Anyone who knows me knows how much I love the Tournament of Roses Parade every New Years’ Day in Pasadena, CA. I had the distinct honor & privilege of decorating floats & attending the Rose Parade 10 years ago. It just made me appreciate something I grew up watching as a kid.
This year, there was some controversy at the Rose Parade. For just the third time in Parade History, a Wedding would take place at the Parade. But, this Wedding was also the first same-sex Wedding that would occur, which is now legal in the state of California. So, something that was largely considered taboo among society 45 years ago, would take center stage on New Years’ Day morning with millions watching on TV and in person.
As far as I was concerned, I hold a largely neutral position on same-sex marriage. I don’t believe in it myself, but I will not openly oppose it, either. As I had stated before, my Snellville friends have helped turned the tide in this argument showing a more positive light on same-sex marriage as opposed to the “I will make you like it” tactics of several of my Valparaiso friends. So, seeing this happen today was likely to be more of a shrug than anything else… UNTIL I found out who was going to be immediately behind them. That’s right, the Lutheran Layman's League, a participant of the parade for over 60 years, and something that my family and I have affiliated with since the Walther League days through several retreats up at Camp Arcadia in Michigan was the initial choice to be behind the Same-Sex Wedding Float in the latter stages of the Parade.
You can’t tell me that order choice was random. The Rose Parade Committee knew EXACTLY what they were doing when they scheduled the two floats back-to-back at the Parade. The Rose Parade Committee cannot be foolish enough to not know that the LLL is largely supported by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is currently opposed as a denomination to same-sex marriage (while the rival ELCA Lutheran denomination is embracing it fully). This move had all the subtleness of a jackhammer.
At the same time, the Lutheran Layman's League has supplied the Rose Parade with something that helps several floats get completed in time: person-power. Up to 5000 volunteers from Lutheran Churches in Southern California and across the country, known as the “Petal Pushers”, have helped decorate the floats for decades. In exchange, the Float builders at the Phoenix Float Design Company help keep the float cost for the LLL Float at 1980s levels, and they even discount the float cost for every float the Petal Pushers finish in time for judging. It is the reason the Lutheran Layman's League continues to appear at the Rose Parade every year.
So the stage was set for a potentially explosive situation along the 5.5 mile parade route. But something happened as both floats appeared to get ready to be sent off. For one thing, the parade was taking longer than expected. When the floats were scheduled to go off at 12:45 pm EST (9:45 am Pasadena time), they were 6 units behind. What happened next is unknown except to parade organizers. The parade officials may have realized that the same-sex wedding float may not have made it to the starting blocks in time to receive TV attention. Or they may have gotten some angry Social Media responses from people who realized what they were up to scheduling the two floats in the manner that they did. Whatever the case, the Parade committee moved the same-sex Wedding float up one unit ahead of a marching band, giving the two floats just enough space. In addition, the Rose Parade committee awarded the LLL float with the Princess Trophy, a major award for small floats.
And then the kicker happened. While HGTV and KTLA covered both floats in particular, thanks to their commercial-free coverages, NBC & ABC decided to largely ignore both floats. NBC covered the same-sex float without mentioning that a wedding was taking place on it. ABC went to commercial break right before the wedding float appeared. Neither NBC or ABC covered the LLL float, but that is standard operating procedure many years, so it was not that big of a loss.
At the end of the day, the LLL will return next year with their volunteers. As for the other float sponsor, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation? Whether they return next year is unknown and I really don’t care. But on this day, my Christian denomination was a winner just by witnessing to people who just wanted to see pretty organic-covered floats… just as they have for many years before and hopefully for many years to come. I’ll still watch the Parade as long as the Lutheran Layman's League continues to participate.
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