Video screenshot via GLAAD
When Disney promised to become more inclusive, this predictably ticked off some longtime viewers, who argued that its content wouldn’t be family-friendly anymore.
Well, then. Here it is—a family-friendly Disney commercial featuring a transgender child.
The public service announcement, commissioned by LGBTQ nonprofit GLAAD, will air across Disney-owned networks to stand against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill, otherwise known as the notorious ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.
It features Amber Briggle, a mother from Texas, and her transgender son Max.
“If you’ve never met a transgender child before what I want you to know is that that child is no different than yours,” Briggle shares in the video. “They have the same hopes and dreams and deserve the same equality as yours does.”
“My family’s just like yours. We love our kids unconditionally and we will never stop fighting for them,” the mother adds.
News of the broadcast, via CNBC, comes after the Walt Disney Company was denounced by employees for erasing LGBTQIA+ elements in proposed work despite expressing acceptance on the outside.
Since the callout, Disney has become more proactive in defending the right to equality for the LGBTQIA+ community, and now promises to help repeal the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which bans the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms for children in kindergarten through third grade. Separately, The Simpsons, which is under the wing of Disney-owned FOX, is practicing inclusivity in its own way by featuring American Sign Language and its first deaf voice actors.
Aside from Disney’s networks, the advertisement will be shown by channels under Comcast, Paramount, and WarnerMedia.
[via The Post Millennial and CNBC, video and cover image via GLAAD]
