By Thomas Coy using PFOX press releases as sources

The resolution before the Walt Disney Company to include ex-gays in Disney’s mandatory diversity training for employees was not able to garner the support it needed to pass. It showed in stark reality the grip the gay rights movement has on the entertainment giant. The proposal was presented by Greg Quinlan on behalf of Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays. Disney’s Board of Directors did not even want to consider the resolution, and only did so because they were ordered to by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mr. Quinlan told Disney’s Board of Directors that “Disney’s diversity training emphasizes gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders, but fails to include ex-gays.” The nation’s largest gay rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign, lobbied against the inclusion of ex-gays. Mr. Quinlan asked the gay lobbyist, “How can HRC demand gay equality when it refuses to extend equality to others?” The actions of the Human Rights Campaign showed that it is not a human rights organization, but a special interest organization pursuing gay political objectives.

One of the political tactics the Human Rights Campaign uses to pressure corporations is to issue an annual rating of how gay friendly they are. The HRC calls it their “Corporate Equality Index.” A criterion of the index amounts to how well the corporation follows gay political objectives and how much the corporation donates to gay causes and organizations. That is one self-serving index. Mr. Quinlan asked Disney’s directors the obvious question, “Is it a conflict of interest for any corporation in this country to donate money or other form of support to HRC, which then rates those same corporations on corporate equality?”

Greg Quinlan told Disney’s Board of Directors that while they may have the highest HRC equality index rating of 100 percent, Disney’s “equality index score is -0- for ex-gays and their supporters. You should treat former homosexuals with the same respect and benefits you give to gays and transgenders.”

PFOX’s presentation before the Disney Board of Directors was overdue. Many Disney shareholders applauded Mr. Quinlan and said “It was about time this happened.” PFOX set a legal precedent in 2009 when the Washington, D.C. Superior Court “ruled that ex-gays are a legally protected class under sexual orientation and therefore specifically protected from discrimination under the D.C. Human Rights Act.”