In the game of chicken that Disney has been playing with the Malaysian censors, the House Of Mouse has won. Last week, just a few days before it was due for release, Disney pulled the movie from release in Malaysia due to cuts to LGBT-related content that had been demanded.

Although Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board said it was just a small cut they wanted to the very end of the movie, it turned out it was much more, with reports they wanted the entire ‘Gaston’ musical number removed, due to the fact at one point two men hug. Disney refused and the Censorship Board then tried to deflect blame, saying they would have probably allowed the movie through, if director Bill Condon hadn’t talked about the ‘gay moment’ and (in their eyes) forced them to act.

Initially neither side seemed to want to back down, but now the Film Censorship Board has decided they will allow the movie to screen intact, with the equivalent of a PG-13/12 rating. It will now be released in Malaysia on March 30th.

Gay sex is still illegal in Malaysia and discrimination is pervasive, with one of the lowest levels of acceptance of homosexuality by society in Asia, and in recent years the situation has arguably gotten worse.

When people wonder why Hollywood is so reticent about putting LGBT characters in their big releases, the fuss over some minor gay content in Disney’s Beauty & The Beast is good evidence of why studio execs shy away from it. The fear is that there will a backlash from the religious right and various countries around the world either banning the film or making it difficult for people to see. As a result, the worry that it will lower the box office means LGBT characters are still a major rarity in big Hollywood films.

The latest country where Beauty & The Beast is causing a stir is Malaysia, where the censorship board cut the ‘gay moment’ involving the character LeFou, and gave the movie a ‘PG-13’ style rating. “We have approved it but there is a minor cut involving a gay moment. It is only one short scene but it is inappropriate because many children will be watching this movie,” Abdul Hamid, chairman of Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board, told the Associated Press

However, the film was still due to be released at the end of this week. Now though, it has disappeared off the schedules.

It appears the decision was made by Disney, which has said the release of the movie in the country is now the subject of ‘internal review’. However, few other details have been released about why the decision was made. Some have suggested that despite the censorship, Disney may have known of plans for protests against the movie, or had even received threats, although it appears that is purely speculation. Gay sex is still illegal in Malaysia and discrimination is pervasive, with one of the lowest levels of acceptance of homosexuality by society in Asia, and in recent years the situation has arguably gotten worse.

Elsewhere, Beauty & The Beast met calls to be banned in Russia and ended up with an adults only rating, while some on the religious right in the US have been protesting the movie over the ‘gay moment’. Even so, it’s still expected that the movie will gross over $200 million worldwide this weekend, once it starts rolling out on Thursday. If the film can still be a big success despite the fuss over a little bit of gayness, it may show nervous Hollywood studio execs that LGBT characters and themes aren’t the kiss of death for big budget movies that they seem to think they are.