Actually, there was a lot of opposition across the political spectrum. Leftists are often big theater goers. But trumping the "poor disadvantaged hadicapped" with their eye watering speeches by wheelchair bound spokespeople effectively shuts many up. Don't want to seem uncompassionate after all.
When it happened I knew someone who was working to keep the theatres as they were. My first question was "Are they running movies there that aren't available at fully accessible facilities?" The answer was "No. They agreed to that change years ago in response to the activists." Of course, the activists didn't shut up and brought the issue up again when they thought they had a sympathetic ear. Frustrating, but par for the course.