Most of the LGBTQ community has a love/hate relationship with Disney. Those that love it find a sense of relief and security in their Theme Parks that bear no resemblance to our real lives which are not so welcoming to so many of us. We tend to like to forget that The whole Disney Parks organization’s output is solely based on the fantasies of straight Caucasians even though some of its most successful products have been created by openly gay men.
It was was only a few decades ago when the LGBTQ community horrified the powers that be by claiming June Ist at DisneyLand as ‘Gay Day’. We turned up to this unofficial event all wearing red t-shirts which panicked the Theme Park management into handing out white t shirts to any straight men who also happened to be wearing red. (Funny enough, they never offered one to me ….)
Back then a distraught Disney did not want to upset the conservative Christian groups who were up in arms screaming the usual nasty epithets (The Southern Baptist Convention boycotted Disney for eight years). On the other hand, they also knew that the LGBTQ community were loyal free-spending consumers and with Disney, the ring of cash registers can always drown out a good proportion of the whining.
Nowadays the attendance in Disney theme parks also reflects the growing number of LGBT families with children as well as the increasing number of LGBT marriages, since Disney World is also a top honeymoon destination. Whilst Gay Day may have helped Disney Theme Parks acknowledge our community more, albeit reluctantly, their Entertainment section continues to ignore our very existence.
Despite being popular with so many queer fans, Disney has done virtually nothing to include LGBTQ characters in its movies. In GLAAD’s annual report which has rated each of the major film studios on their representation of queer characters, Disney has ranked near the bottom every single year.
What we don’t want to do is accept the tokenism of ambiguous characters in their films that they want to allude to as (possibly) being gay or non-binary.
Actually, tokenism is the reason we start to pen this piece when the video below landed in Queerguru’s in-tray. It’s Disney+ “This Is Me” Pride Celebration “Spectacular” which is nothing more than is an extended ad for the Disney+ streaming service. Even the usually wonderful drag queen Nina West cannot convince us that she is happy or proud to be there just as a mouthpiece for the channel’s STRAIGHT programming.
Just saying the word Pride is no longer enough for anyone to convince us that they are genuine allies of our community
The one queer series Disney did have recently was LOVE VICTOR which they shipped Season 2 off to Hulu instead. More food for thought.
PS If you insist on getting a fix of Disney then seek out the fabulous Miss Conception who has a whole Disney Show in Drag which will have you in stitchs although poor Walt will be turning over in his grave.
Labels: 2021, Disney, Pride 2021, tokenism
