Silvanus' Blog

Archive for October 9th, 2008

So when we went to Disneyland, they had Gay Days going.  Totally cool overall, i think it’s an excellent idea.  Unfortunately, as is the case with everything, some jackasses have to ruin everyone’s fun.  There were some tools wearing some offensive shirts at the park, and essentially got away with it.  I sent this letter off to Disneyland to see why this happened, and has apparently happened for several years now

My family and I traveled from Utah last week to give my kids their very first Disneyland experience.  I looked into it fairly thoroughly before-hand and was satisfied with the way the additional time was granted at California Adventure to compensate for the early closure of Disneyland for Miley Cyrus’ birthday party.
I did not however manage to compensate for Gay Days.  Although it was not a Disneyland sanctioned event, this was planned right on top of Miley Cyrus’ birthday, which caused a huge amount of issues for navigating the park, as the population was as dense as some of the most popular weekends. Then, sometime in the middle of the afternoon, we started encountering gay guests wearing offensive clothing.  The one that sticks out in my mind most was one that stated ‘Butt-Pirates of the Carribean’.  I do not understand why or how these men were allowed to wear clothing that inevitably causes questions from children that should not have to be answered within the realm of Disney.  At the very least, these guests should have been told to turn their shirt inside-out, if it continued they should have been asked to leave and return in appropriate attire.  There were also several gay men dressed in very ‘tight’ shorts, leaving nothing to the imagination.  I don’t really know if they came in the park this way, but they should not have been allowed to stay at the park while dressed this way.

I finally had to essentially tell my children to ignore anyone wearing red, to NOT read the sayings on their shirts.

I am highly supportive of the gay community, and had absolutely no issue ‘sharing’ the park with their event.  However, regardless of race, color, religion, or sexual orientation they should be required to follow the same rules as every guest.
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Clothing or tattoos with obscene, lewd or offensive language, graphics or designs
Clothing that could be construed as indecent, exposing excessive portions of skin that may be viewed as inappropriate for a family environment (e.g., string bikini tops and bottoms, G-strings, clothing that accentuates or draws attention to private areas)
****

What I am wanting to know is, WHY and WHAT?  Why did your park do nothing about the offensive apparel.  Why did they not escort these extrememly rude individuals out of the park.  Why did I have to continually tell my children, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll understand it when you are older’?  Why are you giving group rated discounts to a group that is this offensive? What are you going to do to ensure that this does not continue happening, as this apparently is becoming a yearly thing with this ‘un-sanctioned’ event.  Finally, What are you going to do to compensate for your lack of rules enforcement, causing my children’s first visit to Disneyland to be ruined on many levels?

Sincerely,
Kyle Siemer

So, now it’s essentially their issue, to see how they want to deal with it.