Disney CEO Breaks Silence on 'Don't Say Gay' Florida Bill

justjared.com:

Disney‘s Bob Chapek is breaking his silence amid backlash. The 61-year-old CEO spoke out about Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill following pressure from employees and LGBTQ+ organizations to take a stand against the bill.

The bill, which just passed through the Senate and House and is on the way to being approved by Governor Ron DeSantis, would ban teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics like gender identity with students until after third grade. Click inside to read more… He publicly opposed the bill, formally called Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill on Wednesday (March 9) at a shareholders meeting, via Click Orlando. “While we’ve been strong supporters of the (LGBTQ) community for decades, I know that many are upset that we did not speak out against the bill.

Now, we were opposed to the bill from the outset, but we chose 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,” he said at the meeting.

He added that he expressed “disappointment and concern” with the legislation to the Governor himself, and spent “weeks of effort” engaging with Democrat and Republican lawmakers. “The governor heard our concerns in agreeing to meet with me and LGBTQ+ members of our senior team in Florida to discuss ways to address them.