Disney employe staged a walkout Tuday prott of the pany’s rponse to Florida’s ntroversial Parental Rights Edutn law, which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
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GUTS OUTRAGED, BOYTT “RICH FOLK” PARK EXPERIENCE AMID “DON’T SAY GAY” BACKLASH - INSI THE MAGIC
From exclively gay moments "Bety and the Beast" to DeSantis and Disney World, Disney has a long and strange history wh the LGBTQ muny. * gay disneyland 2022 *
” Ever sce former CEO Bob Chapek cricized the ernor’s homophobic and transphobic Parental Rights Edutn Act — which forbids discsn of genr and sexual inty public schools — DeSantis and his supporters have repeatedly acced the entertament nglomerate of “echog Democrat propaganda, ” and engaged a vic legal battle over Disney World’s self-erng tax stat that’s proved a huge headache for the state. To hear DeSantis tell , you’d thk Disney World was a paradise for gays, and Mickey himself threw the first brick at Stonewall. After the memo released, many LGBTQ Disney employe and their alli blasted the pany for how handl gay reprentatn.
The public muty forced Disney to eventually reverse urse; first by rerporatg a cut gay kiss om the “Toy Story” spoff “Lightyear” ( lasted all of one send the end), and fally pullg fundg om anti-LGBTQ sponsors and cricizg DeSantis’ bill — which neverthels passed on March 28, 2022. On one hand, queer subtext ns galore many of the films; gay Disney fans are a very real (and, let’s be hont, lucrative) phenomenon; and many of the most important creators the pany’s history are out and proud members of the LGBTQ muny.
” Disney executiv tend to be hant about featurg gay characters films orr to mata a nservative image — and marketabily untri wh homophobic censorship laws.
"Gay Days" has been an unofficial LGBTQIA+ meet-up at Walt Disney World sce the 1990s. But Disney wasn't always so supportive of the event. * gay disneyland 2022 *
The rult is a pany wh a lot of gay employe that regularly pays lip service to cludg everyone, but rarely measur up to even the lowt standards of cln. There’s shockgly ltle to dissect how Disney treated s gay characters and gay employe the pany’s earlit years. That said, there were several films om this time that leaned on queer stereotyp, or lent themselv to gay readgs.
In 1980, two gay teen boys were removed om a dance floor the Tomorrowland park area by secury. 1989-1999: Queer-Cod Villas and a Quiet Gay Renaissance.
The hight grossg film om the stud durg the ’90s — and s hight-grossg 2D animated film of all time — was 1994’s “The Ln Kg, ” which featured mic om venerable gay in Elton John.
* gay disneyland 2022 *
” All three characters have been analyzed by var crics as gay d, and blatant gay subtext exists all three films. The eponymo song “Gaston” “Bety and the Beast, ” for example, featur several men praisg the brawny chvist through nuendo-lan, homoerotic lyrics. This queer dg has been cricized by some scholars as homophobic, while others the LGBTQ muny have embraced the villa as a symbol of femist (and/or lbian) rage.
So, what was like beg a gay employee at Disney durg this creative peak?
” In 1994, “The Ln Kg” executive producer Thomas Schumacher — who still works at the pany as the print of s theatril wg — told The Advote that “a lot of gay people at every level” work at Disney, and that, while some executiv were unfortable seeg him wh his partner at a retreat, the environment at the pany was overall very supportive.