The cast of Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home does not stand for Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which prohibits the teachings of sexual orientation or gender identity to children in kindergarten to third grade.
On March 22, the show’s stars walked off set to protest the new Parental Rights in Education bill, which was officially passed on March 8. In a video shared on her Instagram, actress Raven-Symoné showed herself and her castmates leaving the Raven’s Home set.
“What’s up, we’re the cast of Raven’s Home and the [executive producers], and we are walking out today in support of this ridiculous bill,” she said as she holds up her phone. “We don’t like it. We’re walking out,” Symoné adds, as Brown, her on-screen son, and co-star, adds, “It’s stupid.”
“We love everyone, and support, support. Bye,” the actress concludes as her co-stars cheer.
View this post on Instagram
The cast of 'Raven's Home' stands in solidarity of the LGBTQ+ community
“In support of our LGBTQ+ family and all of those who will be damaged by the ‘don’t say gay bill’ we the cast of Raven’s Home are walking out,” Raven Symoné captioned the video. “In today’s world it is imperative that we take stands, show support, and move forward not backwards. Every family every person and every child deserves to be recognized no matter their race, gender, or sexual orientation. Education that reflects the truth and the world we live in is something we must fight for. #dontsaygaybill # ️ .”
The cast of 'Raven's Home' joined many other Disney employees who staged a daily walk out to protest Florida's new legislation.
“The Walt Disney Company’s (TWDC) LGBTQIA+ community and their allies are determined to take a stand against TWDC’s apathy in the face of the bigoted ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill put forth by the FL state legislature,” a statement on the website whereischapek.com read. “The recent statements and lack of action by TWDC leadership regarding the ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation. As a community, we have been forced into an impossible and unsustainable position.”
The statement continued. “We must now take action to convince TWDC to protect employees and their families in the face of such open and unapologetic bigotry. Starting the week of March 14th we will begin a series of collective actions together in order to make our voices and demands heard!”
There's nothing but good times on the set of 'Raven's Home'.
Although Raven-Symoné and the cast of Raven’s Home Season 5 haven’t been working together for very long, they are already making some incredible memories together.
Before staging their walk out, the actress and her on-screen son Issac Ryan Brown sat down with Shadow and Act to talk about the new season and how good it feels to be working with old and new faces on the original That’s So Raven set.
“You know, when we started the first season of Raven’s Home, we really wanted to tell people that this wasn’t a reboot,” Raven told us. “It’s a different show with similar characters, but a different show. This time you guys…we are home! We are with dad, we are with family and we have some amazing characters coming back from the original That’s So Raven, so this is closer to a reboot….[well] anything but still not a reboot. We don’t like to call it that [laughs].”
“We are having such a good time on the sets that I grew up on and being able to watch new characters thrive in these sets and create new stories to add to the beautiful cake that’s already been created there is just…we have a great day, every day of the week,” she said.
New episodes of Raven’s Home air every Friday at 8 p.m. EST on Disney Channel.
