Florida, the home of Disney World, recently saw its House and Senate pass the "Don't Say Gay" bill, legislation that bans teaching of sexual orientation or gender identity in public school for those in kindergarten through third grade. Language within the bill makes many critics believe it could be extended beyond that age as well. While it is not law yet, all it needs is the signature of Governor Ron DeSantis, which is believed to be only a formality. After recently taking heat for a statement about Disney's stance, Disney CEO Bob Chapek again addressed the situation in an investor call.
"I know that many are upset that we did not speak out against the bill," Chapek explained during his opening remarks. "We were opposed to the bill from the outset, but we chose not to take a public position on it because we thought we could be more effective working behind the scenes, engaging directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and we were hopeful that our longstanding relationships with those lawmakers would enable us to achieve a better outcome. But despite weeks of effort, we were ultimately unsuccessful. I called Governor DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender kids and families. The governor heard our concerns and agreed to meet with me and LGBTQ+ members of our senior team in Florida to discuss ways to address them.
"Certainly the outcome of Florida was not what many of us were hoping for, especially our LGBTQ+ employees and unfortunately, legislation targeting their communities is being considered in many other states, which means this fight will go on. So today we're signing the Human Rights Campaign statement opposing such legislative efforts around the country and pledging $5 million towards organizations, including the HRC, working to protect LGBTQ+ rights. As I wrote to our employees earlier this week, we are committed to supporting community organizations like these, so they are better equipped to take on these fights. Meanwhile, we're also reassessing our approach to advocacy, including political giving in Florida and beyond. I understand our original approach, no matter how well intended, didn't quite get the job done. But we're committed to [supporting] the community going forward."
Disney World is located outside of Orlando, Florida. It produces merchandise with the rainbow flag on it and has days dedicated to LGBTQ+ visitors. But Florida's planned legislation isn't inclusive to those same visitors, and Chapek's original staff memo about the situation–that its "inspiring content" is the best way to create a more inclusive world–rang hollow to many.
Following Chapek's opening statement, a Disney shareholder read a letter from his daughter, which urged Disney to stop giving money to politicians backing the "Don't Say Gay" bill and to "be better." Chapek responded by reiterating his opening remarks and closing that they "stand with our LGBTQ+ community going forward and we'll continue to make an impact."
Over the last couple of years, Disney has donated almost $200,000 to politicians backing the "Don't Say Gay" bill, according to Popular Information. However, in 2016, former Disney CEO Bob Iger threatened a boycott of Georgia when a bill was proposed in the state that would largely ban abortion. Chapek's response has been viewed as much softer than Iger's, as the current CEO says he plans on "talking it out" with the Florida governor.
Chapek later said during the call, "I had an extraordinary conversation with Governor DeSantis today about the genesis of the legislation, the process that the state went through to get it to go through the lawmaking bodies, and most importantly, directly to answer your question, what comes next? And Governor DeSantis committed to me that he wanted to make sure that this law could not be weaponized in any way by individuals in the state or groups in the state to in any way unduly harm or target gay, lesbian, non-binary, or transgender kids and families.
"And he suggested that what we could do is take a look at the legislation as written and participate with our LGBTQ population and come up with a ideas and concerns of specific aspects of that legislation which would lead to the, as I call it, the weaponization of it. And he was very open to this conversation and finding out what aspects are most concerning and working to ensure that that could not have happened in the state of Florida with this legislation."
It's unclear how this conversation might impact DeSantis's intent to sign the bill into law. Regardless of the supposed intentions of the bill, it will place a target on younger members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Mat Elfring on Google+