NUR-SULTAN -- Kazakh officials have banned the new Disney and Pixar film Lightyear over a scene showing two animated female characters kissing each other, sparking a backlash that includes a call for the culture minister's removal.
Culture and Sports Minister Dauren Abaev announced the screening blackout "due to numerous requests by citizens and media outlets" in the Central Asian nation on July 14. Abaev did not elaborate.
The computer-animated spinoff from the Toy Story series had been expected to premiere in Kazakh cinemas the same day.
In the days leading up to the expected release in the mostly Muslim nation of around 19 million people, some critics had attacked the same-sex kiss as "inappropriate."
An online petition demanding a ban was signed by more than 37,000 users.
Prominent Kazakh actor and director Nurtas Adambai issued an open letter urging President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to ban the film, saying "the state must restrict values not shared by us among our children."
Although homosexual relations were decriminalized in Kazkahstan in the 1990s, the European Parliament noted last year that LGBT citizens are still discriminated against, and members of that community routinely face violence or harassment.
There are no Kazakh laws banning LGBT scenes or related themes from films.
An online petition arose on July 14 urging an end to the ban and the resignation of Abaev, featuring a poll in which about two-thirds of around 9,000 respondents said they want the restriction lifted.
"[T]he Republic of Kazakhstan is a secular country and no religion can be recognized as leading or obligatory," it reads in part. "We consider Dauren Abaev's actions unconstitutional and unacceptable for the minister."
Lightyear is the latest installment based on the action figure Buzz Lightyear, who first appeared in the wildly successful Disney/Pixar Toy Story series.
It follows the exploits of a human "space ranger" named Buzz Lightyear within a fictional universe.
The new film has also been banned in more than a dozen other countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Malaysia.