Now that Disney has officially taken a stance against Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill, conservatives are on a war path against the company.
On Tuesday, conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted leaked videos from a Disney webinar that featured executives talking about the company’s dedication to uplifting LGBTQ content. The company has been in damage control mode since its initial lackluster response to the Don’t Say Gay bill, which has been signed by Gov. DeSantis (R) and prohibits elementary school teachers from talking about LGBTQ people with their students.
Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s working on a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill
Rufo tweeted that the videos prove the company “has implemented a ‘not-at-all-secret gay agenda,'” a phrase one of the executives used in jest to refer to her dedication to spotlighting queer voices.
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Implying that it was a bad thing, he added that the president of Disney General Entertainment promised to make 50% of Disney characters LGBTQ and racial minorities.
SCOOP: I've obtained video from inside Disney's all-hands meeting about the Florida parental rights bill, in which executive producer Latoya Raveneau says her team has implemented a "not-at-all-secret gay agenda" and is regularly "adding queerness" to children's programming. pic.twitter.com/eJnZMpKIXT
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
SCOOP: Disney corporate president Karey Burke says, "as the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child," she supports having "many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories" and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. pic.twitter.com/oFRUiuu9JG
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
The videos have set off a far-right firestorm.
Rufo also tweeted a video of his appearance on Tucker Carlson, during which Carlson ranted against Disney’s vows to bring more queer characters to its stories.
In the video, Carlson claimed the Don’t Say Gay bill bans teachers from talking to small children “about their own genitals or encouraging them to change their gender” and said Disney’s meeting was proof it wanted to “indoctrinate children without their parents’ knowledge.”
Carlson also blasted the fact that the internal meeting highlighted Disney’s elimination of “boys and girls” in its live interactions with kids at Disney parks. Cast members have instead been told to say, “Hello, everyone” or “Hello, friends.”
Carlson accused Disney of being “creepy as hell” and having a “sexual agenda for six-year-old children.”
Along with tweeting the video, Rufo wrote, “We are going to war with Disney and the left-wing activists who are subverting parents and pushing gender ideology onto children.”
We are going to war with Disney and the left-wing activists who are subverting parents and pushing gender ideology onto children.pic.twitter.com/xxafxgjRGK
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 31, 2022
Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council – a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group, wrote that Disney CEO Bob Chapek was trying “to turn the company from a moderately woke entertainment giant into public enemy number one” and claimed “the goal is to cut parents out completely, so the left can lead children down this dangerous path.”
Monica Cole, director of the anti-LGBTQ hate group One Million Moms, also weighed in on Disney’s stance against the bill.
“The Florida law is simply designed to protect the youngest school-age children from being taught lies, such as how their birth gender might possibly be a freak of nature and that they can change it,” Cole wrote, adding that in a move of “total surrender,” Disney agreed to restore a same-sex kiss to the movie Lightyear after Pixar employees complained about the company’s censorship of gay content.
“Disney doesn’t think you will care, nor does it think Christian parents and grandparents will take a stand for their children and grandchildren,” Cole wrote. “I think and hope you will.”
She then asked her supporters to sign a pledge to boycott Lightyear.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham also railed against Disney. “Why not just name the roller coaster Sex Mountain?” she said, implying that talking about LGBTQ people in schools is the same as having obscene conversations with children.
Ingraham: Why not just name the roller coaster Sex Mountain? pic.twitter.com/BZuYrC4N6Q
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 31, 2022
Despite years of accusations from LGBTQ advocates that Disney does not do enough to support the community, this is not the first time conservatives have called to boycott the company for being too LGBTQ-friendly.
In 1996, the American Family Association, another SPLC hate group that One Million Moms is part of, launched a boycott of Disney for providing benefits to the domestic partners of LGBTQ staff, among other pro-LGBTQ moves. The boycott lasted nine years and did not result in Disney taking away those benefits.
