Macy’s will proceed with its upcoming Thanksgiving Day Parade as planned, refusing to alter the program in response to a petition condemning the brand for using the event to promote an “LGBTQ agenda.”
The petition, signed by nearly 40,000 people, states that “this liberal nonsense” airing on Thanksgiving will feature self-described “non-binary” performers from Broadway musicals.
“The non-binary and transgender extravaganza on display this Thanksgiving will be brought to you by Macy’s during their annually sponsored Thanksgiving Day Parade,” reads the petition organized by One Million Moms, a division of the American Family Association. “Unless they are forewarned about it, this year’s holiday parade will potentially expose tens of millions of viewers at home to the liberal LGBTQ agenda.”
Macy’s has not announced any changes to the programming.
“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,” a Macy’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“Every performer and volunteer is there with one mission — to entertain millions of spectators and kick off the holiday season. We look forward to celebrating this iconic Thanksgiving tradition again next week,” the spokesperson continued.
The spokesperson further noted that Macy’s works with the NYPD, city, state and federal law enforcement agencies each year for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and that “the safety of our participants and spectators is our top priority.”
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the non-profit LGBTQ-advocacy organization GLAAD, denounced the petition.
“LGBTQ performers in the Thanksgiving Day parade are nothing new, and neither are the desperate pleas for attention and random attacks against inclusion from the One Million Moms project of designated hate group American Family Association,” Ellis told The Advocate, an LGTBQ-focused publication, in a statement. “Brands have long learned that these are not concerned moms, but dedicated anti-LGBTQ activists.”
The “hate group” status refers to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designating the American Family Association as an “anti-LGBT hate group.”
The SPLC recognizes “hate groups” in the categories of “Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazi, White Nationalist, Racist Skinhead, Christian Identity, Neo-Confederate, Black Separatist, Anti-LGBTQ, Anti-Muslim, Anti-Immigrant and General Hate.” According to its methodology, the SPLC classifies an “anti-LGBTQ group” as one that “engage[s] in crude name-calling and disseminate[s] disparaging propaganda and falsehoods about this population.”
The SPLC cited One Million Moms in a 2017 “Anti-LGBTQ Activities Roundup” because it protested Dove for an ad that depicts a male as a mother. “This cross-dressing young father who rejects his sex has in effect abandoned his son,” One Million Moms said in response to the ad.
Earlier that year, One Million Moms also issued a boycott of the Disney Channel’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil because it depicted same-sex couples kissing in a crowd.
One Million Moms’ self-described goal is to “stop the exploitation of our children, especially by the entertainment media (TV, music, movies, etc.)” and it claims to be “the most powerful tool you have to stand against the immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity the entertainment media is throwing at your children.”
The petition mentions that this is not the first year the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has featured “gender non-conforming performers.”
In 2021, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade featured pop singer Kim Petras, a male dubbed the “world’s youngest transsexual” for undergoing surgery with special permissions at age 16, before the minimum age of 18 in Germany.
Petras collaborated with Sam Smith, a self-described “non-binary” singer, for the song “Unholy,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 2023 Grammy Awards, Petras and Smith performed the song in red leather and devil horns, with fire surrounding them and dancers in cages. At least 18 complaints were filed to the Federal Communications Commission over the performance.