“Equal rights is really a no-brainer, and seeing all these people come out, hold signs and support one another was really breathtaking. She said the couple, who has been married for eight years, will be back next year.
#Gay pride day disneyland 2013 full#
“It’s been a festive, colorful, fun, exciting and emotional weekend full of love, laughs and support.” “We have so many friends in Long Beach who have raved about this parade, so we came this weekend to spend the weekend and show pride,” Jan Schmidt said. Jan Schmidt and her husband, Jerry, of Newport Beach watched their very first Long Beach Gay Pride Parade, and said it was “a beautiful display of love and equality.”
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach Gay Pride Parade got off to a roaring start Sunday as it danced and rolled its way down Ocean Boulevard.Īlmost two dozen lesbian motorcyclists – including members of clubs Dykes on Bikes, the L Riders and Chrome Divas – led the parade entries west along Ocean Boulevard in the 30th annual event. She also is a bisexual queer woman.Photo gallery: 30th annual Long Beach Gay Pride Parade
And gone is the day when corporations can pay lip service to the rights of LGBTQ+ people while actively undermining them through their donations.Ĭhristina Fialho is an attorney and the managing director of the Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab at USC’s Marshall School of Business. Gone is the day when maximizing shareholder profits was enough. Had Disney’s corporate strategy already been supportive of LGBTQ+ people, then the company would likely have spoken out quicker and not donated a quarter of a million dollars to the bill’s supporters. Disney has an opportunity and even an obligation to its stockholders and its stakeholders – the consumers and communities that use Disney products – to align its corporate strategy with a transparent and inclusive social policy. But Disney and other leading corporations can and must do better.īacklash against Disney might have been avoided if the company had embedded its social impact goals into the core of its business model and corporate strategy. So we cannot be surprised when Disney fails to take action or swiftly speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Often, Disney has been cited as having “the weakest record when it comes to LGBT-inclusive films of those studios tracked.” LGBTQ+ children have been excluded for decades from seeing themselves reflected in Disney movies. Since 2012 when GLAAD began grading companies on LGBTQ+ inclusion, Disney has received a “poor” or “failing” grade in the watchdog’s annual reports with only one exception in 2013, when the company received an “adequate” grade. While addressing social problems is no longer the sole responsibility of government and civil society organizations, business operations that maximize shareholder profits are also no longer enough to compete in the global economy. It is clear that what companies say and do combined with where they choose to donate has a real effect on the lived experience of people impacted by social issues.ĭisney’s main consumers are children and their parents. These laws that erase LGBTQ+ people’s identities further stigmatize students and lead to bullying, attacks and poorer academic outcomes.Įven in California, which has some of the most inclusive laws and education codes, fewer than half of LGBTQ+ students report feeling safe in school, according to a recent study funded by the California Department of Education. However, the study also found that if LGBTQ+ students experienced similar levels of support and safety as other students, disparities in their mental health, academic motivation and academic performance would shrink by half.
Nine other states are considering similar laws, according to PEN America. A bill introduced this month in Kansas would make it a misdemeanor for any teacher who uses material depicting same sex relationships in any way, not just sexually explicit content. The Florida bill, euphemistically titled Parental Rights in Education, would censor teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people, preventing students from experiencing inclusive classrooms. While hundreds of employees walked out at Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, Disneyland employees who did not feel safe walking out were told they could not wear “pride/trans Mickey pins,” according to organizers. Even Disney’s employees have been hosting walkouts during their breaks to protest Chapek’s slow response, culminating Tuesday with a walkout at Disney worksites in Florida, California and elsewhere.