Shareholder Group and Gender Ideology Opponent to Press Disney on Discrimination at Company’s Annual Meeting National Legal and Policy Center and Do No Harm to Present Proposal Slamming Entertainment Giant for Bias Against De-transitioners
Falls Church, VA
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April 01, 2024 01:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time
National Legal and Policy Center, an investor in The Walt Disney Company, and healthcare accountability group Do No Harm, will present a shareholder proposal at the iconic media and entertainment corporation’s annual meeting on April 3. The measure asks the company to investigate its discriminatory pay and benefits policies – specifically addressing where employees affected by gender-switching advocacy have been psychologically or medically harmed, without providing remedial care – and reporting to shareholders why such compensation gaps exist at an allegedly tolerant company.
Speaking at the Disney meeting in support of the proposal will be Chloe Cole, patient advocate for Do No Harm, who has testified before legislative bodies nationwide in opposition to gender ideology and its destructive health consequences. Ms. Cole will address the company’s board of directors, including beleaguered CEO Robert Iger, and tell her story about her difficulties in finding medical care and insurance coverage in her efforts to “de-transition,” after trying earlier in her life to switch from the biological sex she was born with.
Ahead of the Disney meeting, NLPC released a one-minute video to highlight the shareholder proposal. The corporate and government watchdog also filed a white paper with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month to more fully explain the necessity for the company to investigate its discriminatory policies.
“Disney has been so proud about its 100-percent score on the Corporate Equality Index, designed by the pro-LGBTQIA+ Human Rights Campaign, which requires companies to cover sex change treatments in their health insurance offerings,” said Paul Chesser, director of NLPC’s Corporate Integrity Project. “Now we call upon Mr. Iger to lead the way for Corporate America to provide equal care for those who have suffered physical harm as a result, and who want bodily restoration. Besides the damage they have suffered, they are also discriminated against.”
As NLPC points out in its shareholder proposal, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission considers failure to provide equivalent pay and benefits based on categories including “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” as discriminatory. Even the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed with NLPC that de-transitioning individuals fit under such classifications when considering unfairness in corporate compensation practices.
In its opposition statement (p. 104 at link) to the proposal, Disney alleges that NLPC is just trying to “generate attention” with a “narrow focus…to advance a limited agenda.”
“Disney acts as if people like me don’t exist,” said Chloe Cole. “I intend to make sure the board and Mr. Iger hear that the company’s irrational gender ideology policies are actually destructive, and that I am a victim of policies like it. De-transitioners like me are not going away. With the numbers of LGBTQIA+ workers at the company who have sought ill-advised sex changes, you can bet that litigation over deception, and discriminatory benefits policies, won’t be far behind.”
You can read NLPC’s shareholder proposal at its website. Learn more about Do No Harm at its website.
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For more information or to schedule an interview with Paul Chesser, contact Dan Rene at 202-329-8357 or drene@nlpc.org.
Please visit http://www.nlpc.org.
Founded in 1991, the National Legal and Policy Center promotes ethics in public life through research, investigation, education and legal action.
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National Legal and Policy Center
Dan Rene
+1 202-329-8357
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