Right-wing Christians fly banners warning of Disney's 'Gay Day'

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(3 votes, average 3.67 out of 5)

Written by admin
Jun 5, 2011

An anti-gay Christian group is spending $7,000 to fly planes over Orlando, Fla., dragging giant banners that read, “Warning Gay Day at Disney.” The campaign is part of the group’s boycott and protest of the annual event.

Florida Family Association claims thousands of people enter the park each year during “Gay Day” only to turn around and leave when they realize gay people and same-sex couples are present. The group says it wants Disney to reschedule Gay Day at night after the park closes.

The Florida Family Association says patrons of the event wear T-shirts that “promote homosexuality” and dress in drag. The groups also charges that gay couples publicly kiss, hug and grope each other – behavior the group’s leaders believe will turn children gay if they witness it.

The six-day Pride celebration draws about 160,000 people, who spend an estimated $150 million, to the area to celebrate. Thousands of the event’s participants visited Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom on June 4.

“The economy is improving because of what Gay Days bring into it,” said Gay Day president Chris Alexander-Manley told Orlando’s Action 5 News. “Our crowd behaves better than most convention crowds, so come on out and see what it's really about.”

Gay Day started in 1991 when LGBT people wore red for visibility during a one-day visit to Disney World. The event has since evolved into today’s area-wide celebration.

Comments

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0 31 Boy Dorothy 2011-06-07 20:28

Quoting cathleen:

Surrender Dorthy!

I don't know why this person got voted down, a Wicked Witch reference was quite timely. XD

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+1 30 Al 2011-06-07 17:46

I wish I had seen this article sooner. I'm not gay, but I try to go every year. I have to admit, the first time I went was a bit of a shock, because I didn't know what was going on. But I was there, wearing the right color shirt, red, and I was getting hit on constantly. But people are out, just doing their thing, and it's very casual. There are some people that are quite flamboyant, but its part of the fun. I think the church flying those banners is a terrific idea. It keeps the haters away, and the banners themselves are far more tasteful than they have been in previous years. So thank you, right wing religious kooks. See you at the parks, the first week of June, next year.

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+2 29 Leigh 2011-06-07 08:30

Quoting Steve:

Just keep it in the privacy of your own home and not force it upon us,and there won't be a problem. But you can't do that, you have to show simulated sodomy and other actions which are offensive and immoral to us. Then, you whine and cry about being persecuted, maligned, and abused by "homophobic religious nuts." One day, there will be a judgement for all of you, so wake up and bring God into your life before it is too late for all of you.

Simulated sodomy? Are you serious? I have never seen anyone simulate sodomy out in public. If you're referring to people KISSING, then I suggest you look around. Plenty of Straight couples kiss in public and no one seems to have an issue with that at all. Get over yourself. Just because it's offensive to YOU doesn't mean someone else has to change THEIR lifestyle. In fact, YOUR behavior is offensive to me, why don't you isolate yourself in your own home with your bigotted attitudes?

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+3 28 Jen 2011-06-06 21:34

Believe me, it's not like us queers just go out and have sex at Disneyland. We're human beings with discretion, too. Personally, I find it offensive when any couple is making out or groping for too long in public. The only children who will "become gay" after seeing a gay couple, were gay to begin with. Maybe they will get to see that it's ok to be who they are and know that love is possible with anyone. Would you rather see that huge white trash straight family yelling and spanking their kids? Cause, that's what you'll see in Florida.

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+3 27 Jen 2011-06-06 20:19

I hope everyone has a great week and somehow avoids all the crazy bigots. I just got back from WDW o n 64 with my husband, my 75yo Mom and my two kids (4YO AND 2YO), we had a great time. We even saw a few couples that happened to be both men, they were not having sex on the teacups but you could still tell they were a couple and yet my kids don't seem to be acting any different. Assuming that my kids are not already LGBT should I see an instant change after them seeing gay men or will it take a while to change, LMAO.

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+12 26 JenF 2011-06-06 15:11

Quoting Steve:

Just keep it in the privacy of your own home and not force it upon us,and there won't be a problem. But you can't do that, you have to show simulated sodomy and other actions which are offensive and immoral to us. Then, you whine and cry about being persecuted, maligned, and abused by "homophobic religious nuts." One day, there will be a judgement for all of you, so wake up and bring God into your life before it is too late for all of you.

When's this judgment coming? I thought we were getting raptured recently? But now we're back to the old standby of "someday you'll get yours!". Pretty weak. I find it highly ironic that someone using such hate-filled speech, posting about a group so openly pushing their beliefs onto others, has the audacity to tell the LGBT community not to "push" their lifestyle on to others. You know what? Keep your insane religious intolerance in the privacy of YOUR home, and we'll all get a long just fine.

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+4 25 Bob Jones 2011-06-06 08:36

Quoting fnorgby:

Quoting Pat:

That's actually pretty generous for them to be giving free advertising for the event.

Why? The fact that those banners fly just shows the intolerant for who they really are. And if fewer people show up, shorter lines for the cool people!

But, the thing is... The previous poster is right. By flying this banner, the fundies are reminding both people who do and don't want to attend of Disney's Gay Day. This is both harming and helping their business. So... Disney is getting free publicity. It's say that the Christian groups efforts = one big crapload of fail.

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+14 24 RossI 2011-06-06 05:19

I actually worked in Walt Disney World, Magic Kingdom during the Gay Day of 2005. The people are very nice, big spenders who may or may not do questionable and/or messy things in the bathrooms. But they don't try to "recruit" anyone, they don't get angry at the intolerant parents who will yell as loud as they can for their kids not to look, and they don't complain to the park when they're not allowed to purchase ride pictures with them kissing (no photos of anybody kissing, gay or straight, make the cut at least on Splash Mountain).

Besides, they are much cleaner and friendlier than the disgusting teens on Teen Christian Night who let those hormones surge when they are away from their parents.

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+9 23 Buckler 2011-06-06 04:35

The thing that really kills me about this is the statement that, if their kids see gay couples kissing, it'll turn them gay. I've seen this argument in many different forms and about many different topics, always by evangelical Christians. In short it assumes that their kids, and by extension everyone, is as mindless, free of will and easily-led as them. What's strange to me is that they applaud it on one hand (believing the Bible no matter its inconsistencies ), and condemn it on the other (automatically turning gay by seeing a gay couple). Personally, I find that insulting to children and to myself. Most people are a lot smarter than they think.

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+10 22 B 2011-06-06 03:49

I'm straight and I have no problem with this. So Disney gets a little more awesome for one day and I might see two people of the same gender do a PDA. It's just a kiss and/or a cuddle. It's not like they're going to strip down and have sex on the whirling teacups. (Although I'll say that I've seen more public inappropriatene ss from straight people then I've ever seen from gay people.)

Gay people are awesome and if they can't see that then there's no helping them. Pearls before swines, I guess.

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