{"id":154966,"date":"2023-04-23T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=917181"},"modified":"2023-04-23T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-23T00:00:00","slug":"disney-v-desantis-how-a-corporate-behemoth-turned-beacon-of-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/04\/23\/disney-v-desantis-how-a-corporate-behemoth-turned-beacon-of-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney v DeSantis: how a corporate behemoth turned beacon of diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

In an American political landscape seemingly defined by division and acrimony, one of the bitterest fights is also one of the strangest: the slug fest currently playing out between the rightwing Florida governor and 2024 White House hopeful Ron DeSantis and the Magic Kingdom of Disney World.
\nLast week was especially strange. DeSantis appeared to have bitten off more than he could chew when, as gas shortages riled Miami-Dade voters, he kept his long-running dispute with Disney World going through turns as tight as the teacups on the Mad Tea Party at the edge of Fantasyland.
\nDeSantis said he would try to change state law to open Disney World \u2013 the state\u2019s largest employer \u2013 up to new inspections and threatened to build a prison next to the 43 sq mile family-friendly theme park.
\nThat came after DeSantis signed legislation cancelling Disney\u2019s control of a special tax district, known as the Reedy Creek improvement district, within which Disney World sits, that allowed it to maintain its own police and fire departments, planning powers and some other public functions
\nAs part of Disney\u2019s efforts to retain control, it cited a document passed by the outgoing Disney-sympathetic Reedy Creek board stating that its privileges will stand until \u201c21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, king of England living as of the date of this declaration\u201d.
\nDisney said it had cited \u201croyal clauses\u201d to skirt rules banning legal covenants that last in perpetuity, and because the Windsor\u2019s family tree was readily available, and because of \u201cbetter healthcare available to, and longer life expectancy of, a royal family member compared to a non-royal\u201d.
\nIn a counterattack, an attorney for a pro-DeSantis board of district supervisors said Disney\u2019s efforts were \u201criddled with procedural impropriety and illegality\u201d and \u201cthe restrictive covenants will not withstand any judicial scrutiny\u201d.
\nBut at the heart of the DeSantis v Disney dispute is something much bigger than both of them: the reignited and intensifying culture wars in America. DeSantis, with his eyes fixed on attracting Donald Trump\u2019s base, has positioned himself as an extreme culture warrior. Disney\u2019s top boss, Bob Iger \u2013 as the head of a vast corporation \u2013 wants a diverse clientele and has little interest in such positions and an active antipathy to DeSantis\u2019s actions.
\nThe DeSantis-Disney battle began with Florida\u2019s discriminatory March 2022 parental rights in education legislation, dubbed \u201cdon\u2019t say gay\u201d, that banned classroom teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity.
\nThe controversial legislation \u2013 mimicked by other rightwing state governments across the US and condemned by liberals \u2013 was last week enhanced with separate bills passed by Florida\u2019s Republican-dominated legislature on gender-transition treatments, bathroom use and keeping children out of drag shows.
\nUnder Iger\u2019s predecessor, Bob Chapek, Disney initially failed to publicly articulate its opposition to the law, opening up the company to internal and external criticism that it, too, was discriminatory. Chapek later apologized: \u201cYou needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down.\u201d
\nRon DeSantis does little to dampen speculation of a presidential run at the Heritage Foundation in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Friday. Photograph: Alex Brandon\/AP
\nBut Iger has been more outspoken, criticizing the legislation and telling employees that inclusion and acceptance are among the \u201ccore values\u201d of the company\u2019s storytelling.
\nIn fact, Disney\u2019s battle with Florida goes back further than just DeSantis\u2019s time as Florida governor and highlight the company\u2019s unlikely role as a force in gay rights.
\nIn 2007, it changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in the popular Fairy Tale Wedding program, which had previously excluded queer couples from buying packages by requiring a valid marriage license from California or Florida, which did not at the time permit or recognize gay marriage.
\n\u201cAt the end of the day, they\u2019re in business to make money,\u201d the Rev Steve Smith of First Baptist church in Orlando said at the time. \u201cI\u2019m not entirely surprised that Disney would make a fiduciary decision over a moral one.\u2019\u2019
\nThe wedding packages it offered included a ride to the ceremony in the Cinderella coach, costumed trumpeters, and a choice of character to attend, from Mickey and Minnie Mouse dressed in formal attire or, presumably, the seven dwarfs \u2013 Doc, Sleepy, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Bashful and Sneezy \u2013 serving as pageboys.
\nFor eight years to 2005, conservative religious groups had boycotted Disney over policies giving health benefits to same-sex partners of employees, allowing \u201cGay Day\u201d celebrations at its theme parks.
\nDisney has also previously been criticized by Democratic-aligned, pro-LGBTQ+ groups for failing to include openly gay characters in films or stand up for human rights, including in 2020, when parts of Mulan were found to have been filmed in Xinjiang where Uyghur Muslims have been detained in mass internment camps by Chinese authorities.
\n\u201cThe longstanding critique the left has had is the way that the state and corporations are in bed with each other. We now find that they are at odds with each other,\u201d said the Disney historian Peter C Kunze. \u201cIt\u2019s eye-crossing that a company that those of us on the left have criticized we now find defending against authoritarianism.\u201d
\nKunze has written extensively about Disney\u2019s reticence to stick up for diversity and inclusion and its indebtedness to queer creators and audiences who helped keep the company afloat during its creative nadir in the 1980s.
\nOn the animated side, Kunze credits the openly gay lyricist and director Howard Ashman for creating Disney\u2019s animated musical template that produced The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin, all of which went on to become hit stage musicals. The voluptuous sea witch Ursula in The Little Mermaid took inspiration from drag icons such as Divine and Ashman\u2019s inspirations influenced Frozen, the $1.3bn global box office mega-hit released a decade ago.
\nThis image released by Disney shows Josh Gad as LeFou in Beauty and the Beast, the company\u2019s first \u2018openly gay\u2019 character. Photograph: Laurie Sparham\/AP
\n\u201cFantasy often walks hand in hand with camp, one of the cornerstones of gay culture,\u201d author Sean Griffin wrote in a study of Disney and the gay community, Tinker Belles and Evil Queens. But it wasn\u2019t until six years ago, in 2017, that Disney promoted LeFou as its first \u201copenly gay\u201d character in the live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast.
\nTo Kunze, DeSantis and Disney will have to find a way to live together.
\nEven the governor\u2019s threat to build an adjacent prison is probably just posturing against an economic powerhouse. \u201cDisney owns so much land around the park and it\u2019s intentional that you can\u2019t see out,\u201d he said.
\nBut \u2013 just in case \u2013 others are circling. North Carolina Democrats have put forward a bill for Disney World to move to their state. Called the \u201cMickey\u2019s Freedom Restoration Act\u201d, the proposed law would create a commission to explore \u201cstrategic economic incentive plans designed to encourage family parks to expand or relocate\u201d to North Carolina.
\n\u201cFlorida doesn\u2019t seem a good fit for the happiest place on earth these days. In NC, y\u2019all still means all,\u201d the North Carolina senate minority leader, Dan Blue, said in a statement on Twitter.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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