Deemed the “Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland sadly didn’t live up to that billing for same-sex couples during its first three decades. Opened in 1955 by the late Walt Disney, the family-oriented amusement park was built on a former orange orchard in Anaheim, California.
Two years later, with it launching “date nights” that featured dancing under the stars to lure local Orange County couples, especially teenagers, on weekends, Disneyland management adopted a strict policy for who was allowed to show off their dance moves. The rule made clear that “couples only are allowed on the dance floor (male/female)” but did make an allowance that “small children may dance as non-couples if floor space permits.”
The park’s security officers strictly enforced the homophobic policy, quickly breaking up any couple that deviated from it. So was the case when a young lesbian showed up at the park in 1980 and was told she couldn’t dance with other girls.
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“Our crime was disco dancing,” he wrote. “We didn’t touch, we didn’t kiss, we didn’t bump and grind. We simply danced to the sounds of some horrible disco band.”
Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for park security officers to approach them and demand they leave the dance floor or find girls to dance with them. Security officer William Acker would later recall that he told the teenagers their dancing together “was of a controversial nature at that point, and I believe specifically I said something to the effect of alternate lifestyle that wasn’t in keeping with the traditional aspects of the company, of what Disneyland represents.”
Crusader remembers one security officer tried to break up the two teens by standing in the middle of them.
“I danced around him. I just moved and danced around and got to the other side of Shawn,” said Crusader, who was living in Fullerton at the time and working for Orange County.
By then five security officers had surrounded them on the dance floor. One grabbed Crusader on his left side, another grabbed him on his right.
Reflecting its clout both as a behemoth in the entertainment industry and the largest private employer in Orange County, Disneyland had never lost a legal battle in court. Until then the lawsuits filed against it largely had to do with people claiming they had been injured in the park.
“I was told Disneyland usually was sued 50 times a year since it had opened in 1955. Although it settled a case here and there, which is rare, it never lost one,” said Talmo. “Until ours.”
Initially, it looked like Disneyland would score another legal victory. The state courts declined Talmo’s request for an immediate injunction against the park’s dancing policy, with the case then sent back to the local superior court to be heard on its merits.
A lucky break then came for Talmo and his clients when the scheduling judge in Orange County deliberately assigned the case to Judge James R. Ross, who had practiced law in Los Angeles County. Years later Talmo would learn about the scheduling subterfuge.
“The master calendar judge knows what the case is about. He says, ‘You know I had to decide who to give this case to. The courtrooms open I wasn’t going to send you to because I thought you should win, and I didn’t think you were going to get a fair trial anywhere,’” recalled Talmo.
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morons
Go woke, go broke.
Two years later, with it launching “date nights” that featured dancing under the stars to lure local Orange County couples, especially teenagers, on weekends, Disneyland management adopted a strict policy for who was allowed to show off their dance moves. The rule made clear that “couples only are allowed on the dance floor (male/female)” but did make an allowance that “small children may dance as non-couples if floor space permits.”
The park’s security officers strictly enforced the homophobic policy, quickly breaking up any couple that deviated from it. So was the case when a young lesbian showed up at the park in 1980 and was told she couldn’t dance with other girls.
...
“Our crime was disco dancing,” he wrote. “We didn’t touch, we didn’t kiss, we didn’t bump and grind. We simply danced to the sounds of some horrible disco band.”
Nonetheless, it didn’t take long for park security officers to approach them and demand they leave the dance floor or find girls to dance with them. Security officer William Acker would later recall that he told the teenagers their dancing together “was of a controversial nature at that point, and I believe specifically I said something to the effect of alternate lifestyle that wasn’t in keeping with the traditional aspects of the company, of what Disneyland represents.”
Crusader remembers one security officer tried to break up the two teens by standing in the middle of them.
“I danced around him. I just moved and danced around and got to the other side of Shawn,” said Crusader, who was living in Fullerton at the time and working for Orange County.
By then five security officers had surrounded them on the dance floor. One grabbed Crusader on his left side, another grabbed him on his right.
Reflecting its clout both as a behemoth in the entertainment industry and the largest private employer in Orange County, Disneyland had never lost a legal battle in court. Until then the lawsuits filed against it largely had to do with people claiming they had been injured in the park.
“I was told Disneyland usually was sued 50 times a year since it had opened in 1955. Although it settled a case here and there, which is rare, it never lost one,” said Talmo. “Until ours.”
Initially, it looked like Disneyland would score another legal victory. The state courts declined Talmo’s request for an immediate injunction against the park’s dancing policy, with the case then sent back to the local superior court to be heard on its merits.
A lucky break then came for Talmo and his clients when the scheduling judge in Orange County deliberately assigned the case to Judge James R. Ross, who had practiced law in Los Angeles County. Years later Talmo would learn about the scheduling subterfuge.
“The master calendar judge knows what the case is about. He says, ‘You know I had to decide who to give this case to. The courtrooms open I wasn’t going to send you to because I thought you should win, and I didn’t think you were going to get a fair trial anywhere,’” recalled Talmo.
https://epgn.com/2021/09/28/until-legal-ruling-disneyland-banned-same-sex-dancers/
Long history of malarkey in the courts
Knotts Berry Farm remembers