I wanna be Snow White, and my bf will be Prince Charming, and we'll be married by the Evil Queen!

April 8, 2007 10:59 AM

Fairy Tale Weddings for all -- Disney, under fire for discriminating at its parks, opens up its popular (and expensive!) Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons to same-sex couples.
posted by amberglow (35 comments total)

Well, that didn't take long. Good for them. Now when do we get our federal job discrimination bill?
posted by mediareport at 11:06 AM on April 8, 2007

When people realize the need to make money outweighs the need to discriminate.
posted by taursir at 11:30 AM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

there are many many legitimate things to slam Dizyknee about, but overall they have been ahead of the curve in this one area, iirc they provide same sex benefits, to those that get benefits, have had gay pride (?) events at the park/s...
So, as much as I tend to despise the dreck they produce, and the planned community in Fla seems like a nightmarish stage waiting for a David Lynch plot to come along I tip my hat to them for this at least
posted by edgeways at 11:31 AM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Boy, Disney weddings in the US look really...plain. Straightforward black tux, straightforward white wedding dress.

Tokyo Disney has two schools of weddings: the Tokyo Disneyland weddings (relatively traditional) and the Tokyo Disney Sea weddings (...less traditional).

Tokyo Disneyland:

The Snow White
The Cinderella
The What-the-hell?
The...I dunno...Belle from Beauty and the Beast?

Tokyo Disney Sea:

The Slinky
The Red
The Pink
The Blue

Unfortunately, Tokyo Disneyland doesn't offer men's attire for rental, unlike Tokyo Disney Sea, so if you get married in Disneyland, you miss out on the ability to wear this fine groom's tuxedo:

The Ridiculous
posted by Bugbread at 11:47 AM on April 8, 2007 [4 favorites]

edgeways is right. There are a lot of things I dislike about Disney and their products, but having worked for them, they are by far the best employer I have ever had. The pay may not be great, but employees are treated with a standard of fairness absent at every other company I have worked for.*

*I worked as a programmer in an office, it may be different for the guys who play Goofy at the park. But overall it was the complete opposite of the "Mouse-witz" I had been led to expect.
posted by drjimmy11 at 12:00 PM on April 8, 2007

those are fabulous, bug! : >
posted by amberglow at 12:02 PM on April 8, 2007

Related reading: I Am Not Your Minstrel Show -- What Disney Teaches Us About Gay Rights by Racheline Maltese. Powerful thought here.
posted by Dreama at 12:34 PM on April 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

It's important to remember that being equal means access to the same tacky and ridiculous caprices as every straight marriage.

(Alternate snark— Now I understand why some gay activists are against legalizing gay marriage.)
posted by klangklangston at 1:12 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

that's a wonderful piece, Dreama

...You are saying that I’m good enough to keep you amused, but not good enough to have the same rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You’re saying you’re happy to have me around as a circus animal, but not as a human being at your dinner table. You’re not just ghettoizing gay people, but saying that we are disposable and less than human. And my calling this offensive doesn’t even really begin to cover the chill I feel in my bones when I run into this attitude – which I have, not just from strangers and Internet acquaintances, but from people I had planned to call friend. ...
posted by amberglow at 1:18 PM on April 8, 2007

Fairy tail weddings?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:18 PM on April 8, 2007

Another "take" on this:

Now that they're hosting Fairy Tale Weddings for anal sex enthusiasts, I guess the family oriented image has gone by the boards. Now they may as well go whole hog (cool it, Rosie, that's just a figure of speech) and apply their homosexual marketing to the rest of their operations including Disney movies. The next remake of Pinochio will feature Gepetto as a pederast woodcarver with a special reason for wishing he had a real boy. Jimminy Cricket: "When you swish upon a star, cruising strangers in a bar..."
posted by jca at 1:39 PM on April 8, 2007

I hope Americans don't misunderstand this to mean that same-sex couples can marry in America, because they can't. Still. These are "commitment ceremonies" and have no legal consequence whatsoever. Popular culture is rife with examples like this; I remember way back when on Northern Exposure when the "gay wedding" was preceded by hippy what's-his-name asking the couple if they were "ready to file jointly." No. Bad, lying bit of dialog. They could never file jointly. Same sex marriage was and is illegal in the US. And speaking as an American ex-pat now happily a citizen of Canada, in part because I CAN legally marry my partner here, this sort of cash-grab strikes me as cynical and a little cruel- "we'll take your money and do your fake wedding here, absolutely."
posted by ethnomethodologist at 1:44 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is gay.

And while not an expert myself ethnomethodologist, I disagree. A company like Disney is taking a big risk (re: boycott threats from Southern Baptists and their ilk) here PR-wise. Are they Mother Theresa or something? Obviously not. They're in it to make a buck. But they've decided that being welcoming to gays will make them more money in the long run than shutting them out, even if it means losing an increasingly small number of troglodytic homophobes. I think it's a good thing.
posted by bardic at 1:50 PM on April 8, 2007

of course it's cynical but it's not cruel. Disney weddings are not in themselves actual legal weddings--for straights or gays. You still need a marriage license for it to be legal all over the country---even in the Happiest Place on Earth™.

I think things like this are important in showing that it's not some weird or scary thing for us to want to marry. We're tacky like straight people, and we want stupid events like this too. It helps.
posted by amberglow at 1:51 PM on April 8, 2007

We're tacky like straight people.
Must ... not ... make ... joke ... comparing ... gay ... to ... kitsch
posted by seanyboy at 2:03 PM on April 8, 2007

ethnomethodologist : "this sort of cash-grab strikes me as cynical and a little cruel- 'we'll take your money and do your fake wedding here, absolutely.'"

So if Disney doesn't allow homosexual faux weddings, they're homophobic, but if they do, they're cynical and cruel. Good to know that the meterstick is basically "whatever Disney does, they're wrong".
posted by Bugbread at 2:15 PM on April 8, 2007

I'm not sure I see this as a step forwards or backwards along the path of protecting equal rights under the Constitution, but nonetheless, I think I'd prefer a real wedding I can get at City Hall for $50, as opposed to paying $30000 for an imaginary fairy-tale wedding.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:33 PM on April 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

We'd all prefer real weddings. We're working on it.
posted by amberglow at 2:36 PM on April 8, 2007 [2 favorites]

Getting married at a children's theme park strikes me as odd somehow.

Not belittling anyone who does it... it just seems like a mistake to equate marriage with a childish dalliance.

Or maybe I'm over-thinking it. *shrug*
posted by Ynoxas at 2:47 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

... your personal "fairy godplanner" grants your every wish and ensures your wedding day is everything you have always dreamt it would be. This is the magic of Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings. ...

; >
posted by amberglow at 4:00 PM on April 8, 2007

"We'd all prefer real weddings. We're working on it."

Yeah, well, on behalf of the straight folks out there who get it— We're working on it too. It's just that we have these retarded cousins, and, well, they vote. We're really sorry about the whole thing, and frankly kind of embarrassed, but we hope you understand that it's nothing personal, and we kinda hope that you guys will help us get universal health care and a secular court system even though some of us have been jerks.

Please don't all move to Canada.
posted by klangklangston at 4:11 PM on April 8, 2007 [5 favorites]

have had gay pride (?) events at the park/s

Every year -- Gay Days at Disney.
posted by ericb at 4:46 PM on April 8, 2007

Same sex marriage was and is illegal in the US.

Not illegal in Massachusetts. Same-sex marriages have been legal here since 2003.
posted by ericb at 4:50 PM on April 8, 2007

Queens in the Kingdom: The Ultimate Gay and Lesbian Guide to the Disney Theme Parks!
posted by ericb at 4:59 PM on April 8, 2007

A whole new world
A new fantastic point of view
No one to tell us no
Or where to go
Or say we're only dreaming

posted by rob511 at 5:07 PM on April 8, 2007

Now gays and straights alike can have the tacky wedding of their dreams!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:19 PM on April 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

Now I understand why some gay activists are against legalizing gay marriage.

Well, gay marriage will lead to gay divorces, which will, of course, lead to gay divorcees.
posted by jonmc at 5:28 PM on April 8, 2007

"All marriages are same-sex marriages - you go to bed every night, and it's the same sex!" -- Bill Maher.
posted by ericb at 5:33 PM on April 8, 2007

"Getting married at a children's theme park strikes me as odd somehow."

What makes it odd is the mental straight jacket you've put the theme park in--callin it a 'children's theme park.

I had a friend from France who lived in the US for a while, and took up ice skating at the same time his kids did. He got pretty good at it. I asked him if he'll still skate when he moves back to France. "No, it's a professional's and children's sport only, in France."

So in your mental world, adults are not allowed to enjoy Disneyland?
posted by eye of newt at 7:32 PM on April 8, 2007

I can't imagine anything gay-er than a gay wedding at Disneyland.

Unless of course, both of the grooms to be got into a catfight over which one of them got to wear the Cinderella dress.

(Seriously though, it's always heartening to say gays being afforded the same rights to questionable taste that straight people have been taking for granted for ages.)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 8:27 PM on April 8, 2007

eye of newt: easy there fella. I like Disney as much as the next guy, provided the next guy is not some sort of Beauty and the Beast enthusiast or Snow White obsessive. I think I've seen every major Disney release in the last 20 years except Pocahontas. I saw Fantasia 2000 about 5 times in the theater.

I've gone to Disneyworld twice, once as a teen, once as an adult, and I enjoyed it both times.

However, wanting to get married there, in the park, with pretend characters dressed up? Not quite my speed. I think you would have to really, really, really, REALLY like Disney stuff to want to get married there.

To me, it is a glorified version of getting hitched at Chuck E. Cheese.

But this is just one man's opinion. By all means feel free to get married at Disneyworld or Six Flags or your local State Fair, or at Shoe Carnival for all I care.
posted by Ynoxas at 8:37 PM on April 8, 2007

Walt must be spinning in his cryogenic chamber.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:23 PM on April 9, 2007

Walt must be spinning in his cryogenic chamber.

Oh, please! Fairy Godmothers, and Beautiful Princesses with dark secrets, and Tinkerbell, and Evil Queens!?! He was all about the camp. ; >
posted by amberglow at 12:27 PM on April 9, 2007

Well, we all know that Walt's instructions were to keep him frozen until gay marriage becomes legal, at which point he plans on marrying the guy that voiced the chubby ranger in all those camping cartoons.
posted by klangklangston at 4:10 PM on April 9, 2007 [1 favorite]

I can't believe I read that entire Rightnation thread. 17 pages. 0 clue.
posted by Poagao at 7:39 AM on April 10, 2007