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Mayor Welcomes Disney Gay Days Visitors
The Orlando Sentinel ^
| 6-04-03
| Melissa Harris
Posted on 06/05/2003 8:20:07 AM PDT by Colofornian
Mayor welcomes Gay Days visitors
By Melissa Harris | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted June 4, 2003
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer kicked off the annual Gay Days celebration Tuesday night in a historic and symbolic step toward ending years of bitterness between City Hall and the gay community.
"It's wonderful to finally have a mayor accept us in public as well as in private," said Marty Chapman, 48, an Orlando attorney who served on a grass-roots committee that proposed the ordinance.
Dyer told more than 700 people at the Orlando Museum of Art that he was proud the city was one of only eight in Florida to prohibit discrimination against gays.
"I'm the first mayor to attend this event, and I promise this won't be my last," Dyer told the cheering crowd.
Ever since Gay Days began with a gathering at Walt Disney World in 1991, the event has sparked ire from many conservative and religious groups.
Gay Days, for which visitors travel to Central Florida to enjoy its many tourist attractions, still creates a stir among those who argue the event sanctions an immoral lifestyle.
"This is not a pride or political event," said Chris Alexander-Manley, of Gay Days Inc., which is expecting the largest crowd in the event's history. "It's a nice tourist event and is a boost to the economy."
Melissa Harris can be reached at mharris@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6269.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: disney; disneyworld; florida; gay; gaydays; homonazi; homosexual; june; lavendermafia; tourists; vacation; visitors
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To: Colofornian
Disney is a business to make a profit. It is not a religous or a constitutional institution. We are free to purchase or not tp ourchase its products. Let the market decide if welcoming Gays is good or bad for Disney.
41
posted on
06/05/2003 10:48:42 AM PDT
by
Destro
(Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
To: Destro
Disney is a business to make a profit. It is not a religous or a constitutional institution. We are free to purchase or not tp ourchase its products. Let the market decide if welcoming Gays is good or bad for Disney. Disney is a business aimed primarily at children . Unwary parents and grandparents taking those children to a theme park in June are not expecting to walk into scenarios similar to a gay bar (gay couples kissing, etc.).
While the market (lack of it) may be the best voice Disney needs to hear, Disney is also a multi-media enterprise--ABC included. Broadcast media are not one-way channels of communication. It's not just their prerogative to emit waves of propaganda without social comment/ feedback to their intentional social agendas.
Elsewise you could say the same thing for every corporation & similar entities under the sun. The NY Times is a business to make a profit. It is not a religious or a constitutional institution. We are free to purchase or not to purchase its products. Let the market decide if...Well, of course. The local abortion clinic is a business to make a profit. It is not a religious or a constitutional institution. We are free to purchase or not to purchase its products. Let the market...The local mob is a business to make a profit. It is not a religious or a constitutional institution. We are free to purchase or not to purchase its products. Let the market...
Simply put: Social stigma is still a powerful deterrant to irresponsible corporate ethics. If Disney wants to redefine marriage thru domestic partnership benefits; if it wants to offer Swinger Days in the year 2012 that my grandchildren may unwittingly be walking into some day; then these are issues that include the checkbook but also go beyond it.
To: Colofornian
A few years ago, I remember Dr. Robertson telling us that God would destroy Orlando with tornadoes and hurricanes if Disney World didn't stop having gay days. It didn't happen -- so I guess Disney and Orlando think they can continue to buck God's wrath with these events.
43
posted on
06/05/2003 11:54:21 AM PDT
by
EdJay
To: Guillermo
What exactly are they "celebrating?"They are celebrating the fact that they can stick their figurative finger into the eye of every American who liked traditional American values, society and behavior, and get away with it.
I always liked Mickey and Donald, as a kid. Snow White was my first movie. I am no Baptist. But any Conservative who doesn't give at least partial support to the Southern Baptist boycott, deserves what he sees.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
44
posted on
06/05/2003 12:05:46 PM PDT
by
Ohioan
To: Guillermo
'What exactly are they "celebrating?" '...
A LifeStyle Of DEATH, both Physical and Spritual.
45
posted on
06/05/2003 12:32:19 PM PDT
by
Simcha7
(GOD Bless and Protect Our TROOPS!)
To: Simcha7
Oy Vey..I can't spell today.
Should be: Spiritual.
46
posted on
06/05/2003 12:34:44 PM PDT
by
Simcha7
(GOD Bless and Protect Our TROOPS!)
To: Colofornian
Do you agree with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer's decision to speak at the opening of Gay Days, becoming the city's first mayor to do so?
43.2%
Yes (1938 responses)
54.3%
No (2437 responses)
2.5%
Not sure (114 responses)
4489 total responsesResults are not scientific
47
posted on
06/05/2003 12:38:27 PM PDT
by
Fiddlstix
(http://www.ourgangnet.net)
To: Colofornian
>Obviously, the Internet, films, TV, and our culture in general has callously desensitized most of us so that it's tough to distress or torment whatever vestige of righteousness remains.
Live and let live? If folks are spiritually dead, then our motto could instead be, "Revive and let them live forever." Simply put, we tend not to value them as God does.<
I probably should have worded my statement differently. I do not condone public displays of foreplay, eroticism, etc., no matter what the participants' sexual persuasion. Especially do I not condone such in front of my or anyone else's children.
My apology. I am laizzez faire as long as people keep private, and do not subject others to their sexual displays.
To: Colofornian
In a society where our cable and satellite companies are the world's biggest pornographic distributers the venom thrown at Disney is amusing.
49
posted on
06/05/2003 3:48:52 PM PDT
by
Destro
(Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
To: Colofornian
The apathetic Republicans are going to regret it that they didn't pull out all the stops to keep that phony from winning that election.
I did what I could. Here is what I sent out to everyone I know after I got back from the polls:
Subject: Re: ORLANDO! Stop Buddy Dyer - GO VOTE!!!
Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 13:40:39 -0500
Hi all,
You have until 7 PM to get out there and vote for BARR!!!
Dyer has Bill Clinton and Alec Baldwin sending phone messages to DemocRATS and other easily swayed nit wits in Orlando to get out and vote for Dyer.
STOP THEM!!!
NOW!!!
Dyer didn't have the guts to come to the patriots rally for America last Saturday. Barr was there. So were over 2,000 patriotic Americans.
On the other hand, you can find the Anti-America Communists (Dyer supporters) on the corner of Colonial and Orange Avenue every weekend protesting President Bush. They were there last Saturday also.
GO VOTE BEFORE 7 PM!!!!! Stop Buddy Dyer from getting his hands on the reins of government in Orlando. He's pulling out all the stops (even getting it from the national DemocRAT party) to get power in this town.
What does THAT tell you?
GO STOP HIM, Clinton, Alec Baldwin, and the DemocRAT machine!!!!!!
HURRY!!!
50
posted on
06/05/2003 6:31:09 PM PDT
by
Matchett-PI
(Marxist DemocRATS, Nader-Greens, and Religious Zealots = a clear and present danger to our Freedoms.)
To: ex-Texan
You may want to avoid any free rides, too.
To: Destro
In a society where our cable and satellite companies are the world's biggest pornographic distributers the venom thrown at Disney is amusing. Venom is a poison of the serpent, and I would say Disney is a tool of THE Serpent...one that is poisoning our culture.
So, have you leveled your moral sobriety at those cable and satellite companies? Or is that a mere "look over there" argument geared at paralyzing folks the same way some pro-aborts will say to pro-lifers, "Why don't you adopt an unwanted, third-world, AIDS-infected orphan from Africa?"
Just as those folks suggest that unless you can solve every reason for abortion, you can't condemn it...it seems you're suggesting that just because other houses on the block seem to be bringing down the value of neighborhood homes more than Walt's house, you find it amusing that somebody is actually spreading a bit of neighborhood gossip about the residents of Walt's house.
These are the neighbors who annually throw a party involving simulated homosexual sex...which might be one thing had they not also extended the same party invite to all of the neighborhood kids...these are the neighbors who promote experimental new family structures called "domestic partners" (whatever that means)...
And yet, even though Walt is the "Michael Jackson" of our neighborhood in terms of the # of kids he daily invites over for stay-overs--most of which are indeed harmless opportunities geared to provide entertainment for them--you suggest our gaze on how they flesh out what they believe is unwarranted.
I would say just the opposite: We need extra community caution regarding entities that have already been handed the city's keys to our kids.
To: Colofornian
Actually as someone who was never a Disney fan (I am more of a Warner Bros cartoon man) I forget that Disney -which is a big media company but not the biggest-has a sentimental hold on a certain segment of the population. I never got the appeal of Disney and thus I forget the over reactional hysteria involved in issues dealing with Disney.
53
posted on
06/05/2003 7:24:03 PM PDT
by
Destro
(Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorisim by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
To: NativeNewYorker
"he says the 'word' is that it is Disney's most profitable weekend. FWIW."
That may change this weekend, because this year it's had a lot more publicity and there won't be very many families there who aren't aware of what's going on, so the overall crowd may be smaller this year.
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