Disney’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Stance Disrespects One of Its Most Instrumental Figures

Ashman’s music is what makes the magic of Disney’s real. Walking through Disney’s parks, his presence is felt, the tune of songs like “Part of Your World” or “Belle” playing in the background noise of the lands. His music prominently functions as the through-line on rides based on The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. There would be no night-time firework spectaculars and parades without the pulse of songs like “Friend like Me,” “Be Our Guest,” and “Under the Sea.”

Ashman knew that. Shortly before his passing, Ashman visited Walt Disney World while on The Little Mermaid press tour, getting to see his work come to life at the park. “I think it dawned on him that the work he’d been doing there was going to live on,” Lauch recalls at one point in Howard. “It was going to become part of this canon of pieces that Walt Disney has in their collection. And it would reach many people.”

Ashman’s legacy does indeed still live on in Disney’s work, whether it’s in the parks or in the content Chapek believes to be so “inspiring” that it should speak for itself. In spite of the overpowering greed in rising ticket prices or upcharges that alienate the everyday middle-class family more and more each year, there still is something magical and fantastical about these parks, and Ashman’s music plays a part in that. It’s why, in part, it’s so overwhelming not only to Disney fans but cast members at the parks and employees at Disney’s studios to be constantly let down by choices the company makes, from ignoring the covid-19 pandemic to re-open its parks, to its newfound silence over Florida endangering LGBTQ+ youth. Where is that company-mandated key of inclusion that somehow appears to be lost right now? It can’t just be used during Pride month, as the company makes bank off Mickey Mouse-shaped rainbow merch, or from crowds drawn in by Disney “Gay Days.” It can’t just be used when Disney collaborates with prominent figures in the gay community, like Drag Race’s Nina West, who hosts Disney themed Pride meet ups and recently was featured as the host of Disney+’s “This is Me” Pride Spectacular .

The company is losing the goodwill of those who love its work every day—goodwill earned by the creative genius of Ashman, but also people like Bob Gurr, Disney’s first openly gay Imagineer, who helped built the lands thousands of family flock to from around the world. It loses it from creatives like Benjamin Siemon and Dana Terrace, whose work at Disney Animation is lauded for its handling of LGBTQ+ themes and characters in shows like Ducktales or The Owl House.

Without any of these voices, Disney would have become a relic of a bygone era long ago. Instead of lining the pockets of politicians seeking to do great harm to the lives of marginalized people, Disney leadership needs to raise its voice for those it owes so much to—and for those who can make it so much better in the future.

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