EDITORIAL (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- It’s not often that a Walt Disney picture courts controversy, but the once beloved hallmark of family entertainment deserves the backlash it has invited for the upcoming “Beauty and the Beast” live-action film. The crux of the outrage stems from Disney’s flagrant promotion of an “exclusively gay moment.” Yes, a production house that formerly pushed family values is now threatening to destroy them. For what? A quick, tainted buck? As a socially, fiscally, racially, philosophically and religiously conservative Republican community leader, I say we must act. It’s not enough that responsible theater owners, such as those in Alabama, are refusing to screen the thinly disguised pornography. The American Family Association (AFA), champions of virtue, are funding a wholesome remake that depicts the damnation, gruesome retribution and fiery terror that await same-sex sinners.

No Beauty in this Beast

The problem with the dangerous LGBTQ theme in this strange iteration of “Beauty and the Beast,” about which the filmmakers are boasting (to the disgust of decent Americans), reaches far beyond the inclusion of a pointless, gratuitous, pandering paean to a group of degenerate sodomites who, unfortunately, spend a lot of their money on the Disney brand. The problem is indoctrination. The influence Disney movies have on our impressionable youth is undeniable.

“Parents should be warned that Disney has given the green light to a strong LGBTQ agenda in a movie that targets the 5- to 11-year-old demographic market,” AFA officials cautioned. Can you imagine? Innocent five- and eleven-year-old children being subjected to watching an adult express unconditional love for another adult. And their parents are being charged admission to witness this aberrant spectacle. The Huffington Post recently exposed the questionable plot twist.

The film’s director, Bill Condon, told Attitude magazine this week that Josh Gad’s LeFou will be shown questioning his feelings for antagonist Gaston, played by Luke Evans. “LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston. He’s confused about what he wants,” Condon said, before noting that the film concludes with “a nice, exclusively gay moment.”

“If parents don’t push back today and take a strong stand,” the AFA urged, “Disney will continue to allow more children’s movies to push the homosexual agenda.” Without conscientious citizens to correct Disney’s damaged moral compass, what else might our children be forced to endure? Buzz with a Woody? Lightning McQUEEN Mater-bating? A reboot of the disastrous science fiction movie “The Black Hole,” with titular overtones too sickening to speculate?

Fortunately, the advocates at AFA are fighting back as they always have. Although the group has been the victim of slander and ridicule in the past, it remains undeterred in its mission to resurrect a spiritually and psychologically healthy Western society with strict Old Testament values. The Southern Poverty Law Center, for instance, refuses to reverse its classification of the AFA as a hate group. How can anyone call an organization that works to restore family values a hate group? The AFA, as its name implies, represents the American family. So, does the Southern Poverty Law Center work to pass bills that favor indigence? Given their nanny state policies, they probably do.

Despite liberal resistance and the overwhelming resources of the Walt Disney Company, the AFA has raised enough funding to proceed with its family friendly version of “Beauty and the Beast.”

The American Family Association Presents “Beauty and the Beast,” as God Intended

The AFA’s scripturally sound and values-oriented reimagining of the classic fairy tale will follow the main plot with few alterations. The film promises to be a warm, uplifting experience for children, with the frightening portrayals of homosexuality eliminated. While Disney stories often contain small scares to enhance the negative aspects of villains, no tyke should be left to face years of horrifying nightmares. But that’s the likely outcome of Disney’s gay “Beauty and Beast.”

The AFA version opens with a new backstory, showing the prince prior to his transformation. He is talking with LeFou over milk in the pub. LeFou reveals his conflicting feelings to the prince, expressing a forbidden attraction to him. The prince surprises LeFou with a knowing and sympathetic demeanor. He shares his own secret desires and leans in to kiss LeFou. Suddenly, Gaston barges in and disrupts the moment.

Later, on his way back to the castle, the prince wanders off the path, overcome by his carnal and impure longings. He eventually comes upon a young woman in the forest who asks him to guide her through the dark grove. The prince refuses her, visibly disturbed by the presence of an attractive woman. The girl suddenly changes into an angel and curses the prince for his “beastly, gay appetites.” By the time the young regent reaches the gates of his fortress, he has assumed the outward appearance of his internal monstrosities. A twisted, deformed creature of satanic lust.

The relationship between Belle and the Beast plays out virtually the same way it does in the original story. The main difference is motivation. The monster must still find a woman to love him before the last petal of the enchanted rose falls. But Belle is now a metaphor for positive change, symbolizing the power of conversion therapy. As a good woman, she serves as the catalyst that helps the Beast choose heterosexuality over sin. It’s a powerful lesson that many conservatives understand.

Prominent Republican figures have grappled with these doubts and inner turmoils before -- people such as James West, Bob Bauman, Jon Hinson, Mark Foley, Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, Bob Allen, Glenn Murphy Jr., and countless others. But through the grace of God and the love of a real woman, they learned to cover their shame, reclaim their proper sexual orientations, deny their sins to their Creator and attempt to live a dogmatic lie with wives that physically repulse them but who spiritually nourish their being.

The film reaches its climax with the famous showdown between the Beast and Gaston. But in the AFA version, Gaston is spared. The Beast recognizes the aggression of the hunter as emanating from an abiding duty to salvage lost souls -- or vanquish them if no chance for redemption exists. Gaston’s “tough love” battle against the enmity of the Beast’s illicit behaviors is rewarded. And with a mutual declaration of love, the Beast is restored to human form in Belle’s arms, no longer a base, feral demon with a taboo craving for man meat.

During the show’s finale, the prince and Gaston track down LeFou, who still professes homosexual tendencies. He is torn apart, tortured, mutilated, maimed and finally butchered in a 30-minute orgy of blood and gore.

Another important theme is the idea of homosexuality manifesting itself as an image of bestiality. Former Rep. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) bravely warned Americans that relaxing the legal definition of marriage would open the floodgates to all manner of deviant behavior, including “man on dog” relations.

During a 2003 interview with the Associated Press, Santorum remarked: “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.” In context of AFA’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Santorum’s visions strike a startlingly vibrant chord, as the Beast demonstrates the bestial conclusion of approving LGBTQ lifestyles.

In 2013, to protest the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling, Santorum unselfishly vowed to marry an animal to demonstrate the perils of gay rights: “Someone needs to set an example, to show America what’s going to happen if we don’t return to traditional values. I’m going to marry a pet, sodomize it, cheat on it, secretly marry and sodomize more animals behind its back and, if possible, commit incest. I’ve got to demonstrate the horrors that wait at the terminus of this slippery slope, otherwise people won't take it seriously.”

The Last Defense of American Family Values

The absence of associations committed to hardcore evangelical positions, such as the AFA, have allowed even conservative legislators to bend over on their pledges, fondle their constituencies with silver tongues, and stick their ideologies in the backseat. That’s precisely why former Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suffered a crushing election defeat in 2014, despite his popularity. His position went to a dark-horse candidate named Dave Brat.

“Cantor just didn’t have the hate, religious bigotry, intolerance for the poor, disgust of gays and fear of immigrants he campaigned on,” explained Bartholomew “Buck” Culpepper, a backer of Brat’s candidacy. “Too much of that melting pot crap and not enough American values. The Statue of Liberty is a French abomination, which is why we stuck it out in the middle of the ocean. Old Glory, on the other hand, and all the uptight White Anglo-Saxon Protestant ideals it represents, is the real America.”

As a proud member of the AFA, I say call us a hate group. We hate tolerance for evil. We hate those who pervert the holy word. We hate sodomites and enemies of traditional marriage. As American natives, we hate illegal immigrants who come from overseas to plunder our lands, steal our jobs, rape our children and destroy the racial and cultural heritage of this country’s founding people. But it’s that kind of righteous hate that reveals the incredible love behind the work of the AFA.

Our child-friendly and joyous rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” will be released direct to DVD this summer.

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