The tth about what really go on at Gay Days at Disneyland - Queerty

Contents:

• THE TTH ABOUT WHAT REALLY GO ON AT GAY DAYS AT DISNEYLAND
• GAY DAYS IS RETURNG TO DISNEYLAND & CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
• GAY DAYS 2023 AT DISNEYLAND RORT CONFIRMED, DAT REVEALED - INSI THE MAGIC
• GUI TO GAY DAYS AT DISNEYLAND
• PHOTOS: GAY DAYS IS OFFICIALLY UNRWAY AT DISNEYLAND!
• GAY DAYS ANAHEIM RETURNS TO DISNEYLAND RORT THIS SEPTEMBER
• GAY DAYS IS COMG BACK TO DISNEYLAND THIS YEAR
• DISNEYLAND GAY DAYS RETURNS SEPTEMBER
• DISNEY GAY DAYS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
• GAY DAYS DISNEYLAND ANAHEIM: DISUNTED TICKETS AND MORE

THE TTH ABOUT WHAT REALLY GO ON AT GAY DAYS AT DISNEYLAND

Remember, this event isn't prented by Disneyland (hence why 's "unofficial") so if you ll Disneyland askg for rmatn about Gay Days, they will tell you that this is not a Disney the se here, and follow them on Facebook here. ” 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 IS RETURNG TO DISNEYLAND & CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

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.

GAY DAYS 2023 AT DISNEYLAND RORT CONFIRMED, DAT REVEALED - INSI THE MAGIC

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.

GUI TO GAY DAYS AT DISNEYLAND

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. ” 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?

PHOTOS: GAY DAYS IS OFFICIALLY UNRWAY AT DISNEYLAND!

” 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.

In 1991, shortly after s homophobic dancg polici were lifted, Disney World beme the host of “Gay Days, ” an unofficial event where LGBTQ muny members uld vis the rort durg the first Sunday of June. Gay Days grew to one of the biggt events for Disney World, attractg over 100, 000 atten. In 1994, the pany posted signs outsi the park warng straight atten that “members of the gay muny have chosen to vis the Magic Kgdom today their regnn of Gay and Lbian Pri Month.

In 1998, an off-shoot of Disney World’s Gay Days was tablished at Disneyland. Years later, Disneyland Gay Day founr Eddie Shapiro told Time Magaze that Disney would plate straight parkgoers by handg out ee whe shirts to ctomers who unknowgly wore red, the signature lor of the event. Refunds would be provid to any straight patron who plaed about gay guts.

GAY DAYS ANAHEIM RETURNS TO DISNEYLAND RORT THIS SEPTEMBER

“Those were nversatns that had to be had wh Disney each step of the way to say, ‘Hey, by the way, that’s the fn of homophobia, ’” Shapiro told Time Magaze. Gay creators ntued to be proment at all levels of the pany; for example, Kenny Ortega, who directed movi like “Newsi” and “Hoc Poc” durg the ’90s, livered Disney Channel s fg h wh the mp classic “High School Mil” trilogy.

GAY DAYS IS COMG BACK TO DISNEYLAND THIS YEAR

Years later, Ortega said that although Disney had the “most progrsive group of people I’ve ever worked wh, ” he chose not to make the character explicly gay out of ncern that the pany wasn’t ready to take that step reprentatn.

DISNEYLAND GAY DAYS RETURNS SEPTEMBER

When the show, which aired om 2001 to 2005, was revived for Disney+ as “Lour and Prour, ” the character was picted as openly gay, and creator Ralph Farquhar said they had to e “” to portray the character as queer the origal n. Is Elsa, the ice-spewg queen voiced by Ida Menzel Disney’s morn blockbter “Frozen, ” gay?

That’s all well-and-good, but a) we’ve sce received more pennt prcs whout romanc like Moana and b) the yns stck many as Disney tryg to have s ke and eat too: mouldg Elsa to a gay in whout nng the risk of offendg people who wouldn’t take kdly to the ia of a gay Disney prcs. Other shows that featured mor gay reprentatn durg this time perd clu “Star vs. In 2016, the seri fale of the beloved animated seri “Gravy Falls” nfirmed that the characters of Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were a uple; a sweet moment, but one that felt out of step wh the tim after Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” had more explicly gay reprentatn baked om the begng.

DISNEY GAY DAYS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

2017-2022: Disney’s Many “First” Gay Characters and That “Exclively Gay” Moment. In 2017, director Bill Condon revealed an terview wh Attu that the “Bety and the Beast” live-actn remake would feature what he lled an “exclively gay moment” volvg the character of LeFou (Josh Gad). That “exclively gay moment” amounted to LeFou dancg wh another man for five sends the film’s climax.

GAY DAYS DISNEYLAND ANAHEIM: DISUNTED TICKETS AND MORE

Other “first” gay characters om Disney that have popped up clu: an unnamed man played by Joe Rso, who briefly mentns datg another man a scene om “Avengers: Endgame”; the lbians “Rise of Skywalker, ” who advertently birthed an inic meme; the background lbian moms “Toy Story 4”; a cyclops p “Onward”; supportg characters “Cella” and “Jungle Cise, ” who don’t actually say they’re gay; and Brian Tyree Henry’s superhero “Eternals. Another Disney project featurg obv but non-explic gay them to e out that year was “Lu, ” a Pixar film about an timate iendship between two young boys.

Gay and queer characters were also promently featured the “High School Mil: The Mil: The Seri” spoff on Disney+, which premiered 2020. Disney+ also hosted a short om Pixar, “Out, ” which foced explicly on the difficulti of g out as gay.