LGBT Disney

[Disney's Divinity]

That's funny. I remember a time when the majority didn't support LGBT in the military or same-sex marriage either--in fact, I'm sure you could poll some places and still find a majority against those things. If the majority supported executing LGBT again, too, would it then be okay? Since that's your bar for deciding right in how a minority should be treated.

Personally, I don't decide right and wrong based on what the world believes. But that's my view as one Christian liberal and LGBT person.

[Disney Duster]

Carolinakid, I find your lack of sympathy and support for LGBTQ+ people, including children, disturbing.

[Farerb]

Disney's left-wing activism creates 'environment of fear' that is 'damaging morale,' some workers say

Employees say Disney has become 'an increasingly uncomfortable place to work for those of us whose political and religious views are not explicitly progressive'

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/di ... ar-workers

[Farerb]

Carolinakid, I find your lack of sympathy and support for LGBTQ+ people, including children, disturbing.

But do people here really support the TQ+? I never got that impression considering there's a support of Rowling and her transphobic views.

[carolinakid]

Duster, I am very sympathetic to the gay community being a gay man myself. It’s just that I’ve read the bill and have no problems with it. I actually think it’s just good common sense! The bill has been terribly mischaracterized
by the left/progressives. Take care....

[blackcauldron85]

One thing about the bill is in an earlier version, teachers and school staff would have had to essentially out students to parents if the students came to the faculty and staff. While that has been removed, that is incredibly damaging, leading to abuse, abandonment, etc. So the bill was written with hate, with no regards to childrens' wellbeing. As someone who had to go to teachers and the school social worker for guidance for things I couldn't go to my parents for, for things not as "polarizing" as being LGBTQIA+ (meaning in some conservative families, you will be kicked out or endlessly treated bad, sent to conversion camps, etc), I know that kids can't always go to their parents for things. Teachers and school staff are so necessary to a kid's growing up.

Even without that portion in the bill, let's say Billy's two moms, or Sam's two dads come to the school ice cream social. And students ask the teacher, "Why do they have two moms/dads," the teacher can't even acknowledge any of it for fear of losing their job. Not even dealing with sexuality. It's hateful in my opinion. I haven't read the bill, I've just read articles throughout these weeks.

*Edit*
Scroll down and this article gives a breakdown. I thought the outing of the students was taken out but it looks like it was not. Children are going to be beaten and ostracized because of this.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/2 ... y-gay-bill

[Farerb]

Are there still conversion camps or conversion therapies in the US? These things are illegal here.

[estefan]

What I find absurd is that transgender people or two people of the same gender who happen to like each other are automatically associated with sex. Meanwhile, the same parents opposed to LGBTQ people have no problem letting their children watch movies or read stories like "The Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast", which are all about heterosexual attraction, which is no different from homosexual attraction.

But, of course, they feel uncomfortable seeing even two men hold hands. I remember when parent's groups threw a hissy fit over Disney Channel showing a girl with two mothers on "Good Luck Charlie." Even though the episode only showed a girl with two mothers and that was it.

[Disney's Divinity]

Gabrielle Union Defends Her Criticism Of Disney's Response to Anti-LGBTQ Bill: I Will Not Be Held Back By Fear”
https://www.bet.com/article/vfqicz/gabr ... lgbtq-bill

I remembered Union had a transgender child before even opening the article, so I'm not surprised. Good for her for supporting her child.

One thing about the bill is in an earlier version, teachers and school staff would have had to essentially out students to parents if the students came to the faculty and staff.

The fact that this is how the bill began tells what the intent is. It's really just vagueness to allow homophobes to sue teachers over the existence of LGBT. And I mean, for one, how is that the teacher's fault? And, two, why should LGBT themselves be made to feel as if their existence is practically illegal?

[blackcauldron85]

Are there still conversion camps or conversion therapies in the US? These things are illegal here.

At least in the US, I think it's on a state-by-state basis, some banned some places, allowed in others.

estefan + Disney's Divinity, I agree with you.

[Disney Duster]

Duster, I am very sympathetic to the gay community being a gay man myself. It’s just that I’ve read the bill and have no problems with it. I actually think it’s just good common sense! The bill has been terribly mischaracterized
by the left/progressives. Take care....

And I find you being ok with the bill disturbing.

[Jules]

Been away from the forum and not participated much lately. I have my own thoughts on this bill, and It's kind of a mish-mash of what you are all saying but not exactly the same either.

First, a disclaimer: I am not from the US and cannot claim to be familiar with the political climate over there. I know things, but they are what I've read on the internet or seen on the news. I have no idea what it actually feels like to live on American soil and and interact in person with regular American people. This doesn't mean my opinions are devalued or nullified, but that I can understand if some (many?) of you may disagree with me. We come from different places, and will have different ideas. That's ok. Don't worry about it.

So here goes.

I am under the impression that the main issue with this controversial bill is the fact that teachers and other educators working in the state of Florida will find themselves in a situation where not only can sexual orientation and gender identity not be discussed in class for kindergarteners and early primary school level kids, but that mere mention of certain words can land them in hot water as if they've committed a crime.

If the above is in any way inaccurate, please tell me.

So, I work as a school teacher and I am gay.

I have mixed feelings about this bill.

I will say upfront that if I were teaching very young kids, I would never even dream of mentioning sexual orientation or gender identity in my classes. First of all, it is of no relevance to my subject. Secondly, and especially with regards to gender identity, the last thing I want to do is to carelessly influence really young kids into needlessly questioning their biological gender. I very much believe trans people exist, and they have my full respect and sympathy as it must be emotionally and psychologically harrowing inhabiting a biologically male/female body but feeling entirely like the opposite sex. Nevertheless, I am genuinely concerned that discussing gender identity with children who are barely out of their nappies may lead to perfectly cisgender kids to become confused and think they are non-binary, or gender fluid, when they actually aren't. I think they can figure it out for themselves when they are older (and pubescent) and that that is no age to bring up these issues, for no justifiable reason.

I did not bold that last bit for nothing.

HOWEVER,

To completely shut out ALL discussion regardless of any circumstance that may arise, sounds like something out of a dystopian novel.

So, say I am a class teacher in a primary school teaching six-year-olds. There really is no need for me to bring up sexual orientation or gender identity with such young kids. But, if I have a little boy who acts a little effeminate and likes playing with dolls and I find out that his peers, or maybe even older kids attending the same school are bullying him psychologically or physically (or both), then I must take action. I must make sure the perpetrators are disciplined swiftly for their misdeeds, and if the boy was explicitly called names for being "gay", and especially if derogatory terms were used, then I have a duty to point out to all my pupils that there will be no tolerance for any sort of discrimination against anyone, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

When this happens, I will need to explain to my class the definition of sexual orientation and gender identity, albeit in very simple terms as befits their young age. To make my point, I will need to mention that gay men, and lisbian* women and transsexual persons exist.

Unfortunately, as I understand it, with this Florida bill I would be ... arrested for doing this?

So no, I guess I don't agree with it.

But I can also understand why many people may be uncomfortable with the LGBT issues being pushed front and centre in every facet of western society.

We need to understand each other.

Somebody calling for LGBT people to be exterminated is a very dangerous person.

I firmly believe that those calling for the extermination of all those who have even the slightest misgivings on LGBT individuals are equally dangerous.

I know quite a few people in my own country who simply cannot wrap their heads around the fact that being gay is a thing and that's it's not sinful or intrinsically wrong.

You know what?

I don't hate them or call them homophobes.

I do think they are woefully misinformed and hard-headed, but if they are otherwise friendly and kind to me knowing full-well I am gay, and have never made one malicious move, then why should I disdain them? I may just have to accept that they will never understand this one particular issue, but that doesn't make them awful people. Some of them are the loveliest people I know. But according to the internet these same people are "bigots" and need to be silenced.

I am certain that many Americans backing this bill are not necessarily homophobes. They may just be confused and perhaps worried that "their children may turn out gay." Of course, that doesn't make sense, but they're human like the rest of us, and may make mistakes borne of inaccurate beliefs.

The ones who really worry me are those people who not only fail to understand LGBT issues, but will go out of their way to harm LGBT individuals, perhaps by ruining their relationships with other people, or wrecking their careers using slanderous claims, or hating them so much as to resort to something as extreme as murder.

Those are the ones to watch out for.

Not the ones who are merely confused or perhaps a little bit annoyed at the constant "gay agenda" on TV and on the internet, and who risk being cancelled or ruined if they so much as show they have reservations.

Frankly, I believe these people need to be offered a smile and a friendly hand, and told that it's ok if they're not entirely comfortable with everything that's going on.

I believe that current woke culture is going to cause more division in the long run. While a section of society has certainly become enlightened not to discriminate against minorities, whether sexual, ethnic, racial, etc., it is so aggressive in its stance that it is driving off other good people and making them feel threatened - not even for airing their views but simply for "feeling" a certain way, even if those feelings are never expressed publicly!

That can only give rise to extremism in some of these threatened individuals. Instead of winning them over to your cause, you are only making them bitter and hardening their hearts. In some cases, these people will turn violent and start indoctrinating others to hate the "ones who take away our freedom of speech and who will cancel us just because we speak our mind."

And western society will be left with just two factions: the WOKE, and the anti-WOKE. They both hate each other's guts and want each other dead.

And I know for sure that this can happen to anyone.

"Why?" you ask.

Because it is happening to me.

Surely the fact that I - a gay man who is also on the autistic spectrum - can be sick to my stomach with the woke movement is telling, no?

I simply cannot understand why people cannot try to understand each other's viewpoints in the savage, wild world out there. I have my own issues with the LGBT movement. It feels criminal that I cannot really discuss them in a civil way on Facebook or Twitter lest I be branded a homophobe, or transphobe or God knows what else, and then completely shut out or ruined.

This is wrong on every conceivable level.

I hope this was an interesting read for you guys. And please remember, if you disagree with me that's fine. I just needed to say this. I can assure you everything I just wrote is 100% me and sincere.

*I had to misspell this word because the forum software gets its panties in a twist if I don't.

[Disney's Divinity]

Disney Vows to Help Repeal Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill: ‘It Should Never Have Passed’
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/disn ... 235217086/

That sounds like an empty PR statement. @Jules: I don't think the sort who are targeting children specifically and believe teachers must be brainwashing kids to become gay as part of the "Gay Agenda" are the "happy and peaceful" brand of homophobes, no offense.

[Disney Duster]

Jules, you are very wise, but think about how children are read or read stories of heterosexual relationships, like estefan said. What is wrong with them hearing of homosexual ones, then? Or what if a kid saw or had same-sex parents. The kids, teachers, and parents would get in trouble for merely talking about them. Or what about if some kids knew of trans people, those kids and teachers and parents could get in trouble for talking about them. I think risking kids being confused is a small risk. Children are always confused about the world anyway.

[estefan]

Also, even if a child is blocked from seeing homosexual attraction in media, they are still likely to see it out in the real world like a gay couple walking down the street or in the park. It's like when people complain about "forced diversity" in movies and shows. Do they only ever see white people when they leave their house? That's highly improbable.

[Disney's Divinity]

That's a very good point, estefan.

I think a lot of this comes out of anger for other groups some people feel seeing LGBT or non-White people in their daily life these days, tbh.

[Farerb]

Disney no longer saying 'boys and girls' in recorded park greetings in order to promote gender inclusion
https://www.fox13news.com/news/disney-n ... -inclusion

[carolinakid]

Utter “woke” nonsense.

[Disney's Divinity]

Bob Iger, In CNN+ Interview With Chris Wallace, Makes The Case For Why CEOs Should Weigh In On ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill And Other Issues: “It’s About Right And Wrong”

“A lot of these issues are not necessarily political,” Iger said in the interview, which will stream this week. “It’s about right and wrong. So I happened to feel, and I tweeted an opinion about the ‘don’t say gay’ bill in Florida. To me, it wasn’t about politics. It is about what is right and what is wrong, and that just seemed wrong. It seemed potentially harmful to kids.”

https://deadline.com/2022/03/bob-iger-d ... 234990415/

Ariana DeBose Says She’s Discussed Disney’s Handling of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill With CEO Bob Chapek: ‘We’re Gonna Do the Work’
https://variety.com/2022/film/columns/a ... 235218543/

I enjoy hearing from their LGBT employees like DeBose and Symone.

[Disney Duster]

You're also right about that, estefan.