This author will have to see it to believe it. Over the past few years, Disney has seemed determined to destroy one of the most famous and enduring brands in the world.

Leaked internal documents and videos from 2022 revealed what executives themselves described as a "not-at-all-secret gay agenda." Disney Television Animation producer Latoya Raveneau admitted to "adding queerness" to children's programming, while production coordinator Allen March openly discussed imposing quotas to ensure shows included "queer stories," "gender non-conforming characters," and characters who were "trans," "asexual," and "bisexual."

Disney's Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Vivian Ware, also announced that the company would drop traditional terms like "ladies and gentlemen" or "boys and girls" in its theme parks to avoid alienating transgender children.

At the same time, the company faced backlash over several high-profile productions. Films such as Snow White (2025), Agatha All Along (2024), and The Acolyte sparked controversy for their progressive themes, while Strange World and Lightyear (2022) became lightning rods for criticism of Disney's insistence on embedding LGBTQ+ storylines into mainstream content.

The financial fallout was staggering. Lightyear cost $200 million to make and ultimately lost Disney $106 million after earning just $267 million at the global box office against total expenses of $373 million. It was the lowest-grossing domestic opening for a Pixar film since Cars 2 (2011). Strange World fared no better.

With production costs exceeding $317 million, it grossed only $165 million, losing the studio more than $152 million. Together, the two films alone cost Disney nearly $300 million.

Disney's involvement with LGBTQ+ themes is not new. In the early 1990s, Walt Disney World began hosting an annual Gay Day on the first Saturday in June. The event drew heavy criticism, with the Southern Baptist Convention boycotting Disney for nearly a decade and evangelist Pat Robertson even warning that a meteor would strike Orlando.

What is different now is the escalation into children's programming and the internal admissions of deliberate "gay agenda" quotas. For conservatives, this shift crossed a line. They no longer see Disney as merely supporting adult LGBTQ+ rights but as actively trying to shape children's sexual and gender identity development. This perception explains why today's backlash is both stronger and more financially costly than in the past.

The controversy is compounded by changes in gender representation across Disney animation. Of the last seven Walt Disney Animation Studios features, only two, Strange World and Ralph Breaks the Internet, featured male characters as the focal point. Before the release of Elemental (2023), no female protagonist in a Disney children's film had been written with a love story since Frozen in 2013.