The PixNey Co
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2007
This is great news! Yippee!!!
Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted April 7, 2007
Gays can now exchange vows in one of the world's most popular wedding spots -- then get whisked away in Cinderella's carriage.
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts said Friday that it has "updated" its policies to allow gay and lesbian couples to buy wedding packages at Walt Disney World or Disneyland, and use all the same wedding spots previously reserved for heterosexual couples.
Ceremonies also will be allowed on Disney Cruise Line ships and other Disney facilities.
The "updated" policy stops short of declaring that gays can get married at Disney, because they can't. Same-sex marriages are not legal in Florida or California. But "commitment ceremonies" are welcome.
"Bottom line, our business is all about hospitality," said Donn Walker, spokesman for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. "Our commitment at Disney is to welcome all guests in an inclusive environment and to make them feel respected. We think this is consistent with that long-standing policy."
Many gay activists hailed the decision, saying it added to Disney's reputation as a progressive corporation toward rights and benefits for gay visitors and employees. Gay-market consultants said many gay couples likely will see the move as a welcome and will make use of it.
"It's really significant for Disney to take this step," said David Paisley, senior projects manager at Community Marketing Inc., a San Francisco market and research company.
On Friday there was no immediate backlash from local conservatives or Christian leaders who had campaigned and preached against same-sex marriage.
Conservative state Rep. Stephen Precourt, R-Winter Garden, whose district includes Disney World, dismissed the decision as a business matter.
"Any ceremony like that here in Florida wouldn't be valid in any case," Precourt said.
The Rev. Steve Smith of First Baptist Church in Orlando and the Rev. Joel Hunter of Northland, A Church Distributed, in Longwood -- both critics of gay unions -- expressed disappointment but no surprise or outrage.
"At the end of the day, they're in business to make money. This is an untapped market for them, obviously," Smith said. "I'm not entirely surprised that Disney would make a fiduciary decision over a moral one."
Neither Universal Orlando nor SeaWorld Orlando has a wedding program.
Disney plans and hosts about 1,500 weddings a year, most through "Fairy Tale Wedding" packages that start at $2,950. The price climbs as couples add guests, services, upgrades and Disney features such as carriage rides and Mickey Mouse participation. Disney has an official Wedding Pavilion and four other "official" locations, or arrangements can be made for couples to get married almost anywhere, even on rides. There is almost no limit on cost. The average is about $28,000.
Most of Disney's facilities are booked many months or years in advance, so there likely won't be any immediate rush of gay weddings.
Still, Chris Alexander-Manley, vice president of GayDays Inc., which organizes an annual gay-tourism event in Orlando, said he expects the prospect of Disney ceremonies to be an added draw.
About 140,000 visitors are expected during Gay Days this spring.
The organization has included options for gay-wedding ceremonies here for years and has four planned so far, in a hotel. He said many gay and lesbian couples likely would love a Disney ceremony.
"It will just make it more exciting for people who do want to hold a ceremony here," he said.
With the $28,000 average, just one gay wedding a week would provide Disney nearly $1.5 million a year, noted Bob Witeck, chief executive of Witeck-Combs Communications, a Washington-based public-relations company that specializes in the gay marketplace. "It's a savvy business decision."
Disney already has a solid reputation for supporting gay rights for employees and visitors, he said. In the 1990s the company extended employees' family benefits to unmarried same-sex partners. In recent years, Disney World has become at least a passive supporter of Gay Days.
From 1997 to 2005 the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of Disney because of the company's departure from its "family values" tradition, in particular, its support of Gay Days and its benefits to same-sex partners of employees.
Not too long ago Disney had a different approach. In 1981, two men were thrown out of Disneyland for dancing together. They sued and won, though the judge did not order Disney to change. In 1985 Disney ended its 28-year-old ban on same-sex dancing anyway, insisting the change was not spurred by the lawsuit but was made because it was the right thing to do.
A few weeks ago an online gay-culture Web site, AfterElton.com, challenged Disney to similarly reconsider its marriage-ceremony policy.
"A lot of people were saying, 'This is really offensive; this is disappointing. I'd really like to see this change,' " said AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen, who posted a March 5 article on the issue. "I was in touch with different gay groups that were reportedly trying to make some calls behind the scenes."
Disney was not responding to such a campaign but rather to one simple inquiry, spokesman Walker said.
"A couple wanted this; that's what spurred us to reconsider our policy," he said. "This is about doing the right thing."
Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441.
Bad idea. I have always been opposed to this and hope it does not happen too often.
I for one have to disagree with this move.
"I don't want the public to see the world they live in while they're in the Park.
I want to feel they're in another world"
Walt Disney
Walt's Vision- A place where children and parents could have fun.
And this has to do with this subject how?
If Disney allows gay weddings, children and parents can't have fun?
Why not explain it to your kids that everyone is different and that you can be who you want to be?
Claire
What a concept! Actually teaching one's children to be open-minded and loving!
As a parent of children of different races, I have made it a point to celebrate diversity in our family. I see situations like this as a wonderful teaching tool -- anytime my children see someone different than themselves, I point out that we're all different in our own way, and what a wonderful thing that is! I'm the luckiest mom in the world to have children of different colors, and differences of any type are to be embraced!
As a side note, I'm assuming that all of the "Christians" who are opposing this also wear head coverings when they pray (if they're women), and don't attend churches in church buildings? If we're going to use scripture literally in one case, shouldn't we use it literally in all cases?
There's a blurriness about transvestism and gayness in this question. Many transvestites are hetero, and most gay people are not transvestites. In any case, you can explain a gay wedding at the Grand Floridian the same way we explained my wife's brother and his 25-year partner to our kids. "They love each other and want to spend their lives together." Kids are fine with that unless we teach them not to be.My only issue would be walking in to see a male "bride" being photographed on the staircase of the Grand Floridian. How will I explain that to my 5 year old?
There's a blurriness about transvestism and gayness in this question. Many transvestites are hetero, and most gay people are not transvestites.
I was kind of thinking this myself. Would Disney stop a hetero couple from dressing in "non-traditional" wedding attire? Maybe a dress code for weddings- all participants must dress in gender appropriate clothing? I just can't see them doing it- they're not the fashion police. On a side note, you may see a guy in drag and not even know it. I worked at Lowe's as a cashier for a few years and there was this woman who came in on a regular basis- she was very attractive and all the guys thought she was pretty hot. One day she paid with a check and had to show her license- turns out "she" was really a "he"!