Evangelical group boycotts ‘non-binary and transgender extravaganza’ at Macy’s Thanksgiving parade
More than 30,000 folks have signed an evangelical group’s petition to boycott the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade over its inclusion of transgender and non-binary performers.
As of Thursday morning, 31,446 folks had signed the web “Say No To the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” petition posted by One Million Moms, a part of the Mississippi-based American Family Association. They even have pledged to cease purchasing on the division retailer chain.
According to the petition, Macy’s choice to show this 12 months’s parade in New York City right into a “non-binary and transgender extravaganza” has provoked “conservative and Christian families” nationwide to skip the tv broadcast.
“I do not agree with the LGBTQ agenda you are pushing on families during your Thanksgiving Day Parade,” the petition states. “My family and I will not watch this indoctrination.”
The Macy’s division retailer chain first carried out the three-hour parade, which drew almost 30 million tv viewers final 12 months, in 1924.
The petition notes that this month’s parade will embody musical highlights from two Broadway musicals “which feature transgender and non-binary performers in major roles.”
Monica Cole, director of One Million Moms, mentioned the petition has been “picking up traction” on account of media protection. From Tuesday to Thursday, it added greater than 10,000 signatures.
“This holiday tradition is no longer family-friendly, and pushing the gay agenda during prime time is completely unnecessary,” Ms. Cole mentioned.
The petition singles out two non-binary lead actors performing within the parade: Justin David Sullivan, who performs the non-binary May within the musical “& Juliet,” and Alex Newell, who gained a Tony Award for enjoying the feminine character Lulu in “Shucked.”
Neither responded to requests for remark Thursday.
The Washington Times has reached out to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade organizers.
Several LGBTQ media retailers have blasted the petition in articles and social media posts this week.
Writing Tuesday within the British publication Pink News, Ali Condon described the petition as “sensationalist” and “anti-trans backlash.”
The publication additionally quoted a press release from Macy’s officers defending the performers.
“For nearly 100 years the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has showcased the very best in entertainment, delighting Americans everywhere with the most popular music acts, the best of Broadway, our country’s finest marching bands and dance teams, and giant balloons and floats that capture your imagination,” Macy’s mentioned, in line with Pink News.
Even although Macy’s officers haven’t billed this 12 months’s parade as having a transgender or non-binary theme, conservatives say One Million Moms has touched a nerve by highlighting the rising inclusion of gender nonconformists in standard tradition.
Tierin-Rose Mandelburg, who has tracked the petition for the right-leaning Media Research Center, mentioned conservative Christians have good purpose to really feel disturbed by the inclusion of fabric hostile to their values.
According to the middle, this isn’t the primary 12 months Macy’s has featured gender-bending performers: In 2021, transgender pop star Kim Petras rode on a parade float.
“It’s opening the door to more and more propaganda in the future and it’s very disconcerting for those of us who enjoyed watching the parade to see Christmas traditions and American values, not things that promote ‘woke-ism,’” Ms. Mandelburg informed The Times.
