Florida House Bill 1557 also called the “Dont Say Gay” bill was signed by Govener Ron DeSantis. Going from a New York Times article called by Dana Goldstein went over a few of the key points of the bill such as “instruction on gender and sexuality would be constrained in all grades, schools would be required to notify parents when children receive mental, emotional or physical health services, unless educators believe there is a risk of “abuse, abandonment, or neglect, parents would have the right to opt their children out of counseling and health services, parents could sue schools for violating the vaguely written bill, and districts would have to cover the costs and Florida would rewrite school counseling standards.” The signing of this bill has led to protests and walkouts; not only in Florida but all over the United States. One of the major call outs was to The Walt Disney Company and their CEO Bob Chapek. Some disgruntled members of The Walt Disney Company even went to release an open letter saying “leadership regarding the Florida legislature’s recent “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation. Primarily, those statements have indicated that leadership still does not truly understand the impact this legislation is having not only on Cast Members in the state of Florida, but on all members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the company and beyond.” All of this followed a hashtag saying #DisneyDoBetter and some other social media pushback. While after some pushback Mr. Chapek did apologize for his original stance and said The Walt Disney Company would be trying to push against the bill and support members of the LGBTQ+ community. The open letter also demanded “a more inclusive environment, encouraging a welcoming culture, supporting diverse groups and taking away funding from the politicians that supported House Bill 1557.” The Walt Disney Company was very quick to agree that their lack of action was wrong and then tried to make amends with its staff. This of course led to pushback again from Gov. DeSantis. Gov. DeSantis would push against Disney and their self-governing status in the Reedy Creek area. From a CNN article entitled “Why Disney has its own government in Florida and what happens if that goes away” by Eric Levenson and Dianne Gallagher would go on to say “The move comes as Florida's Republican-led government has taken aim at Disney -- the largest single-site employer in the state -- for its opposition to a law restricting education on LGBTQ issues in schools” this shows the clear reason and comparison and reaction from the Gov. to the company. This has become a very heavy legal issue and is a keystone to a lot of issues in the country/world such as expression, rights, and other aspects of identity. As i am writing this at the end of April 2022 this issue is still evolving and the battle for rights in America is very much underway. I know things will not change soon, but I can be hopeful that this timeline entry might be outdated in a good way very soon.

Works Cited

Goldstein, Dana. “Opponents Call It the 'Don't Say Gay' Bill. Here's What It Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Mar. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/us/dont-say-gay-bill-florida.html.

Levenson, Eric, and Dianne Gallagher. “Why Disney Has Its Own Government in Florida and What Happens If That Goes Away.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Apr. 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/21/us/reedy-creek-walt-disney-florida/index.....

Lynch, Jamiel, et al. “Disney's Self-Governing District Says Florida Cannot Dissolve It without Paying off Its Debts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/27/us/reedy-creek-disney-florida/index.html.

Mazzei, Patricia. “DeSantis Signs Florida Bill That Opponents Call 'Don't Say Gay'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Mar. 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/28/us/desantis-florida-dont-say-gay-bill....

“Open Letter & Petition.” Disney Do Better Walkout, https://www.whereischapek.com/open-letter.