Macy's Thanksgiving Parade to Proceed as Planned Despite Controversy

Photo byJohn Prato, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>

It's a tradition dating back to the 1920s: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. With its wholesome entertainment and floats of children's favorite characters, it has been family fare for almost 100 years. But this year, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is being boycotted by an anti-LGBTQ organization, One Million Moms, due to nonbinary Broadway artists' performances.

March on, said the parade in response.

An internet petition with over 20,000 angry signatories has been launched against Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is allegedly hosting a "non-binary and transgender extravaganza" this year.

"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," the petition, organized by One Million Moms, reads. "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."

The petition adds that performances in this year's parade will include music from two Broadway musicals, "both of which feature transgender and non-binary performers in major roles."

One Million Moms is part of the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization with a long history of opposing media projects. The group is based in Tupelo, Mississippi. The organization has been labeled a hate group by the nonprofit legal advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center.

Macy’s declined to comment on the petition, and the parade is scheduled as planned. “We look forward to celebrating this iconic Thanksgiving tradition again next week,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.

NBC also declined comment. The 97th Macy's parade will air on Thursday, Nov. 23, at 8:30 a.m. ET (5:30 a.m. PT). If you are not an early riser on Thanksgiving Day, both NBC and Peacock will air an encore at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).