Conservative bigots want Thor: Love and Thunder banned because of ‘blatant LGBTQ+ content’ (Samir Hussein/WireImage)
American Conservative group One Million Moms is calling for parents to boycott Thor: Love and Thunder due to its “blatant LGBTQ+ content”.
The infamously anti-LGBTQ+ platform is calling for the latest Thor movie to be banned or boycotted, stating that “Marvel is attempting to desensitise our family by normalising the LGBTQ+ lifestyle” via a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-them queer moments in the film.
The group, which has previously opposed Disney’s Lightyear for a lesbian kiss, said in a whiney statement: “One Million Moms needs your help to make sure as many people as possible are aware that Marvel Studios is pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda on families in their newest superhero movie.
“The alien character named Korg mentions having two dads… The bisexual goddess, King Valkyrie, kisses another woman’s hand to show interest… An Asgardian kid insists on going by a gender-neutral name. And the gay romantic tension between Thor and Star-Lord is apparent but played off as a gag.
“Marvel has decided to be politically correct instead of providing family-friendly programming. But Marvel should stick to entertaining, not pushing an agenda.”
A petition stating that parents will boycott Thor: Love and Thunder now has more than 11,000 signatures on the One Million Moms website.
In direct opposition to One Million Moms’ view, however, LGBTQ+ fans of the new Thor movie have actually been disappointed by queer moments for not going far enough.
While director Taika Waititi claimed at a screening of Thor: Love and Thunder in London that the film was “super gay” and features two queer characters, fans were disappointed that a promised romance for Valkyrie [played by Tessa Thompson] was limited to a simple kiss on the hand.
This follows Waititi’s revelation in June that a queer scene featuring Thompson as Valkyrie was cut from his 2017 Marvel debut, Thor: Ragnarok.
In an interview with the i, the filmmaker explained that a scene showing a woman leaving Valkyrie’s apartment was shot, but was left on the cutting room floor as it was deemed “too confusing”.
Waititi admitted that the scene should have been more explicit and that “we should have just had her [Valkyrie] come out and kiss her”.
Thompson herself, however, said that she was glad the films did not solely focus on her character’s love life.
She told the Los Angeles Times that there was a “number of things” the cast wanted to explore with Valkyrie and her “longing for love was just one of many”.
She added: “I think there are a lot of folks that are righteously very hungry for that representation to exist in these movies, as am I. But I also think [it’s important] not to hang the character’s hat solely on her sexual identity just because she’s a queer character.
“I think that’s one way of minimising her humanity, actually, if that’s the only facet that you get to explore her in.”