Disney suspends political donations in Florida over controversial ‘Don’t say gay’ law

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Abroad

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Disney is unavoidable in the US state of Florida. Every year, an average of 58 million tourists visit the Disney World theme park in Orlando. It also has a lot to do with politics. The sales tax on ticket sales is a major source of revenue for the state and the company is one of its major political contributors. After speaking out Friday against a controversial bill passed by the Senate last week, Disney has now announced it will no longer make political donations in Florida. Disney funds campaigns on both sides of the political spectrum.

Republican Governor Ron Desantis reacted furiously. “Disney has far too close ties to the Communist Party of China and has no moral authority to tell you what to do,” he quipped. Since 2016, Disney has had theme parks in China. Increasingly, the accusation is also heard that Disney would adapt the content of their films within the limits of what is permissible in China.

‘Don’t say gay’

Ironically, of course, Desantis himself wants to guard the boundaries of what is permissible with the parental rights in education bill, which critics dubbed the “don’t say gay” bill ( ‘don’t say gay’). That law prohibits teachers from speaking about sexual orientation or gender-related topics in pre-primary education up to and including the third grade. Republican politicians believe that only parents should have that conversation with young children. Parents can sue schools for alleged violations of the law.

On Monday, Democratic Senator Shevrin Jones, Florida’s first openly gay senator, attempted to pass amendments. In tears, he begged his colleagues to fine-tune the law so it wouldn’t be abused by conservative schools seeking to ban the free experience of orientation or sexual identity. “Please, do no harm,” he said. His amendment was rejected. A day later, the bill was passed by the Florida Senate by 22 votes to 17, after it passed the Florida House of Representatives in February. The new law will come into effect on July 1.

Protest at Disney

Disney has long been urged to speak out against the bill. Disney director Bob Chapek didn’t do that until Friday, three days after the proposal was passed. He apologized to his employees and on Instagram. “You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I failed you. I’m sorry,” he said. He had previously said that corporate statements bring little change and that Disney would become “a political football” if it got involved in the debate.

With his initial stance, Chapek drew the ire of his own employees. LGBTI rights advocates at the company accuse Disney of taking advantage of its popularity within the LGBTI community without committing itself to them. Plus, they accused the company of cutting just about all scenes showing affection between same-sex characters. There would have been more internal protests against this, right up to the top of Pixar.

Bad PR can probably miss the Mickey Mouse factory like a toothache. Since Friday, Chapek has called the new law a violation of human rights. He said he called Republican Senator Ron Desantis himself to express his dismay. Desantis has basically two weeks left to veto the bill, but it doesn’t look like he will. His party colleague Danny Burgess defended the law in the Senate: ‘There are age limits on some topics. That is not new, nor is it radical.’

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