The Walt Disney Company announced Tuesday it would take its operations to openly anti-gay countries after denouncing the state of Florida for a parental rights bill.
The media giant announced Disney+, the subscription-based streaming service, would be introduced to 42 different areas throughout Europe, Asia and West Africa beginning in May, according to Fox News. Some of the new locations include Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen. It is illegal to be gay in all of these countries, according to the BBC.
Being gay is punishable by death in Yemen, while in Egypt members of the LGBTQ community have been arbitrarily detained and kept in “inhuman conditions” where they are “systemically subject … to ill-treatment including torture,” according to the Human Rights Watch.
The Walt Disney Company released a statement Monday denouncing Florida’s new legislation that prevents teachers from talking about sexual orientation and gender ideology in K-3 classrooms and requires school districts to notify parents of any health services and of any changes to their child’s physical, mental or emotional health. (RELATED: Disney Caves To Liberal Gender Ideologues, Will No Longer Say ‘Boys’ Or ‘Girls’ In Parks)
“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” the company said in a statement, despite the fact that nowhere in the legislation does the phrase “don’t say gay” appear. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that.”
Statement from The Walt Disney Company on signing of Florida legislation: pic.twitter.com/UVI7Ko3aKS
— Walt Disney Company (@WaltDisneyCo) March 28, 2022
“We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.”
Disney received pushback, with Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio noting Disney “filmed Mulan near #Uighur genocide camps & then thanked the people who run those camps in the credits.”
The @WaltDisneyCo filmed Mulan near #Uighur genocide camps & then thanked the people who run those camps in the credits
But they are outraged that Florida schools will not be indoctrinating 5-year olds on “gender identity” https://t.co/HngBSBMhMj
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) March 29, 2022
“But they are outraged that Florida schools will not be indoctrinating 5-year-olds on ‘gender identity’.”
