Something you may have picked up on in your travels is that we live in a capitalist society and money really does talk. So when politicians in Florida propose a horrific bill that would essentially require teachers to pretend the LGBTQ+ community does not exist, it would help to have major corporations condemn the legislation in the harshest possible terms and vow to never again donate to the lawmakers who supported it. That’s what some Disney employees were hoping would happen after meeting with the company’s CEO in the wake of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans kindergarten through third-grade classrooms from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation at all, and grades four and above from doing so “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.” Really, it doesn’t seem like much to ask of the $240 billion company, given both (1) the harm the impending law is likely to inflict on young people and LGBTQ+ families and (2) all the money it makes off of the LGBTQ+ community. But apparently, the mouse organization prefers not to get involved.
In a memo sent to employees on Monday—the day before Florida’s state Senate passed the bill, the last hurdle before hitting the governor’s desk—Disney CEO Bob Chapek wrote that condemning the legislation would hurt the company’s “ability to tell…stories” with LGBTQ+ characters. According to Chapek, the most effective way for Disney to achieve change is through “inspiring content” like Modern Family and Pose, and that this content means the company doesn’t have to say anything about the bill. Plus, he said, he thinks corporations “do very little to change outcomes or minds,” are “often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame,” and “can be counterproductive and undermine more effective ways to achieve change.”
As for the monetary donations the company has made to lawmakers who support the bill, which Popular Information reports has been $197,126 over the last two years, Chapek noted that “we have contributed to both Republican and Democrat legislators,” as though donating to Democrats cancels out donating to lawmakers who want to make life more painful for LGBTQ+ people. He added that the company’s new chief corporate affairs officer, Geoff Morrell, would also reassess Disney’s “advocacy strategies around the world—including political giving.” That might seem promising if not for the fact that, per Popular Information, “Morrell…is a Republican operative who previously worked for the George W. Bush administration and BP,” and over the last five years, “donated exclusively to Republican candidates, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), former Senator David Perdue (R-GA), Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI).”
If Disney’s LGBTQ+ leaders had hoped the company would take a moral stand, that might be because in the past, it has. As the L.A. Times wrote this week, under former CEO Bob Iger, Disney “threatened to boycott Georgia over an anti-gay bill that sought to expand individuals’ and businesses’ rights to deny services to those whose way of life conflicts with their religious beliefs.” (The legislation was ultimately vetoed by the governor.) He also quit Donald Trump’s advisory council after Trump announced that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate accord. Last month, Iger retweeted Joe Biden’s condemnation of the Florida legislation, writing, “I’m with the President on this! If passed, this bill will put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy.” On the flip side, according to a source who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter, Chapek is “concerned that Disney might be viewed as too liberal.” Hence, apparently, his decision to take the most cowardly of stances when it comes to the Florida bill.
Obviously, that hasn’t sat well with many Disney employees, some of whom have spoken out publicly. In a video, animator and director Dana Terrace said, “Working for this company has…made me so distraught. I hate, I hate having moral quandaries about how I feed myself and how I support my loved ones.” Benjamin Siemon, whose writing credits include DuckTales, tweeted, “I love working for you so much Disney, it’s all I ever dreamed of and still all I want to keep doing. But you really hurt the LGBTQ+ community today. We’re in pain.”
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