A Member of the Disney Family Has Come Out as Trans
William Harris As the Walt Disney Company continues to struggle with its relationship to the LGBTQIA+ community, members of the Disney family appear to be much more at peace with how they fit in. After the Human Rights Committee rejected $5 million from the Disney company, Roy P. Disney announced the family would be donating $500,000. “Equality matters deeply to us,” he wrote, “especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.” Charlee Corra is a high-school biology and environmental-science teacher. They came out as gay early in life but only recently came out as transgender. Corra attended the HRC’s annual gala as a step toward more public advocacy. “I feel like I don’t do very much to help,” they told the L.A. Times. “I don’t call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more.”
Corra said that a lack of representation definitely hindered their self-discovery. “I had very few openly gay role models,” they told the 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.” They fear for what the children of Florida will endure under the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Meanwhile, Florida governor Ron DeSantis vaguely alluded in a press conference to taking away Walt Disney World’s “special privileges” of self-governance now that the company opposes the bill. Disney is allowed to have its own firefighters and zoning laws (and nuclear power plant, should it ever want one) through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
