COLLIER COUNTY
A kiss in a children’s movie is stirring up controversy.
One parent said it led his kid’s summer camp to cancel their field trip to the movies.
It all centers around Disney Pixar’s new movie “Lightyear” that includes a brief scene of two female animated characters kissing.
Thomas Felke, who was upset, emailed WINK News to complain that Collier County Parks and Recreation suddenly canceled a field trip to see the show. He said he sees it as a form of discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
“Movies and arts being depictions of real life. That’s what we had here. That’s what we had an opportunity to show our children. And we took it away from them,” Felke said.
Felke is a father to a 5 and 11-year-old.
Felke said a camp counselor told his family the trip to the movies was canceled after some parents complained.
He believes the parents are sending all kids the wrong message.
“Imagine the message that sends to those children who identify as part of the LGBTQIA population or, you know, who have same-sex families. And so that’s, that’s the thing that was really troubling to me about it,” Felke said.
Collier County told WINK News in a statement, that because of staffing issues, Parks and Rec could not give parents the options of having their kids go to the movie or skip it. So they canceled instead.
“This wasn’t something graphic, there wasn’t something violent. This was just a true depiction of people who were in love,” Felke said.
