On Wednesday, Gabrielle Union shared her thoughts on Disney’s handling of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which seeks to limit conversations about gender identity and sexual identity in an educational setting.
During the red carpet premiere of her forthcoming film, Cheaper by The Dozen, produced by Disney and set to stream on Disney+ March 18, Union told Variety:
“Somebody asked me, ‘Are you disappointed?’ I’m disappointed when my order isn’t right at In-N-Out. I don’t even think that’s a word that you could use for something like this, where children’s lives are literally hanging in the balance. We need to own that if you truly are taking stands against hate and oppression, you should not fund hate and oppression. Period. The damage is done.”
She continued:
“There are so many states that are following suit [with Florida’s legislation], because there is no pushback, because no one in positions of power [or] corporations are taking a hard stance. Let’s look who’s donating to what and let’s call people out… I think a lot of people like to confuse accountability and consequences for cancel culture. And as long as you have a microphone and a stage that’s not cancel culture, honey. We have to campaign and fund for those people who stand for all of us.”
Union also gave encouraging and affirming words to trans youth who may be fearful and anxious about what the implications of this bill and others like it may mean:
“There are bad people controlling your fate, but we are working our asses off to make sure that not only do you survive but that you thrive. There are so many more people that are working actively so that you have peace and that you can exist in the same way as everyone else has the ability to exist. We are fighting and we will never stop fighting. As long as I have air in my lungs we will not stop fighting for you and I’m not alone in that.”
In addition to being a popular actress, Union is also wife to NBA star Dwyane Wade and mother to three-year-old daughter Kaavia and 14-year-old Zaya Wade, who is trans.