Bisexual Disney characters are a lot more common than you realized when you were watching these animated films as a young queer kid. In the past, we’ve ranked Disney Princesses by lesbianism and Disney Channel Original Movies by lesbianism — and now, in 2020, we’ve decided to open up the entire animated Disney canon to a new interpretation and discover the bisexual Disney characters we’ve overlooked all these years.
Below are the 33 most bisexual Disney characters, ranked by our full Autostraddle team.
33. Sgt. Tibbs, 101 Dalmatians
Stef: ACAB — all cats are bi, I don’t make the rules.
32. Tiana, The Princess and the Frog
Natalie: Tiana is painfully straight… though, in fairness, the only other women in the movie are her mama, her boy-obsessed best friend and a voodoo priestess.
Carmen: She is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, who has played gay twice in the years since this movie premiered (first, Jukebox on Power and then Rose on Little Fires Everywhere), so I’m giving her a bonus point.
31. Belle, Beauty and the Beast
Stef: Personally I am tired of Belle asking me If I’ve ever read Sex at Dawn.
Adrian: I do not think Belle as presented seems bi — but I believe in her potential.
Carmen: I do feel like all nerdy book girls are at least 20% bisexual, but sadly for Belle I believe that’s where the journey ends.
Carolyn: I read Belle as slightlyyyy bi but I think that’s less canonical Belle and more the version of her in Emma Donoghue’s retelling of beauty and the beast in Kissing the Witch.
30. Maximus, Tangled
Carmen: Sorry I am absolutely in it for the pout!!
29. Sally Carrera, Cars
Natalie: If we’re picking a bisexual from the Cars universe, it’s Cruz Ramirez.
Rachel: I feel like I dated her in college and we had zero chemistry but were too young to figure out that was a good enough reason to break it off.
28. Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio
Malic: I’m not convinced that Jiminy Cricket is bi, but they’re definitely non-binary.
Adrian: I am thinking maybe our ol pal JC (omg is Jiminy Cricket a Jesus allegory??? sorry I’ll stop) is more of a “no labels” type of queer.
27. Merida, Brave
Drew: Merida genuinely seems to have zero interest in men. So I’d lean more lesbian than bisexual. But maybe she’s bisexual in the way I’m bisexual — into lots of genders but not men and the internet is telling her that also counts as bisexual if that’s a label she wants for herself and she’s not sure yet?
Valerie: I’m with Merida, I wish there was a good word for “into lots of genders but not men” (though I appreciate you putting that so succinctly, Drew).
Stef: I have definitely swiped past Merida on Tinder.
Carmen: The thing is, I’m actually convinced Merida is a lesbian.
Heather: A bow is a very bisexual weapon! Not as bisexual as like a staff but way more bisexual than a mace! (Everything I learned about bisexual Disney characters I learned from D&D.)
26. Rapunzel, Tangled
Drew Gregory: Mommy issues.
Riese: Not a bisexual bob.
Natalie: Rapunzel was sheltered for so long, I’m convinced she’d try anything. Probably gay til graduation, though.
Valerie: TECHNICALLY she had a bisexual bob towards the end of the movie, once she left the oppressive confines of her Tower of Heterosexuality.
Malic: Okay, but hanging from your hair is technically a circus art, and every circus performer is bi.
25. Anna, Frozen
Drew: Uh yeah pretty sure she’s the “straight” sister who spends a bunch of time with her lesbian sister’s queer friends and one day one of them says something about queerness and she’s like “but I feel that way and I’m not queer” and there’s a pause and then she’s like “oh shit am I??” Kristoff is super supportive of her exploring that, of course.
Carmen: Wow. that’s the best use of “In this essay I will —” that I’ve ever seen, Drew.
24. Te Fiti, Moana
Carmen: I would also like to suggest Te Fiti from Moana because I don’t know, I think she’s gay. This is a lot of flowers. Flowers are gay.
23. Maid Marian, Robin Hood
Stef: To me Marian reads like she’ll make out with you at parties but still dates only guys, which is frustrating.
Adrian: Oh dang, Stef, I was gonna say Marian reads like a femme bi who is always like “well as a bisexual!!!!” because everyone assumes she’s straight. Not that our two reads are mutually exclusive oops.
Stef: I’ve made out with a lot of Marians unfortunately.
Meg: Oh god as a femme bi who is always like “well as a bisexual!!!!” I feel both deeply seen and fully horrified.
22. Jasmine, Aladdin
Valerie: Jasmine had a lot of barriers to break through but you KNOW if she hadn’t had to spend so much time busting through the “I’d like to choose who I marry” wall she’d have been on the “I should be able to marry a man OR a woman, FATHER” train.
Sarah: Bi girls love having cats as pets
Malic: Jasmine seems a little bi, but Raja the tiger is the big ol’ bisexual here.
Himani: I feel like the live action Jasmine has way more queer vibes to me than the animated one.
Carmen: We can think of her as Representative Jasmine of the All Jasmines Delegation of Bisexual Disney Characters.
Himani: Haha that’s fair — I just wanted to note that bc they feel like two very different characters to me.
Carmen: They definitely were!
Sarah: Oh yeah live action Jasmine is so queer.
21. White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland
Valerie: Maybe this is me projecting but I feel like being perpetually late is inherently queer.
Rachel: Yeah I also came here to say I couldn’t figure out why he felt bi to me and then realized it’s because he’s stressed out.
Stef: You oughta see this guy sit in a chair.
Adrian: He’s never gonna be able to keep a brunch reservation with this crowd.
20. Tramp, Lady and the Tramp
Sarah: This bi girl I dated briefly had a huge crush on Tramp so I’m pretty sure that also means Tramp has bi energy?
Stef: Dirtbag with a heart of gold, I relate.
Carmen: I relate because I always date this person and rarely does it ever work out for me.
Carolyn: +1 Carmen
Kayla: EXTREME bi dirtbag energy.
18 and 19. Pumba and Timon, The Lion King
Natalie: The Bert and Ernie of the Disney world.
17. Robin Hood, Robin Hood
Rachel: Feel strongly that Robin Hood is not bi but does exclusively date bi girls.
Stef: Oh I think Robin is a guy who is very comfortable talking about men he finds attractive and I don’t think he’s opposed to hooking up with dudes, he’s just constantly being hit on by women.
Archie: He is def being merry with his band of men in those woods.
16. Remy, Ratatouille
Drew: Pretty sure the plot of Ratatouille is Remy falls in love with Linguini, Linguini thinks they’re just friends and colleagues and falls in love with Colette instead, Remy is sad and jealous and leaves, Linguini starts to miss Remy, Linguini, Remy, and Colette end up in a throuple. No?
15. Hei Hei, Moana
Meg: This may be controversial but I feel like Hei Hei has very chaotic bisexual energy.
Carmen: Profoundly relate to Hei Hei’s anxiety. As queer people, anxiety is our time honored way of being.
Stef: I relate to Hei Hei’s admirable ability to do the same dumb thing over and over and over again, truly makes me feel like he’s one of my people.
13. Jessie, Toy Story
Natalie: I think Jessie is one of those girls who says she’s bisexual in college and then comes out as a lesbian later in life.
Rachel: Museum-quality example of the bisexual horse girl.
Meg: “When She Loved Me” has to be in the top three most queer Disney songs.
13. Megara, Hercules
Valerie: This is a very Bisexual Lean™️ in my humble opinion. Robin Hood does it too.
Rachel: Absolutely The Blueprint for bitchy bisexual women.
Carolyn: The first character I thought of when I saw we were doing this list.
12. Moana, Moana
Drew: Moana is trans and lots of trans people are bi therefore Moana is probably bi. We call that the transitive property.
Heather: Drew. “Transitive property.” *adjusts bisexual monocle*
11. Maleficent, Sleeping Beauty
Drew: I know this is technically a different version of the character. But anyone who is portrayed by bicon Angelina Jolie automatically gets major bi points IMO.
Valerie: Was about to make my case by way of Angelina Jolie but Drew already did it. Also, having a raven familiar is extremely bisexual.
Stef: Maleficent thinks the stereotype of the evil bisexual is harmful but she’s also still maleficent, an evil bisexual.
Carmen: Maleficent is bisexual in every iteration of her character, and in the following order:
1. Animated Original Maleficent, super bisexual.
2. Kristin Bauer Van Straten as Maleficent in Once Upon a Time, supremely bisexual
3. Angelina Jolie in both live action movies of Maleficent, astronomically bisexual.
10. Elastigirl, The Incredibles
Carolyn: Elastigirl’s hair: a take on the bisexual bob??
Valerie: I genuinely can’t remember if she had a canon ex-girlfriend or if I decided it so hard it became true in my mind.
Heather: She had a husband and a girlfriend in Incredibles 2.
Kayla: Elastidaddy (I’m sorry).
9. Mulan, Mulan
Heather: Name a more bisexual activity than cutting off your own hair with a sword.
8. Professor Ratigan, The Great Mouse Detective
Stef: WHERE is Professor Ratigan????
Heather: I was worried I was adding too many villainous bisexuals and people would get mad!
Stef: The amount of time he spends denying his identity as a rat plus his sinister power grabs? BISEXUAL.
Heather: You’re right, you’re right.
Stef: Listen, as a villainous bisexual.
Heather: You’re not—
Stef: I demand representation!
7. Jessica Rabbit, Roger Rabbit
Rachel: “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way” is commentary on biphobia.
Sarah: This is every bi Scorpio I know.
Stef, a bi Scorpio: I don’t want to talk about it.
5 and 6. Lumiere and Cogsworth, Beauty and the Beast
Archie: These two have literal wives in the movie. But also 👀 💅 imo.
Archie, who can only vote as high as a seven: NINE!
Stef: None more bi.
4. John Darling, Peter Pan
Adrian: It’s the top hat/nightgown combo for me.
Stef: Oh the oversized glasses that don’t even have lenses in them.
Adrian: DING DING DING!
3. Evil Queen, Snow White
Stef: Is that like a … gaiter? What is that? I’ve always been obsessed with it.
Heather: It’s like a full balaclava.
Stef: For when you have to be at the palace at 2:00, but you’re meeting with the other foot soldiers at 3:30. I bet her Corona fashion would have been insane.
Malic: The Evil Queen was an early crush of mine, so I assumed that she’s an unavailable straight woman. But now I’m convinced — she is, indeed, bi.
Carmen: Ahem, the Evil Queen, in all of her iterations, is the purest form that hot bisexual who is both smarter than you and also knows how to apply the perfect lipstick and winged eyeliner and definitely also will murder you with a knife and you will somehow like it. This was never more true than when Regina Mills was the Evil Queen on Once Upon a Time, who was so supremely bisexual that it makes one quiver at the knees. HOWEVER, since I was SO RUDELY AND UNFAIRLY forbidden from once again inexplicably squeezing Regina Mills into an Autostraddle television conversation, I will gladly accept the animated original in her place.
Heather: “Once again.”
Stef: If anyone wants to buy me that cloak w the widow’s peak situation I promise to look really good in it.
2. Li Shang, Mulan
Drew: Always identified as bi, but lately he’s been hearing the word pan and is thinking maybe that suits him better.
Rachel: Definitely bisexual, almost bi himbo representation, but I think at the end of the day is a little too smart to qualify.
1. Ursula, The Little Mermaid
Drew: Is she jealous of Ariel or Prince Eric? Does she want to fuck Ariel or Prince Eric? I say, why choose!
Stef: And don’t underestimate the importance of BODY LANGUAGE.
Carmen: My favorite thing about Ursula is that no matter the gay list, no matter the time — she will always top it.
Carolyn: In more ways than one.
Did we miss any of your favorite bisexual Disney characters? Let us know in the comments!
Agree with Ursula!
I’d put Rapunzel higher on the list. And Flynn is DEFINITELY bi, although maybe he only identifies as heteroflexible.
And what about Flower, the little skunk in Bambi? He seems pretty bi to me. He has a girlfriend but also seems pretty in love with Bambi.
Eugene is 100% bi, i’m with you on that one!!!
Naveen from princess and the frog. I’ll die on this hill
Can we please have a list of the queerest Disney songs? Once you mentioned that, I was very curious what would be on it.
Not to insult Ursula, but wasn’t Li Shang so canonically bi that they completely removed his character from the live action?
A) I LOVE THIS b) DREW!! You are so right Moana is such a trans movie! I think a lot about the line “I wish I could be the perfect daughter / but I go back to the water / no matter how hard I try”
I saw Moana in theatres a few months before coming out and I listened to “How Far I’ll Go” so much that first year! 😭
How can we forget Pocahontas? She was my first crush and I always secretly hoped she’d get together with Nakoma. And while we’re thinking about Pocahontas, Meeko definitely gives off some chaotic bi vibes.
Pocahontas (Matoaka) was a real person, and a rape victim that the Disney movie made light of. That movie has done, and continues to do, real harm to the Native American community (which I am a part of) and it’s best that she is kept off of lists that minimize her real life experience.
Belle should be number one here, and I present the following proof:
I second belle as def bi. Because as a kid beauty and the breast was way up there on my Disney movie list. As a butch/masc (unbeknownst to me) baby dyke I related to the beast and belle was the hot librarian bi femme ideal mate who gave me hope ;)
*freudian slip accurate
Oh Rapunzel is definitely bi, watch the Tangled Animated Series. Has a friends-to-enemies arc with her lesbian bodyguard. Honestly v romantic
My kids watch the animated series and this is so true!!
Umm can we we talk about Hercules? He is canonically bisexual in Greek myth. Does he have “masc4masc” in his grindr bio? Absolutely. But he still counts.
Carmen’s use of the phrase “astronomically bisexual” makes me think we need a new animated superhero series, Astro Bi
would bi many copies of this!
Thinks about the following:
-how I wanted to be a mage with a staff and raven as a kid,
-how Ratigan and Maleficent were my fave childhood villains,
-my oversized glasses and anxiety.
This all checks out.
YES ratigan representation.
i watched the great mouse detective again after we did this and it holds up.
I watched that film so many times as a kid, I remember wanting to be Basil and really loving the burlesque mouse song probably more than I should have at 5 years old. Ah, the 80s.
Oh and Jiminy Cricket is absolutely a queer style icon, how did this never occur to me before? (Btw Adrian, “Jiminy Cricket” is in fact an old-timey euphemism for Jesus Christ, so take from that what you will)
Best TIRTL link ever.
I spent the whole list going “WHERE IS LI SHANG??” so very pleased to see him in his rightful place near the top.
I think everyone in Alice and Wonderland is a big contender, but surely the Cheshire Cat is up there for not being able to sit straight in a chair for longer than a second. Also Cruella De Ville – except in 2020 she’s wearing a fake fur coat bought on Dollskill and you meet her in the smoking area of a gay bar.
Excellent list, but please consider:
1. Flynn motherfucking rider (if not based on the movie, at least based on the series. I feel like they’re a bi couple who may end up polyam)
2. Nala
3. Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O’Malley the Alley Cat
4. Genie (Aladdin)
too many variables for solver
I want you to know this list has torn my house apart but also lead to roommate 1 and I realizing we had had conversations about the inherent queerness of ratatouille with other people, not each other, leading to me shouting “the trans rat thing!” while she yelled “straight people eat garbage!”
And I want YOU to know this is my favourite comment of all time
Madame from Aristocrats has mad bi energy. She is who I can’t wait to be when I grow up. Actually pretty much everyone in Aristocats has bi vibes.
I audibly groaned at the “transitive property” property pun.
Oh to be a fly on the wall during this debate.
Who were the honorable mentions?
GoGo and Honey Lemon from Big Hero 6.
“Sarah: Oh yeah live action Jasmine is so queer.”
I feel very seen.
@Stef: the evil queen is wearing a wimple! Popular in medieval Europe, different styles have come and gone. See picture on: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/eleanor_of_aquitaine.shtml
that makes sense, thank you!
Seeing as Tramp is the Disney character I most identify with, I feel extremely seen by Stef’s dirtbag bi comment.
I am watching Toy Story 4 right now and am getting super bi vibes from Bo-Peep. She’s got the petticoat that comes off so she can sport coveralls, has a staff, and 3 little lambs she trots around with. She has the hots for Woody, and I think she has something going on with the little pet-patrol chick. I think Bo-Peep is queer AF.
I agree! Bo is awesome and super queer in TS4
This was delightful.
Yknow I was disappointed at first that bicon Li Shang was only #2, but it’s hard to argue with Ursula
This is *chef’s kiss* perfection
Merida is a lesbian to the core. She literally chooses her own hand over a man.
You miss Jumba from Lilo and Stitch. He’s got an ex-wife, but he’s also BLATANTLY in a romantic relationship with Pleakley.
Hunter x Hunter Season 7
Hunter × Hunter is a manga series, it is originally in the Japanese language. The writer and producer of the show are Yoshihiro Togashi. As of October 2018, there are 36 tankobon volumes including its portions. On the surface, this is a narrative of a yo
I think we should put Megara higher on the list. Her character is like teasing toward women but she secretly has fantasies.
Also, we can’t forget about Dory (not a princess but still) and Vanellope Von Schweetz. She is totally a lesbian.
I think Disney characters have always been the favorite of children and adults, because I also like Disney cartoons very much.