Disney's Eye for the Queer Guy

Erin Brown

Planning a trip to Walt Disney World early this June? If you’re one of those types who still subscribes to traditional family values, you may want to reschedule. That is, unless you want little Jimmy and Susie to develop a more “progressive” understanding of what marriage, family, and conjugal love really mean.

The Family Pride Coalition has announced that it will hold its first-ever Walt Disney World gathering and convention on the weekend of June 17-20 (Father’s Day Weekend) within the two-week wake of Walt Disney World’s annual “Gay Days” event, a time-honored, and Disney-approved, tradition since 1991. Coincidence? Hardly. The Coalition, a grassroots group whose mission is “to advance the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered parents and their families through mutual support, community collaboration, and public understanding,” has followed suit to the fanciful kingdoms of Walt Disney World in the spirit of alternative lifestyle hoe-downs.

And why shouldn’t it? The Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgendered (GLBT) community has garnered considerable support for these events since their original inception despite mounting opposition from conservative groups, and all with the Walt Disney Company’s blessing.

Though Disney spokespersons repeatedly insist that they do not “endorse” these events, it is clear that the company is more than accommodating to members of the GLBT special interest machine who organize and participate in these events. One website, www.gayday.com relates that, in comparison with its conservative past, “The Walt Disney Company is more likely to stand up to zealots who decry any nod toward fairness to gays and lesbians, sponsor fundraisers for AIDS-related charities, and will even roll out the welcome mat to the annual Gay Day revelers (without officially endorsing the events).”

A “nod toward fairness” is one thing, but preferential treatment is another. The Christian Action Network (CAN), a conservative values group who spearheads the opposition to Disney Gay Days has launched a campaign bent on exposing the acts of public lewdness and illegal activity they encountered during last year’s Gay Days event. The campaign features numerous pictures and a video displaying men kissing, groping and simulating sex acts with one another, often sans clothing. Not to mention gender-bending individuals bizarrely and suggestively costumed enough to strike fear into any small child’s heart - - and I’m not talking about Goofy, Donald Duck, or Tarzan!

Disney maintains that it upholds a policy that guests must at all times wear shirts and shoes, except of course in the water parks, and refrain from acts of public lewdness. Perhaps the security corps at Disney suffers from temporary blindness once a year.

CAN has requested of the Walt Disney Company’s Chairman, Michael Eisner, that Disney “arrest any Gay Days participant who engages in an unlawful display of public lewdness.” In other words, Disney should enforce its fundamental policies prohibiting aberrant public behavior consistently 365 days of the year without making exceptions for select individuals. Consistency in the law’s moral treatment of individuals is what fairness is all about.

The GLBT community is overtly antagonistic in its choice of Walt Disney World as the locale of what may be its largest worldwide circuit party. One of the CAN campaign’s photos features the slogan on a popular tee-shirt for the event: “Tickets… $200. Hotel Room… $75 a night. Dinner for Two…$60. All the shock and scared looks… Priceless.” Slogans of this nature demonstrate that Disney Gay Day organizers and participants are scarcely within the realm of intelligent debate - - shock factor and arrogance are their ammunition. Besides, what could be a more effective choice for them to make a brazen statement than the number one travel destination in the U.S. for families with children? What date could be more conducive to the Family Pride Coalition’s agenda of redefining the family than Father’s Day? Sure, Disney is fun - - fun and full of impressionable young minds.

Maybe what it all boils down to for men like Eisner is money. Sadly, the resignation of Roy Disney, Walt’s nephew, last month is a sign of the times for the Walt Disney Company. Any company that forfeits its integrity to the degree of losing the man closest to its heart and vision - - in this case Roy - - is headed for dark days.

The text of Roy Disney’s regretful resignation letter has been publicly disclosed, detailing his displeasure with Eisner’s handling of the company. Among his list of reasons for this, Disney writes, “The perception by all of our stakeholders - - consumers, investors, employees, distributors and suppliers - - that the Company is rapacious, soul-less, and always looking for the ‘quick buck’ rather than the long-term value which is leading to a loss of public trust.” Well said, Roy. As long as Gay Days continue, and proliferate in the form of the Family Pride Coalition’s convention, Walt Disney World will increasingly sully its reputation as the “happiest place on earth.” Well, maybe it all depends on what you mean by “happy.”

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Erin Brown is a graduate of Mary Washington College and has recently joined Frontiers of Freedom as a research and special projects associate. She has spent the last several months conducting research in the Heritage Foundation’s Domestic Policy Department with a particular focus in Family and Society issues, Education, Poverty, and Welfare and Social Security reform. She is also part-time literature teacher at a private Christian High School in Centreville, VA.
ebrown@ff.org