{"id":1180,"date":"2022-03-10T15:17:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T15:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/10\/disney-ceo-called-the-governor-of-florida-to-oppose-dont-say-gay-bill\/"},"modified":"2022-03-10T15:17:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T15:17:29","slug":"disney-ceo-called-the-governor-of-florida-to-oppose-dont-say-gay-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/10\/disney-ceo-called-the-governor-of-florida-to-oppose-dont-say-gay-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney CEO called the governor of Florida to oppose \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/9\/22969458\/disney-dont-say-gay-bill-florida-bob-chapek-ron-desantis\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/9\/22969458\/disney-dont-say-gay-bill-florida-bob-chapek-ron-desantis<\/a><br \/>\n<code><br \/><\/br><\/code><\/p>\n<div readability=\"116.7201986755\">\n<p id=\"4MmWfI\">Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed criticism over the company\u2019s handling of Florida\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill today, saying he called the state\u2019s governor to express \u201cconcern\u201d with the bill and pledged millions to charity in response to its passing. Chapek said that the company\u2019s initial response, \u201cno matter how well-intended, didn\u2019t quite get the job done, but we\u2019re committed to support the community going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"YkCZCV\">Disney recently came under fire for its refusal to openly condemn the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill \u2014 which bans primary school teachers from \u201cdiscussion about sexual orientation or gender identity\u201d \u2014 despite operating a booming business empire in the state. In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/business\/business-news\/disney-ceo-bob-chapek-florida-dont-say-gay-bill-response-1235105879\/\">internal memo to staff<\/a> sent Monday, Chapek had written that \u201ccorporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds,\u201d adding that \u201cthey are often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame.\u201d The refusal to speak out against the harmful legislation quickly garnered criticism from Disney fans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2022-03-07\/disney-ceo-bob-chapek-addresses-employees-on-florida-dont-say-gay-law\">creators<\/a>, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/03\/08\/1085130633\/disney-response-florida-bill-dont-say-gay\">company\u2019s employees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"rBMrfs\">Speaking during the company\u2019s annual meeting of shareholders, Chapek said Wednesday he would \u201clike to take a moment to address some concerns that I\u2019ve heard from many about the legislation impacting that LGBTQ+ community in Florida.\u201d Claiming that Disney has \u201cbeen strong supporters of the community for decades,\u201d Chapek said, he is aware \u201cthat many are upset that we did not speak out against the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-float-right\">\n<aside id=\"BRDC3h\"><q>\u201cI understand our original approach, no matter how well-intended, didn\u2019t quite get the job done.\u201d<\/q><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"NIWzY5\">Chapek added that while \u201cwe were opposed to the bill from the outset,\u201d the company \u201cchose not to take a public position on it because we thought we could be more effective working behind the scenes, engaging directly with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. And we were hopeful that our longstanding relationships with those lawmakers would enable us to achieve a better outcome.\u201d Those discussions did not equate to meaningful impact, Chapek acknowledged, as the bill passed Florida\u2019s Senate this week and is <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dont-say-gay-bill-passes-florida-legislature-b173917e985833963e45a8d0464a4399\">expected to be signed into law<\/a> by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.<\/p>\n<p id=\"I2iVGa\">The Disney boss said that he personally called DeSantis on Wednesday morning in order to \u201cexpress our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, nonbinary, and transgender kids and families.\u201d <\/p>\n<p id=\"LWSh50\">\u201cThe governor heard our concerns and agreed to meet with me and LGBTQ+ members of our senior team in Florida to discuss ways to address them,\u201d Chapek said. \u201cCertainly, the outcome in Florida was not what many of us were hoping for, especially our LGBTQ+ employees. And unfortunately, legislation targeting their communities is being considered in many other states, which means this fight will go on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"BnNQPp\">\u201cMeanwhile, we\u2019re also reassessing our approach to advocacy, including political giving in Florida and beyond,\u201d Chapek said. \u201cI understand our original approach, no matter how well-intended, didn\u2019t quite get the job done, but we\u2019re committed to support the community going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"DFtZUm\">In order to combat bigoted legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community, Chapek said that Disney would be signing the Human Rights Campaign\u2019s statement opposing these efforts and pledged to give $5 million to organizations like HRC working to protect the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"nIKEm4\">\u201cAs I wrote to our employees earlier this week, we are committed to supporting community organizations like these so they are better equipped to take on these fights,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"DfVtKx\">HRC, however, issued a statement saying it would refuse Disney\u2019s money until it saw meaningful action from the company. \u201cThe Human Rights Campaign will not accept this money from Disney until we see them build on their public commitment and work with LGBTQ+ advocates to ensure that dangerous proposals, like Florida\u2019s <em>Don\u2019t Say Gay or Trans <\/em>bill, don\u2019t become dangerous laws,\u201d said Joni Madison, Interim President of the Human Rights Campaign, \u201cand if they do, to work to get them off the books.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"JFdIoJ\"><em><strong>Update March 10th, 7:30AM ET: <\/strong><\/em><em>Added statement from HRC rejecting Disney\u2019s money.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><code><br \/><\/br><\/code><\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/9\/22969458\/disney-dont-say-gay-bill-florida-bob-chapek-ron-desantis\">https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/3\/9\/22969458\/disney-dont-say-gay-bill-florida-bob-chapek-ron-desantis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed criticism over the company\u2019s handling of Florida\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill today, saying he called the state\u2019s governor to express \u201cconcern\u201d with the bill and pledged millions to charity in response to its passing. Chapek said that the company\u2019s initial response, \u201cno matter how well-intended, didn\u2019t quite get the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-1180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","category-technology","tag-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Disney CEO called the governor of Florida to oppose \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 bill - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/03\/10\/disney-ceo-called-the-governor-of-florida-to-oppose-dont-say-gay-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney CEO called the governor of Florida to oppose \u2018Don\u2019t Say Gay\u2019 bill - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: Disney CEO Bob Chapek addressed criticism over the company\u2019s handling of Florida\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill today, saying he called the state\u2019s governor to express \u201cconcern\u201d with the bill and pledged millions to charity in response to its passing. 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