The Florida legislature passed legislation Thursday, April 21, stripping Disney World amusement park of favorable status because the entertainment giant has defended certain progressive issues little appreciated by elected Republicans. The text should now be signed by conservative Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose ties with Disney have soured of late, despite the company acting as a tourist magnet in his sunny state.
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Mr. DeSantis does not accept that Disney CEO Bob Chapek has publicly opposed a law he initiated that would ban the teaching of subjects related to sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary schools. This text is nicknamed “Sag nicht gay” (“Don’t talk about gays”) by its opponents.
The two chambers of parliament in the capital, Tallahassee, each voted in favor of the bill with a Republican majority: the Senate on Wednesday by 23 votes to 16, followed by the House of Representatives on Thursday by 70 votes to 38. A double vote spells setbacks for Disney, which remains an economic heavyweight in the region.
The special status in the crosshairs of the text, granted to Disney during the construction of Disney World theme park in the 1960s, affords the entertainment giant great local management autonomy and exempts it from most government regulations. This amusement park near Orlando is one of the most visited in the world. Relations between Ron DeSantis and Disney, which notably employed more than 75,000 people at Disney World and had contributed financially to the Republican candidate’s campaign, were not always strained, let alone the Democratic camp. But they’ve now gotten mad and the giant has suspended this election funding.