LGBTQ

Through his drag character Amanda, the 32-year-old journalist is the first-ever drag queen to host a news program for Mexican TV. (AP Photo/Aurea Del Rosario)

Comcast has donated to opponents of LGBTQ rights despite signing a collective corporate statement against anti-LGBTQ state legislation.

Stepping up the culture war with Disney and other entertainment providers sympathetic to exposing kids to gender-identity themes, a group of Senate Republicans is calling on the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board to help parents shield their children from LGBTQ characters and situations. The television monitoring board already helps parents identify programing with violent or sexual content, and now Republican lawmakers want it to alert them to “sexual orientation and gender identity content on children’s TV shows.”

On the one side are LGBTQ advocates and Disney employees calling for a walkout in protest of CEO Bob Chapek’s slow response in publicly criticizing Florida legislation that opponents dubbed as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. On the other are politicians like Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who accuse the entertainment conglomerate of bending to cancel culture after a Disney decision to temporarily suspend political contributions in the state.

As many of its LGBTQ+ employees get set for a full-day walkout Tuesday, Disney has decided to postpone a management retreat set for next week as it continues efforts to calm internal waters. News of the postponement came as Disney CEO Bob Chapek conducted a town hall meeting for all employees Monday. The exec is continuing to try to put the company on more stable footing after its response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill met with fierce backlash internally and in influential pockets of the talent community. All of the company’s three major content suppliers — Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm — have been publicly critical of the company’s handling of the situation.

After being severely criticized by LGBTQ Disney and Pixar employees and supporters, and groups including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign over his lack of response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Disney CEO Bob Chapek has issued an apology to the company’s workers, and announced a “pause” in political donations in Florida.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said Wednesday the company is pledging $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations protecting LGBTQ rights following backlash to the company’s initial quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as well as a report that the company has given money to all of the bill’s sponsors. Chapek, who is taking his first public stance against the bill, says he will also be meeting with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to discuss Disney’s “concerns” over the legislation.

In the wake of controversy over Disney’s quiet response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, as well as a report that the company has given money to all of the bill’s sponsors, CEO Bob Chapek expressed Disney’s “unwavering commitment to the LGBTQ+ community” in a company-wide email.

LGBTQ representation on scripted TV series has grown along with the footprint of streaming services, according to an annual study by the advocacy group GLAAD.

Zeke Stokes, chief programs officer for the media monitoring nonprofit GLAAD, said the struggle for inclusion has become easier as a number of LGBTQ writers and producers have made their way into positions of influence, though they’re still a fraction overall.