The Desantis Empire strikes back at Disney World

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Yesterday,  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that allows him to take over Walt Disney World’s self-governing district less than a year after a very public fight between the company and conservative Florida politicians who were angry that Disney publicly opposed the divisive “Don’t Say Gay” law.

As a reminder, “Don't Say Gay” was designed to limit what conservatives argued was rhetoric that indoctrinated children into LGBTQ lifestyles in Florida's schools.

To that end, Florida's new law allows Desantis, one of the leading potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, to appoint a five member board that will govern Disney's district, one that includes major tourist attractions such as Walt Disney World and EPCOT, among others. 

For those unaware, the Walt Disney Company, already the owners of the popular Disneyland in California, had its pick of warm climate Southern states to build its proposed Disney World back in 1966, but it chose Florida after state leaders assured the company that it would have leeway to build and govern the use of its property in the same way that city and county governments did under Florida law. This special designation also ensured that the company was not beholden to local land-use and certain usury taxes as well and by 1972, Disney World was on its way to becoming the industry leading theme park and one of the most lucrative tourist businesses in Florida—one that ultimately derived exorbitant profits for the Sunshine State via the sales taxes culled from its parks each year. 

Cognizant of these financial facts, such did not deter Gov. Desantis from seeking to punish Disney World, a company that's proudly employed LGBTQ Americans through the years and held “Gay Pride” days as well. During the signing ceremony in Lake Buena Vista, Desantis said, “Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end; there’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day.”

I am sure that Mr. Desantis thought that his comments made him look tough, but the reality is that his rhetoric and actions are extremely petty, mean-spirited, and contrary to well established conservative principles of taking a "hands off" approach to the very corporate entities that drive the economic engines across our state and nation. 

Seriously, I have spent the last 40 of my almost 51 years listening to progressive and conservative politicians in Florida touting the need for business growth in general, and supporting the tourism industry that has made Florida one of the strongest economies in the United States, specifically. Thus, it makes little sense to me that just because conservatives oppose homosexuality and so-called alternative lifestyles due to their personal religious or moral views, that they would act in ways that leave Florida open to boycotts from tourists who may find Gov. Desantis and his fellow Republicans support of "Don't Say Gay" and the "Stop WOKE" law, the latter the controversial measure to limit the teaching of real Black history, totally offensive.  

But Desantis has shown that he is willing to stake his political ambitions on being a leader in the culture wars that have drawn homophobic and racist bigots like moths to flames—even if polling data consistently show that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not share their opinions on these issues. 

Per usual, the new Disney law will ultimately wind its way through state and federal courts, but in the meantime, Desantis will claim victory and continue to be the darling of Republicans who do not like former President Donald Trump and see in him a viable presidential alternative.

But what's worse to me is that Desantis, a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law, is smart enough to know that the "sexual indoctrination" tenor of the Don't Say Gay law is a detestable lie; time and again, members of the LGBTQ community have said that no one, or no thing, "indoctrinated" them into their sexual preference or identity—it was always deeply entrenched within them. On a personal note, I know this to be true because back in second grade, when I just knew that I was in love with Charese, a pretty little brown skinned, brown eyed girl with two long ponytails who was in 1st grade, my mother or father didn't "tell" me to like her, I just liked her and got light headed every single time I saw her in the cafeteria or at recess at Apple Grove Elementary School 😆.

But truth is stranger than fiction all too often these days, and Gov. Desantis and his ilk will continue to proffer falsities about sexual indoctrination to fuel their pernicious personal agendas, a fact that makes Desantis seem more like another petty and mean spirited Republican from recent history— Richard Nixon, as opposed to the well loved (among Republicans) conservative hero—Ronald Reagan. 

Lest we forget how it all ended for Nixon, the 37th President who became the first to resign from office in lieu of impeachment proceedings...