'Traditional Marriage Parade' divides rural Iowa town

Photo by Sandy Millar, Unsplash

A Baptist pastor of small-town Ottumwa in Iowa challenged the fairness of a city council proclamation to celebrate Pride month while other groups like veterans went unnoticed, Joe Barrett of The Wall Street Journal reported.

When the council members explained they only passed resolutions of this nature that were brought to their attention, Pastor Travis Decker decided to create his own “Traditional Marriage Parade” – and he wanted to get a proclamation from the city for it.

This request led to “weeks of emotional public meetings, social-media battles and questions about whether the council should have proclamations at all,” Barrett wrote. 

Pastor Chris Childs from Grace Methodist Church noted that the conflict highlights the fraught political environment that has divided America everywhere.

And the result? The city council decided that no one gets anything. A new policy was created to prevent controversial proclamations from being passed in the future.

“Pride or traditional marriage proclamations probably won’t make the cut,” council member Cara Galloway told the Wall Street Journal.