Walt Disney corporate employees were reportedly caught on camera discussing efforts to include more LGBT content in the company’s programming during company meetings discussing a Florida education bill, according to videos shared by Manhattan Institute senior fellow and activist Christopher Rufo.
A woman Rufo identified as Latoya Raveneau, an executive producer at Disney, reportedly boasted about injecting “queer” content into children’s shows and said the company made no effort to stop her during a meeting discussing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, according to one of the leaked videos.
The legislation, which bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday.
Raveneau reportedly said she had heard rumors at other studios that the company restricted LGBT content and that they “won’t let you show this in a Disney show,” but her experience while working at Disney was “bafflingly the opposite,” according to the video. The woman added that leadership was very welcoming of her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.”
“I don’t have to be afraid to, like, let’s have these two characters kiss,” Raveneau reportedly said, according to the video obtained by Rufo. “I was just, wherever I could just basically adding queerness … no one would stop me and no one was trying to stop me.”
A man Rufo identified as production coordinator Allen March reportedly said the company’s “Moon Girl” team was “really open to exploring queer stories,” according to another video, and said he used a tracker to make sure shows had enough LGBT characters to accurately reflect modern day New York, where the show takes place.
Disney did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
In another video, a woman Rufo identified as Disney corporate president Karey Burke reportedly said Disney has “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories, and yet we don’t have enough leads and narratives in which gay characters get to be just characters.”
“I’m here as a mother of two queer children – actually, one transgender child and one pansexual child – and also as a leader,” she said, according to the video Rufo obtained.
Another employee reportedly said Disney dropped gendered greetings such as “ladies and gentlemen” and “boys and girls” last summer in favor of “dreamers of all ages,” according to another video shared by Rufo.
Staff members also appeared to discuss Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill and Texas’s efforts to prosecute those who participate in medical transitions of transgender children, according to one video shared by Rufo.
“When they can erase you, when they can criminalize your existence, when they can demonize who you are, the next step is to criminalize you and take your kids,” a woman Rufo identified as Disney’s activism partner Nadine Smith of Equality Florida, an LGBT rights organization, reportedly said in another video. “And we’re already seeing that in Texas.”
Disney came out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Bill on March 9, with CEO Bob Chapek saying he was “disappointed” in the legislation after facing pressure from LGBT activists.
“Disney built a legendary brand as a family friendly company that creates wholesome entertainment for children. It is a tremendous mistake to throw that away in order to advocate for sex and gender ideology in grades K-3,” DeSantis’s press secretary Christina Pushaw told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Disney’s California ‘values’ do not get to determine policy in Florida.”
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