The AIDS Healthcare Foundation float just rounded the corner from Orange Grove Blvd onto Colorado Blvd. I was watching on KTLA, local channel 5 in Los Angeles, one of the two broadcasts that has no commercial interruptions, and they presented it, telling the ENTIRE story, that the two men on top of the float had just been married and the white doves had been released before the float came into camera range, as if it was an every day occurrence. Just like any other float!The KTLA reporter on street level, Micah Ohlman, even said "Congratulations to the happy couple."
No video yet. I'll update if there is one. In the meantime, here's an image. The couple, with the float in the background.
The parade just ended. Happy New Year, all. 2014 looks better already!
From Southern California Public Radio (89.3 FM; KPCC):
This year's parade featured its first gay wedding ceremony.
At the tail end of its two-hour broadcast, KTLA5 showed Danny LeClair and Aubrey Loots kiss and wave after being wed atop a float entered by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
LeClair and Loots sparked protests and debate after they announced their plans to wed atop a parade float while the world looked on. The two men told KPCC last month they had intended to marry after a Supreme Court decision in June allowed same-sex marriages to resume in California, but they sped up their plans when they realized how vast a platform they would have in the Rose Parade [my emphasis].
--snip--
While parade organizers did not provide an interview or comment directly on the wedding, they did issue the following statement:
The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is pleased to have AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) participate with a float entry in the 125th Rose Parade. It is the organization’s third entry in three years tied to their mission of delivering medical services and advocacy in fighting AIDS worldwide. Like all of our sponsors and float designers, AHF continues to help make the Rose Parade a premier event through original and creative expressions that connect to parade themes – as this float does.
Happy to have the float, happy to have the organization in the parade, don't care (or want to avoid saying anything) about that it does on its float. Good things, all.
And here's the video!! Thanks, jgilhousen.
3:50 PM PT: Revised to reflect rickh710's correction about who from KTLA made the remarks about the float. It was indeed the (much) younger Micah Ohlman, not the two hosts. I wasn't really paying that much attention to the parade on TV until I knew the float was on the TV screen.