Petitioners are encouraging Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company to include an LGBT character in the Star Wars franchise.
Joshua Yehl, a friend of Orlando mass shooting victim Drew Leinonen, started the petition. Yehl describes Leinonen as “the most passionate Star Wars fan I’d ever met” and asks that the first LGBT Star Wars character be based on his friend and named in his honor.
In the past, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has seemed to support the inclusion of a homosexual character in the series: “It seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in [the Star Wars] world”.
Watch Yehl’s campaign video and the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens below.

Make Orlando Victim Drew Leinonen the First LGBT Star Wars Movie Character from Joshua Yehl on Vimeo.