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Ironically, Disney's policy means that the openly gay Tutera, who was married to his life partner Ryan Turica in a civil union ceremony in Vermont in 2003, could not have held his wedding on Disney property using the very Couture Wedding ceremony he designed.

Likewise, pop singer Elton John, who had a civil union with his partner David Furnish last year in England, would have been turned away from Disney's wedding gates. Elton John and the late, openly gay lyricist Howard Ashman are credited with turning around the studio's moribund animation department in the early '90s with their separate contributions to such highly profitable Disney films as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin (Ashman) and The Lion King (John).

Nor could any of the hundreds of thousands of gay and lesbian guests that attend Disney's annual Gay Day events hold wedding ceremonies on Disney properties. The same goes for Disney employees and the gay and lesbian citizens of countries that do recognize same-sex marriage.

Confusingly, Disney does say that anyone possessing a valid marriage license from Massachusetts, the only U.S. state to currently allow same-sex marriage, would be allowed to have a "vow renewal" on Disney's Florida property. (Calls to Disney's California Media Relations department to clarify this and other issues pertaining to their properties were never returned.) When asked to explain the discrepancy between allowing "vow renewals" with a marriage license Florida doesn't recognize, but not the actual wedding ceremony which has no legal standing, spokesperson DiPietre simply referred us to his last statement.

Interestingly enough, following the Vow Renewal link on Walt Disney World's Fairy Tale Weddings and Honeymoons website leads to the same page as the regular Weddings link.

Why is Disney so determined to keep gay and lesbian couples seeking to wed away from their properties? One possible answer is a fear of controversy or a boycott by religious fundamentalists. The company has been the target of such protests before.

Disney (which owns the ABC television network) was the target of protests when the character of Ellen Morgan came out in 1997 on the Ellen DeGeneres sitcom Ellen. And each year's Gay Day at the various Disney parks sparks protests from religious groups.

But 10 years ago, when Ellen was on the air, Disney executive Susan Saroff told The Advocate: "Ultimately this move makes Disney even more reflective of America, because we're acknowledging a basic truth about this country: that there are different kinds of people here. We're getting very good at showing that."

That may have been true when it came to DeGeneres' sitcom, but it is not true when it comes to gay and lesbian couples wishing to celebrate their commitment to each other.

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