US: TV stations cut away from same-sex wedding atop historic parade float

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

Multiple television stations cut away from a same-sex wedding which took place in a historic California parade yesterday.

In an historic move for the 125-year-old Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, a gay couple said their vows and became the first to marry as part of the event.

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.

 

 

 

 

Some opposed to equal marriage, however, took to the microblogging site to commend stations for cutting away from the scene.

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.