Disney Hop to Lim the Damage After 'Don't Say Gay' - Variety

Contents:

• AFTER PROTTS, DISNEY CEO SPEAKS OUT AGAST FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL
• DISNEY WORKERS WALK OUT OVER THE PANY'S RPONSE TO SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• AFTER ‘DON’T SAY GAY,’ A WEAKENED DISNEY HOP TO LIM THE DAMAGE

AFTER PROTTS, DISNEY CEO SPEAKS OUT AGAST FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL

The so-lled 'Don't Say Gay' bill was passed by Florida's Hoe and Senate and is head to Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednday morng, "to exprs our disappotment and ncern that if the legislatn be law, uld be ed to unfairly target gay, lbian, non-bary and transgenr kids and fai. "The Human Rights Campaign will not accept this 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, and if they do, to work to get them off the books, " says Joni Madison, Interim Print of the Human Rights Campaign a statement.

Acrdg to the acuntabily news se Popular Informatn, " the last two years, Disney has donated $197, 162 to members of the Florida legislature that have already voted for the 'Don't Say Gay' legislatn, " cludg to sponsors of the bill, Florida Rep.

On Sunday, before the so-lled "Don't Say Gay" bill passed the state Senate, Siemon posted an impassned vio plea llg for Disney to say the legislatn is wrong. Siemon creds one of his middle school teachers for helpg him unrstand that was OK to be gay.

DISNEY WORKERS WALK OUT OVER THE PANY'S RPONSE TO SO-LLED 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL

Siemon implored the pany to stop supportg those policians, endg wh the words, "Disney, please say gay. ”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.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

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.

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.

AFTER ‘DON’T SAY GAY,’ A WEAKENED DISNEY HOP TO LIM THE DAMAGE

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.

“Nearly every moment of overtly gay affectn is cut at Disney’s beht, regardls of when there is prott om both the creative teams and executive learship at Pixar. The full-sle walkout me after Disney employe planned a seri of smaller walkouts durg their 15-mute breaks to urge the pany to take a stronger stance agast the Parental Rights Edutn legislatn, which advot have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill. "The recent statements by The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) learship regardg the Florida legislature's recent 'Don't Say Gay' bill have utterly failed to match the magnu of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety reprented by this legislatn, " an open letter by Disney employe reads.