Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read March 2023— Disney is hosting the Out & Equal 2023 Workplace Summit this September. The move, announced last week, comes at a pivotal moment as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares a likely 2024 presidential bid.
The announcement came a little less than a month after the new DeSantis-appointed Reedy Creek district board, now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, met at the beginning of March. While the board would seek to leverage its powers where it could — such as ending COVID restrictions, legal experts wrote at the time that it would be difficult, if not outright unconstitutional, for it to control Disney’s content.
Disney will be hosting the Out & Equal 2023 Workplace Summit this year and in 2024, coinciding with the general election. Among the organizers’ sponsors and corporate attendees, a host of well-known American companies and organizations, including Apple, HP, Raytheon, McDonalds, Uber, Walmart, Medtronic, Amazon, AARP and government partners such as the State Department and CIA will participate. Over 5,000 attendees are expected to attend the event.
It is hard not to view the move as a response to DeSantis’ revocation of the Reedy Creek Special Improvement District. The governor has honed in on cultural issues over the course of the last year, whether that be through interactions with Disney or the ongoing revamp of the state’s public higher education institutions. The governor has also turned his ire to “corporate wokeness,” or “work capitalism,” such as in the case of Disney, and more recently ESG investment metrics and strategies.
Whether questions about the efficacy of these tactics and the impact they have on the daily lives of Floridians emerge on the campaign trail remains to be seen. Disney is the largest single employer in the state, with over 40,000 individuals working across Central Florida for Disney, with the Mouse likely playing a role in Orlando becoming the U.S.’s largest travel and tourism destination, which saw the region’s tourism sector generate a massive $31 billion economic contribution – 20% of the city’s total GDP and far outstripping pre-pandemic levels by $2.7 billion, according to the The World Travel & Tourism Council.
Criticisms over the governor’s track record have begun to emerge from former President Donald Trump, his most likely rival for the Republican nomination. The former President lambasted the governor’s record, criticizing the governor’s pandemic track record despite Florida’s early opening that many have cited as the reason for the states’ good fortunes post-pandemic. Trump also criticized the state’s education record and the public safety of Florida cities such as Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando in his statement. Trump concluded, “The fact is, Ron is an average Governor, but the best by far in the Country in one category, Public Relations, where he easily ranks Number One—But it is all a Mirage, just look at the facts and figures, they don’t lie…”
Despite the vocal attack, Florida has been lauded as one of the most economically successful states of the last few years, with dozens of company relocations, a swelling population, high-impact conferences such as Disney’s Out & Equal Workplace Summit and new capital continuing to pour into its economy.
While the state adjusts to its new national prominence and its increasingly high cost of living, the question for Gov. DeSantis continues to be when he finally decides to make an official announcement as the legislature reconsiders the state’s “resign-to-rule” law. Prior to the start of the legislation session, the governor promised “the most productive session we’ve had,” in the wake of his 19-point re-election victory.
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