As a quick recap: Florida proposed HB 1557, aka the Don’t Say Gay Bill. The bill prohibits discussion of LGBTQ topics in school. Originally the bill required school staff to report kids to parents if they came out, claiming it was for the child’s well-being. That wording has been removed but you know it’s still encouraged. Disney has huge investments in Florida through their theme parks, hotels and studios. This explained their CEO Bob Chapek’s tepid response to the bill. So Disney contributions to anti-LGBTQ campaigns and unfriendly LGBTQ practices were put on blast and their employees walked out while their stars admonished the company on their own red carpets. Yesterday the bill was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Fortunately, Disney has finally promised they’re going to work to overturn this hateful legislation. Below is a portion of Disney’s statement.
“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the company said in a statement. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”
“We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country,” Disney said in its statement Monday.
The time to speak up about this bill was before it ever saw the light of day. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and now we’ll face a hard and dangerous uphill battle to repeal it. However, it is vital that this bill does get repealed. So even though I‘m not giving them any flowers, having a titan like Disney in our corner will be a huge boon in this battle. There’s a fighting chance of killing this thing in the courts with muscle and money. I also hope Disney and its subsidiaries’ LGBTQ community feel more supported by their employer. I hope this leads to a larger overhaul of Disney practices. The immediate threat of HB1557 needs to be faced but Disney should take this time to clean its own house.
And we need more companies to join this fight. I wish the cruise companies would step up. I know their ships are registered overseas for tax reasons, but their companies have American holdings. And they all rely on Florida ports. They absolutely rely on the LGBTQIA+ community for much of their business, where they hell are they in this? And why isn’t anyone asking them to get involved?
Disney is full of BS. They know it is much less likely to repeal a law than it is to apply pressure on legislators and the governor before a law is passed and signed. They’ll are paying lip service.
Couldn’t’ve said it better. Disney is only ever performative. It is a conglomerate of lawyers whose job it is to buy up existing, better IP than what they drummed up a century ago, because they do not have a creative bone in their collective bodies.
They DGAF about POC, LGBTQIA+, women. No one but their white male stakeholders. They play both sides as long as it lines their pockets. Miss me with anything the company says.
Exactly right.
That ridiculous law is going to bankrupt school districts that will be spending millions on litigation instead of investing in school resources.
When I was a teacher in Florida I had multiple students who came out to me. One who was suicidal, and who I turned over to our guidance counselor and he got the help he needed. (He was afraid to tell his mother).
The reason why kids could come to me was I have a younger brother who’s gay and I did not tolerate any type of bullying in my classroom. Teachers can be that safe space for students struggling, just not LGBTQ+ kids but all kids.
I fear we’re going to lose many students to suicide because teachers will be afraid to help now with this law.
And Ron Desantis is one of the reasons why I moved out of Florida. He’s vile.
So true. A lot of those people don’t care though, and see that possibility as proof of how right and good their homophobia is. They always find ways to make it the fault of the victim, either by directly placing blame on them, or indirectly blaming them by distributing some or all of that blame on others who tried to protect them.
Teachers are secondary attachment figures. Thanks for the service you do for our young people. 💜
As a Florida resident, I wish our POS governor would concentrate on economic issues, not this! If our POS gets re elected, I will lose my mind!
Fellow Floridian here. I’m sickened by our gov and this bill, too.
@Joanna
I feel you
From a Texan whose POS governor could give yours a run for his money…
Hate to tell you, he will be re-elected unfortunately.
abbott?
Oh no doubt. He’s still a POS.
I live in Tennessee, and your Gov DeSantis is the one thing keeping our governor from being the worst in the country. Sorry.
As a consolation, we have living shitshow Senator Blackburn asking supreme court nominees to define woman.
I think having Rick “I plead the 5th” Scott as a senator still has having Blackburn as a senator beat. After mid-terms, he is salivating at a chance to increase taxes for the middle and working class.
Too little, too late.
People are drawing comparisons to when Netflix rewrote Elliot Page’s character for him. Sooooooo yeah there’s that 😂
Seems to me the folk what scream the loudest and are the most virulent (*cough* teddy cruz, deSantis, abbott, etc…*cough) are the ones with the most to hide and should REALLY just shut up and let folks live their lives
I say this because I personally have a family member who is a combination of all three of as the above named and is the most rigidly opposed to ANYTHING they perceive as “queer” and who hasn’t spoken to me in years because I told them they would be much happier and less of a douche if they would just go ahead and come out already. 🤷
Anything to save those Pride merch dollars.
Saw some essays about corporations seeking the dollars but not doing any other proactive work. Rainbow merchandise is great and increases visibility, but come on. I think the money grab is gross.
Florida, the gay state. I will call it that until this stupid law has been removed.
Did this corporation just not object to the persecution of children, so that they could sell more merch?
Do these corrupt fools think LGBT2QIA people are more valuable to them as a market niche than as equal members of society?
Because that’s what it looks like.
Exactly. Why do we go back to these corporations that do nothing for us when we give them so much?
I know calls for boycotts of companies and states don’t actually work, but I still choose to avoid them when I have a choice. Am I the only one who judges people in my life who willingly choose to visit states like Florida and Texas for vacations when they are passing homophobic, transphobic, and bigoted legislation let alone the racist voter suppression laws? In my brain I see it as you can choose to Disney it up in Florida or California if you MUST Disney because that’s your lifestyle or whatever. Why wouldn’t you choose California??