Listen to this articleWalt Disney World has announced that they will no longer support Orlando-area chapters of the Boy Scouts of America due to the national organization’s continued ban on allowing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troop leaders.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, the Walt Disney Company’s “Standards of Business Conduct” specifies protections against “harassment or discrimination” based upon, among other things, “sex, sexual orientation, and gender identification.”
Boy Scouts’ Central Florida Council Board President Robert Utsey wrote in an email to local members about the loss of funding, explaining that they are “sad to see it go.”
“The National BSA Council has reached out to WDW to try to resolve the situation, however, according to WDW, their views do not currently align with the BSA and they are choosing to discontinue this level of support,” he wrote. “We will continue to keep an open line of communication with them, but at this time, are unable to reverse their decision.”
The Boy Scouts of America voted last spring to allow openly gay youth scouts, but kept its ban on openly gay troop leaders.
Disney has been criticized for their gay friendly policies for years beginning with the unofficial “Gay Days”, celebrated by tens of thousands of LGBT people who gather on the first weekend in June at Walt Disney World and other Orlando theme parks and resorts.
Recently they came under attack over their animated feature Frozen, which has been accused of promoting the “gay agenda to normalize homosexuality.”
