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Photo via Twitter/@Lolalambchops

Disney’s inclusion of a gay character in the live-action “Beauty and the Beast” remake has prompted an Alabama movie theater to cancel its scheduled screenings of the film.

Owners of the drive-in theater in Henagar, Alabama, cited their Christian beliefs for the decision.

They posted on the venue’s Facebook page, “We will not compromise on what the Bible teaches. We will continue to show family oriented films so you can feel free to come watch wholesome movies without worrying about sex, nudity, homosexuality and foul language. Thank you for your support!”

The film’s director, Bill Condon, revealed earlier this week that the movie would feature Disney’s first ever gay character, Gaston’s sidekick LeFou, played by Josh Gad.

“LeFou is somebody who on one day wants to be Gaston and on another day wants to kiss Gaston,” Condon told Attitude magazine. “He’s confused about what he wants. It’s somebody who’s just realizing that he has these feelings. And Josh makes something really subtle and delicious out of it. And that’s what has its payoff at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie.”

While the landmark moment in film history has been widely applauded, the decision does not sit well with everyone – including the owners of the Henagar Drive-In Theater in northeast Alabama.

Their Facebook message continued, “For those that do not know ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is ‘premiering’ their first homosexual character. The producer also says at the end of the movie ‘there will be a surprise for same-sex couples.’ If we can not take our 11-year-old grand daughter and 8 -year-old grandson to see a movie we have no business watching it.”

Disney, which releases the movie on March 17, is yet to issue a comment on the decision.

JoshGad had tweeted that he was “beyond proud” to be playing Disney’s first LGBTQ character.

“Beauty and the Beast” also stars Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Luke Evans, Emma Thompson and Ian McKellen.

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