Majority of Americans Disapprove of Disney’s LGBT Agenda

Once the go-to brand for children’s entertainment, Disney’s popularity is cratering as the House of Mouse continues promoting the LGBT agenda. According to the latest Rasmussen Reports national survey, 71% of American adults agree that Disney “should return to wholesome programming and allow parents to decide when their children are taught about sexuality.”

Rasmussen cited Disney executive Karey Burke, president of Disney’s General Entertainment Content, who bragged on a conference call in 2022 about being “a mother of two queer children … one transgender child and one pansexual child …” Burke also boasted that Disney has introduced “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories.” According to Rasmussen, over half (54%) of American adults believe such programming and content is “inappropriate” for children under the age of 12.

Additionally, the brand’s popularity is underwater. Only 46% of Americans polled hold a favorable view of Disney, while 45% do not. This is down from Disney’s 51% favorability rating late last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of Disney’s support comes from Democrats. Almost two thirds (63%) of Democrats hold a favorable view of the media giant, compared to only 33% of Republicans and 36% of Independent voters.

Half of Democrats approve of programming featuring “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters” for children under the age of 12, compared to only 21% of Republicans and 24% of Independent voters. Rasmussen also noted, “More men (57%) than women (51%) believe stories featuring gay characters are not appropriate for children under 12, and men are also more likely than women to agree that Disney should go back to wholesome programming.”

Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, “Teaching values in media isn’t a new idea. … The innovation Disney has made in recent years is to teach a new morality.” He continued, “Disney sincerely believes teaching children to love sensuality and embrace self-created identities rooted in our self-perceptions is a moral good that leads to happiness and human flourishing. The moral problem is that they are wrong. The business problem is that hundreds of millions of Americans disagree with them.”

Backholm added, “What Disney sees as foundational moral truths, many Americans see as deception and perversion. The pushback this survey reveals is not to the idea of moral lessons in movies, but to the specific moral lessons Disney has prioritized.”

Over the past several years, Disney has become increasingly political, throwing its weight behind the LGBT agenda. In 2022, top Disney executives voiced criticism of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, which would, among other things, prohibit teachers from discussing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” with children in kindergarten through third grade. Disney’s then-CEO Bob Chapek originally maintained that the company would not publicly criticize the legislation but reversed course under pressure from LGBT lobbyists both within Disney and outside it. From there, LGBT content in Disney productions increased, including the first ever depiction of same-sex activity in a Pixar film.

In leaked video conferences Disney organized for employees during the Parental Rights in Education Act controversy, executives openly discussed promoting LGBT content to children. Executive Producer Latoya Raveneau expressed her gratitude that Disney’s leadership “has been so welcoming to like, my like, not-at-all secret gay agenda.” Referring to the Disney Channel show she produces, Raveneau added, “I don’t have to be afraid to — like, let’s have these two characters kiss in the background. Wherever I could, I was basically adding queerness to the show. If you see anything queer in the show — nobody would stop me and nobody was trying to stop me.”

Another executive, Diversity and Inclusion Manager Vivian Ware, boasted of eliminating “gendered” language from live shows at Disney theme parks, doing away with terms such as “ladies and gentlemen” or “boys and girls,” in order to create “that magical moment” for children who supposedly identify as transgender, non-binary, etc.

Last year, the Catholic League and Meath Television Media released a documentary entitled “Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom,” exposing what Catholic League President Bill Donohue called the company’s program of “sexual engineering” of children. “They want to go after the little kids,” Donohue said. “As I pointed out in the movie, they just got off their tricycle. And now they’re trying to sexually engineer them.” The documentary, which features interviews with former Disney employees as well as individuals like neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, also addressed Disney’s increasingly vocal stances on political issues and its friendliness with the Chinese Communist Party.

Also last year, after increasing LGBT and progressive content in its productions, Disney faced a $5.5 billion budget cut, resulting in up to 4,000 jobs being eliminated. The company’s market capitalization dropped to a nine-year low and streaming service Disney+ fell nearly one million subscribers short of projected goals. In financial documents, Disney admitted that its LGBT promotion may cost the company money, but indicated no intention of changing its position. More recently, Disney’s stock has fallen by nearly 10% despite Disney+ making a profit for the first time since it was launched in late 2019.

AUTHOR

S.A. McCarthy

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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