The board of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District voted Monday to sue Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in state court less than a week after theme park officials filed suit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials, including the board.
The board reached its unanimous decision in a special meeting held Monday morning.
“Since Disney sued us — yes, we didn’t sue Disney, Disney sued us — we have no choice now but to respond,” board chairman Martin Garcia said at the meeting. “This is why we called today’s meeting, to authorize legal action in response to Disney’s federal lawsuit. This district will seek justice in state court here in Central Florida where both it and Disney reside and do business.
“Yes, we’ll seek justice in our own backyard.”
The vote comes days after officials with Walt Disney Parks and Resorts filed a federal lawsuit against DeSantis, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board, the district’s administrator and the acting secretary of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, accusing them of participating in “a targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech.”
The lawsuit marked the latest dispute in a conflict that began after the company criticized the Parental Rights in Education Law, dubbed by critics as “Don’t Say Gay.” The law bars schools from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade, WFTV reported.
In March 2022, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek shared his opposition to the legislation in a call with shareholders, promoting DeSantis to accuse the company of being “woke” and “echoing Democrat propaganda,” according to WFTV. The governor later announced that state legislators planned to investigate whether to end the arrangement that essentially allowed Disney to run its own government through the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
The district was created by the Florida Legislature in 1967 to allow the company to develop the secluded land where Walt Disney World now stands. At the time, neither Orange nor Osceola County had the resources needed to install the infrastructure needed to bring the resort to life, according to Reedy Creek’s website.
Earlier this year, DeSantis signed a bill that gave Florida control over Reedy Creek, which has been renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
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