Lebanon will not screen Walt Disney”s new Pixar film “Lightyear” due to a same-sex kiss, Archyde.com reported on Tuesday, joining at least 14 countries in the Middle East and Asia by this decision to ban the film.
A local film distributor has confirmed to our English-language publication L’Orient Today that Lebanese authorities have banned the screening of the “Toy Story” spin-off film, “Lightyear”, because the film features a same-sex couple who kiss. Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code criminalizes sexual behavior between people of the same sex, punishing “any sexual relationship once morest nature” with up to a year in prison.
From the same source, it is added that since Walt Disney refused to edit the scene of the homosexual kiss in question, the Lebanese authorities decided not to screen the film “Lightyear”.
Lebanon is renowned for being a bastion of tolerance and freedom of expression in a deeply conservative region. Lebanese General Security did not respond to our requests for comment or further information.
This is not the first time that Lebanon has banned a film once morest a backdrop of controversy. In 2018, Lebanese authorities banned Steven Spielberg’s film “The Post” because of the director’s ties to Israel, a country with which Lebanon is still technically at war. In 2016, local Lebanese film distributors censored the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight,” which told how Boston Globe reporters exposed child sexual abuse by Catholic priests in the United States.
This article is a translated version from English of information published on the L’Orient Today website
Lebanon will not screen Walt Disney’s new Pixar film ‘Lightyear’ due to a same-sex kiss, Archyde.com reported on Tuesday, joining at least 14 countries in the Middle East and Asia by this decision to ban the film.A local film distributor has confirmed to our English-language publication L’Orient Today that the Lebanese authorities have banned…