It’s amazing to see how much progress Disney has made in the parks in a relatively short time. In 1990 or so, I had a “summer night pass” to Disneyland, which was like an annual pass but only good after 5 p.m. during the summer.
One amusing people-watching thing to do was to hang out by Tomorrowland Terrace and watch security enforce the dance floor “safety” rules. Those rules basically meant singles or couples only. Small groups of teens would be asked to leave the dance floor because group dancing was somehow more dangerous. Of course, “couples” meant heterosexual couples only. Couldn’t let the kids see two men or two women dancing together. Ya know, for their safety.
My friends and I made acquaintance with several park employees during those years, including ride operators, jugglers, and dancers in the parades. One straight male dancer that we’d met pretended to be gay because his supervisor (choreographer?) was of the opinion that only gay men could dance and thus (supposedly) wouldn’t hire straight men as dancers. That seemed a wonderful bit of irony when compared to the dance floor safety rules.
Thankfully, those rules are a thing of the past. It appears the company has realized that being more inclusive was good for the bottom line.
