Disneyland Hosts First-Ever Pride Night: What You Need to Know About Disney’s LGBTQ History

Disneyland After Dark hosted its first-ever Pride Night this Pride Month despite the corporation’s complicated history with the queer community.

The Disney corporation has a sordid history regarding the queer community, both in its parks and media. Until the 1980s, same-sex dancing was prohibited in the Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, Florida. This homophobic rule was in place for 28 years until it was overturned in a lawsuit.

The first-ever Disneyland After Dark: Pride Nite is coming to @Disneyland during Pride Month in June! This separately ticketed event celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community & allies will have themed entertainment, Disney characters, specialty menu items & more: https://t.co/Y6vOJ3QXms pic.twitter.com/j97sB1kHod

— Disney (@Disney) April 17, 2023

Disney has often come under fire for lacking queer representation in their films and television series. Disney has often been guilty of queer coding and “blink-and-you-miss-it” representation. This is when queer characters are only shown in quick, easily missed scenes. These short and mostly unconfirmed queer moments are often the only queer representation that can be found in Disney media.

However, even these brief and often throw-away scenes have been subject to backlash. The scene in Disney’s 2016 film Finding Dory, which included two women pushing a stroller, was cause for instant retaliation from audiences over the presumed lesbian couple. Similarly, the scene in the live-action 2017 film Beauty and the Beast where LeFou dances with another man is another moment. This scene was also plagued with controversy and prompted many to boycott the film and sparking debate online over Disney’s queer representation.

part of me is like “wow cool that disney is doing an lgbt thing” and the other part is like “performative allyship by a major corporation is not the progress we need”

— quin 🌈✨ (@quindurrella) February 10, 2019

As a result, Disney had begun making slow progress with their queer representation. Disney Channel’s hit show The Owl House featured two queer main characters, Luz Noceda, and Amity Blight. Their romance became one of the show’s central focuses, and the two had a cult following, dubbing their relationship “Lumity.” Despite the show’s massive popularity, Disney decided to cancel it. The show’s creator, Dana Terrace, went to Reddit to express her feelings about the cancelation. She stated the show “didn’t fit [the Disney] ‘brand,’ and when discussing the show’s queer content, she wrote, “While we have had issues airing in a few countries (and are just straight up banned in a few more) I’m not gonna assume bad faith against the people I work with in LA.”

im literally gonna cry seeing that bi pin on luz the entire season btw. just so you know. it makes me so so so happy to see queer rep has come this far…a pride flag on a main character's design in a disney channel show….and she has a girlfriend and a developed relationship…

— gigi 🌈🐸🦉🐴👻🦖 (@clovariia) September 25, 2022

The water remained murky on where Disney stood on LGBTQIA+ rights until recently, when the corporation took a public stand against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. This came after Disney received mass amounts of public backlash, including employee walkouts, for not immediately denouncing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Legislation (the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) and for financially supporting Florida political campaigns.

Me hearing about the Disney employee walkouts today over the Don’t Say Gay bill:#DontSayGay #Disney #Florida pic.twitter.com/rtSQQyqzYG

— Kince (he/him) (@thislilgecko) March 22, 2022

Disney has since paused all Florida political donations. Disney has also increased the number of pride events in their parks and has agreed to host events such as The Out and Equal Workplace Summit, a large LGBTQIA+ conference.

Among these pride events was Disneyland After Dark’s first-ever Pride Night in California. The event occurred on June 13 and 15 after park hours. It was a separately-ticketed event, and tickets sold out quickly. This was California Disneyland’s first official pride event. The first Disney Pride Parade was hosted in Disneyland Paris in 2019. There’s also a long history of unofficial pride events in Disney parks, such as the annual “Gay Days” at Walt Disney World.

@debbiewilsonn__ Pride Nite at Disneyland 🌈 #pridenite #disneyland #disneylandafterdark #disney #pridemonth ♬ I Wanna Dance With Somebody – Whitney Houston

Pride Night ran from 6 P.M. until 9 P.M. and offered guests unique park experiences. Encounters with rare characters, such as the Muses from Hercules and Phastos from Eternals, were available in designated locations. Many characters familiar with the park were also in attendance, such as Mickey Mouse wearing a custom pride-themed outfit. Notably, California Governor Gavin Newsom also made an appearance at the event. Pride Night also included a special fireworks show and new food and drink items. Pride merchandise continues to be available for purchase in the parks and online.

Great to be at Disneyland’s first ever Pride Night. pic.twitter.com/MW3eHMDemO

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 14, 2023

For more information on Disneyland After Dark’s upcoming events, visit their website.