National
Disney’s muted response to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill riles LGBTQ fans
Calls for boycott as media company declines to speak out

The “Don’t Say Gay” bill faces mounting criticism as it continues to advance in the Florida Legislature and appears headed to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, but one company with strong business ties to the state — despite professing to support the LGBTQ community — has declined to denounce the legislation to the growing disappointment of its many fans.
Disney, the media conglomerate, generates more than $6 billion a year from its theme parks, including the popular Walt Disney World in Florida. The company issued a statement Friday in the face of growing calls to speak out, but the statement is being criticized for stopping short of criticizing the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“We understand how important this issue is to our LGBTQ+ employees and many others,” the statement says. “For nearly a century, Disney has been a unifying force that brings people together. We are determined that it remains a place where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. The biggest impact we can have in creating a more inclusive world is through the inspiring content we produce, the welcoming culture we create here and the diverse community organizations we support, including those representing the LGBTQ+ community.”
At the same time, Disney has promoted itself and its theme parks as supporters LGBTQ people, setting aside “Gay Days” for same-sex couples and families specifically to visit the park, as well as its LGBTQ employees. Last year, for example, Disney announced park visitors would be able to buy now-iconic hats with Mickey Mouse ears in rainbow colors, while employees would no longer be held to gender-binary rules on costuming, jewelry, hair, and nail colors.
For 15 consecutive years, Disney has obtained and promoted a perfect score of “100” on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual corporate index, which ranks businesses based on policies and practices for LGBTQ employees, such as workforce protections, partner benefits and transgender-inclusive health care benefits as well as public engagements with the LGBTQ community.
That’s why Disney’s refusal to denounce the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would bar Florida schools from “instruction” about sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-3 and otherwise not at “age-appropriate” levels, comes as a disappointment to many of the company’s fans. Alicia Stella, a video blogger for “Theme Park Stop” who identifies as a member of the LGBTQ community, is quoted in the Orlando Sentinel as saying Disney’s statement was worse than the company not saying anything at all.
“We wanted a statement from Disney because we want Disney to have our backs,” Stella reportedly said. “… It’s worse than a response. This is a non-response.”
The group Gen-Z for Change has gone so far as to issue a call on Twitter to boycott Disney in response to the company’s lackluster response to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, pointing out the company has made donations to lawmakers supporting the legislation.
“Disney has made it clear that they will not take action to protect the lives of LGBTQ+ youth, and will continue to fund the politicians that seek to oppress them and erase their identities,” the group says. “We are calling on people to #BoycottDisneyPlus until Disney decides to #StopFundingHate.”
Disney is one of the nation’s most recognizable companies and one of the top employers in Florida. In addition to being responsible for Disney characters, the company has under its umbrella of Walt Disney Studios major film-producers Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Studios. Disney also owns the ABC broadcast network and cable television networks such as Disney Channel and ESPN. Had the company denounced the “Don’t Say Gay” bill consistent with its message of supporting LGBTQ people, it would have sent a strong signal that might be a watershed moment in efforts to derail the legislation.
And yet the company has dismissed numerous calls and missed opportunities to articulate a public position on the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. For example, in a joint statement out this week and organized by the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom for All Americans, more than 150 signatories were among the businesses denouncing anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida as measures that “single out LGBTQ individuals – many specifically targeting transgender youth – for exclusion or differential treatment,” but Disney isn’t among them.
Angela Darra, a spokesperson for Freedom for All Americans, said “we don’t have a relationship with Disney” in response to the Washington Blade’s inquiry last week on why the company was absent, adding she’s unsure if Disney has been approached yet or has a stance either way.
To be sure, the statement itself never explicitly identifies the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and speaks more generally about opposition to anti-LGBTQ legislation advancing in state legislatures. Darra told the Blade “Don’t Say Gay” isn’t enumerated because LGBTQ organizations “take the approach of releasing broader letters like this during state legislative sessions because we believe it is the most effective way to show support from businesses.
“They simply don’t have the capacity or bandwidth to run every individual bill up the corporate ladder for approvals,” Darra added. “I know it’s not ideal but there is a lot of process otherwise that would slow us down.”
The answer for why Disney hasn’t spoken out against the legislation may be the change in leadership. In a detailed article published last week, the Hollywood Reporter lays out how after the previous CEO Bob Iger took a stand on issues, including speaking out against President Trump’s travel ban on Muslim countries, the new CEO Bob Chapek has opted to take a hands-off approach.
“According to a source familiar with both Iger’s and Chapek’s thinking, Iger tended to speak out not only when issues affected the company’s business interests but when they affected its employees, now numbering about 195,000,” the article says. “But this person says Chapek has taken a narrower view and has been concerned that Disney might be viewed as too liberal.”
Other groups have explicitly called on Disney to speak out against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Among them is AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which unveiled last week a 30-second ad that aired on local TV stations in Orlando and called on the company to denounce the legislation.
“Disney, where do you stand when we need you the most?” a female voiceover says in the ad. “The rights of families in Florida are under attack. The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill is threatening our children’s security. It’s 2022. Kids need knowledge. Depriving them of this is wrong.”
A group of LGBTQ activists wrote a joint letter to Disney last week calling on the company to speak out against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as well as the Stop Woke Act against critical race theory and legislation restricting transition-related care for transgender youth.
“We understand Disney finds itself having to take public positions on many social issues but believe there is an opportunity to send a powerful signal that companies will not stand for the instrumentalization of LGBTQ+ rights for political purposes,” the letter says.
Signers of the letter aren’t leaders of major LGBTQ institutions, but individual activists and figures, including retired NBA player Jason Collins, former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), gay activist David Mixner and HIV activist Sean Strub as well as filmmakers Jason Moore and transgender activist Geena Rocero.
Fabrice Houdart, managing director of the LGBTQ group Out Leadership, organized the letter and told the Washington Blade Disney — as well as other major companies in Florida, such as the Miami Dolphins and the cruise line Royal Caribbean — have commercially engaged with LGBTQ people, including at Pride events, but “have not been present in the response” to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“So we wrote to the CEO of all those companies…saying, ‘Look, you know, if you are a friend of the community, then you have to do something,” Houdart said. “You cannot stay silent were this to be up for a vote in the Senate.”
Houdart said as of last week he had yet to hear anything in response to the letter, but hopes things would change as public pressure on Disney and other companies continues to intensify and corporations become more aware of the legislation.
“What I’m hoping is that internally, they are deciding whether they going to speak out or not,” Houdart said. “But, you know, what I really wanted to do is put them on notice that the community is aware, despite them saying that they are LGBT friendly, they have not taken a stand at the moment where, [it’s another fight against] stigmatization of the community.”
New York
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
One of the victims, John Umberger, was D.C. political consultant

A New York judge on Wednesday sentenced three men convicted of killing a D.C. political consultant and another man who they targeted at gay bars in Manhattan.
NBC New York notes a jury in February convicted Jayqwan Hamilton, Jacob Barroso, and Robert DeMaio of murder, robbery, and conspiracy in relation to druggings and robberies that targeted gay bars in Manhattan from March 2021 to June 2022.
John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant from D.C., and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, died. Prosecutors said Hamilton, Barroso, and DeMaio targeted three other men at gay bars.
The jury convicted Hamilton and DeMaio of murdering Umberger. State Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin sentenced Hamilton and DeMaio to 40 years to life in prison.
Barroso, who was convicted of killing Ramirez, received a 20 years to life sentence.
National
Medical groups file lawsuit over Trump deletion of health information
Crucial datasets included LGBTQ, HIV resources

Nine private medical and public health advocacy organizations, including two from D.C., filed a lawsuit on May 20 in federal court in Seattle challenging what it calls the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’s illegal deletion of dozens or more of its webpages containing health related information, including HIV information.
The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and HHS itself, and several agencies operating under HHS and its directors, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
“This action challenges the widespread deletion of public health resources from federal agencies,” the lawsuit states. “Dozens (if not more) of taxpayer-funded webpages, databases, and other crucial resources have vanished since January 20, 2025, leaving doctors, nurses, researchers, and the public scrambling for information,” it says.
“These actions have undermined the longstanding, congressionally mandated regime; irreparably harmed Plaintiffs and others who rely on these federal resources; and put the nation’s public health infrastructure in unnecessary jeopardy,” the lawsuit continues.
It adds, “The removal of public health resources was apparently prompted by two recent executive orders – one focused on ‘gender ideology’ and the other targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’) programs. Defendants implemented these executive orders in a haphazard manner that resulted in the deletion (inadvertent or otherwise) of health-related websites and databases, including information related to pregnancy risks, public health datasets, information about opioid-use disorder, and many other valuable resources.”
The lawsuit does not mention that it was President Donald Trump who issued the two executive orders in question.
A White House spokesperson couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the lawsuit.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the lawsuit names as defendants in addition to HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., Matthew Buzzelli, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health; Martin Makary, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration; Thomas Engels, administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration; and Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
The 44-page lawsuit complaint includes an addendum with a chart showing the titles or descriptions of 49 “affected resource” website pages that it says were deleted because of the executive orders. The chart shows that just four of the sites were restored after initially being deleted.
Of the 49 sites, 15 addressed LGBTQ-related health issues and six others addressed HIV issues, according to the chart.
“The unannounced and unprecedented deletion of these federal webpages and datasets came as a shock to the medical and scientific communities, which had come to rely on them to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks, assist physicians and other clinicians in daily care, and inform the public about a wide range of healthcare issues,” the lawsuit states.
“Health professionals, nonprofit organizations, and state and local authorities used the websites and datasets daily in care for their patients, to provide resources to their communities, and promote public health,” it says.
Jose Zuniga, president and CEO of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (IAPAC), one of the organizations that signed on as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement that the deleted information from the HHS websites “includes essential information about LGBTQ+ health, gender and reproductive rights, clinical trial data, Mpox and other vaccine guidance and HIV prevention resources.”
Zuniga added, “IAPAC champions evidence-based, data-informed HIV responses and we reject ideologically driven efforts that undermine public health and erase marginalized communities.”
Lisa Amore, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s largest LGBTQ supportive health services provider, also expressed concern about the potential impact of the HHS website deletions.
“As the region’s leader in HIV care and prevention, Whitman-Walker Health relies on scientific data to help us drive our resources and measure our successes,” Amore said in response to a request for comment from the Washington Blade.
“The District of Columbia has made great strides in the fight against HIV,” Amore said. “But the removal of public facing information from the HHS website makes our collective work much harder and will set HIV care and prevention backward,” she said.
The lawsuit calls on the court to issue a declaratory judgement that the “deletion of public health webpages and resources is unlawful and invalid” and to issue a preliminary or permanent injunction ordering government officials named as defendants in the lawsuit “to restore the public health webpages and resources that have been deleted and to maintain their web domains in accordance with their statutory duties.”
It also calls on the court to require defendant government officials to “file a status report with the Court within twenty-four hours of entry of a preliminary injunction, and at regular intervals, thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders.”
The health organizations that joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs include the Washington State Medical Association, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Academy Health, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Fast-Track Cities Institute, International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, National LGBT Cancer Network, and Vermont Medical Society.
The Fast-Track Cities Institute and International Association of Providers of AIDS Care are based in D.C.
U.S. Federal Courts
Federal judge scraps trans-inclusive workplace discrimination protections
Ruling appears to contradict US Supreme Court precedent

Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has struck down guidelines by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission designed to protect against workplace harassment based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
The EEOC in April 2024 updated its guidelines to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which determined that discrimination against transgender people constituted sex-based discrimination as proscribed under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
To ensure compliance with the law, the agency recommended that employers honor their employees’ preferred pronouns while granting them access to bathrooms and allowing them to wear dress code-compliant clothing that aligns with their gender identities.
While the the guidelines are not legally binding, Kacsmaryk ruled that their issuance created “mandatory standards” exceeding the EEOC’s statutory authority that were “inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of Title VII and recent Supreme Court precedent.”
“Title VII does not require employers or courts to blind themselves to the biological differences between men and women,” he wrote in the opinion.
The case, which was brought by the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation, presents the greatest setback for LGBTQ inclusive workplace protections since President Donald Trump’s issuance of an executive order on the first day of his second term directing U.S. federal agencies to recognize only two genders as determined by birth sex.
Last month, top Democrats from both chambers of Congress reintroduced the Equality Act, which would codify LGBTQ-inclusive protections against discrimination into federal law, covering employment as well as areas like housing and jury service.