Two holiday parades are now planned in Taylor after disagreements over who gets to attend
The Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance has organized the city’s parade for decades. This year it was said that an LGBTQ+ float is not aligned with its values.
TAYLOR, Texas — For decades, locals have flooded downtown Taylor for the city’s annual holiday parade, but due to disagreements over who gets to participate in the parade, there will now be two parades on December 3.
Denise Rodgers, co-founder of Taylor Pride, said the group participated in the 2021 “Parade of Lights.”
“We attended with an overwhelming and positive response from the crowd,” Rodgers said. “Well, it was exciting. So of course we were looking forward to doing it again this year.”
However, when Rodgers applied to participate in the parade with her float this year, it did Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance (TAMA) added speech to the motion stating that applicable floats should not conflict with the organization’s biblical and family values.
“And so we reached out to the city because they’re co-sponsors, and we just wanted to make sure they understood or were aware of that discriminatory language that was added,” Rodgers said.
TAMA said it was originally an accident, and this year they made it clear they would not let Taylor Pride attend.
“The group that has run and hosted the parade in the past established some rules and regulations that were more exclusive than in the past,” said Stacey Osborne, Taylor City communications director.
TAMA posted on Facebook that Taylor Pride had two men dressed as women at last year’s parade, and that was not consistent with TAMA’s beliefs.
“We had two drag queens on our float last year,” Rodgers said. “Very appropriately dressed and very appropriately behaved. Very age appropriate and family friendly drag queens in general.
In response, the city will now hold its own parade right after the TAMA parade.
“We represent everyone in town,” Osborne said. “And we wanted everyone to be welcome, and we wanted everyone to be able to participate in the celebration and the parade.”
The City of Taylor’s “The Very Merry Holiday Celebration” will be held on Saturday, December 3 at 7 p.m. Click for more information here.
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/christmas-parades-taylor-tx-disagreements-participate-2022/269-3f82a658-384e-466d-bda2-ae4fd817b3dc Two holiday parades are now planned in Taylor after disagreements over who gets to attend
