佛罗里达州奥兰多市多样性，公平和包容计划被废除周二从华特·迪士尼世界的管理区，现在由政府任命的控制。罗恩·德桑蒂斯这与佛罗里达州州长的议程相呼应，该议程支持削减高等教育和其他领域的此类项目。
佛罗里达州中部旅游监督区在一份声明中表示，其多样性、公平和包容委员会将被取消，任何与之相关的工作职责也将被取消。该地区被迪士尼支持者控制时遗留下来的倡议也被砍掉，这些倡议根据实现种族或性别平等的目标授予合同。
格伦顿·吉尔泽安是该地区的新任行政长官，他是非洲裔美国人，也是中佛罗里达州城市联盟的前负责人，他称这样的举措是“非法的，完全不符合美国精神”吉尔泽安是詹姆斯·麦迪森研究所和美国企业研究所领导网络这两个保守机构的研究员或成员，也是德桑蒂斯任命的佛罗里达州伦理委员会成员。
吉尔泽安在一份声明中说:“我们选区将不再参与任何以种族来分裂我们的企图，也不再宣扬我们生来不平等的观念。”。“作为民权组织佛罗里达中部城市联盟的前负责人，我可以肯定地说，只有当我们不顾分歧共同努力时，我们的社区才会繁荣。”
向迪士尼世界发出了一封寻求评论的电子邮件。
去年春天，竞选共和党总统候选人提名的德桑蒂斯签署了一项法案，禁止公立大学使用联邦或州政府资助的多元化项目。
德桑蒂斯还支持佛罗里达州所谓的“停止觉醒”法，该法禁止企业、大学和K-12学校提供某些种族概念的培训，如某个特定种族的人天生就是种族主义者、特权者或受压迫者的理论。去年11月，一名联邦法官阻止该法律在学院、大学和企业中实施，称其为“绝对的反乌托邦”。
20世纪60年代，迪士尼决定在奥兰多附近建造一个主题公园度假村，这个地区的建立，当时被称为芦苇溪改善区。拥有一个独立的政府使该公司能够在其庞大的地产上提供分区、消防、公用事业和基础设施服务。该地区被迪士尼的支持者控制了50多年。
罗林斯学院(Rollins College)名誉教授理查德·福格松(Richard Foglesong)表示，他感到惊讶的是，这件事是由内部决定的，而不是由德桑蒂斯任命的五名地区委员会成员进行公开投票决定的，他们一再承诺要比他们的前任更加透明。
“这是一个具有公共重要性的问题，”福格松说，他在《与老鼠结婚:华特·迪士尼世界和奥兰多》一书中对迪士尼世界的治理做了明确的描述
今年早些时候，在该公司和DeSantis之间长达一年的争斗之后，DeSantis任命的人控制了更名后的地区。这场斗争始于去年，当时迪士尼受到国内外巨大压力的困扰，公开反对一项禁止在低年级开设性取向和性别认同课堂课程的州法律，政策批评者称之为“不要说同性恋”
作为惩罚，德桑蒂斯通过共和党议员通过的立法接管了该地区，并任命了一个新的监事会，以监督庞大的主题公园和酒店的市政服务。迪士尼在联邦法院起诉德桑蒂斯和他的五名董事会成员，声称佛罗里达州州长采取的报复行动侵犯了公司的言论自由权。
在新的董事会到来之前，迪士尼与迪士尼支持者的前监督委员会成员达成协议，剥夺了新主管的设计和开发权力。管辖区的德桑蒂斯任命的成员在州法院起诉迪士尼，这是由该区的接管引起的第二起诉讼，旨在使这些协议无效。
DeSantis-controlled Disney World district abolishes diversity, equity initiatives
ORLANDO, Fla. --Diversity, equity and inclusion programs were abolished Tuesday from Walt Disney World's governing district, now controlled by appointees of Gov.Ron DeSantis, in an echo of the Florida governor's agenda which has championed curtailing such programs in higher education and elsewhere.
The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said in a statement that its diversity, equity and inclusion committee would be eliminated, as would any job duties connected to it. Also axed were initiatives left over from when the district was controlled by Disney supporters, which awarded contracts based on goals of achieving racial or gender parity.
Glenton Gilzean, the district's new administrator who is African American and a former head of the Central Florida Urban League, called such initiatives “illegal and simply un-American." Gilzean has been a fellow or member at two conservative institutions, the James Madison Institute and the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, as well as a DeSantis appointee to the Florida Commission on Ethics.
“Our district will no longer participate in any attempt to divide us by race or advance the notion that we are not created equal," Gilzean said in a statement. "As the former head of the Central Florida Urban League, a civil rights organization, I can say definitively that our community thrives only when we work together despite our differences.”
An email was sent seeking comment from Disney World.
Last spring, DeSantis, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, signed into law a measure that blocks public colleges from using federal or state funding on diversity programs.
DeSantis also has championed Florida's so-called “Stop WOKE” law, which bars businesses, colleges and K-12 schools from giving training on certain racial concepts, such as the theory that people of a particular race are inherently racist, privileged or oppressed. A federal judge last November blocked the law’s enforcement in colleges, universities and businesses, calling it "positively dystopian.”
The creation of the district, then known as the Reedy Creek Improvement District, was instrumental in Disney’s decision to build a theme park resort near Orlando in the 1960s. Having a separate government allowed the company to provide zoning, fire protection, utilities and infrastructure services on its sprawling property. The district was controlled by Disney supporters for more than five decades.
Richard Foglesong, a Rollins College professor emeritus, said he was surprised that the matter was decided internally, rather than by a public vote of the five members appointed by DeSantis to the district’s board who have promised repeatedly to be more transparent than their predecessors.
“This is an issue of public importance,” said Foglesong, who wrote a definitive account of Disney World’s governance in his book, “Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando.”
The DeSantis appointees took control of the renamed district earlier this year following a yearlong feud between the company and DeSantis. The fight began last year after Disney, beset by significant pressure internally and externally, publicly opposed a state law banning classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”
As punishment, DeSantis took over the district through legislation passed by Republican lawmakers and appointed a new board of supervisors to oversee municipal services for the sprawling theme parks and hotels. Disney sued DeSantis and his five board appointees in federal court, claiming the Florida governor violated the company’s free speech rights by taking the retaliatory action.
Before the new board came in, Disney made agreements with previous oversight board members who were Disney supporters that stripped the new supervisors of their authority over design and development. The DeSantis-appointed members of the governing district have sued Disney in state court in a second lawsuit stemming from the district’s takeover, seeking to invalidate those agreements.
