A few Republican Florida lawmakers want to cancel a state law that gives the Disney Corporation special provisions to run its properties in the state because the company has voiced opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill supported by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, but their colleagues strongly object to the maneuver, WKMG News 6 in Orlando reports.

To promote the development of the amusement facilities in the state, Florida created the Reedy Creek Improvement District in 1967 which gave Disney significant latitude in how it developed and operated the area that would become Disney World.  Now, GOP lawmakers want to revoke the designation as punishment for Disney recognizing that LGBTQ people exist, something Republicans wish to ignore.  The RCID act gave Disney significant autonomy to run its business in Florida.

The aptly-named Republican state legislator Spencer Roach tweeted, “Yesterday was the 2nd meeting in a week w/fellow legislators to discuss a repeal of the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which allows Disney to act as its own government.  If Disney wants to embrace woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County,” threatening to punish Disney for expressing views, an act explicitly allowed under the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

“If you ask me whether it’s politically possible to take these privileges away from the Disney company, I don’t think so,” Richard Foglesong, a retired Rollins College political science professor and the author of “Married to the Mouse,” said. “I think that cooler minds will prevail and that this is really a shot across the bow to try to bring the Disney company, Mickey Mouse if you will, into line with Governor DeSantis. I thought it was more of March Madness of the political kind, the thought that the Republican Party, which used to be the party of business, would want to take on of their biggest donors.”