LOS ANGELES — The creator of Disney Channel's “The Owl House” is lauding the company for featuring a LGBTQ teenager on the animated series.
“Representation matters!" tweeted Dana Terrace, also an executive producer for the series. “Always fight to make what YOU want to see!”
The 14-year-old character, Luz Noceda, reportedly is the first bisexual character on a Disney TV series. A gay lead character was depicted in the Disney+ streaming service's animated short “Out,” which debuted last May.
“The Owl House," which premiered in January and returned in July after a few months' break, has been renewed for a second season.
“We’re excited about the LGBTQ-inclusive storytelling," the media watchdog organization GLAAD said in a tweet, adding that the series portrays an "inclusive, fair, accurate, and age-appropriate world through the representation of its characters."
Terrace, who posted earlier this month that she is bisexual and always wanted to “write a bi character,” described herself as being candid with Disney about her desire to include “queer kids in the main cast."
But when the series got the OK for production, she tweeted, “I was told by certain Disney leadership that I could NOT represent any form of bi or gay relationship” on the channel.
Her insistence paid off and she is now “very supported” by current Disney management, Terrace said.
Disney Channel, part of a Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, didn’t respond Monday to a request for comment.
Luz, a Dominican American girl, aspires to be a witch despite a lack of magical abilities. She is voiced by Sarah-Nicole Robles, with others in the cast including Wendie Malick, Alex Hirsch and Eden Riegel.
Mae Whitman plays Amity, a recurring character who has befriended Luz.
Lynn Elber, The Associated Press
