Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs were abolished Tuesday from Walt Disney World’s governing district, now controlled by appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis..The board of the area of Orlando, formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District, said the move will end “hiring and contracting programs that discriminated against Americans based on gender and race, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.”.The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District said in a statement that its DEI committee would be eliminated, as would any job duties connected to it..Also axed were initiatives left over from when the district was controlled by Disney supporters, which awarded contracts based on goals of achieving racial or gender parity..Glenton Gilzean, the district’s new administrator called such initiatives “illegal and simply un-American.”.Gilzean has been a fellow or member at two conservative institutions, the James Madison Institute and the American Enterprise Institute Leadership Network, as well as a DeSantis appointee to the Florida Commission on Ethics..“District Administrator Glenton Gilzean announced the abolition of all DEI programs at the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District,” the district said in a public statement on Tuesday..“The announcement comes after an internal investigation into the district's policies,” according to the statement..“The so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives were advanced during the tenure of the previous board and they were illegal and simply un-American,” said Gilzean..“Our district will no longer participate in any attempt to divide us by race or advance the notion that we are not created equal. As the former head of the Central Florida Urban League, a civil rights organization, I can say definitively that our community thrives only when we work together despite our differences.”.It's the latest salvo in the standoff between DeSantis and the company that is one of the biggest employers and taxpayers in the state..Disney, under CEO Bob Iger, sued the governor and presidential hopeful for taking control of its long-held autonomous district in retaliation for the company’s criticizing legislation dubbed 'Don’t Say Gay.'.The law has been followed by a stream of rules targeting speech, books and education in the state amid DeSantis’ war on wokeness.
