Disney has been at the center of a controversy surrounding the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that recently passed in Florida’s Senate and House of Representatives. Now there has been a new update about the company’s response to the bill and plans for future action.
Many Walt Disney Company employees were unhappy with the company’s late response to the bill, as CEO Bob Chapek did not speak out against it until after it had passed in the House of Representatives. Chapek recently met with the company’s employees in a virtual town hall meeting to address the employees’ concerns and introduce future plans for supporting the LGBTQIA+ community.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Bob Chapek admitted to the Walt Disney Company employees that the company “made a mistake by not taking a public stance against Florida’s recently passed Parental Rights in Education bill” (the “Don’t Say Gay” bill). In a memo to employees sent a couple of weeks ago, Chapek said that Disney was working behind the scenes to fight the bill, but they were not successful.
Employees were upset by the company’s lack of public response and action, which prompted many to plan walkouts in protest. The biggest walkout planned is scheduled for tomorrow, March 22nd.
Chapek held a virtual town hall meeting with employees to address their concerns. He said, “I and the leadership team are determined to use this moment as a catalyst for more meaningful and lasting change.”
One of the changes the company will make, according to Chapek, is to be “aggressive in opposing an effort by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to have the state investigate parents for possible child-abuse charges if their transgender children receive hormone blockers or other medical treatments” (WSJ).
Disney will also build a task force to create more LGBTQIA+-aware content for children and families. Lisa Becket (Disney Parks marketing executive) and Paul Roeder (film executive) are going to oversee this force.
In addition, Chapek and other leaders will be doing a “global listening tour” to better understand the needs of the Disney company employees.
We’ll continue to monitor the developing situation with Disney and the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The bill is now on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s desk, and it is expected that he will sign it. Keep following AllEars for more of the latest Disney News.
Click here to learn more about Disney’s response to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
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Disney should stay out of politics. They already have shown that they only care about making money. Don’t ruin what little of my guest experience that I have left by making me spend all my limited time in the parks looking for corporate virtue signaling!
It amazes me how many people in this country want to just hand their kids over to the public school system and hope for the best (or not even care)…
Disney (and the media, to include AllEars) could start by not calling the bill “Don’t Say Gay”… as that phrase, nor, the word “gay”, does not appear in the text of the bill. The actual bill is 7 pages long, and the part that has people worked up is roughly 2 or 3 sentences worth of text, and it says that classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in grades K-3… I’m sorry, what’s so horrible about that?
Many things in this bill are actually already in place and functional in my state. Nobody is outraged over it. It’s common sense for any parent who is involved in their child’s education. To be clear, “involved” can be as simple as just being aware of what classes your child takes and having a simple “How was your school day” conversation at the dinner table.
It’s called the “Parental Rights In Education Bill”… 7 pages… easy read. Maybe Disney should read it before going super woke in response.
Perhaps Disney should also get out of politics and stick to what they do best. If the employees aren’t happy with the bill, then it is their right to protest. Disney is under no obligation to take action because some of its employees disagree with a state legislative bill that has zero to do with the company mission.
Well, first of all, it has plenty to do with the company mission, since an “inclusion” key has recently been added. Secondly, just because the phrase “Don’t Say Gay” doesn’t appear in the bill, it doesn’t mean that the wording of the bill is not still problematic, especially in its vagueness. If the bill is using a strict definition of the term “sexual orientation,” then it means teachers shouldn’t be allowed to discuss marriage between a man and woman either. What if a third-grader has gay parents? Should they be banned from attending school functions because other third-graders might see two dads together and start asking questions about it? I can understand not wanting to expose children in K thru 3 to sex education classes, but that’s not what the bill says either. Maybe we should just rewrite the bill in a way that makes everyone happy.
I’ll give you that. The bill (as most political legislation) is a bit of a generic format. I would not have a problem with the bill being more pointed in its details. I don’t think it’s intent is to alienate gay parents, although, I see your point. 20 or 30 years ago I would probably agree with you more on that point, but not now. This country, whether people want to acknowledge it or not, has come a long, long way in accepting and embracing LGBT people.