OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
In what should not be a surprise to many, Americans are not happy with Disney after the company embraced the LGBTQ movement.
A new survey found that nearly 7 in 10 Americans no longer want to do “business” with Disney and will instead seek out “family-friendly alternatives.”
The poll found that a whopping 68.2% of voters are now “less likely to do business with Disney.” Of that number, 57.2% said they are “much less likely” to buy from Disney.
Additionally, 69% said that they are likely to “support family-friendly alternatives to Disney.”
Perhaps most importantly, the survey found that 48.2% of Democrats also said they are less likely to “do business” with Disney over the company’s stance on including LGBTQ characters and language at its park, shows, and movies.
In late March, leaked videos went viral on social media of an executive producer at Disney admitting to “adding queerness” to children’s programming.
Disney announced plans to ax gendered language such as “boys and girls” and “ladies and gentleman” in their park greetings to promote gender inclusivity.
Disney’s diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware was heard speaking about the changes in a video conference call recorded by City Journal’s Christopher Rufo.
“We’ve provided training for all of our cast members in relation to that. So now they know it’s ‘Hello, everyone,’ or ‘Hello, friends,'” Ware said in the video.
“We want to create that magical moment with our cast members, with our guests,” she said. “And we don’t want to just assume because someone might be in, our interpretation, may be presenting as a female that they may not want to be ‘princess.'”
SCOOP: Disney diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware says the company has eliminated all mentions of "ladies," "gentlemen," "boys," and "girls" in its theme parks in order to create "that magical moment" for children who do not identify with traditional gender roles. pic.twitter.com/OWsGTUoeCA
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to strip Disney of its self-governing status. Disney has operated in a special district known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District since 1967, giving the company full self-governing rights and special tax privileges.
“I am not comfortable having one company with their own government and special privileges when that company has pledged itself to attack the parents in my state,” DeSantis said. “When that company has very high up people talking about injecting pansexual into programming for young kids, it’s wrong. Walt Disney would not want that.”
DeSantis encouraged Disney to “get back to the mission. Do what you did great. That’s why people love the company, and you’ve lost your way. Maybe this will be the wake-up call that they need to get back on track.”
DeSantis also signed into law Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education” bill.
The bill prohibits teachers from giving classroom instruction on “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade.
DeSantis signed a bill that will impose four-year term limits on school board members and subject most material in district schools’ libraries and classrooms to governmental oversight and approval practices.
“In Florida, we not only know that parents have a right to be involved, but we also insist that parents have a right to be involved,” DeSantis said at a press conference.
DeSantis spoke about CB/HB 1467, a bill that he argued is “probably the strongest curriculum transparency legislation in the country” as resistance against “indoctrination in the school system.”
DeSantis said the legislation will enable parents to “defend the education of their kids” and keep instructional, library, or reading list material in line with state standards.
