Disney World Hosts Largest LGBTQ+ Summit In the World In Protest of DeSantis’ Anti-Gay Policies

March 30, 2023
TOMMY

It's been so heartening the last few years to see Disney fight back against the fascist bull being peddled out of Florida, particularly from Blah DeSantis. And it was even more heartening to hear that Disney has just announced that they will be hosting the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, the largest summit ever focusing on LGBTQ+ people in the workplace.

The battle between Disney and DeSantis has been an ongoing one ever since Disney spoke out against DeSantis' dangerous "Don't Say Gay Bill." In response to their support of Queer people, DeSantis formed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to replace the Reedy Creek Improvement District. This is notable because the latter allowed Disney to operate as essentially a self-governing area in Florida for over half a century. With this move, DeSantis changed how Disney is able to operate in Florida.

Matched perhaps only by Coca-Cola, there are few global brands that have a broader reach than Disney. And in a world and society where money equals power, Disney's nearly $177 billion market cap yields some major power. Disney's move in hosting 2023's Out & Equal Summit is widely viewed as a massive "fuck you" to the trash governor and possible 2024 GOP nominee.

Disney has long been a beacon of joy for the LGBTQ+ community. Ignoring for a moment that the OG Disney movies used Queer coding for most of the villains, Disney has grown into an absolute mecca of joy for Queers. Every year there is the week-long Gay Days at Disney where LGBTQ+ friends, families, lovers, and their allies converge on Disney for a week of absolute love and acceptance on a footprint of the quintessential American company. This year's Gay Days will be from May 31st to June 5th.

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The bond between Disney and the LGBTQ+ community has become such a strong one, that there is an entire subset of gays known as "Disney Gays" who devote much of their lives and personalities to their love of the brand. They have season passes, they go to every Gay Days week, they propose to their boyfriends in front of Cinderella's castle, and half of their Instagram is posts of them in rainbow Mickey ears. There's even a Disney Gays Instagram.

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And who is Out & Equal? For almost 30 years, they've been the premier organization focused on bettering LGBTQ+ lives in the workplace, teaming up with the biggest Fortune 500 companies in the world to do so. They run programs and summits and offer resources to everyone looking to build an inclusive workplace for all. Kudos to them for decades of work, and kudos to Disney for the big middle finger to DeSantis' anti-LGBTQ+ policies.