Gay Days begins annual festival in Orlando as parks celebrate Pride Month

It's interesting that I recall two decades ago, Disney kind of "tolerated" the whole thing, and now they're making blog posts about how to celebrate pride while buying merch and food. Fortunately, the whole state isn't Flori-duh.

So is DeSantis gonna board up the windows to the governor’s mansion until the coast is clear?

Well you know he won't get the woke mind virus vaccine, because freedom or whatever.

Jeff:

how to celebrate pride while buying merch and food

A lot of businesses have figured out how to monetize pride. The cynic in me wonders if some corporations truly care about the LGBTQ community or if they only care in June when there is money to be made. Disney seems to be an exception.

I totally get the cynicism, but after what happened to Bud Light and Target I respect any company that still publicly supports pride.

This got a chuckle out of me

https://i.redd.it/ha5l2mxi3f3b1.jpg

If we're really thinking about what's "mainstream," it's whatever is safe enough to associate your product with. I think the Bud Light thing is an anomaly because it attracts customers one step above Natty Lite. If you use Penzey's Spices as a case study, when they got political and vocally anti-Trump, their sales went nuts. That's a product where little jars of spice cost ten bucks, literally purchased by folks with good taste.

Disney is not hurting for anything they're doing culturally at the parks.

I stopped drinking Bud Light in protest of the taste. That was 25 years ago though.

I had a good laugh at a post by Yuengling on Facebook. It was a Memorial Day post featuring their patriotic can design. Some commenters were praising them for supporting the military and criticizing Bud Light for supporting trans folk while others were gleefully pointing out to them that Yuengling is a sponsor of Philly Pride.

SFGAdv is hosting a Pride Night on June 16. It’s not clear it’s anything other than a drag show and a parade

I’ve been to separately ticketed events in the past, but this one just seems to be a kind of themed evening. So the park will be full of regular folks, many of whom may not know there’s anything going on. (At least at first.) We’ll see how this works.

https://www.sixflags.com/gr...ride-night

Swimmingly I'm sure.

SFGAm is having their celebration this Saturday and Sunday minus the DJs and drag show. Seems like they have more pride, but it's more subtle.

Kind of clandestine pride, then.

Jeff:

It's interesting that I recall two decades ago, Disney kind of "tolerated" the whole thing, and now they're making blog posts about how to celebrate pride while buying merch and food. Fortunately, the whole state isn't Flori-duh.

So I’m at Disney now the last few days with my family. There is Pride merch everywhere in the parks. Is this something Disney has a hand in to organize or no? Or are they just throwing up rainbows on everything just to sell product?

I don't think putting up product and being an advocate are mutually exclusive.

I’m not sure I understand the question.
GayDays, like Pride celebrations around the world have organizers that plan and put on the events. Decades ago, members of the LGBTQ++ community chose Disney as a fun place to stage a Pride event and people from all over the country traditionally travel to participate. (I dislike well-used phrases like “descend upon”, lol.)
And in the meantime Disney has become an ally and has embraced the event and welcomed participants with open arms. And honestly, do they see money to be made? Sure. Do they take advantage of a niche audience by supplying merchandise and alchohol to a couple hundred thousand extra people? Who wouldn’t? Do they contract with organizers for space for events like the big dance parties? I assume so.
But is it a Disney-built event akin to Flower and Garden, Festival of the Arts, or Food And Wine? No. It’s just something you will encounter there at a certain time of year. Just like race fans, cheer sports, cross country runners, and bikers. Everyone gets a week. And Disney isn’t stupid. Rainbow mouse ears are everything.
I hope that’s a good answer to the question.
Side note- One of my favorite/not favorite things is when I see the hand-wringing queries on line about Disney in June. It seems hapless families have made the “mistake” of scheduling their vacations during the thick of it and want to know “how bad is it?” with all those gays there. (And not just the crowd level, mind you) All I have to say is they should be prepared to see people there, just like everywhere, that are different from them. Along with that goes the small reminder that we aren’t there to break any laws, but we also aren’t there to see that you’re comfortable. Get over it, learn from it, expand your thinking, or stay the hell home.
This year is especially interesting. Travel advisories have been issued around the country. But messages need sent and this year’s Pride events could be the biggest ever.

I have been to Disney many times in June. Frankly, other than the weather it is one of the most enjoyable months to go. The crowd is friendly, the outfits are fun, and people watching is entertaining. There is an added benefit that the per capita ratio of individual to lack of deodorant drops dramatically during Gay Days.

RCMAC:

I’m not sure I understand the question.
GayDays, like Pride celebrations around the world have organizers that plan and put on the events. Decades ago, members of the LGBTQ++ community chose Disney as a fun place to stage a Pride event and people from all over the country traditionally travel to participate. (I dislike well-used phrases like “descend upon”, lol.)
And in the meantime Disney has become an ally and has embraced the event and welcomed participants with open arms. And honestly, do they see money to be made? Sure. Do they take advantage of a niche audience by supplying merchandise and alchohol to a couple hundred thousand extra people? Who wouldn’t? Do they contract with organizers for space for events like the big dance parties? I assume so.
But is it a Disney-built event akin to Flower and Garden, Festival of the Arts, or Food And Wine? No. It’s just something you will encounter there at a certain time of year. Just like race fans, cheer sports, cross country runners, and bikers. Everyone gets a week. And Disney isn’t stupid. Rainbow mouse ears are everything.
I hope that’s a good answer to the question.
Side note- One of my favorite/not favorite things is when I see the hand-wringing queries on line about Disney in June. It seems hapless families have made the “mistake” of scheduling their vacations during the thick of it and want to know “how bad is it?” with all those gays there. (And not just the crowd level, mind you) All I have to say is they should be prepared to see people there, just like everywhere, that are different from them. Along with that goes the small reminder that we aren’t there to break any laws, but we also aren’t there to see that you’re comfortable. Get over it, learn from it, expand your thinking, or stay the hell home.
This year is especially interesting. Travel advisories have been issued around the country. But messages need sent and this year’s Pride events could be the biggest ever.

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

Gay days doesn’t bother me one bit.

Bur it does come off to me like a cheap and easy way for Disney to make some coin. But that’s nothing new I guess.

Being profitable is not inherently bad.

RCMAC:

Side note- One of my favorite/not favorite things is when I see the hand-wringing queries on line about Disney in June. It seems hapless families have made the “mistake” of scheduling their vacations during the thick of it and want to know “how bad is it?” with all those gays there. (And not just the crowd level, mind you) All I have to say is they should be prepared to see people there, just like everywhere, that are different from them. Along with that goes the small reminder that we aren’t there to break any laws, but we also aren’t there to see that you’re comfortable. Get over it, learn from it, expand your thinking, or stay the hell home.

We've been in June without knowing there was anything going on. I still wouldn't have known unless there was publicity about it. It was no different than any other Disney trip.

People fear what they don't know. I was fearful of "others" in my pre-college days. If anything, college taught me that people are a lot more alike than they are different. Looking back as a 40+ year old it seems silly that I ever thought differently.