It’s a strange thing to think about when you're sitting in a plush cinema seat in London or New York, popcorn in hand, watching a blockbuster like Lightyear or Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. You see a blink-and-you-miss-it kiss or a "Protect Trans Kids" flag in the background of a teenager's bedroom, and you barely register it. But for millions of people in other parts of the world, those frames are exactly why the screen stays dark.
Movies are global. Censorship, however, is intensely local.
In the last couple of years, the list of countries that banned LGBTQ movie titles has shifted from a predictable handful of nations to a much broader, more aggressive map. We’re not just talking about total bans either; there’s a quiet war of "edit requests" happening behind the scenes. If a studio doesn't cut a scene, the movie doesn't play. It’s that simple—and that complicated.
The Big Names Caught in the Crossfire
Honestly, the sheer scale of the films being blocked is what’s surprising. It isn’t just indie films or niche documentaries. We are talking about billion-dollar franchises.
Take Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. In June 2023, the film was pulled from release across much of the Middle East, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Why? Because of a tiny trans pride flag hanging in Gwen Stacy’s room. It wasn't even a plot point. It was just part of the decor. But for the General Commission for Audiovisual Media in Saudi Arabia, that was a "contradiction of content controls."
Then there's the Barbie phenomenon. You’d think a movie about dolls would be safe, right? Wrong. Algeria pulled it from theaters weeks after it premiered, claiming it "promoted homosexuality" and "Western deviances." Kuwait and Lebanon followed suit with similar rhetoric. In Lebanon, the culture minister Mohammad Mortada actually said the film "diminishes the importance of the family unit."
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A Quick Look at Recent Bans (2024-2026)
| Film Title | Banning Country/Region | Reason Cited |
|---|---|---|
| Queer (2024) | Turkey (Istanbul) | "Provocative content" endangering public peace. |
| Wicked (2024) | Kuwait | LGBTQ+ casting and themes. |
| Lightyear | Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Malaysia, Qatar | Same-sex kiss between two characters. |
| Eternals | Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait | Refusal to cut a same-sex kiss. |
The Legal Teeth Behind the Bans
It’s easy to blame "culture," but usually, there’s a very specific law at play. These aren't just random whims of a grumpy official.
In Russia, the "LGBTQ propaganda" law has been expanded so much that it basically prohibits any positive or even neutral depiction of non-traditional relationships. By late 2024 and heading into 2025, we've seen this manifest in the total scrubbing of streaming platforms. If a character is gay, they are either edited out or the show is simply deleted.
Bulgaria joined this trend in August 2024. They passed an amendment to their education law that mirrors the Russian style, banning "propaganda" of non-traditional sexual orientation in schools. While that’s about schools, it creates a chilling effect for the entire media landscape. If you can't show it to kids in a book, can you show it to them in a PG-13 movie? Often, the answer is a hard no.
Georgia (the country, not the state) pushed through its own "family values" bill in October 2024. This law is specifically designed to stop the "promotion" of same-sex relationships. It has already made film festivals in Tbilisi a logistical nightmare for organizers.
Why Some Movies Make It and Others Don't
You’ve probably noticed that some movies with queer characters still get through. It’s a game of chicken.
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Studios like Disney and Warner Bros. used to be more willing to make "regional cuts." They’d snip a line of dialogue or blur a background character. But lately, there’s been a shift. For Eternals, Marvel and Disney famously refused to cut the kiss between Phastos and his husband. Angelina Jolie, who starred in the film, called the ban "ignorant."
When the studio says "no," the country says "no release."
The "Hidden" Censorship: Self-Censorship
Sometimes a country doesn't even have to ban a movie. The distributors just don't buy it. They know the countries that banned LGBTQ movie content in the past will likely do it again, so they don't even bother with the marketing spend. This happened with Luca Guadagnino’s Queer starring Daniel Craig. In late 2024, the Mubi Fest in Istanbul was canceled entirely because the local governor banned the film just hours before it was set to screen.
Mubi chose to cancel the whole festival rather than comply. That’s a rare, bold move. Most of the time, the film just quietly disappears from the "Coming Soon" list.
The Impact on the Ground
What does this actually do? It doesn't stop people from knowing LGBTQ people exist. We live in the age of VPNs and piracy.
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However, it does alienate local audiences. In Kuwait, when Wicked was pulled in December 2024, it wasn't even because of a specific scene, but because of the "identities of the cast members." Think about that. The movie was banned because of who the actors are in real life. That’s a new level of scrutiny that we haven't seen as frequently until now.
What's Next for Global Cinema?
We are seeing a deepening divide. On one side, you have global studios pushing for "authentic representation." On the other, you have a growing bloc of nations—from Kazakhstan to Uganda—strengthening their censorship boards to "protect traditional values."
If you’re a film buff or a traveler, here is what you should keep an eye on:
- Watch the Ratings: Countries like Singapore often don't ban the movies but slap them with an M18 rating. This happened with Eternals, effectively keeping the "family" audience away.
- Streaming is the New Battleground: As physical theaters become harder to control, governments are targeting Netflix, Disney+, and local streamers with massive fines if they don't censor their libraries.
- The "Wicked" Effect: Keep an eye on the 2025 release of Wicked: For Good. After the first part faced bans in Kuwait and scrutiny in Utah (yes, the US is seeing its own version of this with book bans), the sequel will be a litmus test for how much studios are willing to lose in ticket sales to keep their creative vision intact.
The reality of countries that banned LGBTQ movie releases is that it’s rarely about the movie itself. It’s about politics, power, and the signal a government wants to send to its people. As a viewer, the best thing you can do is stay informed about which stories are being silenced and why. Support the platforms and creators that refuse to let their art be chopped up for the sake of a box office return.
Check the local ratings before you travel, and if you're in a region where these films are restricted, look into the work of international human rights groups like Human Dignity Trust or Equaldex to see the full legal context of these bans.