Disney Exec Appeals to Homosexuals on Internet

by   Art Toalston                                                                                                                                             Vol. IX, No. 7, August 1996

An Internet solicitation of support from homosexual activists for the Walt Disney Company has made its way from a Disney vice president's office across the country. The electronic-mail (e-mail) message, which originated in the office of Disney Vice President for Studio Operations Reid Cline on June 13, states: "If anyone wants to write to Disney to support them in light of the Southern Baptist Convention's condemnation yesterday, you may write to: Michael Eisner, c/o S. Buena Vista St, Burbank, CA 91521-1010, (818) 560-2431."

Eisner is Disney's chairman and CEO. The e-mail is signed by a secretary in Cline's office at Disney, Brad Bergman, with the Internet address: "brad_bergman@studio.disney.com."

"We don't have any comment" was the response of a Disney spokeswoman after the corporate communications office there received a faxed copy of the e-mail appeal and a response by Bill Merrell, SBC Executive Committee vice president for convention relations. Said Merrell: "It is yet another sad reflection of the state of Disney that a Disney vice president's office must turn to the homosexual Internet crowd to solicit support for the company's drift away from family values and its buckling to the homosexual-activist agenda.

"It is noteworthy that Disney cannot find support for its eroding morality among the vast majority of Southern Baptists, other evangelicals, and others who adhere to the family values that once made Disney great,” Merrell said. “Actions like these continue to damage the Disney name in the minds and hearts of countless Americans.”

The e-mail solicitation of homosexual support for Disney was brought to the attention of Baptist Press by a Wilmington, Del. Catholic layman, Scott Stirling, who had been alerted to the message on the Internet by a friend unsympathetic to the homosexual movement. It had been circulated by a self-described "lesbian, gay, bisexual" student group on the Internet at Duke University, Durham, NC.

There is no way to determine exactly how many homosexual Internet sites and email lists currently exist, according to Internet watchers, but, Stirling said, "This message from Brad Berman is likely circulating in all these homosexual e-mail chat groups across the country and even internationally." Stirling wrote a letter to Eisner challenging the e-mail appeal from Cline's office, saying, "That you would allow your employees to use company e-mail to solicit support for a broad political agenda illustrates that Disney is willing to use its resources for social change rather than upholding traditional family values and virtues.

"I am a young, Catholic married man with one child," Stirling's letter continued. "God willing, I will have many more. Because your company is attempting to effect radical social change, I will never spend my money on any Disney product or activity."

The Southern Baptist Convention resolution adopted June 12 encourages Southern Baptists "to give serious and prayerful reconsideration" to whether to attend Disney theme parks and purchase Disney products - and to boycott Disney if it continues "this antichristian and anti-family trend." [BP]