Conservative groups at Disney’s shareholder meeting on Wednesday failed to convince the company to approve an anti-trans policy that would have required it to cover the costs of detransition procedures for employees.
Detransition activist Chloe Cole, 19, spoke to shareholders on behalf of the anti-trans organization Do No Harm and the conservative National Legal and Policy Center. She accused Disney of discriminating based on gender identity because the company covers costs associated with gender-affirming care but not detransitioning.
Cole – who detransitioned after claiming she was forced into gender transition procedures as a minor – told the shareholders that said “gender ideology” has been “pushed to the masses by corporations like Disney.”
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
“Mr. Iger, Disney under your watch is pushing the limited agenda of gender ideology,” she said, adding a bizarre attempt at a metaphor saying that “Disney has become the Ursula that is stealing the voices of thousands of little Ariels across the world by telling us we can be something that we can never become.”
“The lawsuits are coming, sir,” she declared. Nevertheless, the board of directors rejected the proposal, reportedly saying it “intended to serve the particular interest of the proponent” groups.
Cole posted a video of her speech to X, saying she “needed to call out [Disney CEO] Bob Iger and the rest of the board’s hypocrisy and the dangerous lies they feed us through the media.”
The concept of detransitioning has become a major argument for anti-trans activists. People like Cole, who have detransitioned, often appear at conservative rallies and in ads opposing transgender rights to give the appearance that many or most transgender people eventually detransition.
In reality, researchers have found that only 1% of trans teens detransition after they start receiving some form of medical treatment. One 2021 study found that the vast majority of people who detransition do so because of external factors like family or social pressure, not because they changed their mind about their identity..
Disney faced proposals from both liberal and conservative groups, including, according to HuffPost, a push for the entertainment giant to stop donating money to politicians who are against reproductive rights and who perpetuate the lie that President Joe Biden stole the 2020 election. The board rejected those proposals, as well as one from the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research asking the company to disclose all charitable contributions of $5,000 or more.
The organization is a Disney shareholder and also reportedly slammed the company for supporting “radical gender ideology” by donating to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups like The Trevor Project and GLSEN.