Ron DeSantis leans into fight with Disney over education bill

Published April 5, 2022 12:00am ET



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is daring Disney to escalate as the politically confident Republican brawls with his state’s most recognizable corporate citizen over a new law regulating discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools.

After Disney pledged support to repeal the Parental Rights in Education law, DeSantis expressed interest in undoing a unique statute that grants the entertainment giant governing authority over its central Florida theme parks. That the governor signed H.B. 1557, denounced by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, was not surprising. But DeSantis’s enthusiasm for conflict, with a company that employs nearly 60,000 Floridians and draws 20 million-plus visitors to the state annually, is unusual.

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