Several weeks ago, before the Walt Disney Company became entangled in a battle over anti-L.G.B.T.Q. legislation in Florida — one that continued on Tuesday with walkouts by Disney employees — longtime theme park executives worried there could be trouble ahead.
More than 150 companies, including Marriott and American Airlines, had signed a Human Rights Campaign letter opposing the legislation, which restricts classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity and has been labeled by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Disney, with roughly 80,000 theme park workers in Florida and a long history of supporting the L.G.B.T.Q. community, was not among them. Leaders at the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division urged action: Disney’s name should be on the list.
They were rebuffed, according to three people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comply with company strictures about speaking to reporters. Disney’s newly hired corporate affairs chief, Geoff Morrell, and Disney legislative affairs executives — guided by the general desire of Bob Chapek, the chief executive, to avoid publicly weighing in on state political battles — decided that continuing to work behind the scenes had a better chance of a payoff. For weeks, Disney lobbyists in Florida had been pressing to soften the legislation.
At least in this instance, staying quiet backfired, resulting in a cascade of events that has amounted to one of the biggest squalls for Disney in decades. It has also become a high-profile example of a stark shift in corporate culture: A socially conscious generation of workers are demanding that their employers speak out on contentious social and political issues.
Faced with an employee uprising about the company’s decision to stay quiet, Mr. Chapek shifted course and publicly disavowed the Florida legislation on March 9, the day of Disney’s annual shareholder meeting. On March 10, Gov. Ron DeSantis punched…