Plan for same-sex wedding on Rose Parade float draws fire

PASADENA, Calif., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A San Diego woman is calling for a boycott of the 2014 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., because a same-sex wedding is to be performed on a parade float.

Karen Grube set up a Facebook page calling for the boycott after she learned this week that Danny Leclair, 45, and Aubrey Loots, 42, co-owners of a hair salon in Santa Monica, Calif., will exchange vows while standing on a giant wedding cake on the AIDS Healthcare Foundation float Jan. 1.

Grube told the Pasadena Star-News the Tournament of Roses should not get involved in a "political agenda." She called on the organization to remove the AHF float from the parade and urged corporate sponsors to pull their support for the parade if Leclair and Loots get married along the parade route.

"Gay marriage is illegal in over 30 states, why would they promote something that is blatantly illegal?" she said. "That's just stupid."

Leclair said he and Loots, who have been together for 10 years, decided to get married after same-sex marriage became legal in California this year.

"We want to start a family and we want our child to have two parents," Leclair told KNBC-TV, Los Angeles.

He said they're getting married on the parade float, titled "Love is the Best Protection," because they won a drawing.

AHF spokesman Ged Kenslea said the organization believes "sanctified relationships, like gay marriage, which is legal in California and 16 other states, will really go a long way to help reduce the spread of HIV and other STDs."

Leclair said the planned wedding is the farthest thing from "a political statement."

"Our stance is love is love and love will save lives," he said.