By Sarah Holliday

The fight between Disney and prominent Republicans has been lengthy and eventful. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has played a major role in — and nearly become the face of — pushing back on the woke agenda Disney happily promotes. But the intolerance for Disney’s sexual engineering has multiplied as boycotts increase, sales decrease, and states such as South Carolina pull their investments from the Magic Kingdom.

As Disney looks to establish a residential neighborhood named “Asteria” along South Carolina’s northern border, State Treasurer Curtis Loftis said in a press release that Disney is no longer a part of the state’s approved investment list. As such, they have divested $105 million from the company. Part of this is also in response to the company’s participation in the boycott against Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Loftis said, “Disney has abandoned its fiduciary responsibilities to its investors and customers by joining far-left activist[s] in boycotting legal, taxpaying, employment-creating corporations to further Disney’s political agenda.”

He continued, “[M]ulti-billion-dollar corporations should not engage in boycotts designed to silence legitimate debate. Since America’s founding, freedom of speech has been one of its core principles, and Disney should not engage in nefarious practices aimed at silencing those with less power and money.” But South Carolina pulling its investment is not merely about fighting Disney’s woke schemes. It’s about inspiring others to do the same.

“Disney will survive, of course, and the state will survive,” Loftis shared with The Washington Times. “[B]ut we’re making sure people understand we don’t need this type of imbalance in America. The first guy through the door catches the arrows. You step out front, you stand up for what you think is right and then others often follow.”

David Closson, director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, “As an Orlando native, I’ve seen now, for the last couple of decades, the leftward shift of the Walt Disney World company.” He noted “the concerns that” Loftis voiced “are legitimate.” However, he also emphasized that “this is not new.”

For instance, videos were leaked in 2022 that further exposed Disney’s true colors when executive producer Latoya Raveneau admitted to a “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” and the implementation of “adding queerness” wherever she could in entertainment geared toward children. “No one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me,” she said. Other videos demonstrated their commitment to “queer stories” where gender nonconforming, bisexual, and transgender identifying characters are not just in the background, but “canonical” or primary to the story.

Additionally, even dating back to the 1990s, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, “called to boycott Disney … over their ‘gay days,’” Closson highlighted. “The trajectory of Disney has long been towards one of activism — Left activism.”

Loftis “is joining … many others in drawing attention to the fact that Disney has long been operating from a worldview that undermines the values and principles of biblical Christianity,” Closson concluded. “And so, I hope more follow this course that he’s chartering in South Carolina.”

Sarah Holliday is a reporter at The Washington Stand.