Walt Disney, the world’s biggest entertainment company, recently came under fire from the LGBTQ community and investors for not taking a decisive stance against the state of Florida’s Parental Rights bill (“Don’t say gay”).
The bill, officially called the Parental Rights in Education Bill, would prohibit classroom instruction “by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” before fourth grade “or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Disney’s giant stake in Florida’s tourist economy put CEO Bob Chapek under pressure to push back against the bill. The company’s stance, however, was neutral, to the disappointment of many.
The company is also facing criticism for minimizing gay and queer character depictions in their content.
In spite of these accusations, Disney executive, Latoya Raveneau, claims that her work experience at the organization has not been as conservative as she had been told it would be.
According to her statement during the Disney all-hands meeting about the Florida Parental Rights Bill, she was under no constraint when it came to including queer content.
She admitted to having a “not-so-secret gay agenda” and regularly added queerness wherever she could because, in her words, “no one would stop me and no one was trying to.”
According to Latoya, Disney may have been conservative in the past but are now undergoing a turn-around.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1508912865293619202?s=20&t=m8ra9YKx-jBVAfqPUuLj1w
Another of the company’s executive, Karey Burke, who claims to be a mother of two queer children, one transgender and one pansexual, also expressed that despite Disney having an abundance of LGBTQ characters, there were not enough Queer lead characters.
Speaking in tears, she expressed that she wished that Disney would not allow themselves to “go backwards.”
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1508926408332034049?s=20&t=m8ra9YKx-jBVAfqPUuLj1w
These statements leave a lot of confusion as to what Disney’s true stance on LGBTQ representation in children’s programming is. They seem to be sitting on the fence -trying not to come off as to conservative or old-fashioned by not being inclusive; but trying not to upset conservative and concerned parents.
Whatever Disney’s true position may be, however, will definitely be a reason for outrage on either side on the fence.