Posted on 04/05/2007 5:45:31 PM PDT by Dirtysnowbank
Disney opens Fairy Tale Weddings to gay couples
Thu Apr 5, 2007 7:11 PM ET
By Gina Keating
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Walt Disney Co. has changed its policy to allow same-sex couples to participate in a popular Fairy Tale Wedding program it runs mainly at its two U.S. resorts and cruise line, a Disney spokesman said on Thursday.
Disney previously had allowed gay couples to organize their own weddings or commitment ceremonies at rented meeting rooms at the resorts, but had barred them from purchasing its Fairy Tale Wedding package and holding the event at locations at Disneyland and Walt Disney World that are set aside specifically for weddings.
"We are updating our Fairy Tale Wedding guidelines to include commitment ceremonies," Disney Parks and Resorts spokesman Donn Walker said. "This is consistent with our policy of creating a welcoming, respectful and inclusive environment for all of our guests."
Walker said the change was prompted by "an inquiry from a guest that asked about this service."
Disney had allowed gay couples to take part in its vow renewals program but excluded them from buying wedding packages by requiring a valid marriage license from California or Florida, which do not permit or recognize gay marriages.
Last month, gay Web site AfterElton.com criticized Disney for not allowing same-sex couples to participate in the Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons program.
Disney's Fairy Tale Wedding packages start at $8,000 and include a wedding planner, the ceremony, food and beverages, flowers and table decorations.
The Lavish Wedding Option also includes a ride to the ceremony in the Cinderella coach, costumed trumpeters heralding the couple's arrival, and attendance by Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters dressed in formal attire.
Disney has come under fire from religious conservatives, including the Southern Baptist Convention, which have accused the company of promoting a gay agenda.
The groups, which lifted an eight-year boycott of Disney in 2005, had criticized the company for such corporate policies as giving health benefits to same-sex partners of employees, allowing "Gay Day" celebrations at its theme parks and airing a prime time television show on its ABC network featuring openly gay comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
"We are not in the business of making judgments about the lifestyle of our guests. We are in the hospitality business and our parks and resorts are open to everyone," Walker said.
What’s wrong with loving children, feeding them milk and cookies, sleeping next to them? — Michael Jackson
makes me appreciate the phrase, “Curiosity killed the cat”... why did I have to look????
IMHO, a disney fairytale wedding mocks marriage regardless of who is involved in it. That such mockery is now open to people who consummate their commitment by inserting their penis into their partners anus (or some other perverted and always sterile form of achieving orgasm) is not such a shock. Any normal couples who think a marriage should in any way be associated with cartoon characters has no clue what marriage is - so why fault the homos for doing the ame thing? It is heteros who have for the past 50 years mocked marriage that have set the stage for this newest mockery.
It would be interesting to see the longevity stats on the disney marriages to date - I bet it is appalling. Of course, this new policy change will only bring that number down.
Just call this what it is -
“Fairy Tails”
“The Fuitiest Place on Earth”
"I'm going to Walt Disney World!"
A colorful fairy tale. You have talent.
Noooo! Really? I’m glad you were here to explain that to me.
Let's just hope the ones wearing the Cinderella gown remember to hotwax off their 5:00 shadow...
Considering the fact that the Southern Baptists boycott did no real damge, I’d say no. Their employee base is made up of a higher percentage of gays and lesbians, than the national average, so they actually ARE marketing to their base audience.
I guess Mickey and Minnie do not know what the homos like to do with rodents!
Unless there’s a lawsuit concerning this headline, we may now refer to gays as faries?
Discussing Disney's personnel policies once on Salon's "TableTalk" threads, I was told by a gay polemicist named David Ehrenstein who'd written a book about the "velvet underground" of the 40's and 50's that from quite early days, Disney's animation shop was gay-heavy, and that his managers realized that they had to keep the creative talent happy.
Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that not everyone who has animation talent is gay, and that for them to become so concentrated, back in the 50's, that they dominated Disney's shop, meant that they were steadily pushing non-gays out of the animation studio for years and turning it into a closed shop. The underbelly of "toleration" no doubt.
But Disney's culturally been a gay/gay-friendly shop for many years, n/w/s the whole company would have been instantly dead if that fact had gotten out, back in the day.
As an aside, Ehrenstein had a tagline for a while that read, "Gay as a Disney cow."
And the jury cheered Jackson.
actually I think you are wrong.
In this day and age when the couples pay for the weddings themselves, it matters to the grooms and if the father pays it matters to him.
By making this decision, Disney made their wedding chappel the “gay” chappel. (see: snickers candy bar commercial)
They will have two new characters: Jerr and Bill. Or maybe Neal and Bob.
Right. That is exactly what I thought.
Kinda like the NAACP boycotting SC. Probably HELPED SC more tahn anything.
You should get post of the year for that one. Bravo!
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