WOKE WATCH: Disney execs want half its characters to be LGBTQ, minorities by end of year

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Disney executives want to see more diversity and inclusivity in their shows and movies.

Karey Burke, president of Disney’s General Entertainment Content, led the charge in a company-wide virtual call earlier this week that was posted to Twitter by journalist Christopher Rufo.

“I’m here as a mother of two queer children, actually, one transgender child and one pansexual child,” Burke said on the call that was part of Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” campaign.

Burke said she supports the “many, many” characters featured who are LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual/allies).

Burke was dismayed to learn that the company only had a “handful” of queer lead characters and asserted that she wanted at least half of Disney’s characters to be part of the LGBTQIA community or a visible minority.

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In that same call, executive producer Latoya Raveneau admitted to pushing a “gay agenda” for children’s animation.

“In my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super-welcoming … to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda,” Raveneau said in another video.

“I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness,” she explained. “No one would stop me, and no one was trying to stop me.”

Meanwhile, in that same video call, it was revealed that Disney Parks has put the kibosh on terms such as “boys and girls” and “ladies and gentlemen” in their greetings to promote gender inclusivity.

“We’ve provided training for all of our cast members in relationship to that. So now they know it’s ‘Hello, everyone,’ or ‘Hello, friends,’” Disney’s diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware said.

“We want to create that magical moment with our cast members, with our guests,” she continued. “And we don’t want to just assume because someone might be, in our interpretation, presenting as female that they may not want to be ‘princess.’”

The diversity and inclusion push comes amid Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis new “Don’t Say Gay” policy, which bans teachers in the state from discussing LGBTQ topics like sexual orientation or gender identity with students unless they’re in the fourth grade or higher.

Disney has denounced the new law and vowed to fight to repeal it.

“Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” Disney said in a statement.