An open letter to Walt Disney President & CEO, Mr. Robert A. Iger

Dear Robert A. Iger

My name's Jamie. My fiancé Tom and I adopted our sons, Lyall and Richard five years ago. We're a proud family - two dads and two boys.

Our sons had a traumatic, turbulent start to their little lives so Tom and I make it our mission to provide our boys with amazing opportunities and experiences. Here we are at this year's Magical Pride at Disneyland Paris.

There is a reason I'm getting in touch today. A campaign by an anti-LGBTQ group called CitizenGO endeavours to threaten your Magical Pride event. In their campaign literature they are using (without our consent I should add) photos of our family at Magical Pride to generate a controversial response from people who would rather LGBTQ people and families weren't visible.

The CitizenGO campaign is attempting to portray Magical Pride and more generally Disney as a force against traditional families. Without actually experiencing the event first-hand, they use frightening phrases like 'indoctrination of children' and 'promoting a specific sexual behavior'. The campaign is playing to the fears of traditional people who probably haven't met a same-sex family before. The petition is likely to attract significant support from conservative parents and people with extreme views about LGBTQ people.

Here's a screenshot from their campaign. As you can see, it's entirely false and quite damaging.

As mentioned, our family were fortunate enough to experience Magical Pride at Disneyland Paris this year. Magical Pride was the most extraordinary and memorable weekend of our family's life so far. The wonderful people, the colours, the music and the warm welcome we received from the Disney cast and all the LGBTQ guests made us feel very special indeed. The event was family-friendly; age-appropriate for children and, most importantly, safe. We felt very proud of our family and we can't thank Disney enough for ensuring families, as well as LGBTQ guests were catered for at the event.

The work Disney have done so far, through the characters in films and Magical Pride to make LGBTQ people and families feel so welcome, safe and represented is, in a word, magical.

As a sensible, loving family with two young children who have experienced Magical Pride, we appeal to you not to pay attention to their anti-LGBTQ campaign.

Thank you

Jamie Beaglehole

jamie@daddyanddad.co.uk