Photo: Mark Ashman (Getty Images)
Happy Pride month to Disney! The celebration got started this year with a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit, filed by VP Production Finance at ABC Signature Joel Hopkins, on the very first day of Pride.
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The case seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, and various lawsuit costs. Hopkins says he has repeatedly been denied promotions which he believes was due to his sexual orientation. Hopkins began his career at Disney in 1994, as Director of Production Finance for Buena Vista Television. Over the next six years he was promoted twice, once to Vice President of Production Finance for Touchstone Television and then again to his current position. However, after his final promotion, Hopkins’ sexuality as a gay man became known to Jim Hedges, the CFO of ABC and Hopkins’ direct supervisor. That’s when he says the promotions stalled and his career was placed on a road to nowhere.