Charlee Corra Disney, a 30-year-old high school biology and environmental science teacher, came out as a transgender man and uses the pronouns “they/theirs” to their family four years ago.
Having avoided the spotlight for much of their adult life, Charlee was thrown smack 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 is trans. 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. “Equality matters deeply to us, especially because our child, Charlee, is transgender and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community,” he wrote.
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In an interview published on Sunday, Charlee told The Los Angeles Times 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.
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Charlee asserted that they were disturbed by the bill, signed into law on March 28, 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 remarked. “I don’t call senators or take action. I felt like I could be doing more.” Charlee warned the new 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 at age two or three tugging her away from the little girls’ shoe section, saying: “But mom, I’m a boy on the inside.” Charlee 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.”
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Ron P. Disney’s gesture was applauded on Twitter by his sister Abigail Disney, a documentary maker. “Today I am busting with pride at what my brother and his wife have done. So proud so proud so proud!!!” she wrote in a celebratory tweet.
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