Disney's History With the LGBTQ+ Community Examined

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/07/disney-lgbtq-community-gay-days-american-conservatives

The focus of this blog is to discuss the Disney versus DeSantis situation currently unfolding. As discussed in previous blogs, the line was drawn in the sand between these two when former CEO of Disney Bob Chapek spoke publicly about his distaste for the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill that DeSantis passed in Florida. Afterwards, Disney as a company made a public statement basically saying the same thing as Chapek – they don’t support what this bill stands for. To not become redundant, I will not be repeating this bill and everything it entails. For this post, however, I will quickly say it heavily concerns the LGBTQ+ community. Because of its relevance in this matter, I wanted to look back at Disney’s history with the LGBTQ+ community and how it got to the point of publicly defending them as a company. 

I would consider the Disney company as a whole an ally in the LGBTQ+ community. Every year when pride month rolls around in June, they come out with an entire collection of rainbow merchandise to celebrate. This is not surprising, because it’s become mainstream for companies to celebrate pride month during the month of June. Whether it’s releasing a pride collection (such as Disney and Target) or changing their Instagram profile picture to a rainbow theme, a decent number of companies show their support of the gay community during this month. However, Disney has gone above and beyond by now speaking outright against things such as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that damages the LGBTQ+ community and its reputation. How did they get to this point? 

https://d23.com/new-details-about-disney-100-years-of-wonder-revealed-to-fans-during-d23-expo/

The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 – literally a century ago (hence all the Disney 100 merchandise you’ve probably seen in every retail store) (A&E Television Networks, n.d.). The gay liberation movement didn’t begin until the 1960s and lasted two decades, into the 1980s (The Gay Liberation Movement, n.d.). According to Chapman (2023), the Disney company was very silent on LGBTQ+ issues during the 20th century. This does not surprise me at all given the political climate regarding the gay community prior to the 21st century. Disney films did include some queer-coded character’s, however, with feminine male characters and villains with a male sidekick that were a little too devoted to them to be considered a normal “bromance.” These queer-coded villains began to appear after the gay liberation movement, specifically during the 90s. This could be because a good amount of Disney employees was part of the LGBTQ+ community, thus influencing some of the characters and their behavior/personalities. 

https://culturacolectiva.com/en/entertainment/movies/divine-drag-queen-inspiration-ursula-the-little-mermaid/

I’ll list a couple of obvious examples of queer-coded villains in the early Disney films just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. Gaston from Beauty and the Beast was strikingly straight, but LeFou had an unhealthy obsession with this man. In addition to his sidekick, Gaston’s song (named after himself) included lyrics sung by men that were queer-coded. Ursula has been confirmed to be based off of drag queen Divine. 

This seems to be the beginning of Disney’s venture into supporting the LGBTQ+ community. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing to where they are now. Chapman (2023) discusses how Disney did little to support their gay employees during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Disneyland then became the unofficial host of what was termed “Gay Days,” a celebration of the first day of June at the parks. Disney wouldn’t officially host the event, however, and would also create homophobic signs warning the other attendees about the “gay community” celebrating pride month at their park. Disney would also hand out free white t-shirts to attendees who weren’t partaking in the celebration but chose to wear red, because red was the signature color of the event. 

https://www.gaytravel.com/gay-blog/disney-channel-debuts-lesbian-couple-video

For the next decade, characters continued to be made in Disney movies and television that were heavily queer-coded, but it wasn’t until 2014 that Disney would include their first openly queer relationship in Good Luck Charlie, a popular show on Disney Channel. This was received poorly by homophobic viewers. Mia Talerico, the actress who played Charlie on the show, received death threats online after the episode aired (Parry, 2014). The media was neutral to the release of this episode, not really supporting their decision but not spreading hate themselves. 

https://www.insider.com/beauty-and-the-beast-josh-gad-regrets-gay-moment-2022-3

In 2017, LeFou would be confirmed as gay in the Beauty and the Beast live action re-make, but only at the end of the movie during a dancing scene. Since then, several other openly gay characters have appeared in Disney shows and film. They’ve even made it to the point of having lead character’s that are openly gay in television and film. 

It appears that Disney became an ally as society itself opened more towards the LGBTQ+ community. I believe this was due to their continuous hiring of gay employees that contributed significantly to the success of their company. It could also be because they didn’t want to receive backlash from society if they continued to act homophobic and not include gay characters. As for Bob Chapek’s response as CEO to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, I believe he did so because he felt pressured by the Disney fans and the employees around him. The same can be said for why the Disney company responded officially. They could have stayed silent like their competition Universal. However, as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a Disney fan, I am proud that they stuck their neck out on the situation and are fighting against the consequences of doing so. I am also proud of the progress they have made in the past century regarding the LGBTQ+ community. 

https://wdwnt.com/2023/05/disney-pride-2023-collection-including-spirit-jersey-ears-pins-and-more-available-at-walt-disney-world/

Citations 

A&E Television Networks. (n.d.). Walt Disney Company is founded. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/walt-disney-company-founded 

Chapman, W. (2023, August 4). Disney’s Queer Track Record: A Troubled History. IndieWire. https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/disney-lgbtq-representation-parks-history-1234873940/ 

The Gay Liberation Movement. Bill of Rights Institute. (n.d.). https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-gay-liberation-movement 

Parry, L. (2014, February 4). Disney star of Good Luck Charlie, aged five, receives death threats on her Instagram account. Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2551390/Disney-star-Good-Luck-Charlie-aged-FIVE-receives-death-threats-Instagram-account.html 

How is the media portraying each side during the Disney versus DeSantis controversy?

      It’s not unknown that certain news stations swing one way or another when it comes to politics. NPR, PBS, and CNN are a few examples of companies that sway more liberal; whereas Fox News is the big name for conservative news. It’s important to know, as a reader or viewer, which news outlets are more liberal or conservative so you can acknowledge bias within articles or segments. How do political preferences within news articles impact how different stories are told? Specifically, how is the Disney versus DeSantis situation being told through the lens of conservative or liberal outlets? How are they similar, and how are they different? How does this impact how people feel towards either side, and is the public getting honest news or is it biased?

To answer these questions, I searched Google for “Disney and DeSantis” information. I narrowed my search to news articles that were published in the beginning of March 2022 and the end of April 2022. This is when the Disney and DeSantis feud really began, around the time that DeSantis announced his “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Disney CEO Bob Chapek responded with his distaste for it. 

Beginning with similarities, a large variation of articles used the same quote in their headlines. They often quoted DeSantis saying Disney “crossed the line” by voicing their opinion on Florida politics. The majority of articles were straight forward with their headlines, as well. Some used emotional words to incite specific emotions, but besides this there wasn’t much bias. When you look at NPR, CNN, and Fox News, however, the bias begins to become very apparent.

NPR and CNN are known to be more liberal when discussing politics. This extends to the Disney and DeSantis debate as well. One of NPR’s articles is titled, “DeSantis wanted to punish Disney. Repealing its tax status may hurt taxpayers instead.” On one hand, this article seems to be informing the public about how DeSantis’ decisions may be affecting taxpayers. On the other hand, it could also be telling a narrative against DeSantis to try and sway people to defend Disney. Similarly, CNN uses specific wording in their article titles when discussing this issue. CNN uses words such as “attack” when describing actions being done by DeSantis. This makes DeSantis appear like the villain and aggressive, and makes Disney appear as the victim in this lawsuit.

     Fox News takes their preference towards DeSantis to the extreme. There were a few article titles that stood out to me that I’d like to discuss. “DeSantis slams ‘woke’ Disney after CEO condemns parents’ rights bill.” The key point here is how Fox News used the title “parents’ rights bill” instead of calling this bill what it’s more commonly known as, which is the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Although they are using its proper title, they are using it to make it seem justifiable. Every other article surrounding this one on the Google search page, when referring to the bill, used the title “Don’t Say Gay.” This is a small detail where Fox News is showing bias in DeSantis’ favor. Another example comes from a Fox Business article - “Disney exposed: Leaked videos show officials pushing LGBT agenda, saying DeSantis wants to 'erase' gay kids.” LGBT agenda, exposed, gay kids – these are all words being used that push a more conservative ideal, or an argument for DeSantis against Disney.

I was pleased to see that most articles had straightforward titles across the board. NPR, although they can sway more liberally, appeared mostly to be telling the news in a straightforward fashion. The same can be said for the less popular news websites that are sharing their piece on this debate. The public has to be aware of politically extreme websites like Fox News, however, when searching for information on a topic. In this case, it makes Disney appear like the villain, not allowing the reader to form their own opinion.