Bob Chapek's response to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill

[Angel Ariel]

Easier said than done, in the Washington example provided the parents complained to the school and the school said it didn’t violate any laws so they let the posters stay.

That’s how we end up with legislation like this, a couple teachers push the limits by going outside approved curriculum, parents complain, the school districts say there’s no law against it, and the parents start the process of implementing laws to address what should have been handled on an individual level.

When parents feel they don’t have a voice at the school the only recourse is going above the schools.

I won't speak for anywhere else, but my district is having serious issues with everything that you're talking about here, and the bolded sentence represents a VERY small, but vocal (with national media connections), set of parents. I hear that they don't feel heard - but they are also not representing the vast majority of parents. Their media connections - and, factually speaking - political funding - are allowing them to amplify the message and make it *seem* like they are a large majority, when in fact they are the opposite. A small set of vocal, well-funded and connected parents should not be determining access to curricula for all students.

(and that's not acknowledging that the poster referenced in Washington wasn't curriculum. And could have/should have been addressed on a teacher level. Perhaps there is a gender non-conforming child in the class that the teacher is supporting. Another family shouldn't have the right to say the classroom must remove representative/supporting material for another student. As someone else said - you can't control everything your child is exposed to. Prepare to have the conversations according to your beliefs at your home - that's our job as parents. )

 

[DCBaker]

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Let's hope he's sincere and follows through!

 

[Sir_Cliff]

Honestly, that at least reads as sincere and is an improvement. Maybe he's convinced Zenia Mucha to cross over from Team Iger!

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

I come from another country and school system in a different time, so maybe none of this applies. Reading all of this outrage, though, I must say that I don't remember there ever being an issue with something being said in the classroom with which my parents disagreed or being confused when my parents said something at home that was different to what my teachers might have said. My parents were fairly conservative and thought teachers were generally very left-leaning and said so to me even as a little child. Children aren't stupid and can deal with hearing different things. Being taught to be respectful of different perspectives in school from a young age, though, shouldn't be controversial.

We're living in such a weird time where so many people across the political spectrum seem to want to control what people can say and hear. This, to me, just seems like a massive dog whistle to whip up a moral panic among parents about gay and trans people brainwashing (or 'recruiting') their children. It's a very old trick, including in Florida where a friend of our little Orange Bird in the Sunshine Tree made quite a name for herself lobbying on this issue.

I can’t recall any controversies in all my years of school either, that was a different time though. What used to be a private conversation between a parent, teacher, and a principal now gets posted on social media and instantly thousands, if not millions of people, are “involved”, special interest groups (both pro and con) get involved, the media get involved, and all the sudden a private issue becomes a very public issue, and when an issue gets enough press politicians get involved so they can look like they’re “fixing” it.

As asked earlier, who gets to decide on a topic by topic basis what is okay and what isn't? For every parent opposed to a book about a child having two dads, there will be one in favour.

Parents specifically aren't the arbitrators of content either. If parents want to dictate specific educational content for their kids, home schooling or private schools are options.

This is the core of all these issues, the 80% in the middle likely don’t care either way, the 10% extreme right and the 10% extreme left end up being the ones fighting it out.

I’m a huge advocate for school vouchers for this exact reason but that opens a whole new can of school funding worms.

There’s no right or wrong because it’s all based on personal beliefs.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

There’s no right or wrong because it’s all based on personal beliefs.

This isn't a "beliefs" issue - it's a human rights issue.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

This isn't a "beliefs" issue - it's a human rights issue.

At what age teaching about sexuality is appropriate is absolutely a belief issue.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

At what age teaching about sexuality is appropriate is absolutely a belief issue.

Now you're trying to change the argument.

 

[Skywise]

I doubt they want this Florida legislation just like I doubt they want concentration camps in China. But their endorsements of China and Florida associate them with these things.

And yet they're still filming and kowtowing to China, aren't they?

 

[Creathir]

Now you're trying to change the argument.

In what way?
That is quite literally what the bill is about??

 

[Creathir]

This isn't a "beliefs" issue - it's a human rights issue.

How?

 

[monothingie]

So that's how the CEO of the worlds largest media company signs his memo? "Bob" written in the Disney Font?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

At what age teaching about sexuality is appropriate is absolutely a belief issue.

Same sex couples raise children. These children go to public schools and interact with their peers.

The children are already being taught these subjects. This is 2022, not 1992. Pubic schools don't exist in a vacuum outside of the broader society where LGBTQ+ rights and awareness have, on average, increased in the USA.

What public schools can do now is provide a safe environment for understanding.

 

[ImperfectPixie]

Same sex couples raise children. These children go to public schools and interact with their peers.

The children are already being taught these subjects. This is 2022, not 1992. Pubic schools don't exist in a vacuum outside of the broader society where LGBTQ+ rights and awareness have, on average, increased in the USA.

What public schools can do now is provide a safe environment for understanding.

And the education in grades below those actually starting sex-ed only talk about the make-up of families and who cares for the students in question - there's absolutely nothing sexual about it.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

So that's how the CEO of the worlds largest media company signs his memo? "Bob" written in the Disney Font?

Looks like the PR department finally got involved and silenced him, should have happened day one. Chapek does not have the charisma or public relations gift that Iger did.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

 

[monothingie]

View attachment 626567

I'm leaving...This thread bores me...You don't want a gay conservative wrecking the ridiculous narrative anyway.

Bye!

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

And the education in grades below those actually starting sex-ed only talk about the make-up of families and who cares for the students in question - there's absolutely nothing sexual about it.

Which circles us back to the vagueness of the bill, I don’t think it prevents any of that but it’s so poorly written it could easily be abused to do just that.

 

[AEfx]

You don't want a gay conservative wrecking the ridiculous narrative anyway.

I'm not a gay conservative, though people would probably say so - as anyone who is gay who isn't super-far-left is considered "conservative" LOL.

That said - as you would probably agree - in spite of the fact that they are calling it the "don't say gay" bill, like just about everything to do with alphabet politics these days, the reason they are doing it has really nothing to do with us.

The impetus for people wanting this law is because they don't want some little 8 year-old boy to say "I like the color pink!" and then have the teacher say, "Oh really? Then maybe you are actually a girl. You can choose, you know - would you like to be a little girl instead of a little boy?"

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Which circles us back to the vagueness of the bill, I don’t think it prevents any of that but it’s so poorly written it could easily be abused to do just that.

…but that’s the point.

This is an easy game to watch here.

Notice that a certain “partner” in the sunshine state openly tried to score brownie points dissing Disney’s name today?

…more bad leadership on deck from the king of the merch shop.