Disney Is the Latest Casualty of Culture Wars’ Crossfire

Leon Trotsky’s dictum that “you may not be interested in the dialectic, but the dialectic is interested in you” applies equally well to the culture wars, as Walt Disney Co.’s chief executive officer Robert Chapek is discovering to his chagrin. Chapek tried to stay neutral on one of the hottest issues in the culture war — sex education for young children — but ended up infuriating both sides. He is now fighting for his future in the Magic Kingdom while fending off brickbats from the Right Nation.

In this case the culture wars have taken the form of Florida’s blandly named Parental Rights in Education Bill, which passed the state legislature on March 8 and awaits the governor’s signature. The bill prohibits instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for children in kindergarten through third grade, or for older students if not “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate,” and makes it easier for parents to sue if they judge that the regulations are not being followed. Conservatives regard the bill as a righteous attempt to reclaim parental rights from activist teachers while the left dubs it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.