Disney heir comes out as transgender, speaks out against ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
Sarah Do Couto - Yesterday
Global News
Charlee Corra Disney, one of the heirs of The Walt Disney Co., came out publicly as transgender and has condemned anti-LGBTQ2 legislation in the United States.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Corra (who uses they/them pronouns) said their speech at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) annual gala in March was a public coming out for them.
Before the gala, Corra, 30, had been out as transgender personally for four years. Initially, Corra identified as gay before coming out as trans.
“I had very few openly gay role models,” Corra told the Los Angeles Times. “And I certainly didn’t have any trans or nonbinary role models. I didn’t see myself reflected in anyone, and that made me feel like there was something wrong with me.”
At the HRC event, Corra announced their family would match up to US$250,000 in donations to the HRC, the largest LGBTQ2 advocacy group and LGBTQ2 political lobbying organization in the United States.
This amount was later doubled to $500,000 by Roy P. Disney, Corra's father and the grandson of the company's co-founder.
The donation from the Disney family came after the HRC declined a $5-million donation from The Walt Disney Co., in early March. The HRC declined the donation because of the company's initial silence and inaction on the Florida "Don't Say Gay" bill, which has now been made law and bars instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through Grade 3.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has since apologized for the company's silence
Still, as the Disney company faced public scrutiny and employee protests in regards to its initial silence on the "Don't Say Gay" bill, the Disney family is speaking out in support of LGBTQ2 rights.
“Equality matters deeply to us,” wrote Roy P. Disney in a statement, “especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.”
For this reason, the Sheri Disney — Corra's mother — told the Los Angeles Times she was disappointed by The Walt Disney Co.'s actions, "but had no doubt the company would make it right." She hopes the $500,000 donation will be a "bridge" to show the family's commitment to gay and trans rights.
“I feel like I don’t do very much to help,” Corra said. Corra does not work for Disney, but is a high school biology and environmental science teacher.
“I don’t call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more.”
Charlee Corra Disney, one of the heirs of The Walt Disney Co., came out publicly as transgender and has condemned anti-LGBTQ2 legislation in the United States.
In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, Corra (who uses they/them pronouns) said their speech at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) annual gala in March was a public coming out for them.
Before the gala, Corra, 30, had been out as transgender personally for four years. Initially, Corra identified as gay before coming out as trans.
“I had very few openly gay role models,” Corra told the Los Angeles Times. “And I certainly didn’t have any trans or nonbinary role models. I didn’t see myself reflected in anyone, and that made me feel like there was something wrong with me.”
At the HRC event, Corra announced their family would match up to US$250,000 in donations to the HRC, the largest LGBTQ2 advocacy group and LGBTQ2 political lobbying organization in the United States.
This amount was later doubled to $500,000 by Roy P. Disney, Corra's father and the grandson of the company's co-founder.
The donation from the Disney family came after the HRC declined a $5-million donation from The Walt Disney Co., in early March. The HRC declined the donation because of the company's initial silence and inaction on the Florida "Don't Say Gay" bill, which has now been made law and bars instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through Grade 3.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek has since apologized for the company's silence
Still, as the Disney company faced public scrutiny and employee protests in regards to its initial silence on the "Don't Say Gay" bill, the Disney family is speaking out in support of LGBTQ2 rights.
“Equality matters deeply to us,” wrote Roy P. Disney in a statement, “especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.”
For this reason, the Sheri Disney — Corra's mother — told the Los Angeles Times she was disappointed by The Walt Disney Co.'s actions, "but had no doubt the company would make it right." She hopes the $500,000 donation will be a "bridge" to show the family's commitment to gay and trans rights.
“I feel like I don’t do very much to help,” Corra said. Corra does not work for Disney, but is a high school biology and environmental science teacher.
“I don’t call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more.”
Families, doctors contest Alabama transgender treatment ban
The Canadian Press
Monday
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Families with transgender teens sued the state of Alabama in federal court on Monday to overturn a law that makes it a crime for doctors to treat trans youth under 19 with puberty blockers or hormones to help affirm their gender identity.
The two lawsuits — one on behalf of two families and another on behalf two families and the physicians who treat their children— pose legal challenges to legislation signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Kay Ivey.
“Transgender youth are a part of Alabama, and they deserve the same privacy, access to treatment, and data-driven health care from trained medical professionals as any other Alabamian," Tish Gotell Faulks, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said in a statement. Faulks added that lawmakers are using children, as, “political pawns for their reelection campaigns.” Ivey and legislators face primaries next month.
Unless blocked by the court, the Alabama law will take effect May 8, making it a felony for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to aid in the gender transition of anyone under age 19. Violations will be punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It also prohibits gender transition surgeries, although doctors told lawmakers those are not performed on minors in Alabama.
“The level of legislative overreach into the practice of medicine is unprecedented. And never before has legislative overreach come into pediatric examination rooms to shut down the parent voice in medical decision making between a parent, their pediatrician and their child,” Dr. Morissa Ladinsky, a medical provider and a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits, told The Associated Press in an interview.
Ivey signed the legislation Friday, a day after it was approved by the Alabama Legislature. At a campaign stop Monday, the governor invoked religion when asked about her decision to sign the legislation.
“If the good Lord made you a boy at birth, then you are a boy. If the good Lord made you a girl at birth, then you are a girl,” she said. “We should especially focus our efforts on helping these young people become healthy adults just like God wanted them to be rather than self-induced medical intervenors.”
Asked if the law would survive a court challenge, she replied, “We’ll wait and see.”
The two lawsuits were filed by advocacy groups on behalf of families with transgender children, as well as by two medical providers. The children were not identified in the lawsuits because of their age,
“I know that I am a girl and I always have been,” one of the 15-year-old plaintiffs said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama. “Even before I learned the word ‘transgender’ or met other trans people, I knew myself."
In one of the lawsuits, parents described their fears that their transgender daughter, called “Mary Roe" in the suit, would harm herself or try to commit suicide if she loses access to the puberty blockers she began taking last year. “For Mary to be forced to go through male puberty would be devastating; it would predictably result in her experiencing isolation, depression, anxiety, and distress," the lawsuit states.
Similar measures have been pushed in other states, but the Alabama legislation is the first to lay out criminal penalties for doctors.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state’s child welfare agency to investigate as abuse reports of gender-confirming care for kids. And a law in Arkansas bans gender-affirming medications. That law has been blocked by a court, however.
Ivey also signed a separate measure that requires students to use bathrooms that align with their original birth certificate and prohibits instruction of gender and sexual identity in kindergarten through fifth grades.
Kim Chandler , The Associated Press
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