace Pride Month with merchandise, has drawn the ire of many on the far right of the political spectrum.

When Disney spoke out against Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, it made them a target for Governor Ron DeSantis. He has since endorsed steps to strip Disney of its autonomous power within the state.

Others slammed Disney over another recent TikTok video. It showed a mustached employee working as a “Fairy Godmother Apprentice”, wearing a dress, and welcoming kids to Disneyland’s Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Anaheim, California. However, many others praised both the employee for their professionalism, and Disney for being inclusive.

Following the success of the original Toy Story movies, Pixar (owned by Disney) released the origin movie, Lightyear, last year. Whereas Toy Story featured the toy version of Buzz Lightyear, Lightyear focussed on the astronaut upon whom the toy was based. The movie featured a very brief same-sex kiss between two characters. This prompted Lightyear to face a ban in 14 countries, including the likes of Indonesia, Egypt and Lebanon.