var addthis_config = {“data_track_addressbar”:true};
Conservatives were in full year-end freak-out mode over the last few weeks, once the Tournament of Roses Parade announced one of the floats would feature a same-sex wedding. The ceremony, a celebration of the marriage of Danny Leclair and Aubrey Loots, together for 12 years, would have been seen by millions of viewers in over 100 countries — and by millions of Americans to boot — had the networks actually aired it instead of going to commercial.
The American Family Association, for example, sent an urgent email titled, “Warning to parents: Rose Parade not for family viewing,” to its membership:
The 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, will feature the “wedding” of two men and will take place aboard a float sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
Millions of television viewers will see two homosexual men take wedding vows on a float that will celebrate same-sex marriage.
Rather than risk exposing your children to the blatant promotion of a sinful lifestyle this Wednesday morning, we urge your family to simply skip watching the entire network televised parade altogether.
TAKE ACTION
Send a message to William Flinn, executive director of the Rose Bowl Parade, letting him know that you will not be tuning in to see this “in your face” promotion of homosexuality.
National Organization For Marriage (NOM) president Brian Brown, supporting the boycott, lamented on Fox News that parade viewers “will be exposed to the spectacle of men `marrying’ men with the attendant public hugging and kissing.â€
Randy Thomasson, head of Save California, a hate group, labeled by The Christian Post as a “pro-traditional marriage group” “told CBS that his group was protesting the public gay marriage ceremony because he believes it teaches children that ‘homosexual behavior is good and normal, when it’s not biologically based, results in a high rate of HIV/AIDS and other STDs.'”
Thomasson added that “parents and grandparents” who support his organization were appalled when they learned of the public wedding, calling the event a “political stunt, forced upon children who are watching.”
But one local California station, KTLA, did show the happy couple and actually offered well-wishes as the float, sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, passed by.
Sadly, the actual exchange of views was not recorded and aired, but we have, in the video below, a very nice narration from KTLA’s Micah Ohlman.
This “spectacle” — 58 seconds of supposed “‘in your face’ promotion of homosexuality” — is what caused the religious right to freak out, demanding a boycott of the entire parade:
//www.youtube.com/embed/XBpXmCHU7GA?start=6&end=64
Congratulations to the happy couple!
Hat tip: The Raw Story