Happy Pride Month, everyone! Today’s Disney News roundup covers Disney World’s annual LGBTQ celebration, Gay Days, which is set to have a record turnout despite (or perhaps, in spite of) Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ battle with Disney over daring to actually take a stand with the queer community. Earlier this week, a school board meeting in the state became an act of protest against DeSantis’ infamous “Don’t Say Gay” laws, as hundreds came to show support for a teacher facing repercussions for showing a movie in her classroom with a same-sex couple in it.
Lastly, I’ll cover some movie-related news, including a Disney Plus original that already has upset subscribers speculating when it will be removed from the service, following the May 26 removal of over 50 Disney Plus shows and movies. Let’s get into it!
Gay Days is back and this weekend’s celebration is looking at over 150,000 guests visiting in response to DeSantis’ policies
Starting May 31, this year’s annual Gay Days celebration will last until June 4 and despite growing hostility toward the LGBTQ community in the sunshine state, thousands are expected to attend. While the event, which started in 1991 as a meetup for members of queer community, is not officially sponsored by Disney, participants traditionally go to at least one Disney World park throughout the Orlando celebration. This year’s turnout is expected to be a record 150,000 people showing up for the meetup this Saturday at the Magic Kingdom (in front of Cinderella’s Castle right before the afternoon parade, in case you’re wanting to attend) as a way to show DeSantis that he can’t scare the community away. Joseph Clark, CEO of Gay Days Inc. spoke with NBC News about how he hopes the large turnout tells DeSantis and his supporters that LGBTQ people are not going to stop visiting and living in Florida.
“Right now is not the time to run. It’s not the time to go away. It’s time to show we are here, we are queer and we aren’t going anywhere.”
Although the event’s organizers are encouraging those interested to attend, other events in Florida, like St. Cloud’s near Orlando, have decided to cancel in light of the growing tension. In a statement about the cancellation, the organizers wrote “these laws have created a climate of fear and hostility for LGBTQIA+ people in Florida” and that holding an event “would put our community at risk.” Clark recognizes that event goers have concerns but stresses that guests’ safety is of the highest priority; he tells Deadline that the event has had extra security since the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016 “and going into this year, there are extra eyes.”
A Florida school board meeting becomes a way for hundreds to show their support for teacher investigated for showing Disney movie in class
Hundreds used a Hernando County school board meeting to voice their dissent — or agreement, as was the case for a handful of attendees — on the sate’s controversial Parent Rights in Education Act, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. After a teacher in the Florida district shared the 2022 Disney movie Strange World in her classroom, a school board member (reportedly Shannon Rodriguez, a conservative member who was elected last Fall) reported her to the state’s Department of Education, which launched an investigation on the teacher. The teacher, Jenna Barbee, has defended her choice to show the film, saying it related to a science lesson she was teaching her fifth grade class but, as the film features Disney’s Animation Studios first openly LGBTQ main character, it has become subject to the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
While the meeting didn’t relate to the teacher’s case, the attendees found ways to speak on it, relating it to other items on the agenda, like banning books and the resignations of 33 educators in the district. Per a report from USA Today, students, community members, and other educators spoke in Barbee’s defense and criticized the growing hostility toward LGBTQ representation in academia. Multiple attendees argued that the current climate makes educators scared to say anything, less they face repercussions like job dismissal and board investigations and students argued that the policies are not helping kids.
“You need to listen to us when we say that the rainbow in our classroom is not indoctrinating us, seeing two girls together in a Disney movie is not brainwashing us, and your policies are not protecting us from anything.”
One spokesperson for the district told the publication that the Hernando County district currently has 150 unfilled educator positions amid a record number of resignations. The investigation against Barbee is still ongoing; although it concluded the movie was related to the curriculum, Barbee violated the staff handbook by not getting administrative approval prior to showing the film in class. Meanwhile, a Change.org petition calling for Rodriguez’ removal from the school board has nearly 30,000 signatures as of this writing.
A new Disney Plus original’s first trailer drops and hurt subscribers already place bets on when it’ll be removed from the platform
In other news, a new Disney Plus original movie, World’s Best, is coming to streaming later this month, and like much of the original content made for the service, it looks like a fresh story with an uplifting message. Unfortunately, all of the positives surrounding the film are being overlooked by potential viewers after Disney Plus purged a total of 50 titles, including beloved originals like Willow and Stargirl, from its streaming catalogue just last week. To add insult to injury, multiple staff members behind the pulled content took to social media to share that they were just as caught off guard as fans were. Given how recent the purge was and what little brand power this film has, many are already speculating that it will be off of the platform within six months.
For what it’s worth, World’s Best looks like a great coming-of-age film. Directed by Roshan Sethi, a Boston doctor and screenwriter known for 2022’s Call Jane, the film tells the story of a 12-year-old math prodigy named Prem Patel who, after learning his late father was a famous rapper, sets off on a journey to follow in his dad’s musical footsteps. The movie looks like a refreshing take on a somewhat familiar formula, and hopefully it can stay on the streaming platform for longer than a few months. It’s truly devastating to see great original content leave streaming to potentially fade into obscurity, and it’s a trend I hope will stop in the near future. If you want to catch World’s Best and hopefully prevent it from prematurely leaving the platform, catch it on Disney Plus on June 23.
