Is Disney Hosting Gay Rights Summit to Diss DeSantis?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pissed off the House of Mouse, and now they are looking to show him who holds the real power in the Sunshine State.
As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, DeSantis is still enjoying a victory lap after the passage of his "Don't Say Gay" bill in the state and the widespread proliferation of similar bills across America. Next, DeSantis has vowed to strip Walt Disney World of its operational autonomy as a district and one of Florida's most lucrative business entities.
However, the House of Mouse is not going down without a fight, allegedly. After coming out in opposition of DeSantis' "Don't Say Gay" policies, Disney plans to host what is billed as "the largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world" in September by Out & Equal, a California-based LGBTQ+ workplace equality organization.
The event is expected to draw over 5,000 people, and the move is sure to piss off DeSantis' cronies as legislators look to new and innovative ways to crack down on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and ban books that acknowledge such.
However, State Rep. Randy Fine—who sponsored the bill to dissolve Disney's Reedy Creek district last year and wrote a bill intended to keep children from drag shows, and another that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender children this session—said that he doesn't view the conference as payback.
Fine told the Miami Herald that the conference wasn't "some grand conspiracy to stick it in the eye of the state of Florida."
"Disney is part of the fabric of the Florida economy ... If they weren't holding any conferences at Disney World, that would be news because that would be a big problem," he said, adding that Orlando is a top U.S. destination for holding such conferences.