Gay Days returns to Disney World amid ‘don’t say gay’ ntroversy

Contents:

• AFTER A POLIL STORM, GAY DAYS RETURN TO DISNEY
• GAY DAYS RETURNS TO DISNEY WORLD AMID ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ NTROVERSY
• FLORIDA POLICS PUTS A DAMPER ON ORLANDO ‘GAY DAYS’ THIS YEAR

AFTER A POLIL STORM, GAY DAYS RETURN TO DISNEY

— Last Friday eveng, about 6, 000 people — almost all of them gay men — poured to a Walt Disney World water park near Orlando, Fla.

GAY DAYS RETURNS TO DISNEY WORLD AMID ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ NTROVERSY

I was there on a fact-fdg Ripti event was part of what is rmally known as Gay Days, a four-day Pri extravaganza at Disney World and nearby hotels that attracts tens of thoands of L. Visors each started 1991, when a smatterg of gay adults — Disney obssiv all — ed ter msage boards to plan a gatherg: Let’s buy tickets to Disney World’s Magic Kgdom theme park on the first Saturday June and wear red shirts a display of uny.

And, of urse, ri Space Mounta and pose for photos wh Simmons for The New York Simmons for The New York Simmons for The New York TimGay Days soon expand to other Disney World parks cludg Ept, Animal Kgdom and Disney’s Hollywood Studs, and a number of adult-oriented events sprang up at non-Disney hotels the area, cludg pool parti, dance nights and drag petns. )Disney has never endorsed Gay Days, a versn of which tak place the fall at Disneyland California.

The planng is handled by private pani like One Magil Weekend, Gay Days Inc., and the lbian-foced Girls Wonrland. I had long heard stori about Gay Days, but I was nfed about what was.

FLORIDA POLICS PUTS A DAMPER ON ORLANDO ‘GAY DAYS’ THIS YEAR

I’m admtedly the uptight-soccer-dad variety of gay man, but the ponents did not seem to f year, another qutn arose: Would the anti-L. Vrl that has surround Disney recent months spill over to Gay Days? Anizatns and a torrent of pani cricized the bill, wh opponents llg “Don’t Say Gay.

” they like … a fun place to be gay?

Simmons for The New York Simmons for The New York Simmons for The New York TimGay Days hasn’t always gone smoothly.

Shapiro said, Disney even hand out whe shirts to straight people who had shown up wearg red and were terrified of beg mistaken for gay.

“People would be at the entrance wh Bibl and signs sayg we were gog to hell, ” said Robert Mathison, 59, who began attendg Gay Days wh the man who would bee his hband and their son the early 1990s. Protts culmated 1997, when the Southern Baptist Conventn announced a formal boytt, spurred, part, by Disney’s refal to block Gay Days. ) Would Gay Days 2022 mark a return to that divisive time?

Unls you unt a few hairy, heavyset men — bears, gay slang — bbg belli at the Ripti party a pool area emed “bear lagoon” while wearg bootleg “Ltle Mermaid” tnks. )On Saturday morng, as “Let’s Go Fly a Ke” om “Mary Popps” played on the loudspeakers, Gay Days participants streamed to Disney World. Many of them wore red shirts wh the words “SAY GAY” on the back, a reference to the recent ntroversy.

”Both women said a favore part of Gay Days volved nng to alli, cludg volunteers om Free Mom Hugs, an L. Although Disney do not sponsor or promote Gay Days, s Parks & Rorts divisn celebrat Pri month wh a barrage of rabow merchandise s shops, cludg a button featurg Mickey Moe and a rabow along wh the slogan “Belong, Believe, Be Proud. Yet homophobia has not disappeared.

The only tensn I saw me om a gay man who was cranky that a Disney manager had told him that his shirt uld be viewed as appropriate. ”There were loads of people red shirts who were not at Disney World for Gay Days — and none seemed to re when they learned of the lor’s signifince on this day.

“About 10 years ago at Gay Days, we were all le our red shirts at Big Thunr Mounta, ” Mr. If you’re wearg red, means you’re gay!

McKeown Simmons for The New York TimSeveral longtime Gay Days atten shared a siar wistfulns for Gay Days gone by, addg that the -agast-the-world pr rps that was such an important part of the event has waned.