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Who is Charlee Corra Disney? Heir to empire comes out as transgender, days after row erupts

Charlee said the bill would isolate young people and make them feel uncomfortable in their own skin

Heir to Disney's fortune comes out as a transgender man and blasts on so-called 'Don't Say Gay' law. The heir has spoken of their guilt at not doing more to speak out against this Florida bill, addressing the issue for the first time since their father announced to the world that he had a trans child.

Charlee Corra Disney, 30-year-old high school biology and environmental science teacher, came out as a transgender man who uses the pronouns 'they/theirs' to family four years ago. After having avoided the spotlight for a long time, Charlee was thrown into the center of attention last week when their father, Roy P Disney, grandson of the company's co-founder and great-nephew to Walt, issued a statement confirming his child was trans.

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Roy and his wife, Sheri, announced that they would match donations to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ advocacy group in the country, up to $500,000. In a statement, he said, "Equality matters deeply to us, especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community."

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, April 10, Charlee said that they were dismayed at Florida governor Ron DeSantis's signing of the controversial 'Don't Say Gay' bill, which forbids the discussion of homosexuality or transgender issues in classrooms for children through third grade. Charlee said that they were dismayed by the bill and wished they had done more at the time to campaign against it.

"I feel like I don't do very much to help," Charlee said. "I don't call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more. " Charlee said the bill would isolate young people and make them feel uncomfortable in their own skin.

"I had very few openly gay role models," said Charlee, whose mother remembers Charlee, aged two or three, tugging her away from the little girls' shoe section, saying: "But mom, I'm a boy on the inside." He added, "And I certainly didn't have any trans or nonbinary role models. I didn't see myself reflected in anyone, and that made me feel like there was something wrong with me. "

Charlee's comments and their parents' grant come amid a months-long standoff between Disney and the state of Florida, where it employs 77,000 people-a standoff that has seen CEO Bob Chapek criticized by his employees for not being vocal enough, and the state threaten Disney's position in the state in response.

Some Republican legislators in Florida are now considering punishing Walt Disney World for taking a public stand against the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill by repealing a 55-year old law that allows the company to govern itself. Republican Ron DeSantis raised revoking Disney's special arrangement in the state on April 1, and Florida House Rep.

Republican Spencer Roach also tweeted that lawmakers held two meetings to discuss scrapping the 1967 Reedy Creek Improvement Act, which he said: "allows Disney to act as its own government."