US: TV stations cut away from same-sex wedding atop historic parade float
Multiple television stations cut away from a same-sex wedding which took place in a historic California parade yesterday.
The couple, Danny Leclair and Aubrey Loots, married atop the AIDS Healthcare Foundation float, which was shaped as a giant cake.
Many took to Twitter to complain of how various TV stations covering the parade cut away from or glossed over the wedding ceremony itself.
Networks named in tweets included ABC, NBC, Home & Garden TV (HGTV) and KTLA.
Many said they were angry that stations had gone to commercial break, or football analysis, rather than showing the happy couple’s vows.
Others said stations like KTLA showed the float in total silence before going on to provide lively commentary on others such as the Christian-founded eHarmony float.
Yep! “@niais: Sorry, did they skip the Aids Foundation float on the @ABC coverage of the Rose Parade?” #Fail
— Effi Gy (@morrigansarcher) January 1, 2014
Hey @ABCNetwork, way to switch to football analysis so you don’t have to show the Rose Parade gay wedding. Wrong side of history, anyone?
— Dave (@davetheubergeek) January 1, 2014
Rose Parade: NBC shows AIDS float and comments on flowers but ignores gay wedding that happened on the float. No surprise.
— Rick Matthews (@RickMatthews6) January 1, 2014
Some opposed to equal marriage, however, took to the microblogging site to commend stations for cutting away from the scene.
Watching the Rose Bowl Parade on #HGTV. Props for them cutting away from the gay marriage ceremony just as fast as they could!
— Dale Osborn (@daleosborn) January 1, 2014
More Twitter users just took to the site to celebrate the matrimony of the two men.
The wedding was the first in the historic parade, which has been running for 125 years, and went off without any glitches. It took place at the latter part of the two-hour parade.
The couple, who said their vows live on TV in front of millions this afternoon, have been together for twelve years.
Despite a campaign to boycott the parade because of the wedding, organisers of the parade were happy for it to go ahead,
Advocates of same-sex marriage had said they hoped the calls for boycott only created more of a dialogue in favour of equal marriage.
Mr Leclair said: “Our stance is love is love and love will save lives.”
Back in June, the US Supreme Court struck down California’s 2008 ban on same-sex marriages, Proposition 8, allowing marriages to continue almost immediately.
