don t say gay bill. it prohibits gender identity through the third grade in florida s elementary schools. on march 7, chapek told employees as we ve seen time and again, corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds. instead, they re often weaponized by one side or the other to further divide and inflame. he said he did not want the company to become a political football. at that time, more than 150 companies had already signed a letter opposing the legislation. two days later, chapek changed course, amid widespread outrage from disney employees and fans. he called governor desantis to express disappointment with the law. on the same day at an annual shareholders meeting he said our originally approach no matter how much attention didn t quite get the job done. he further apologized at a town hall for staff on march 21. on march 28th, desantis signed the bill into law. we ve seen corporate activism, guns after parkland, social justice after george floyd. the
over florida to anonymously scout the land they were thinking of obtaining for an east coast disneyland. starting in 1964, disney used multiple shell companies to buy huge tracts of land often in cash toed a vow a paper trail. they ended up with 27,000 acres. walt wanted more freedom to develop the land and the company petitioned the florida state legislature to create the reedy creek improvement district which would give them near autonomy. it was signed by governor claude kirk back in 1967, and it this is the law that allows disney to construct new buildings and expand its parks without having to follow state or county regulations. reedy creek includes four theme parks, two water parks, one sports complex. 167 miles of roadway, 67,000 miles of waterways, hundreds of restaurants and retail stores. it has a permanent population of about 50. and its own fire department and board of supervisors.