Disney and Gov. DeSantis engage in year-long fight

Since the March 2022 signing of Florida’s HB 1557, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, sparked criticism from the Walt Disney Company, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Disney have been locked in a fierce, year-long political battle. Currently, Disney is suing DeSantis and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District; the district responded with a counter-suit against Disney.

“As of right now, we will continue going to Disney as we even have a trip planned for the summer. I don’t have a problem with their current policies, that I know of, and are still having a nice experience,” sophomore Lindsay Rogalla said.

The law, introduced by Republican state Rep. Joe Harding in the Florida House of Representatives and Republican state Sen. Dennis Baxley in the Florida Senate, limits discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten to third-grade classrooms if they are not “age-appropriate” or “developmentally appropriate.”

Its supporters believe it gives parents the right to control what their children learn in school. Critics, however, argue it discriminates against LGBTQ+ people and implies that LGBTQ+ people are inherently inappropriate.

“In Florida, what kind of state are you building where you’re essentially pushing kids back into the closet?” LGBTQ+ advocate and author Chasten Buttigieg said in an interview with CNN last year. “You’re saying ‘We can’t talk about you. We can’t even talk about your family.’ As a kid who grew up for eighteen years being told ‘You don’t belong’ [and] ‘Something about you is wrong,’ sometimes you take that trauma to heart. Unfortunately, there are a lot of kids in this country who do the worst because we tell them ‘Something about you is twisted, you don’t belong here.’”

The concern about the effects the law may have on LGBTQ+ youth was widespread, following 2022 Trevor Project data that suggested anti-LGBTQ+ legislation was a cause of distress for many LGBTQ+ youth. That trend has continued in 2023, with the release of the findings of the Trevor Project 2023 survey that found that nearly two in three LGBTQ+ youth felt their mental health was negatively impacted by bills that would ban discussions around LGBTQ+ topics from school.

“It has negatively impacted my mental health slightly because it shows me who I am as a person is somehow inappropriate for students to learn about,” senior Jane*, who identifies as a lesbian, said.

The widespread criticism of the law led then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek to speak out against HB 1557 in early March 2022, following employee discontent on Disney’s previous silence on the then bill. Protests occurred at Disneyland in Anaheim, California and Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida over Disney’s silence.

Chapek eventually broke his silence, telling Disney shareholders he called DeSantis to inform him that Disney was “concerned” about whether HB 1557 would promote discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals.

DeSantis responded by saying the bill is for Floridians and that he would not listen to “woke corporations” like Disney. Conservatives have labeled Disney “woke” several times in the past year, for reasons including a kiss between two female characters in “Buzz Lightyear” and Ariel being Black in the new live-action “The Little Mermaid.” DeSantis expressed his continuous support for the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and later signed it into law on March 28, 2022.

“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” Walt Disney Company said in a press release after the signing of HB 1557. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”

On April 21, 2022, Reedy Creek Improvement District was dissolved through SB 4-C. The district, which includes WDW and its surrounding area, has allowed Disney to largely govern its own affairs since 1967. The dissolution of the district caused worry among taxpayers of the area.

“People are definitely worried,” Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who represents parts of WDW, said in an interview with the Washington Post in April 2022. “This is going to be a major disrupter in our community, and nobody has had the chance to figure out exactly what that will look like.”

On Feb. 6, state Republicans filed HB 9B that would rename RCID to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. The bill would give DeSantis the power to appoint people to the board that governs RCID.

Two days after the filing of the bill, on Feb. 8, the exiting RCID board of Disney appointees met to form an agreement that would hand most of their powers back to Disney; this made the board effectively useless in most tasks. The measure would not be noticed until late March.

DeSantis signed HB 9B into law on Feb. 27 and established board appointees, most of which were DeSantis donors or conservative activists.

On March 29, the new board announced they had discovered Disney’s loophole created at the Feb. 8 meeting. They denounced this action as illegal, which DeSantis backed up by calling for an investigation into the development agreement.

DeSantis has floated several ideas on how to retaliate against Disney in recent weeks, including building a new state prison or rival theme park nearby, adding tolls or increasing taxes. Many DeSantis critics found this laughable, pointing out that WDW is the busiest theme park in the world.

“Here’s how we’re going to beat Disney: we’re going to put a rollercoaster over there and everybody’s going to our rollercoaster because Mickey Mouse is too woke…” Bomani Jones said on CNN, mocking DeSantis’ plan for a new theme park.

Rogalla doubts the ability of DeSantis to be able to successfully target Disney through methods like building a new state prison or rival theme park nearby.

At the same time as this, DeSantis unveiled new legislation to decertify the development agreement.

“Disney’s corporate kingdom is over – despite their repeated and futile attempts to circumvent the Legislature and the will of the people,” DeSantis said in a press release. “Their cheerleaders in the media thought that Disney ‘outsmarted’ the state, but the new control board uncovered their sloppy scheme, and the agreements will be nullified by new legislation that I intend to execute. Disney will operate on a level playing field with every other business in Florida. I look forward to the additional actions that the state control board will implement in the upcoming days.”

On April 26, the board declared Disney’s agreement null and void, which prompted Disney to file suit on the same day. On May 1, the new CFTOD board counter-sued, with Board Chair Martin Garcia saying they have no choice but to sue.