Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I’m still overwhelmed by all the support this petition has received thus far. I couldn’t be more grateful to every single person who has signed.

But if we have any hope of getting Disney’s attention, we need to get these numbers much, MUCH higher. I’m talking five figures, maybe even six. That seems daunting, but there’s a part of me that believes that it can be done.

In order to paint a clearer picture of how important this is and why it’s so important to get as many voices as possible behind this, I’m going to get a little bit personal.

I am a bisexual man who loves animation. My journey with my bisexuality goes back to a little movie called Nimona. An LGBTQ+ animated movie that was originally being made at Blue Sky Studios before they were suddenly shut down by their then parent company, which also happened to be, you guessed it, Disney. You might have heard of it, maybe because a few years ago, I started a petition on here to try and get the movie picked up and finished by another studio. Miraculously, that’s exactly what happened, although I don’t take any credit for it. That petition did paltry numbers in the grand scheme of things; the real heroes were the amazing filmmakers who never gave up on it and fought to keep it alive. All I did was provide a bit of moral support from the sidelines.

Anyway, I bring up Nimona specifically because it changed my life as a proudly bisexual man in the same way I believe this episode of Win or Lose surely would have for countless trans youths everywhere. Even while Nimona was still in limbo, I was growing more aware of the LGBTQ+ community, how oppressed they were, how much they’d struggled with getting positive, meaningful representation in media, and of course, the realization that I was one of them. It was a confusing, nerve wracking realization that weighed in my mind for months, lingering as I struggled to decide if I should be open about it.

Ultimately, with the love and respect of all my fellow queer friends and allies, who have been among the most amazing, wonderful people I have ever known, I decided I was, indeed, bisexual. It wasn’t easy, of course. In fact, it was nightmarish at first. When I came out to my mom, I was scared that I had made the worst mistake of my life. She had trouble comprehending or understanding it at first, but eventually she grew to accept it, even if she isn’t fully there yet. Before long, I no longer felt afraid to be truthful about who I really was.

I went through that whole journey because I was inspired by Nimona, a story all about queer acceptance, about not letting hurtful labels define you. A story that told you, you are not alone.

THOSE are exactly the kinds of stories that queer youths desperately need. In a world where the people in charge are continually trying to punish us, silence us, take away our basic human rights, despite us having never done anything truly wrong, we need stories that tell us we’re not monsters. Stories that tell us we belong somewhere. Stories that tell us we are not alone.

This is exactly why Disney pulling this storyline from view is unacceptable and unforgivable. It sends a truly harmful message to queer youths who need some affirmation that they can find acceptance in the comfort of storytelling. The real world is already trying to erase us; imagine how cruel and unfair it is to us that we’re also being erased from fiction. By robbing them of having a meaningful place in art, all for the sake of corporate and financial interests, they’re essentially telling them they’re expendable.

I refuse to accept a world that stays that way forever. That is why I urge you to share this petition far and wide, especially now, as the political tide turns against us more than ever before.

Please, do the right thing. Don’t allow this erasure to remain the status quo. Otherwise… where else can we go?

With love,

Jeffrey