In letters to Upper Cumberland Pride and Putnam County Young Republicans, organizers said they "wanted to make much of the person of Jesus born in Bethlehem. In efforts to minimize distraction from Him, we planned this event with stated prohibitions of special interest groups."
The letters were posted to the “Cookeville Christmas Parade” Facebook page on Dec. 14. The parade is scheduled for Friday evening.
Eighty miles east of Nashville in Middle Tennessee, Cookeville has a population of roughly 35,000.
Jenna Ellis of Jenna Ellis in the Morning on American Family Radio says the decision indicates that reason may be returning to our cultural discourse.
“I think it's a great indication that maybe, just maybe, people are getting back to the rational parameters that we should have had consistently for a long time.”
Organizers admitted they expected their decision to anger many people.
“We know it is inevitable that not everyone will agree with this decision. In years past, there has been a lot of emotion, understandably, tied to these same decisions. Cookeville has a long history of meeting hard moments with grace, compassion, and a genuine love for our neighbors. Today is no different.”
Organizers went on to say they believe there is an “important role played by special interest groups,” but their Christmas parade was not the proper time and place for participation by these groups.
Ellis says organizers are right to ban the groups.
“A Pride float or a Pride organization has no business being involved in a Christmas parade any more than an Easter float would be appropriate in a Hanukkah or a Christmas parade.”
Ellis says there may be some legal issues, but neither of the groups are at this time threatening a lawsuit.
“One article that I read said that this was organized by a group of private citizens, but if it's on behalf of a county or government entity. That may pose some issues.”
She says it's time to stand up to the cultural radicals that are waging war on common sense.
“We have for too long as a society catered to the whims of any radicals or any sort of ideology that just prefers to be recognized as somehow part of a society, and we've seen the damage.”
