Disney v DeSantis: what’s at stake for Florida as legal tug-of-war ramps up?

Eventual outcome will have profound implications for Sunshine state overall and the regional economy in particular

Lucy Mends was very nervous about vacationing at Disney World in central Florida this spring. From her home in Elkridge, Maryland, the 46-year-old romance novelist had read about a law approved by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022 that banned discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public school classrooms for children between kindergarten and the third grade.

Mends became more alarmed over a series of bills introduced during the current session of the state legislature that would extend that ban to include high school students and prohibit transgender people from amending their birth certificates and receiving transition-related care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors. They're demonizing trans people, and it's very scary," she said.