Disney's LGBTQ Employe Stage Walkout Over Don't Say Gay Rponse - Variety

Contents:

• JOSH GAD: ‘I DON’T THK WE DID JTICE TO WHAT A GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE’
• DISNEY GETS SUPER GAY: INSI ITS FIRST PRI CONCERT AND TROUBLOME QUEER HISTORY
• 'I LET YOU DOWN': DISNEY CEO APOLOGIZ FOR 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL RPONSE
• DISNEY EXEC VOWS MORE GAY CHARACTERS AMID HUGE CLIVY PH
• FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ UNEXPECTED SHOWDOWN BETWEEN FLORIDA, DISNEY RPORATN
• HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?
• DISNEY EMPLOYE RALLY TO PROTT FALLOUT FROM ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: ‘IT’S BEEN REALLY PAFUL AND SOUL-CSHG’

JOSH GAD: ‘I DON’T THK WE DID JTICE TO WHAT A GAY CHARACTER A DISNEY FILM SHOULD BE’

As LeFou, Gaston’s smarmy stooge 2017’s Bety and the Beast, the actor, edian and voice of Frozen’s Olaf was part of Disney’s first “exclively gay moment” – the grandse words of director Bill Condon.

It turned out to be a two-send dance wh another man, which was neher exclive ( was a crowd scene) nor particularly gay (the two men uld easily have been iends).

’ My regret what happened is that beme ‘Disney’s first explicly gay moment’ and was never tend to be that.

DISNEY GETS SUPER GAY: INSI ITS FIRST PRI CONCERT AND TROUBLOME QUEER HISTORY

It was never tend to be a moment that we should ld ourselv for, bee ankly, I don’t thk we did jtice to what a real gay character a Disney film should be. "He was rpondg to a qutn about LGBT characters their films and pri events at theme will be a transgenr character a future Marvel film, and upg superhero movie The Eternals will troduce Marvel's first openly gay lead character to cema Studs is owned by 's "fay iendly" cricismThere has been some cricism recently after Disney moved the Love, Simon sp-off seri om the Disney+ streamg service to Hulu, which also Love, Victor, the show is a based on the film and is about a teenage boy who out as gay at high school.

A gay character was planned to appear the revival of the Disney star's shows on the streamg service do feature gay source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Disney boss Bob Chapek said the pany won't stop phg forward wh more diversyAt the shareholr's meetg, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was asked a qutn by Catholic mpaigner Carole Farrow, who reprents nservative group Cizen part of her qutn, she asked: "Is perhaps time to rensir what you n do to make Disney more fay iendly, to make safe for people around the world, not jt one particular mory? "She also claimed a petn which asks Disney not to hold gay pri events s parks was signed by "almost 700, 000 people". Disneyland Paris hosted a pri event last year and this year's celebratn is currently schled for source, DisneyImage ptn, Avengers: endgame beme the hight-grossg film everNew Disney-Pixar film Onward clus a reference to a lbian uple - which led to beg banned Kuwa, Oman, Qatar and Sdi have also been brief referenc to gay characters other big Disney-owned anchis.

"And Phastos, the character played by Bryan Lee Henry The Eternals, was announced to be openly gay - wh a hband and Sleiman, who plays Phastos' hband the upg film, recently said the film featur "a betiful, very movg kiss. Disney’s ntroversial rponse to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill unrsr the pany’s plited history wh the LGBTQ+ muny — a plex relatnship which Disney has played both champn and punchg bag.

'I LET YOU DOWN': DISNEY CEO APOLOGIZ FOR 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL RPONSE

Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out about — but did not nmn — Florida’s ntroversial Parental Rights Edutn bill, which crics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay. Griff, who is also a profsor of film and media arts at Southern Methodist Universy, add that Disney has recently received a lot of publicy about var Disney films wh openly gay characters. Even though Disney’s re product of fay-iendly entertament hasn’t been blatant s reprentatn of gay characters, ABC — which is owned by Disney — has done so wh TV shows like “Morn Fay” and “Ellen.

” In fact, “Ellen” had the first gay lead character on TV 1997. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights Edutn Act, which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill bee prohibs classroom discsn of sexual orientatn or genr inty wh stunts gras K-3, emed velopmentally or age appropriate. Joni Madison, the group’s terim print, said that HRC wants to see Disney “build on their public mment and work wh LGBTQ+ advot to ensure that dangero proposals, like Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill, don’t bee dangero laws, and if they do, to work to get them off the books.

DISNEY EXEC VOWS MORE GAY CHARACTERS AMID HUGE CLIVY PH

[Disney Televisn Animatn senr vice print] Meredh Roberts and our learship over there has been so welg to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda. \u201cSCOOP: I've obtaed vio om si Disney's all-hands meetg about the Florida parental rights bill, which executive producer Latoya Ravene says her team has implemented a "not-at-all-secret gay agenda" and is regularly "addg queerns" to children's programmg.

1648591064The nference ll was likely to ease ternal tensns at Disney amid cricism that the pany, a major employer Florida at s Walt Disney World theme parks, remaed ntral as the Florida Legislature bated the ntroversial "don't say gay" bill. Reports are that the seri Love, Victor was shuffled om Disney+ to Hulu bee the gay teen g out story wasn’t nsired “fay iendly. Fabulo villas, y, but when there is ls than a full spectm of reprentatn, that be a troublome panic, stereotyp, closetg, and equatg homosexualy wh perversn pervas the films jt as much as any celebratn of otherns or flamboyance.

We have to remember the legacy of someone like Howard Ashman, who -wrote many of those songs, who was an out, fearls gay man.

FLORIDA TEACHER UNR VTIGATN FOR SHOWG DISNEY MOVIE WH GAY CHARACTER SAYS SHE DIDN’T KNOW LGBTQ RTRICTN APPLIED TO HER CLASS

So not only do we get to reimage the stori that so many people might have adopted as a cis story, but we also get to celebrate queer artists who gave this wonrful legacy of Irreplaceable Howard Ashman: Disney Fally Tells the Story of Losg Its Ft Lyricist to AIDSLearng about his life pletely chang how you thk about those songs as a gay I was young, I saw myself as Belle.

‘DON’T SAY GAY’ UNEXPECTED SHOWDOWN BETWEEN FLORIDA, DISNEY RPORATN

‘Love, Victor’: The Charmg Gay Teen Rom-Com Disney Said Wasn’t Kid-FriendlyThere is such a thg as “Disney gays, ” gay people who love Disney and s non and the whole universe, but ’s also a pany that’s been cricized for beg too nservative and for suatg that queerns isn’t fay iendly.

I feel like I, as a gay man, am fely beg heard and self is good to left out the major ponent of a Disney game which is part of gog to the parks. "The vio was to reprent the young woman today -- 's not the tradnal woman anymore -- and not the specifics of 'Am I gay? Rodriguez plays gay high school stunt, choreographer, assistant director, and actor Carlos Disney+'s High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri.

Andi Mack's Joshua Rh played the first-ever Disney Channel character to say "I'm gay" on the work. "I suffered wh some level of my own ternalized homophobia even while playg the first openly gay character on Disney Channel. Garrett Clayton has appeared the DCOM Teen Beach Movie and the Disney show Shake It Up, before starrg the gay porn te crime movie Kg Cobra.

HOW MANY TIM IS DISNEY GOG TO INTRODUCE ITS ‘FIRST’ GAY CHARACTER?

”The Walt Disney Company, one of the world’s biggt media and entertament empir, pris self on a lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) iendly culture. But today s reputatn for clivy and tolerance is unr scty – as are s ep ti to the polil tablishment and the lack of LGBTQ reprentatn s ’s workers have been stagg walkouts prott at chief executive Bob Chapek’s lackltre rponse to Florida legislatn dubbed “don’t say gay”.

But their prejudic were laid bare by a tweet om Christa Phaw, prs secretary for Florida’s ernor, Ron DeSantis, that said: “The bill that liberals accurately ll ‘don’t say gay’ would be more accurately scribed as an anti-groomg bill. It has been nmned as “hateful” by Joe Bin and other Democrats who argue that monis LGBTQ, prs secretary of the LGBTQ rights anisatn Equaly Florida and a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shootg 2016, says: “The ‘don’t say gay bill’ was dubbed that by the muny bee is a bigoted, very specifilly anti-LGBTQ piece of legislatn signed to censor classroom speech about our muny.

DISNEY EMPLOYE RALLY TO PROTT FALLOUT FROM ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL: ‘IT’S BEEN REALLY PAFUL AND SOUL-CSHG’

Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invisn/APYet the “don’t say gay” bill wrong-footed Chapek, who succeed Bob Iger as chief executive Febary 2020.

They give to a lot of Democrats, bee they want those Democrats to be on their si too, but they have given a disproportnate amount to Republin legislators, many of whom supported and voted for the ‘don’t say gay’ bill. The Human Rights Campaign has said will stop acceptg money om Disney “until we see them build on their public mment and work wh LGBTQ+ advot to ensure that dangero proposals, like Florida’s ‘don’t say gay or trans’ bill, don’t bee dangero laws” Whehall and Ey Blunt Jungle Cise.

Eric Marc, creator and host of the Makg Gay History podst, says: “Disney has cultivated an LGBTQ-iendly image, both through their cln of LGBTQ characters recent years and wh their employe, so ’s shockg but not shockg that the CEO would have been so flat-footed. Photograph: APFor s the stud’s output was steadfastly heterosexual even though s creative talents clud gay people such as Howard Ashman, an Osr wner who wrote the lyrics for The Ltle Mermaid and Bety and the Beast before his ath om Aids has been some progrs sce then wh a growg LGBTQ portrayals films and TV shows and the sellg of LGBTQ pri-themed merchandise at Disney stor. Last year’s film Jungle Cise featured a proment gay character: McGregor Houghton, played by Jack Whehall.