Disney calls for the repeal of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill it helped fund

The Don't Say Gay bill was signed into law on Monday.

Disney said in a press release that its goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts.

Disney is one of the largest employers in the state of Florida, where tens of thousands of people work across the company's various parks, resorts, and other divisions.

If the people who held up Harvey Weinstein are the same people who are opposing us on parents' rights, I wear that as a badge of honor.

On Tuesday, he doubled down on his defense of the bill and accused Disney of being dishonest with its opposition. Disney markets products to children, so the company should support the protections for parents in the Don't Say Gay bill. The governor accused Disney of not being genuine in its stance against the bill, pointing out that the company hasn't directly contacted members of the Florida legislature as evidence.

The speaker of the Florida House said Disney never called him when they put the bill through the house. Why weren't they speaking up at the beginning?

The governor spoke directly with Disney CEO Bob Chapek about the bill a few weeks ago. There is no way to know what the men talked about because the details haven't been made public. As more of the general public and Disney's own employees voiced their concerns about how the Don't Say Gay bill would be received, that changed.

The Don't Say Gay bill bars teachers from talking to children about sexuality and gender identity, even if those topics aren't part of the public curriculum. The bill's opponents pointed out that it would lead to a broader array of policies that make schools less safe and welcoming because it doesn't address a specific part of the curriculum. The history of accusing the bill's opponents of being child groomers is a sign of how the conservative participants in this political project are trying to evoke the specter of child abuse.

It's easy to understand why someone wouldn't see Florida as being Gay. Those concerns may only be becoming clear to people who don't live in Florida or other states where similar bills are currently making their way through the local legislature. They have been on the minds of Disney's queer and ally employees, who recently organized a week of digital strikes in protest of the company's connection to the bill and refusal to explicitly state what steps it plans to take in the future to avoid similar.

Disney initially struggled to find a stance it wanted to take in the matter, and the participants of the walk out made clear that their commitment to pushing the company to do right by them isn't wavering. When we spoke with the organizers of the walk out, they said that the experience was overwhelming and that they were still calculating the exact number of participants.

The show of support and community was more than we expected, and the good we were able to do during that time was so encouraging, even if it doesn't quite hold up to the damage done by the law.

Disney's recent push to move more of its employees to Florida is one of the biggest concerns Disney's employees have. According to the organizers, the Imagineers have been asked to move to a new location in central Orlando, where Disney is building out office space. Disney has been relocating employees for some time now, but the bill that would make mandated moves to Florida have a different prospect.

The company has not said anything about how they are handling requests to not relocate as a result of the law.