Does it matter if a character is gay?

Beauty and the Beast had a HUGE opening weekend making approximately $170 million dollars. That is the biggest PG rated opening and March opening of all time.  I know when we thought about seeing it the only seats were front row if that.

However I got to wondering WHY it was such a hit.  I mean the 1991 flick was pretty good and one of my personal favorites sure.  The cast isn't horrible although I question a few choices (this of course is prior to seeing the flick and on superficial thoughts).  Then I saw who was the highest PG film prior to this, it was Finding Dory.  Interesting....

Why is that interesting you ask?  Do you remember right before Beauty and the Beast came out there was a bit of a dust up because one of the characters had a "gay moment".  This caused people to blow up the interwebs with pros and cons.  I fell in the middle, mostly because I don't care.  The fact that the character is gay doesn't impact the story so I feel that it shouldn't have been mentioned.  If people felt the character was gay that is fine and if they didn't feel the character was gay that is fine.

Dory had a similar issue.  Here is a quote from the article:

“If audiences are perhaps jumping the gun in anticipation of this possible milestone, it’s because queer people are desperate and hungry for more than we’ve been given in the past,” Nico Lang writes in Salon, citing a recent GLAAD study that showed the number of queer characters in movies has flatlined.

“[It] would help the reputation of the studio, which has a tradition of shutting out LGBTQ character,” an Out Magazine article said, noting Disney’s failing grade in the GLAAD index.

So there we have it.  Both films had controversy and both are hugely successful.  The funny thing is that both films had little buzz (I feel) until these "controversies".  

The problem is that being gay or straight doesn't impact character 95% of the time on the screen.  If the police chief in the Lethal Weapon movies was gay would that change things?  What if Kima on the Wire was straight?  Would that storyline really be any different?  That is the problem with addressing characters sexuality, most of the time it doesn't matter.

Yet we make a big deal out of it.  Why?  That is my question to all of you, why does it matter if a character is gay unless it is important to the story!