Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has admitted that his wedding taking place at Disney World is “kind of ironic” as he’s now engaged in a battle with the company.
The governor married his wife Casey DeSantis at the Walt Disney World Resort in 2009, according to Insider.
“In looking forward to what we ended up doing as governor and some of the face-offs that we had with some major institutions in Florida, it’s kind of ironic,” Mr DeSantis told SiriusXM Patriot radio in an interview set to be broadcast on Monday, a transcript obtained by Insider revealed.
The interview included Ms DeSantis, who added that the news of the wedding, the details of which were revealed in November of last year, “created a lot of news.”
She said that her parents thought they should get married at Disney World as they were always excited about visiting the park during her upbringing in Ohio.
“And one of the other great things was the fact that they did a lot of the planning for you,” she said. “So it was I could just show up sort of thing. And it was really a lot of fun.”
A wedding guest told Insider that Ms DeSantis “wanted something all-inclusive and put together”. The ceremony took place at the Grand Floridian’s wedding pavilion, a chapel with a view of Cinderella’s Castle and the reception was hosted at Epcot’s Italy Isola.
During his reelection campaign last year, Mr DeSantis pointed to his Disney bashing after they opposed the Parental Rights in Education Act, which opponents called the “Don’t Say Gay” law. He never mentioned that he was married at the resort.
After Disney executives said they would oppose the law following pushback from its staff, Mr DeSantis removed its self-governing status in June of last year. He’s set to sign another law giving him the power to appoint a board managing the resort and theme park.
Disney is the number one private employer in the state and they have been advocating for gay rights since the 1990s, as detailed by Mic.
The Parental Rights in Education Act outlaws the teaching of issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity between kindergarten and third grade, but it also includes vague language that teaching on such issues in grades above the third grade has to be “age appropriate or developmentally appropriate”.
A number of schools in the state have revealed that they’re not sure how to follow the new law, with critics arguing that LGBT+ teachers are now afraid to speak their minds and be themselves.
Ms DeSantis told Sirius XM Patriots that she wouldn’t bring her children to Disney World “until things change a little bit over there” but said the wedding was “a fun time” and that her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration was also hosted there.
She also shared that she met the future governor at a driving range at the University of North Florida.
“We went out and we had a beer,” she told SiriusXM Patriots. “That was the first time that I had ever met a fella and just followed them in their car to a place to go get a beer. And actually, it was one of the best conversations I ever had, and we had a lot of fun.”
