In case you missed it, there’s open conflict between Disney Corp and Governor Ron DeSantis over Florida’s recently signed law, HB 1557. Critics have tagged it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill even though the word “gay” is nowhere found in it. What does the law say? Here’s the operative language:
“Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
The law also requires Florida’s school districts to “adopt procedures for notifying a student’s parent if there is a change in the student’s services or monitoring related to the student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being.”
The gall! How dare Florida stop its schools from grooming kids to accept fluid gender and sexual identities and from keeping parents in the dark! Yet that’s exactly Disney’s position. Here’s its official statement:
It doesn’t stop here. Disney quickly convened a series of executive Zoom sessions after the Florida law was signed to discuss policy. In his mea culpa, CEO Bob Chapek groveled to Disney’s employees that, “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down. I am sorry.” Then, General Entertainment President, Karey Burke, a self-confessed mother of two queer children, vowed that Disney would do more to become more inclusive.
The meetings are part of a wider corporate program known as Reimagine Tomorrow. One of its goals is to have a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. In a tweet capture of another meeting, Executive Producer, Latoya Reveneau, is seen gushing over her freedom at Disney to implement a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and “adding queerness” to children’s programming.[1] Disney Production Coordinator, Allen March, boasts that his team is committed to “exploring queer stories” and has created a “tracker” to make sure the company is creating enough “gender non-conforming characters,” “canonical trans characters,” and “canonical bisexual characters.”
All this follows prior Disney decisions to commit itself to advancing woke-ism. For decades Disneyland in Anaheim has celebrated “Gay Days” complete with special merchandise for the occasions. Now the Park plans to host “Mini Gay Days.”[2] In another tweet capture, Disney’s Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Vivian Ware, explains to employees that the company is ditching the words “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys,” and “girls” in its theme parks. Henceforth, Disney’s attendees will henceforth be greeted as “dreamers of all ages.”
What’s the public think of all this? Not much, according to a survey done by the reputable Trafalgar Group. Disney no doubt knows this but intends to press ahead anyway assuming the public’s need for entertainment will win over any moral hesitation. Tragically, they may be right.
For its entire history every “cast member” has had Disney’s Four Keys drilled into them: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency. The Four Keys have been steadfast for 60 years. But last year a fifth key was added — Inclusion. According to Ethan Clay writing for Quillette, between 2019 and 2021 Disney’s DEI department (diversity, equity, inclusion) expanded by 633% while nearly every other department was contracting by 25–75%. Clay writes:
“The sexual revolution, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK, and Malcom X, the Cold War, stagflation, the Stonewall Riots, Watergate, Roe v Wade, the space race, the Los Angeles riots, September 11th, Hurricane Katrina—every major event that took place in American society since Disneyland first opened its gates in 1955 rolled by and the Four Keys remained unaltered. And yet, in 2021, as the nation reopened from lockdowns in fits and starts, the Fifth Key of Inclusion was added. Why now? Why at all?…The short answer is institutional capture, … the goal is to turn the business itself into a mouthpiece for an ideology. Disney has been rotting from the inside for quite some time, but the speed with which its public transformation took place is truly breathtaking. Florida was the final straw.”[3]
Disney’s says it’s “dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of the LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
Note, however, the policy conveniently applies only in the United States. Disney is noticeably silent in places where its policy reception might not be so cordial. There’s no mention, for example, about the policy being applied in the Dominican Republic where Disney sends its cruise ships, even though that nation bans same-sex marriage and regularly discriminates against gays. Neither is China mentioned, where Disney has two of its Parks and where the Uyghur community suffers actual versus perceived oppression. The odds are high that China will suffer not the slightest hint of Disney umbrage for that nation’s woke intolerance. And Disney has other problems, like the peculiar but repeated instances of its employees being involved in human trafficking, child porn, and other child related sex crimes.
What can be done?
Disney is a public company. It has a Board and shareholders. It cares about its bottom line. Its Parks, merchandise, Disney+ channel, and movies are almost entirely dependent on its retail customers. There’s nothing that will get the Board’s attention like rapidly declining sales. Just know that, under its current leadership, every Disney Park visited, movie ticket purchased, and channel subscribed to can, and likely will, be used to subsidize Disney’s intention to groom our children and corrupt our culture.
[1] https://www.city-journal.org/disneys-ideological-capture
[3] https://quillette.com/2022/03/29/disneys-institutional-capture/
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