After a Political Storm, Gay Days Return to Disney

Last Friday evening, nearly 6,000 people – almost all gay men among them – poured into a vault. Disney World Water Park near Orlando, Florida. Each had spent $100 or more on tickets to a private, adults-only Pride Bacchanal called Riptide. “For one night, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park completely becomes your for the party of the year,” the online ads promised. “Be a part of the magic!”

a real rainbow Arching over the park’s thunder-soaked parking lot as the sun goes down, many attendees joked that Disney has outdone itself with a Pride theme this year. But the party was not a Disney-orchestrated event, not by a long shot. Some ticket holders came in wrestling singles, while others dressed themselves in bondage-view chest harnesses. Later, a squadron of Go-Go boys hand over the stage to pull off Queen Trinity the Tuck.

I stood among the fun-loving people wearing a black polo shirt and khaki shorts, to which a 27-year-old stranger, Jose Rodriguez, immediately intervened. “What’s with your outfit?” He asked. “You look like an avid soccer dad, and that’s not a good vibe. Go take off some of those clothes!”

Fiction.

Rodriguez was right in shaping me as an interloper: I didn’t come to Typhoon Lagoon to dance (thump, thump, thump) or flaunt Muscles (hah!) Or flirt with tippy abandon in the colossal wave pool. I was there on a fact finding mission.

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The Riptide event was part of what is informally known as Gay Days, a four-day Pride celebration at Disney World and nearby hotels that attracts thousands of LGBTQ visitors each June.

It began in 1991, when a smattering of gay adults – all Disney obsessives – used Internet message boards to plan a gathering: Let’s buy tickets. Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Theme Park Wear a red shirt on the first Saturday of June and in a show of unity. The idea was for Disney to be among the masses for themselves (safety in numbers) and to send the message that they too were in the realm. And, of course, ride Space Mountain and pose for photos with Aladdin.

A gathering of LGBTQ visitors this year, informally known as Gay Days, at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., outside a shop next to the Country Bears Jamboree attraction, June 4, 2022. Four days a year which started in 1991. Gay adults-only chatter took on new importance this year, when Disney was embroiled in a heated cultural debate. (Lauren Simmons/The New York Times)

Gay Days soon expanded to other Disney World parks, including Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and several adult-oriented events began at non-Disney hotels in the area, including pool parties, dance nights, and drag-and-drop events. competitions, There’s also a decidedly non-Disney-approved exhibit where attendees can purchase artwork depicting male Disney characters in various sexual scenarios. (Mr. Incredible in Jock Strap, $17.)

Disney has never supported Gay Days, a version of which takes place at Disneyland in the fall. california, Nor has it tried to rein in it. There’s not much the company can do anyway: Back in the red shirt days, attendees bought tickets like anyone else. The plan is handled by private companies such as One Magical Weekend, Gay Days Inc., and the lesbian-focused Girls in Wonderland.

I have for a long time. heard stories about gay day, but I was confused as to what it was. The goings-on are not sanctioned by Disney, but to some extent, do happen on Disney property? Adult attendees spend most of their time sipping on tea cups and waving at Winnie the Pooh like everyone else… and then carousing at private events that tame the grinder? I’m definitely the uptight-soccer-dad kind of gay guy, but the components didn’t seem to fit together.

This year, another question arose: Will the LGBTQ vitriol that has surrounded Disney in recent months extend to Gay Days?

In March, Disney became embroiled in a heated dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. At the time they were promoting state legislation that aimed to prohibit discussion in the classroom of sexual orientation and gender identity through third grade, with limits on what teachers could say in front of older students. LGBTQ Organizations And a torrent of companies criticized the bill, with opponents calling it “Don’t Say Gay”.

Disney’s CEO, Bob Chapek, tried not to take a favor at first, at least not publicly, which prompted an employee rebellion. Chapek then forcefully denounced the bill. In the political and media storm that followed, right-wing media figures and DeSantis began to rail against “Woke Disney”. “Mickey is crying,” Laura Ingraham said on her Fox News show, adding that Disney had “shown itself as a haven for fanatics who are hostile of any kind. traditional concept of morality. His aides Tucker Carlson and Steve Ducey joined the attack.

The governor signed the bill into law on March 28. In April, DeSantis revoked Disney World’s designation as a special tax district, a privilege that had allowed the company to self-govern the 25,000-acre mega-resort since 1967. In May, four Neo-Nazis waved swastika flags at Disney World entrances. “This is DeSantis country!” they shouted.

It’s like… a fun place to be gay?

Gay days didn’t always go smoothly. In the 1990s, shortly after the event’s inception, some religious groups and conservative Disney World visitors saw LGBTQ visitors wearing red shirts as a moral disgrace. According to Eddie Shapiro, co-author of “Queens in the Kingdom”, an LGBTQ guide to Disney parks, Disney had signs to alert/warn guests at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom. In the early years, Shapiro said, Disney even handed out white shirts. straight people Who was seen dressed in red and was afraid of being misunderstood.

“People will be at the entrance with Bibles and signs that say we’re going to hell,” said Robert Mathison, 59, in Gay Days with her husband and the man who would become their son in the early 1990s. started participating. “For a few years the demonstrators flew airplanes over the banners.”

Anti-LGBTQ protests culminated in 1997, when the Southern Baptist Convention formally declared boycott, inspired, in part, by Disney’s refusal to block Gay Days. (The church lifted the boycott in 2005.) Will Gay Days 2022 return to that divisive time?

“This year definitely has an added significance,” Tom Christ, who helped found One Magical Weekend in 2009, said shortly before the event. “One way to fight back is to show our numbers.” He ended our call with a warning about my upcoming visit: “If you see any hunky-punky,” he said, “I don’t want to read about it.” (I haven’t seen that behavior, Unless you count some hairy, heavy men — bears, in gay slang — a pool area at the Riptide party deemed “Bear Lagoon” while wearing bootleg “Little Mermaid” tights.)

On Saturday morning, Gay Days participants streamed at Disney World, as “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from “Mary Poppins” over loudspeakers. Many of them wore red shirts with the words “SAY GAY” on the back, a reference to the recent controversy. Veronica Starr, 28, and his wife, Samantha Starr, 32, plan to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger spin-off. “It means a lot to see,” Veronica Starr said. “When we all dress in red, we can’t be ignored.”

Both women said a favorite part of Gay Day is attending allies, including volunteers from the LGBTQ support organization Free Mom Hugs. Just then, Carey McCoy arrived with her husband and eight teen In red shirts, members of a group supporting LGBTQ youth. Using Disney’s words for the company’s employees, she said, “All the Disney actors have been shaking hands and asking us for a happy glory.”

Although Disney does not sponsor or promote Gay Days, its Parks and Resorts division celebrates Pride month with a smattering of rainbow items in its stores, including a button with Mickey Mouse and “Belong, Believe, Be Proud” A rainbow is also included with the slogan. There were also rainbow-themed sweets.

But the longer I stayed at the Magic Kingdom amidst the fun-loving ones, the more I was struck by the routine nature of the day. there were no the protesters, There were no warning signs. The only tension I saw came from a gay man who was mad that a Disney manager told him his shirt might be seen as inappropriate. It featured Pluto in leather gear and the phrase “I love it.”

There were plenty of people in red shirts who weren’t at Disney World for Gay Days — and no one cared when they learned about the importance of color on this day. “Maybe my daughter will think I’m cool now,” said one boy with a grin, refusing to give his name and walking toward the pirates caribbean boat ride,

For Mathison and her husband, Frank McCain, 47, the Bless attitude represents a significant change from before things.

“About 10 years ago at Gay Days, we all lined up in our red shirts at Big Thunder Mountain” said Mathison, referring to Disney’s Frontierland roller coaster. “It was a sea of ​​red. And this little girl panicked and ran to her father. If you’re dressed, it means you’re gay!'”

McCown picked up on the story. “This man was very, very good looking,” he said. “And so we all started chanting, ‘Take it off! Take it off!'”

They burst into laughter. “Ah, those were the days,” McCain said.

I asked McCain, who lives in Quincy, Florida, to help me figure something out: If Conservatives So upset about Disney’s alleged “gay agenda” why was none of that obscenity showing up during Gay Days?

“This is political theatre,” he said.

so the partisan is screaming social media And right-wing news outlets tend to be in a kind of parallel universe?

“To some extent,” McCain said. “Don’t get me wrong: the fight for equality is by no means over. But as you can see from the park today, it’s really possible for everyone to come along.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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