Online petition, set up in memoriam of Drew Leinonen, lobbies for the first Lgbt character to ‘fight evil’ in the Star Wars universe
A fan petition has been set up to ask Star Wars producers Lucasfilm to create the franchise’s first LGBT character in honour of one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Drew Leinonen was among the 49 people shot dead – along with his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrero – at the Pulse nightclub in June. Leinonen’s friend and fellow Star Wars devotee Joshua Yehl is behind the post on change.org.
In an open letter addressed to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger, CEO of Disney (the studio that owns the Star Wars series), Yehl explains that Leinonen was a “passionate” Star Wars fan, and that “nothing would make him happier than for all the little gay nerds out there to have their own Star Wars character to look up to.
A fan petition has been set up to ask Star Wars producers Lucasfilm to create the franchise’s first LGBT character in honour of one of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Drew Leinonen was among the 49 people shot dead – along with his boyfriend, Juan Ramon Guerrero – at the Pulse nightclub in June. Leinonen’s friend and fellow Star Wars devotee Joshua Yehl is behind the post on change.org.
In an open letter addressed to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger, CEO of Disney (the studio that owns the Star Wars series), Yehl explains that Leinonen was a “passionate” Star Wars fan, and that “nothing would make him happier than for all the little gay nerds out there to have their own Star Wars character to look up to.
- 6/28/2016
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
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