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Parc de loisirs et espaces thématisés

Burning Cabins and Rainbow Mickeys: Disney’s Florida “Don’t Say Gay” Controversy and Definitions of America in U.S. Disney Parks

Des chalets qui brûlent et Mickey arc-en-ciel : les controverses « don’t say gay » de Disney Floride et les définitions de l’Amérique dans les parcs Disney
Caroline Atwood

Abstracts

Disney has recently been thrust into the center of contemporary American cultural debates due to the introduction of greater inclusivity in its parks and its public battle with Florida governor Ron DeSantis. The so-called Don’t Say Gay controversy stemmed from Disney’s public opposition to a law central to DeSantis’ platform that limits discussions of gender and sexuality in public schools. This affair reminds us that Disney World is more than a theme park resort; it is a powerful cultural-political icon as well as a mainstay in the economy of Florida. The battle over Disney is a battle over definitions of America. This paper situates Disney’s current controversy within the company’s longer involvement with state-sponsored heteronormative mythmaking and its treatment of queerness within its parks. It also describes the radicalization of the Florida Republican Party and the delicate political position of the Walt Disney Company’s Florida property. This paper argues that the Don’t Say Gay controversy was inevitable due to the role of Disney parks in defining America, the delicate political situation of the Walt Disney Company’s Florida property, and current America conservative reactionary politics.

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Introduction

  • 1 “Disney” hereafter will refer to both the Walt Disney Company and the Walt Disney Company media/par (...)

1The Disney parks operate within the context of a powerful combination of American politics, economics, and culture. In addition to being the world’s largest theme park operator with over 155,991,000 global guests annually (TEA, 2019), Disney is also one of the world’s largest mass media conglomerates.1 Today, Disney is currently Florida’s largest taxpayer with over 75,000 employees and 50 million visitors each year (Iger, 2023). The major driver for tourism and employment in Central Florida, since the development of the Walt Disney World (WDW) Resort in the 1960s, it has maintained a long and cozy relationship with lawmakers to serve its corporate interests and those of its allies in local and federal government, while managing to actively shape American mass culture (Foglesong, 2001).

2However, Disney’s intimate ties with the Florida state government erupted into crisis in the winter of 2021, when the company publicly announced its opposition to a proposed state law that sought to curb discussions of gender and sexuality in the state’s schools. Championed by Florida’s hard-right governor Ron DeSantis, the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law became a rallying cry for cultural conservatives across the United States, and Disney’s opposition thrust the company into the center of a controversy over sexuality and gender. Despite a campaign by Floridian political conservatives to compel Disney to rescind its opposition to the bill, the company maintained its position, with CEO Bob Chapek directly opposing the bill. Following passage of the bill into law, the governing conservatives in the state retaliated against Disney months later by repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which gives Disney its special self-governing status in Central Florida, a targeted punishment for the company’s having crossed the governor on his signature initiative. To some conversative observers, Disney’s frayed relation with the Florida state government – and with the broader swath of cultural conservatives in the United States who had historically been reliable customers of the company’s ostentatiously patriotic content – was a shocking turn of events and a sign of Disney’s embrace of an ostensibly left-wing notion of inclusivity as the firm’s governing ethos. Closer scrutiny reveals, however, a longer and more complex history of Disney’s adaptations to shifting norms around race, gender, and sexuality.

3Against the backdrop of recent controversies, this paper examines the history of Disney’s close relationship to American state power and culture (Foglesong, 2001 ; Zehnder, 1975 ; Gennaway, 2011 ; Dorfman & Mattelart, 1975 ; Bryman, 1995). Building upon this earlier work, the paper argues that the Don’t Say Gay controversy and ensuing fallout were inevitable due to the role of the Disney parks in definitions of America, the delicate political situation of WDW in Florida, and current American conservative reactionary politics. Given the central position of Disney in American culture and society, the widely perceived stakes of the company’s stance with respect to these issues are nothing short of existential for many fans and politicians. It is revealing, therefore, that disruptions to status quo configurations of race, gender, and sexuality by Disney have ignited extreme passions over definitions of America itself.

  • 2 TikTok, Twitter (now X), and Instagram are the main public platforms. Facebook communities generall (...)

4In this article, I utilize several complementary methods to discuss the Don’t Say Gay controversy and history. The main method employed is discourse analysis of Disney fans’ social media and fan journalism collected from 2019 to 2023. The analysis relies on data obtained through the main public fan conversational platforms.2 This discourse analysis also utilizes fan magazines and newspapers in order to interrogate claims from social media, understand larger trends and fan reactions, and explore comments on related articles. Fan sources were chosen to provide insight into the reactions to park changes, but also because social media was a key element of the controversy and mass cultural reaction. Fan journalism is also valuable because it is the most up to date regarding changes in the legal cases and because it focuses on impacts for the local area. The article also utilizes an analysis of legal cases from both Florida and California to supplement information regarding previous Disney park operating procedures given the dearth of such information available in the public sphere. The combination of these sources and methods is especially important when understanding the complex political and cultural situation of WDW and current American conservative reactionary politics.

5This paper will first discuss Disney’s ties to the American state and definitions of America as context for the Don’t Say Gay controversy and its central ideological debate. It will review the buildup to the current controversy as the company slowly began to implement greater inclusion. Finally, this paper provides an overview of the Don’t Say Gay controversy and the impacts this battle will have upon Central Florida and the future of the theme park industry.

Disney’s Definition of America

6The Don’t Say Gay controversy is a battle over definitions of America and the interpretations of Disney’s governing ideology. Disney first became involved with the US government during World War II and this relationship continued afterwards when Walt Disney partnered with the government and used his creations to further his version of American values as a bulwark against the perceived threat of communism (NMAH, 2018). From their beginning in the mid-1950s, Disney parks were designed to promote these American state-sponsored values. As Bill Walsh, one of Walt Disney’s original imagineers wrote, “Disneyland will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dreams, and the hard facts that have created America. And it will be uniquely equipped to dramatize these dreams and facts and send them forth as a source of courage and inspiration to all of the world” (Mosley, 1985 : 232). They did not aim to tell factual history, but rather to promulgate a narrative that aligned with American cold war ideology (Bryman, 1995).

7The designers were thus aware that they were crafting attractions that could influence the minds of guests and the essence of American culture ; therefore, they recounted a state-sponsored narrative touting a white, capitalist, heteronormative mid-century version of America based on nuclear families and strict gender roles. As Avila (2004 :137) argues, Disneyland “provided a spatial context in which post-war Americans could confront their anxieties about the changing position of women in American society, seeking comfort in cultural representations of domesticated housewives and stable nuclear families.” While crucial to postulating postwar American ideology, the decision had racialized and homophobic undertones to match.

8As Disney’s themed domains aimed to cement a vision of America founded on white supremacy and the idealized nuclear family controlled by strict gender roles, people who did not fit these roles were not hired in themed areas, an exclusion policy designed to maintain “the suspension of disbelief,” as exposed in Kelly v. Disneyland (1985), a landmark case establishing the discriminatory treatment of non-white employees during Disneyland’s early years. This supports a narrative of the superiority of white men and the absence of people of color or queer folks in an “ideal” America.

9Visions of a white America have been further developed through Disney’s creation of a racial Other. Cultural critics have emphasized that Frontierland is a romanticized and whitewashed version of the American West in the time of expansion, showcasing the “bravery” of white settlers in the face of the “barbarism” of native tribes. On the Disneyland train, attendees originally passed a dead settler with an arrow in his chest outside a cabin on fire and war canoes (Weiss, 2019). The guide explained, “This is the American West as it was a century ago. Our forefathers who tamed this great wilderness faced constant danger. And there, across the river, is proof—a settler’s cabin afire ! The old pioneer lies nearby—the victim of an Indian arrow” (Weiss, 2019). This section has been removed, but the act of demonizing the Other, such as people of color or queer folks, to influence and solidify one’s base is being perpetuated by Florida conservatives.

10Disney parks of the recent past had no room for “counterculture” or “Other” lifestyles. Conservative groups have long argued that queerness is not family friendly (VanBoskerck, 2021). Impacted by conservative Christians, some of whom consider queerness a sin, queerness and same-sex marriage have both historically and increasingly taken on sexualized dimensions (Rubin, 1992 ; Jakobsen & Pellegrini, 2004). Exposure to non-heterosexuality and queerness, conservatives argue, is not suitable for children and should not be allowed in family-focused spaces. Not long ago, Disney parks advocated midcentury hegemonic American gender roles, which included these negative views of queerness (Duggan, 2003). Thus, in 1957, in line with other anti-queer laws around the country, Disneyland instituted a policy forbidding same-sex dancing and outward “homosexual” activity (Bajko, 2021).

11The policy remained unchallenged until 1980, when Disneyland faced its first sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit (Exler v. Disney, 1980). Andrew Exler and another queer activist, Shawn Elliott, decided to protest Disney’s policy and danced together at the park. Despite dancing without any touch or sexual activity, the men were forcibly removed from the park by security guards. The guards argued that “[t]his is a family park. There's no room for alternative lifestyles here” (Fulton, 1989). Both men sued Disneyland arguing that the policy violated California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation and other areas of difference. Exler eventually won his lawsuit in 1984, thus officially putting an end to Disneyland’s homophobic policy regarding its guests. However, this policy still operated unofficially throughout the park until at least 1988. In 1987, a security guard told three male UCLA students to stop slow dancing, asserting that “touch dancing is reserved for heterosexual couples only” (Fulton, 1989). The resulting lawsuit (Drake, Hubert & Stabile v. Disneyland, 1988) was ultimately settled out of court, accompanied by Disneyland’s agreement to reaffirm its policies prohibiting LGBT+ discrimination (Spano, 1988). While Disney’s ban on openly “homosexual” activity is no longer in effect, the argument that non-heterosexual couples are not “family friendly” and should not be included in Disney creations is at the heart of the Don’t Say Gay controversy.

Reedy Creek Improvement District & Politics of Florida

12The Don’t Say Gay controversy is intensified by the relationship between Disney and the State of Florida, which has been mired in politics since the resort’s beginnings. In 1967, Florida lawmakers voted to create Disney’s self-governing 38 sq mi district in Central Florida called the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). The RCID was originally pitched to conservative lawmakers as a way to allow Disney to innovate free from stifling governmental bureaucracy when designing and operating the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (E.P.C.O.T.), a prototype city designed for corporate testing (Chytry, 2012). Although E.P.C.O.T. never came to fruition due to the death of Walt Disney, the RCID has remained a company asset, as it allowed Disney to impose taxes and pass laws governing company land, along with control over public services, zoning, and infrastructure. As part of the RCID, Disney also had its own police force, fire department, and other municipal utilities (Gennawey, 2011). This act accompanied a broader embrace by Florida lawmakers of Walt Disney’s Florida Project and the economic improvements that it would bring to the area.

13Following the death of Walt Disney in 1966, most of the more extreme projects, such as E.P.C.O.T., were cancelled under his more business-minded brother and co-founder Roy Disney. This shift became increasingly more pronounced after the death of Roy Disney and the transfer of the company out of family control in 1971. However, the long life of the RCID remained a testament to the close relationship between Disney and the State of Florida. Disney is still today the largest driver of tourism dollars for Central Florida and one of the state’s largest employers. In the past, Disney worked closely with the state government to the benefit of both the Republican and Democratic parties (Foglesong, 2001). However, this relationship would come under scrutiny in 2022, and the importance of the RCID would be used as a tool to attempt to stop Disney from speaking out against the reactionary actions of conservative Florida lawmakers.

Building Up to Don’t Say Gay

14Following greater acceptance of queerness in American culture, US corporate leadership has begun to realize that diversity and inclusion efforts can be very profitable. In addition to more sales opportunities through LGBT+ and people of color pride merchandise, studies have shown that diversity is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, greater market share, and greater relative profits (Herring, 2009 ; Slater et al, 2008 ; Jayne & Dipboye, 2004). A 2021 report from McKinsey found that the media industry forfeits over $ 10 billion in annual revenues due to a lack of African American representation, representing some 7 % of the entire industry baseline (Dunn, et al, 2021). When people see themselves represented in media, they are more likely to spend money on the products or services being touted and develop an emotional connection to the creators and to the media platforms promoting the creations.

15In the wake of greater public acceptance, the U.S. LGBT+ community has also gained greater rights, as stipulated for example in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex couples had the right to marry and as reflected in the Respect for Marriage Act that protects same-sex and interracial marriages. Thus, many corporations are turning to greater inclusivity efforts to maximize profits and to reflect and match American mass cultural acceptance of the LGBT+ community and people of color (Champlin & Li, 2020). Seeing other corporations do so, Disney began to realize the profit value of diversity and inclusion initiatives, such as cultural heritage months and festivals in its parks, for example the annual Lunar New Year Festival starting in 2011, and in 2019, the introduction of Hispanic and Latin American Heritage Month.

16Disney's stance towards the queer community has also become more inclusive in recent years. Following the trend of other corporations and the federal government, Disney officially supports the LGBT+ community and, as Disney animator Benjamin Siemon points out, the company has made statements condemning homophobic laws of the past (Siemon, 2022b). In 2016, Disney joined other companies to boycott the State of Georgia, one of its most popular filming locations, if the Free Exercise Protection Act (House Bill 757) became law. HB 757 would have made it legal for businesses to discriminate against queer customers if being gay went against their religion. The threat of boycott led the conservative Republican Georgia governor to veto the bill. While these events demonstrate that Disney has put its foot down in the recent past, the complexity of its pro-business and state-sponsored stance complexifies this purported shift toward inclusivity (Murray, 2016 ; Rearden, 2016).

17Despite its support of the Georgia boycott and official acceptance of queer identities, Disney’s inclusion of queerness prior to the Don’t Say Gay controversy was uneven. The company’s foundations in traditional family values and attempts at political neutrality have hindered the full acceptance of queerness at Disney. For example, Disney introduced a “rainbow” merchandise collection around the same time as other corporations unveiled their queer pride merchandise. The collection was not openly called pride or LGBT+ merchandise, but the company has managed both to convince queer guests to purchase its wares through association with pride or LGBT+ symbols and values and to feign innocence for more conservative visitors. Beyond being useful for the sales of profitable merchandise, these minor inclusive changes aimed to help Disney draw customers from both sides of the political spectrum. During this period, Disney was also working closely with state lawmakers and donating to campaigns of both parties. In fact, even Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Disney have not always had such a confrontational relationship. DeSantis was married at WDW in 2009 and received $ 106,809.38 in campaign donations from Disney in 2020 (Norton, 2023).

18A major turning point occurred during 2020 as Disney began a larger push for inclusivity and the US saw significant cultural changes. While the park maps have always included images of couples and families, 2020 saw the creation of the first park map to include a same-sex couple (Michaelsen, 2020). Many fans on social media were excited about this update and hoped this meant generally more queer representation at Disney. The major change was Disney’s announcement that the popular Splash Mountain attraction would be rethemed to the Princess and the Frog (2009), Disney's first African American princess. The retheme occurred in response to the social unrest regarding racism in the United States at the time, larger inclusivity efforts, and the necessity to renovate the aging ride. The theming of the attraction had been long criticized as it was based on Disney's 1946 film Song of the South, criticized for its use of racial stereotypes and its romanticized version of life for slaves and sharecroppers on Southern plantations. It is not surprising that the film was revived and chosen for the attraction in 1989 during a period of strong reactionary Reagan-era conservatism. Despite the controversial theming, the thrill ride quickly became one of the most popular rides at the Disney parks. However, while fans remained enamored by the flume, opinions of the ride’s theming changed over time, other thrill rides opened at Disney, and the ride heavily needed mechanical refurbishment. Thus, the news of this retheming was widely published with many fans excited by the changes. Most of the initial comments in response to the changes were positive given that retheming and renovating had been long awaited in a number of circles (Vejvoda, 2020 ; Niles, 2021).

19When added to the inequitable socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020 bolstered American social justice movements and calls for equity through structural change. In the wake of the ensuing widespread protests and related social change, there has been a rise in far-right extremism both outside and within the US Republican party, not unlike other periods of reactionary politics following civil rights advances (Kydd, 2021). When these groups perceive “threats to their dominant status position […] they tend to respond to such believed challenges with increased social control of marginalized others, greater conservative ideological affiliation and political partisan divides, as well as increased implicit and explicit biases” (Isom et al, 2021).

20Thus, given the uptick in political polarization in the US since the Splash Mountain announcement, the fan reaction to other inclusive changes promised by the company has also become more pronounced. Disney announced in January 2021 that the company would also be retheming the Jungle Cruise attraction due to its imperialist and white supremacist themes (Ramirez, 2021). While most of the initial comments disparaging the Splash Mountain retheme were careful to tiptoe around the idea of racism for fear of sounding racist, the radicalization and reactionary politics of American conservatives has led to more intense criticism of the attraction rethemes. Compared to earlier discourse, these comments use both far-right dog whistles and explicitly mention race. These fans believe “Disney is in the process of taking the woke scalpel to the Jungle Cruise” and moving away from the “values and vision of Walt Disney” (VanBoskerck, 2021). These comments do not try to hide their disdain for “woke liberals” or “snowflakes,” whom they see as ruining the attraction for them by making their experience “political.” Despite this outrage, Disney rethemed the Jungle Cruise and substituted disrespectful portrayals of Indigenous people for animal humor and foolish adventurers. While the attraction is still premised on echoes of US imperialism, the retheme changed the prevailing ethos as much as possible without altering the ride so fundamentally as to cause more conservative outcry.

21The 2021 and later retheme criticisms are part of a larger backlash from US conservatives against recent “liberalizing” forces, such as the removal of Confederate statues and racist mascots. Therefore, as Disney reflects greater pushes for equity and inclusion in American mass culture, some conservative guests see these changes at Disney as a threat to white America, despite Disney’s traditional alliance with conservative visions of American culture. This backlash and the building confrontation between Disney and far-right reactionary politics is the foundation for the Don’t Say Gay controversy.

The Don’t Say Gay Controversy

22Introduced in early 2022, the Parental Rights in Education Act (HB 1557), also called the ‘Don’t Say Gay law’ by detractors, is part of a further right shift in Florida state politics spearheaded by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. Proposed by a DeSantis ally, City of Ocala-based Republican Senator Dennis Baxley, the law bans any classroom discussions of “sexual orientation or gender identity,” which opponents argue have led to greater discrimination and physical and mental health risks for queer youth and teachers. Besides being blatantly homophobic, the wording of the law is subjective and nebulous, meaning teachers or parents could prevent any queer-inclusive lessons and discussions, as well as the outward display of students’ gender nonconformity. Proponents argue that the law will allow parents to protect their children from learning about “inappropriate” topics, but this law is only being used to thwart displays or discussions of non-cisgender or non-heteronormative gender and sexuality (Alfonseca, 2023). The law’s nebulous construction and indeterminate implications place queer students, teachers, administrators, and family members at great risk. Since being signed into law in April 2022, there have already been cases of teachers being fired due to being open about their queer sexuality (Zambrano & Heimann Mercader, 2022). Officially the law aims to protect the rights of parents regarding what their children learn in school ; however, it belongs to a series of anti-queer legislative initiatives proposed by Florida Republicans.

23Disney became involved with the controversy surrounding the law when the Orlando Sentinel broke the news that the company was giving political donations to the sponsor and all co-sponsors of the bill (Maxwell, 2022). While Disney donates to politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties, the public controversy began as CEO Bob Chapek released a statement that did not condemn the bill, and it became clear that donations to the bill sponsor had been occurring despite Baxley’s backing of anti-queer legislation for many years (Maruf, 2022). Baxley also proposed an earlier bill that would have prevented gay couples from adopting children in Florida, once comparing queer parents to alcoholics and abusers, but this did not stop Disney’s political donations to his campaigns.

24The implicit support for Don’t Say Gay precepts conveyed through the company’s “non-response” led to a massive backlash from the Disney community and beyond, coming not only from queer and LGBT+ allies, but also from Florida Democrats and from employees within the company itself, who invoked Disney’s official statement supporting the queer community. While #BoycottDisney trended on Twitter, high-profile queer employees began to call out harsh internal realities with respect to Disney’s representation of queer and LGBT+ characters and values. These figures include major Disney Channel names, such as Owl House creator Dana Terrace and Sam King, director of Ghost and Molly McGee, who argued that, despite publicly championing their shows’ representation, Disney had made any internal attempts to do so extremely difficult (King, 2022 ; Siemon, 2022a).

25Following the backlash generated by the company’s initial lack of response, CEO Chapek and the Walt Disney Company released a comment specifically opposing the bill and sent an internal apology to queer employees. Arguing they wanted to “deal with this matter behind the scenes,” Chapek announced a plan to meet with Governor DeSantis and planned to donate $ 5 million to organizations that support queer rights. However, DeSantis’ office said that no meeting had been scheduled, and the governor criticized the company for being too “woke” on the conservative Fox News network (Michaelsen, 2022b). Given that the Don’t Say Gay law and other anti-inclusion legislation constitute the centerpiece of the current Florida Republican platform, DeSantis intended to force Disney to rescind its opposition to the law.

26DeSantis and his allies aimed to use their interpretation of Disney’s governing ideals and anti-queer history to force Disney to support their bill. The governor’s office made a statement condemning Disney’s actions, arguing that “Disney is a family friendly company that creates wholesome entertainment for kids…. [Florida Parents] do not want their young children exposed to inappropriate content about sex and gender theory at school” (Whitten, 2022). Once again, queerness is counterposed to being family friendly, harking back to the conservative Christian ideas of queerness as sinful and highly sexualized, or as a “counterculture” lifestyle that goes against the postwar heteronormative family structure supported by previous Disney ideology. Such beliefs led conservatives to boycott Disney and protest outside the parks (Sampson, 2022). These interpretations of Disney’s governing ethics and their socio-economic importance meant that as the Florida Republican Party moved further right, they would attempt to get Disney on their side, which made controversy and conflict inevitable due to Disney’s realization that inclusivity and being politically moderate was best for profits.

27The conservative reaction to the company’s perceived excesses was in stark contrast to the views of liberal groups who believed that Disney was not taking sufficient steps to promote equity and inclusion. The Human Rights Campaign, an organization that advocates for queer rights, refused Disney's donation until the company made substantial changes to its policies and practices. This advocacy was mirrored by many employees who staged walkouts, urging the company to more clearly condemn the bill and to effect tangible internal change. Even Abigail Disney, granddaughter of Roy Disney, argued against conservative readings of Disney company ideology, asking “What is Disney for ? Is it for pretending what America is about or is it for defining a vision for the world in which fantasy, love, kindness, decency, and loyalty are bedrock values” (Disney, 2022). At this point, Chapek paused political donations so the company could reassess its donations and whether they reflected company values. Disney also renamed its rainbow merchandise collection the Disney Pride Collection and donated a portion of profits from the collection to LGBT+ organizations (Becket, 2022).

Disney vs DeSantis : Disney Parks as a Political Tool

28Disney’s active criticism of HB 1557 led to huge unintended consequences for the company. In retaliation for Disney’s opposition to the law, Governor DeSantis and other far-right Republican lawmakers repealed the Reedy Creek Improvement Act. The move to end the RCID was primarily symbolic, aiming to convince Disney to drop its opposition to the law. However, despite DeSantis’ heavy threat, Disney did not back down. In November 2022, Disney CEO Bob Chapek was unexpectedly fired and replaced by former CEO Bob Iger. Since reassuming the role of CEO, Iger has initiated a major restructuring of the company that includes more park investment and an upholding of diversity as a boon for profits. Significant for the controversy and indicative of Disney’s path ahead, Iger has also taken a more confrontational stance versus DeSantis.

29In May 2022, taxpayers from Osceola County filed a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration as they claim DeSantis violated Disney’s freedom of speech, given the governor’s admission that the RCID was dissolved due to Disney’s comments on the Don’t Say Gay law (Foronda & Gorsky v. State of Florida, 2022). CEO Bob Iger also criticized DeSantis’ actions, saying “A company has a right to freedom of speech […] the governor got very angry about the position Disney took […] and he’s decided to retaliate against us […] to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right” (Iger, 2023). The lawsuit was filed because the dissolution of the RCID would fundamentally change the governmental and infrastructural foundation of Central Florida while also forcing the state to take on the RCID’s billion-dollar-plus debt and to raise the taxes of residents in Osceola and Orange counties (Mike, 2022a ; Mike, 2022b). The case contends that the dissolution cannot be implemented, as it is a violation of Disney’s right to freedom of speech and would unfairly impact Central Florida residents. A Trump-appointed judge, who is also a DeSantis ally, denied this lawsuit on the grounds that constitutional rights were not being violated and also denied several other lawsuits against the Don’t Say Gay law (Johnson, 2022).

30Following the lawsuit and given the logistical worries expressed by residents, the State of Florida decided in February 2023 that instead of fully dissolving the RCID, that they would re-establish the RCID as a new district with similar powers. This allows the new entity to retain the billion-dollar debt and hence to prevent this burden from befalling the state or its residents, while also avoiding a complete reorganization of Central Florida’s political and economic structures. The new district, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD), is regulated by a Board of Supervisors appointed by the governor. Taking power in March 2023, the five members of the Board are DeSantis allies, including a Christian nationalist and an anti-LGBT+ “parents’ rights” activist (Maddaus, 2023).

31The fires of controversy cooled for several months before being reignited by DeSantis as he initiated his bid for the presidency. In February 2023, the day prior to the board takeover, Disney amended the RCID development agreements to render the new board virtually powerless in managing the district aside from infrastructure and gave the Walt Disney Company complete control over development within the district itself. The additions provided these rights to Disney for at least 30 years, but possibly in perpetuity. To circumvent state law banning in-perpetuity clauses, Disney included a royal lives clause, which is a rarely used provision stipulating that the rights described in the document can be exercised based on the survival of the lineage of a member of a royal family. In this case, the terms will “continue in effect until 21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III.” These changes to the RCID required Disney to advertise the amendments in local newspapers and to ensure their passage through public meetings, which Disney argues proceeded according to state law (Whitten, 2023). DeSantis has not disputed this clause because it is a valuable loophole used by wealthy Floridians for trusts (Birketts, 2024). However, DeSantis ordered an investigation into Disney’s dealings, arguing that they did not follow state law with respect to advertising the change. The DeSantis administration also filed a state lawsuit asking the state to void the entire addition. The initial judge for the case recused himself due to a familial relationship with Disney, and the case is now being presided over by the same Trump-appointed judge who previously threw out other cases again the Don’t Say Gay law, including Foronda & Gorsky v. State of Florida (2022) (Durkee, 2023).

32In addition to battling in court, DeSantis' allies were able to wrest control from Disney once again by making its Board of Supervisors the “superior authority” over the entire district through Resolution No. 639. The Board of Supervisors voted in late April 2023 to remove the elected District Planning Board Subcommittee and vest all district powers and abilities in the Board of Supervisors. However, this legal maneuver is also designed to supersede the power of the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, which lie within the district, thus posing a legal challenge for DeSantis and his allies. The Disney theme parks are located within these cities, and conservatives have speculated that Disney could use the jurisdictions to retain control over company parks due to the large number of Disney-affiliated residents therein (Petit, 2023). However, the cities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake comprise elected city governments with the same legal status as other cities in the state, and there is some debate as to whether it is legal for the governor and state government to remove the authority of democratically elected local governments, whose authority is stipulated in the U.S. Constitution. Resolution No. 639 has remained in force despite protests from Disney and allies due to the cities having voting rights (CFTOD BOS, 2023).

33In addition to implementing the punitive measures of the redefined RCID, DeSantis also intends to punish Disney directly. The state governor has discussed levying additional taxes on Disney and tourists coming to the district, adding more toll roads, and suspending ongoing and pre-planned infrastructure projects on district roads. Florida Republican lawmakers have also introduced a bill that would remove Disney’s exemption from state ride inspections. DeSantis has even discussed the possibility of redeveloping the land surrounding the parks through other projects, such as a rival theme park, a state park, or a state prison, as well as restricting Disney’s power to expand and renovate its existing parks.

34Due to the lack of governmental cooperation, Iger announced in May 2023 that Disney was cancelling plans to move corporate headquarters to and invest $ 18 billion in Florida’s WDW over the next 10 years. The long-scheduled plan to move corporate headquarters to Central Florida and to renovate the Walt Disney World Resort would have created over 13,000 new Disney jobs and thousands of other indirect positions, while attracting more tourists to the state and generating more taxes. Iger calls DeSantis’ actions “anti-business” and “anti-Florida,” stating that the adversarial environment created by DeSantis and his radical conservative allies has curbed the company’s desire to make any future investments within the state (Iger, 2023).

35The controversy with Disney made DeSantis a household name, but after poor results in the Republican presidential candidate debates and low polling numbers, DeSantis ended his presidential campaign. Following his campaign, the DeSantis administration has begun to work more collaboratively with Disney and signaled that they would not follow through on many of the governor’s threats. While currently experiencing administrative issues and carrying out several staff changes, likely due to having put unqualified individuals in positions designed for skilled personnel, the new CFTOD team is also beginning to collaborate with Disney and has not put forth any new public challenges to Disney submissions.

Impacts on the Future of Florida Tourism

36The battle between Disney and the DeSantis administration regarding discrimination and freedom of speech is ongoing and will likely be an extended legal conflict. However, despite invitations from lawmakers in several other states, it is unlikely that Disney will leave the Sunshine State or truly pull back from the WDW Resort due to the massive expense entailed by moving large structures long distances, difficulties in finding new locations for its parks, and the importance of WDW in corporate ideology (Byrnes, 2023).

37In the 2023 Disney stockholder meeting webcast, Iger mentions company plans to remain on the “right side of history” and include more diverse stories in Disney media, but also asserts that the company does not intend to make any political statement, but instead to reflect customer preferences and market trends (Iger, 2023). This position was reiterated by Iger in 2024 as he fought a takeover attempt on the part of activist investor Nelson Peltz. Undoing Disney’s “wokeness” was the key reason why Peltz initiated what turned out to be an unsuccessful takeover bid (Sherman, 2024). Such opposition notwithstanding, the theme parks are the largest moneymaker for the company, and Iger reiterated the necessity of staying in tune with the times and reaching a broader public through diversity and inclusion.

38Florida’s anti-LGBT+ laws not only impact Florida residents but also visitors to the state. For this reason, the state’s largest LGBT+ civil rights organization, Equality Florida, issued a travel advisory for potential queer travelers. The advisory suggests that LGBT+ parents relocate out of state, students not attend Florida colleges or universities, and nonresident tourists choose other destinations. According to Equality Florida, this advisory stems from “the passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBT+ community, restrict access to reproductive health care, repeal gun safety laws, foment racial prejudice, and attack public education by banning books and censoring curriculum” (Equality Florida, 2023). Such advisories and the media attention generated by Florida’s restrictive laws are likely to negatively impact tourism in the state due to worries about the impact of these laws on tourists and fears about safety. Anti-LGBT+ legislation may well harm smaller inclusive businesses and tourism in other areas of the state more than the Disney or Universal resorts, a hypothesis supported by recent fan trends showing that more LGBT+ travelers elect to stay within the parks’ self-contained resorts due to concerns linked to safety from hate.

39The loss of the close relationship between the Florida state government and the Disney company may forever change the attractions industry given that the company is facing sharper competition from Universal Studios and other American theme park operators. The success of theme parks in the post-lockdown period has led to the announcement of several broadly themed regional parks and a large expansion in themed entertainment offerings overall (Wehner, 2021 ; Davis-Friedman, 2023). Crowning this new era of expansion is Universal’s plan to open its new Epic Universe park and resort in summer 2025. Aiming to overshadow the Disney parks through novel technology and immersive theming, Universal has worked closely with state lawmakers to change the surrounding area and infrastructure to accommodate the resort and obtain millions of dollars in tax credits (Mitchell, 2020). This positive relationship with state lawmakers places Universal in a better position for expansion, while Disney is weighed down by the bureaucratic red-tape and taxes that the RCID and corporate lobbying intended to prevent. Although Disney and WDW will weather this political storm, I would argue that the growing relationship between NBCUniversal and Florida lawmakers, combined with increasing competition from high-quality regional theme parks, may forever change the industry and ultimately dislodge Disney as Florida’s industry leader.

40Responding to the controversy has forced Disney to innovate and modernize its parks and has shown that the company cannot afford to be complacent and reliant on its political connections and nostalgia to remain the industry leader. Park renovations are especially important as many necessary upgrades were deferred under Chapek. In the long term, unless changes are made, the aging of Disney parks will likely lead to issues for Florida’s tourism industry and economy as company and neighboring property values decrease and fewer tourists visit Disney theme parks. Iger and Disney leadership have realized the importance of effecting change. Following increased cooperation on the part of DeSantis and the CFTOB, Iger announced in February 2024 that the company would be investing $ 60 billion in its theme parks over the next 10 years, doubling the current investment. This is an acceleration and expansion of earlier plans to renovate all Disney parks, along with the addition of new parks and the acquisition of more land. Iger has noted that the Disney parks and experiences are the company’s most lucrative division (Macdonald, 2024). The announced investments are intended to allow Disney to compete with Universal and keep its dominant market position.

Conclusion

41The Disney parks exist within a complex intersection of politics, economics, and culture. The controversial Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, formerly Splash Mountain, was slated to open in summer 2024 at Walt Disney World. Today, fan social media posts concerning the attraction continue to contain comments filled with far-right dog whistles disparaging the change, but these are overwhelmingly downvoted and usually followed by several comments mocking the comment. Radical conservatives remain in fan online spaces but are generally not significant participants in the online Disney fan community and instead adopt physical or political tactics, such the neo-Nazi protests outside Disney property in September 2023 (McShane, 2023). This is partially due to Disney fan spaces making their forms of speech socially unacceptable and moderate fans turning far-right fan reactions into memes to ridicule them.

42This paper argues that the Don’t Say Gay controversy was inevitable due to the political forces and trends impacting Disney parks and media, the radicalization of American Republican politics, and the company’s complex political situation in Florida. The controversy does not demonstrate that Disney is suddenly “woke” or even a progressive company, but that it has instead realized the value of inclusion as a means of generating profits and the necessity of staying politically moderate while Florida was tilting toward radical conservatism. Florida’s anti-LGBT+ laws will continue to present a problem for the future of the tourism industry in more conservative regions of the state and will surely change how marginalized people travel to Florida. While DeSantis is now working more cooperatively with his erstwhile adversaries, the Don’t Say Gay law and controversy will have lasting impacts on the State of Florida. The controversy may have pushed the attractions industry in the right direction to prevent stagnation, but the law continues to harm Florida tourism and residents.

43The Don’t Say Gay law catapulted Disney into the spotlight due to the backlash from both the American left and far right over interpretations of the company’s governing ethos. Disney does not aim to make political statements, but instead to earn profits and make shareholders happy. In Florida, this requires allying with politicians who will work in the company’s favor. While in the past Disney was able to play both sides against the middle, for example by working with pro-business conservative state lawmakers and liberal local representatives and by implementing superficial inclusivity, the current battle over American mass culture and the reactionary far right’s intention to use Disney’s situation as a symbol make further controversy inevitable.

44Because Disney parks are economically and politically entwined with definitions of America, the battle over what they should include and uphold is a battle over American identity. I would argue that the Don’t Say Gay controversy has led to a closer look at Disney’s company ethos and a reconsideration of the company’s interpretation of what it means to remain moderately aligned on the political front. The new governing values of the Walt Disney Company have been designed to retain its history and values but modify them to fit the current political and cultural moment. Despite no longer adopting an actively anti-LGBT+ stance, the company has not taken any other steps to integrate queer representation into park attractions ; meanwhile its marketing rarely targets queer guests as Disney attempts to balance both liberal and conservative interests. However, for radical conservatives, the very existence and recognition of Others is seen as a danger to their cultural supremacy and therefore as a contagion to be extirpated, an attitude making continuing controversy inevitable. Their firm stance is highly effective given that Disney is careful to ensure that company choices reflect popular opinion.

45The Don’t Say Gay controversy is an important reminder of the influential role that media and tourism storytelling play in shaping mass culture. The changes in Disney’s company ethos will be impactful not only for the Disney parks but also for other company media and American mass culture. By taking such a strong stand in favor of diversity and inclusion, Disney media will likely influence more vigorous efforts elsewhere and will serve to share a more diverse and inclusive world with its public. The Don’t Say Gay controversy is an event that forced Disney to take a stand and reiterate its position in support of inclusion and diversity. The brief episode of strained relations with the state government created the opportunity for Universal to surge ahead and heat up the competition. These actions of inclusion and competitive expansion will forever change the global attractions industry. The fact that both Universal and Disney have unequivocally chosen to produce inclusive attractions sets a precedent that will enable more guests to see themselves in these spaces and media, while also generating greater market growth. Thus, the Don’t Say Gay controversy will have a lasting impact on both the global attractions industry and media inclusion going forward. Disney’s actions and the controversy suggest a larger cultural shift that will finally allow more guests to see themselves in popular media and definitions of America from which they have been long excluded.

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Notes

1 “Disney” hereafter will refer to both the Walt Disney Company and the Walt Disney Company media/park canon.

2 TikTok, Twitter (now X), and Instagram are the main public platforms. Facebook communities generally use private groups and thus were not included.

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References

Electronic reference

Caroline Atwood, Burning Cabins and Rainbow Mickeys: Disney’s Florida “Don’t Say Gay” Controversy and Definitions of America in U.S. Disney ParksTéoros [Online], 43-1 | 2024, Online since 03 October 2024, connection on 11 June 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/teoros/12443

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About the author

Caroline Atwood

Pennsylvania State University, Department of Telecommunications, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, cva5455@psu.edu

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CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) may be subject to specific use terms.

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