DeSantis revok Disney's special stat after ‘Don’t Say Gay’ opposn - POLITICO

Contents:

• DISNEY SAYS IT WILL TRY TO REPEAL “DON’T SAY GAY,” DON’T SPECIFY HOW
• FLORIDA BATTL DISNEY WORLD OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• DISNEY EMPLOYE STAGE WALKOUT TO MAND ACTN AGAST 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL
• DISNEY CEO APOLOGIZ FOR ‘SILENCE’ ON ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• DISNEY'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' MISSTEP HOLDS A KEY LSON: CEOS ARE HUMAN-RIGHTS LEARS NOW, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT
• ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ UNEXPECTED SHOWDOWN BETWEEN FLORIDA, DISNEY RPORATN
• DISNEY TO LOSE SPECIAL TAX STAT FOR OPPOSG FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL
• DISNEY TO LOSE SPECIAL TAX STAT FLORIDA AMID ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ CLASH
• DISNEY TAK HEAT OVER PUBLIC STANCE ON FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW, BUT NBCUNIVERSAL AND OTHER STUDS KEEP AWAY THE FRAY
• DISNEY WORKERS WALK OUT OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL AS PANY SENDS MIXED MSAG

DISNEY SAYS IT WILL TRY TO REPEAL “DON’T SAY GAY,” DON’T SPECIFY HOW

Ron DeSantis’ signg of Florida’s notor “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Monday, the Walt Disney pany released a brief statement on Twter llg for the bill’s repeal, and exprsg solidary wh LGBTQ+ people Florida. “Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed to law, ” the entertament giant’s statement reads.

Opponents of the bill have characterized as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, bee the vague language the statute mak unclear exactly what is nsired appropriate.

FLORIDA BATTL DISNEY WORLD OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

”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. 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.

DISNEY EMPLOYE STAGE WALKOUT TO MAND ACTN AGAST '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.

“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. LGBTQ workers and employee alli at The Walt Disney Company staged a walkout prott of Florida's Parental Rights Edutn bill, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill by employe have been walkg out each day sce March 15 om 3 to 3:15 p.

DISNEY CEO APOLOGIZ FOR ‘SILENCE’ ON ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

"The Walt Disney Company’s (TWDC) LGBTQIA+ muny and their alli are termed to take a stand agast TWDC’s apathy the face of the bigoted 'Don’t Say Gay' bill put forth by the FL state legislature, " the prott's webse employe prott agast Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, Glendale, California, March 22, Chiu/Rters"The recent statements and lack of actn by TWDC learship regardg the 'Don’t Say Gay' bill have utterly failed to match the magnu of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety reprented by this legislatn, " the webse says. It would also allow parents to sue schools that engage the employe prott agast Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, Glendale, California, March 22, Chiu/RtersDisney CEO Bob Chapek has been cricized for his rponse to the bill, first for his silence on the legislatn and later for not outright nmng the bill his public has sce said he would pledge $5 ln to groups advotg for LGTBQ+ rights and protectns and add that he has ntacted Gov.

Dunn herself took a moment of silence durg her broadst employe prott agast Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, Glendale, California, March 22, Chiu/Rters"We unrstand the gravy of this legislatn and also how is affectg so many fai across this untry, and bee of that our allyship is gog to take a ont seat, and wh that, we're gog to pse solidary, " Dunn 's Carolyn Peck and Courtney Lyle also remaed silent for two mut solidary wh their workers durg the Women's NCAA Tournament. Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by s crics and opponents, the proposal would prohib “classroom discsn about sexual orientatn and genr inty” the state’s primary schools — dangero legislatn, that, if signed to law, uld crease stigma around LGBTQ issu and put youths at he refed to nounce the bill publicly and suffered backlash, Disney CEO Bob Chapek fally addrsed the pany’s stance on the ntroversial bill durg an annual shareholr meetg Wednday. However, as Benjam Siemon, an LGBTQ animatn wrer at Disney, said a vio posted Sunday on Twter: Disney is “startg to clu more LGBT characters that let kids know that beg gay is all right.

But when they have donated to the sponsors and -sponsors of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and they have ma no posn agast this bill and they are gog to ntue donatg to the policians, they are sentially sayg that this bill is OK.

DISNEY'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' MISSTEP HOLDS A KEY LSON: CEOS ARE HUMAN-RIGHTS LEARS NOW, WHETHER THEY LIKE OR NOT

Addrsg this sort of behavr, which sentially amounts to genr policg, and talkg more openly about genr norms and how rtrictive they n be should be enuraged bee, as the Mayo Clic noted, feelgs about genr do bee more flexible wh Disney is creatg ntent that n break the bias and help children accept themselv and rpect others, needs to be at the foreont of makg such ntent readily accsible to children and batg any laws or polici that would ban s ntent or discsn of forward, I do hope that Disney will meet wh DeSantis to addrs the real ncerns about how the legislatn “uld be ed to unfairly target gay, lbian, nonbary and transgenr kids and fai, ” as Chapek said.

'I am eply gay': Kate McKnon mocks Florida's ntroversial bill. (DIS) CEO Bob Chapek apologized for his “silence” on Florida’s ntroversial bill dubbed “Don’t Say Gay, ” days after clg to nmn .

“Thank you to all who have reached out to me sharg your pa, tratn and sadns over the pany’s rponse to the Florida ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, ” Chapek wrote a letter to employe Friday that was obtaed by CNN.

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

A strategist said Disney's rponse to the so-lled Don't Say Gay law "didn't please anyone. Opponents ll the law "Don't Say Gay" bee rtricts stctn on sexual orientatn or genr inty schools and bans krgarten through third gra. "Iger, the CEO of one of Florida's largt employers, also fend Disney's right to speak out last year agast a ntroversial state bill that limed classroom discsn of LGBTQ+ issu, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by move by then-CEO Bob Chapek, who succeed Iger 2020 and rigned 2022 when Iger returned to the helm, kicked off the bter fd wh the ernor and his Republin alli.

"The DeSantis mpaign rpond to Iger later Thursday by tweetg a vio clip of Disney executive Karey Burke speakg a 2022 pany-wi Zoom ll about LGBTQ reprentatn the pany's that clip scrib herself as a mother of two queer children and says, "We don't have enough leads and narrativ which gay characters jt get to be characters and not have to be about gay stori.

DISNEY TO LOSE SPECIAL TAX STAT FOR OPPOSG FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL

Florida legislators passed a bill on Thursday that would revoke Walt Disney Co’s special tax stat a move wily seen as t-for-tat for the pany’s opposn to a new “don’t say gay” state law limg discsn of LGBTQ+ issu bill now heads to the sk of Governor Ron DeSantis, who is all but guaranteed to sign Republin-led state hoe Florida voted 70-38 to do away wh a special tax district created by a 1967 law that allows Disney to self-ern the roughly 25, 000-acre Orlando area where s Walt Disney World theme park plex is loted. ”Disney me unr fire last month by many the LGBTQ+ muny, cludg some Disney employe, for ially failg to take a public stand agast the “don’t say gay” measure, then nmned the legislatn and said would pse all s polil donatns set off a storm of nmnatn agast the pany by many Republins. DeSantis, a Republin who is a potential ndidate for his party’s 2024 printial nomatn, wants to strike back at Disney for s opposn to a law that bans classroom stctn on sexual orientatn and genr inty for stunts krgarten through third ernor signed the legislatn, dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill by opponents, last law, which is to take effect on 1 July, also prohibs such teachg that “is not age appropriate or velopmentally appropriate” for olr stunts.

It would take effect June next swift effort to dissolve Reedy Creek by Florida Republins has been wily seen as brazen retaliatn after Disney, Florida’s largt private employer, psed polil donatns the state and nmned a new tn law that opponents ll “Don’t Say Gay. DeSantis and Disney started on March 9, when the pany — unr acute prsure om s employe — spoke out agast the Parents Rights Edutn legislatn, or what opponents lled the “Don’t Say Gay” than 150 pani, cludg Marrtt and Amerin Airl, had already signed a Human Rights Campaign letter opposg the legislatn. DeSantis “to exprs our disappotment and ncern that if the legislatn be law, uld be ed to unfairly target gay lbian, nonbary and transgenr kids and fai.

DeSantis ma clear Friday that the mov, targetg Disney’s self-erng stat and a special rve-out another law, were retributn for the pany fightg agast Florida’s recently enacted “Parental Rights Edutn” bill, brand as “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents. Asi om the “Don’t Say Gay” cricisms, DeSantis said Friday that he is also agast recent statements by Disney executiv discsg efforts to clu more diverse characters their ntent. Ially took heat for not takg a public posn on Florida’s so-lled “don’t say gay” bill — and now they are unr fire for dog jt that.

DISNEY TO LOSE SPECIAL TAX STAT FLORIDA AMID ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ CLASH

” As proponents argue that the law is a narrowly tailored issue of parental rights, opponents dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill and see as part of a long history of efforts to target the LGBTQ muny for polil ga. Inially, Disney was silent on the bill, dubbed by many as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Acrdg to a Disney official, there had been no terptns any operatns as of midday employed 190, 000 workers last October, wh roughly three-quarters workg s theme parks bate forced the pany to a balancg act between the expectatns of a diverse workforce and mands om an creasgly polarized, policized one si are LGBTQ advot and Disney employe llg for the walkout prott of CEO Bob Chapek’s slow rponse publicly cricizg Florida legislatn that opponents dubbed as the “don’t say gay” bill.

It also spoke out early agast a 2016 anti-gay bill Geia, threateng to pull s bs om the state, which has bee a favore of movie and TV studs.

DISNEY TAK HEAT OVER PUBLIC STANCE ON FLORIDA’S “DON’T SAY GAY” LAW, BUT NBCUNIVERSAL AND OTHER STUDS KEEP AWAY THE FRAY

DISNEY WORKERS WALK OUT OVER ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL AS PANY SENDS MIXED MSAG