Charlee Corra Disney, an heir to the Disney fortune, has come out as transgender and is speaking against Florida’s H.B. 1557, better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Disney’s new found public activism comes as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) picked a fight with the corporation over its opposition to the law.
Charlee Disney, 30, is a high school biology and environmental science teacher, and also the great-grandchild of Walt Disney. “I feel like I don’t do very much to help,” Charlee Disney told Robin Abcarian at the LA Times. “I don’t call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more.”
As a younger individual, Charlee identified as gay for a number of years before coming out as trans in their mid-20s.
“I had very few openly gay role models,” Charlee said. “And I certainly didn’t have any trans or non-binary role models. I didn’t see myself reflected in anyone, and that made me feel like there was something wrong with me.”
The “Don’t Say Gay” law bans discussions of LGBTQ issues in elementary school and requires them to be “developmentally appropriate” in older grades, but the law doesn’t define what that means. Instead of setting clear standards, the law allows parents to sue school districts if they feel like the law has been violated, which critics say will stifle any discussion of LGBTQ people and lead to LGBTQ youth feeling isolated and alone.
As an advocate, Charlee has routinely brought up the high rates of depression, anxiety, bullying, and suicide that LGBTQ youth face.
“Then to put something like this law on top of that? They can’t learn about their community and their history at school, or play sports or use the bathroom they want to use?”
In other news related to the Disney Film Company, the daily TV show “Fox & Friends” is suggesting the Disney Company is turning kids queer.
The co-hosts of Fox & Friends suggested that the reason more young people are identifying as LGBTQ than in previous generations is exposure to Disney culture.
The co-hosts read a quote from Disney executive Karey Burke, which read that her son texted her this message: “Gen Z is 30 percent to 40 percent [more] queer than other generations.”
Co-host Will Cain then brought up a February Gallup poll that found that over 20 percent of adults in Gen Z identified as LGBTQ. Most of the LGBTQ people in that generation, who were between the ages of 18 and 25, identified as bisexual.
“What does that mean? What does it entail? What does it encompass?” Cain asked.
“But more interesting to me is why?” he continued. “Is it because, you know, they are truly of this persuasion, or is it because it’s a chicken or egg theme?”
“They are being fed these messages over and over from places like Disney and now the numbers are going up?” he asked, suggesting that Disney was turning them queer.
For the rest of the segment, the co-hosts said that talking about LGBTQ people is the same as talking about sexual acts with children.
This article appears courtesy our media partner LGBTQ Nation.