bostonglobe.com – By James Pindell – The Republican war against Disney has been a long time in the making, but on Wednesday afternoon it reached a whole new level.
What began months ago as just another salvo in the culture wars suddenly became about threatening a major part of the Florida economy, in a major political gamble by Republicans.
The political dynamic is a familiar one after the last five years. People may have been surprised to wake up one day and see the nation was fighting over Starbucks and Christmas, but the logical extension has been the later kerfuffles over Dr. Seuss, Amazon Prime, and now Disney.
The Disney part largely began after Florida passed what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans any discussion about gender and sexuality from kindergarten through third grade. It’s intended to bar discussion that might normalize same-sex families that might be the reality for teachers or students.
At first, Disney was criticized by its own employees for not saying anything against the law as it was being debated. Then Disney announced that not only did it oppose the law, it would no longer give donations to any Florida lawmakers who voted for it. This especially mattered because Disney’s donations in Florida were heavily skewed toward Republicans, who have dominated state politics for decades.