Animators Guild Slams Disney for Staying ‘Silent’ on Florida’s Homophobic ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law

Disney has issued a statement following the signing of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has signed the controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, into law.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a new law that bans instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation for public school children from Kindergarten to the third grade, drawing condemnation from one of the state’s largest employers, The Walt Disney Co.

signed the controversial legislation into law on Monday and wants the law to be repealed. In a statement, the company said that they would like for the bill to be repealed or struck down in the courts and are working with other state organizations to achieve that goal.

Ethan Shanfeld As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill into law on Monday, The Walt Disney Company issued a statement vowing to help repeal the controversial legislation.“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,” the statement reads.

“Here I am being queer and gorgeous and I’m on the red carpet, and I’m very happy to represent fellow gorgeous queer that consume Disney,” Encanto actress Jessica Darrow told Deadline tonight on the Oscars red carpet.

Oscar Isaac may be in the midst of promoting a new Disney series, but that doesn’t mean he’ll hold back criticism of the company’s corporate response to Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

an escalating employee backlash at the Mouse House threatening to spoil the party.Disney is scrambling to contain the fallout over its response to a Florida bill that would bar teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher. The issue prompted an internal battle among company employees who are divided on whether Disney should get political.Left-leaning employees staged walkouts this week, arguing the company failed the LGBT community by initially failing to denounce the bill.

Oscar Isaac has something to say about “Don’t Say Gay.”

As many of its LGBTQ+ employees get set for a full-day walkout tomorrow, Disney has decided to postpone a management retreat set for next week as it continues efforts to calm the internal waters.

Some new details are coming out about Pixar’s movie Luca.

On Saturday night, Greg Berlanti used his PGA acceptance speech as a platform to widely criticize the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation in Florida.

After coming under fire for its handling of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Pixar is restoring a cut scene from its upcoming film “Lightyear”.

Pixar’s forthcoming Toy Story prequel Lightyear has put a same-sex kiss back following an internal backlash to Disney’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

Gabrielle Union has hit out at the Walt Disney Company over its decision to take a soft stance regarding the “Don’t Say Gay” bill banning Florida teachers in classes up to third grade from talking about LGBTQIA+ issues with their students.

Angelique Jackson A group of Disney employees have planned a week of in-person and virtual walkouts in response to the company and CEO Bob Chapek’s handling of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill.On Monday afternoon, the Twitter account called Disney Walkout posted a message explaining that, “The LGBTQIA+ workers and allies at The Walt Disney Company are standing in solidarity together over the coming weeks.”The post then linked to an open letter written in partnership with members of the LGBTQ community across the Walt Disney Company (including Disney Corporate, Disney Television Animation, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Streaming, Enterprise Finance, Enterprise Technology/Global Information Security and Bento Box). “The recent statements by The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) leadership regarding the Florida legislature’s recent ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation,” organizers wrote.

“When we donate money to different political candidates, we have no idea how they’re going to vote going forward into the future,” said Disney CEO Bob Chapek at a shareholders meeting this past week.

Disney executives have censored gay affection in its films.In an open letter attributed to LGBTQIA+ animators and allies at the studio (obtained by Variety), it reads: “We have personally witnessed beautiful stories, full of diverse characters, come back from Disney corporate reviews shaved down to crumbs of what they once were.“Nearly every moment of overtly gay affection is cut at Disney’s behest, regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”The letter is in response to Disney’s messaging around the recently passed legislation in Florida known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which blocks the discussion of LGBT+ identities in schools.Disney’s soft reaction to the legislation attracted widespread criticism.

The Human Rights Campaign is not taking money from Disney anymore.