Gay Disney Employee Rips Company’s Stance on Florida Law: ‘Disney Does Not Speak For Me’

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A gay man who is employed by Disney ripped the company over its decision to openly oppose Florida’s controversial “Parental Rights in Education” bill.

The bill forbids teachers from speaking about sexual orientation or gender identity to students from kindergarten to third grade. Critics have labeled it the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The argument is the legislation marginalizes gay and transgender students and families.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed it into law this week, and Disney quickly responded. The company said the bill “should never have passed and should never have been signed into law.” Disney also vowed to help repeal it.

Gary Lucia, a self-described longtime Disney employee, opened up on his thoughts on the saga in a piece published on Substack titled, “I Am a Gay Employee at Walt Disney World. Disney Does Not Speak For Me.”

Lucia explained he was inspired once to see a boy wearing a Tinker Bell dress, and described growing up gay. He then slammed Disney and the “movement” for being disingenuous about what is in the bill. He said some of his gay colleagues were upset at its passage.

“These are sad stories and I empathize with the emotions involved, so I understand why there was a visceral reaction to hearing that Florida was enacting a bill that stopped teachers from saying the word ‘gay,’” Lucia wrote. “Except for one thing: it is not true. As most people hopefully know by now, the bill does not mention the word ‘gay’ once.”

Lucia further argued that by using the word “gay,” gender activists have used people like him as “pawns”:

The purposely misleading nickname “Don’t Say Gay” was a Trojan horse. It drew people in and got them all fired up because they thought the bill was attacking gay people. In a headline or quick soundbite, it seemingly told you all you needed to know.

This was done intentionally—there has been an outcome of support and acceptance from the public at large since Gay Marriage was made legal, so those fighting the bill knew any attack on gay people would be met with outrage. The detractors of the bill used this to lure you in, but they wanted to hide the gender ideology part of the bill, which is what people should really be concerned about. The public was being played, and gay people were being used as pawns.

He also railed against the broader LGBTQ+ movement for being welcoming of too many people. Lucia argued that people who identify as “queer” or transgender have nothing in common with him.

“Let me speak for myself: I am not LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, or LGBTQIA+,” he wrote. “I am gay, just GAY. When you refer to me as ‘LGBTQIA+’, it is offensive to me. You are putting a label on me that I never approved. You are lumping all these groups of people together, and we are not a monolith.”

Lucia also stated he wants to know what was behind Disney’s decision to align itself with a side in the culture war, especially one he said marginalizes men for being men, no matter their sexual orientation.

While referencing Disney, he concluded, “they do not speak for me.”