Oh! That feels so LIBERATING! Furthermore, I loathe, detest, and despise Disney. I have no use for them. I go into Pavlovian torrents of cursing whenever the name M*ch**l **sn*r is mentioned. I resent the way this company has been conflated with Queers by both ourselves and the Christian Right. I am boycotting their merchandise, even adorable Winnie the Pooh stuff that makes me recall fond memories from my childhood. I refuse to attend Gay Days this year, even if Katarina begs. Did I mention that I hate having those worker-exploiting, land-raping, city-dominating, conformity-inducing, religion-insulting colostomy bags aligned with my Queer community?!?!
Some of you may be thinking that I should lighten up. Some of you can go read pro-Disney writers. It's not that I'm opposed to entertaining kids or to cartoons. That part's great. It's just, well, an awful lot of other things.
If you look at the free publications shelves of many Orlando-area supermarkets, you might find an evangelical Christian monthly (because so many irritating things come around monthly, don't they, girls? :-) called Discovery. On Samhain, the Pagan New Year, I vowed to limit the amount of fundamentalist stuff I read, because I felt that it was adding unnecessary negativity to my life. So far, I am reading less of it, but January's Discovery caught my attention. The bright illustration read "Disney's Gay Connection". "Thrice Goddess," I thought, "they're still harping on that?" I picked it up anyway.
Turns out that there's a new book out called Disney: The Mouse Betrayed. Peter and Rochelle Schweizer quote our own Doug Swallow, the original Gay Day organizer. The authors have that charming fundamentalist habit of quoting gays to show them in a "bad" light as often as possible. (I just love that!) Discovery noted that Content magazine discredited two of the so-called sources. Of course, Disney spokespeople have worked to discredit the entire book. It claims that Disney is actively encouraging Gay Days. They are helping it to go smoothly, as the event brings in money and controversy. But the Schweizers deemphasize Gay Days' grassroots beginnings and Queer Orlando's active support. In their universe, we need a decadent large corporation to get anything done.
In the Queer community, as in most others, there is a perception that the enemy of our enemy is our friend. The Schweizers definitely oppose us, and their dislike of gays is readily evident on every page. Radio station WTLN and its house organ Discovery are routinely anti-gay. That same issue of Discovery discussed Miami's support of "special rights"--I'm not kidding, they used that exact phrase--for homosexuals and Georgia's overturning of their sodomy law. The political groups who oppose Disney oppose them mainly because of us. By comparison, the corporation who shows gay characters on TV and gives same-sex insurance benefits and allows its employees to be open looks better. Right?
Recently, Walt Disney World was battling its employees. Unreasonably enough, they wanted higher wages. They didn't want their benefits cut, and they didn't want to pay more for an already-reduced insurance package. Disney was planning on making the characters--you know, the ones who walk around in 90 degree weather and 90 percent humidity in big plush costumes, often getting threatened--walk around longer and take fewer breaks. Some "cast members" who protested were fired to send a message to the remaining employees. About the only thing they budged on was paying part time cast members $6.25 an hour.
Up in New York City, ABC technical workers, upset that their health insurance premiums were being raised, staged a one-day sick-out. They were promptly replaced by scabs and threatened with the loss of their jobs.
In China, Myanmar/Burma, and Haiti, workers in the factories that produce Disney merchandise are forced to work 70 to 80 hours a week for less than a dollar an hour, with no overtime or benefits. They are searched before leaving--can't have them making off with the merchandise! Supervisors are allowed to hit, and the factories are often not air-conditioned. Haiti, by the way, is every bit as hot as Orlando. Unlike Orlando, where the unemployment rates are low, workers in Haiti have very few other choices. Quite frankly, it is difficult for me to commend them for their "progressive" stance on gay workers when what that often translates to is equal access to a low-benefit, low-wage shit job. No, I am not just talking about Haiti.
Here in Orlando, Walt Disney World has affected even those of us who don't work there. I guess I should be grateful to them for attracting the tourists who pay our state taxes for us. But they've done it by razing lots of Central Florida land, and they can't seem to stop. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty pissed about Animal Kingdom. I wouldn't visit Animal Kingdom for M*ch**l **sn*r's weekly pay...okay, maybe I would, but I wouldn't smile or nothing. That makes hellasense, you know--promoting concern for the environment by ripping apart Florida lnad, displacing native flora and fauna, and replacing them with non-native plants and animals that may have been better off elsewhere, several of which died before the park ever opened. Disney is not responsible for all of the ugly urban sprawl, but it has played a starring role in the ravaging of orange groves, forests, grasslands, and historical buildings. I fear that many people living in Orlando may not even know what I am talking about, but every year, Old Florida gets smaller and harder to find. Disney has helped to diminish the state I love before I was even born. Why shouldn't I be resentful?
I like the city, too; if I wanted nothing but nature around me, I'd be in the Panhandle by now, at least until some big corporation got it into their heads to ruin that. I'm a young woman, and I need clubs and concerts sometimes. I like the diversity and energy of a booming city. This leads me to another reason that I hate Disney. A year or so ago, Rolling Stone unwittingly eulogized Orlando's dance scene. Like it or hate it, it was ours. It was driven by Orlandoans, not out-of-state executives. The Club at Firestone wasn't biting off anyone else. It was original, and it drew worldwide respect. Our rave scene was making us look cool. So what did Glenda Hood and her friends in the City Council do? Get freaked out 'cause kids with piercings were scaring a few tourists from the backwoods of the Midwest! The City Council forced clubs, including The Club, to close at three in the morning, which is mid-rave in a city whose leaders are not envisioning a smiley police state. Then they decided to exempt the theme parks! Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island got a shot in the arm at the expense of local businesspeople. Good call--God/dess forbid Orlando develop some culture that doesn't benefit overpaid executives in California! I am blushing as I write this paragraph. You see, OutKast, the hip-hop group I passionately love, will be playing House of Blues at Downtown Disney on January 22nd. House of Blues has attracted big-name groups that aren't quite big enough for the O'rena. OutKast...principles...OutKast...principles...I can virtually guarantee that OutKast will win unless lack of money compels me to do the right thing. This is how principles are lost, and I can definitely relate to other consumers who cave. The average consumer is drawn in by low prices or convenience or excellent hip-hop groups. Penny for penny, guilty people's money pays executives every bit as well as money from people who don't give a damn. But only Lisa Simpson can resist after hearing "Wheels of Steel" and "Rosa Parks".
I hate Disney because of their insistence on a clean-cut public appearance. No, I'm not talking about the employees, who have created the locally-famous "Disney Fag" look. When you choose to work a service job, you exchange your right to look interesting for a paycheck. But when you've paid Disney's usurious prices just to get in and stand in long lines, you get to wear whatever the hell you want, the way I see it! Yet if you happen to be wearing a T-shirt that offends a cast member, you are forced to cover it. One of my coven sisters had to fight to keep her pentacle on because some cast member thought it was Satanic. Even if it was, which it was not, she still had the right to wear it. The Schweizers point out this kind of behavior, then argue that Disney should do something about "offensive" same-sex kissing and pro-gay T-shirts. It is so typically right-wing that they have no problem with Disney censoring other paying guests. I bet they'd get outraged if Disney did something about somebody's "Turn or Burn" T-shirt!
Disney may well do such a thing, because they have no compunction about insulting religious groups. To promote the issueing of The Black Cauldron, a cute cartoon movie with evil "witches", on videocassette, they descended upon "Witch City" itself--Salem, Massachussetts. A huge black cauldron shooting fireworks rose out of the ground in the town square as celebrants were taught the "Black Cauldron Boogie." In Disney's press release, it was made clear that Salem was selected because real Witches--the kind that look like and are normal, kid-tolerating people--live there. I practice Vodoun concurrently with Witchcraft. I was a bit distressed to lean that The Wonderful World of Disney is airing a movie called In Your Shoes. It's about two single parents who exchange personalities "thanks to their meddling children and some good old fashioned New Orleans voodoo." I guess the New Orleans way really is different from the Haitian Vodoun I'm being taught! As one who reveres her ancestors, I was interested to learn from Mulan that in China, one's relatives become bad stand-up comedians when they pass. This is the sort of thing that tempts me to form a Pagan Family Association, at least until I remember that I'm pro-speech.
It's easy to latch on to people who don't hate us just because we're Queer, isn't it? At least Disney sees us as a target market. In a world where many see us as targets, that can be downright refreshing. However, there are other large corporations whose CEOs know that not hating us is good business. There are also many, many independent companies who had our backs long before our brave, embattled quazillionaire friends granted us tolerance. Maybe I should be glad that they don't hate us, but I'd rather give my hard-earned money to Florida entrepreneurs than kiss corporate asses in gratitude. Isn't our community best served when we invest our money into, you know, our community?
I am more than a Bisexual. As much as I am a woman-loving woman, I am a fan of small business, a native Floridian, a Vodouisante, and a Witch. You too are more than a Bisexual, more than a lesbian, more than a gay man. If Disney is in line with your values, honor to you for supporting them. But I have my own standards when looking for friends.
When someone tolerates me as a Queer person, but disrespects almost everything else I consider important, they are not my friend.
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