For the first time in Taylor history, there were two parades to kick off the holiday season.
Citing “inclusion” as the main reason, city officials hosted the Very Merry Holiday Parade the same day as the annual Christmas Parade of Lights followed by a tree-lighting ceremony, arts and crafts, and live music at Heritage Square.
The parades followed the same route, along Main Street from Twelfth to Third Street. City officials said despite being listed at the same time, the “Very Merry” parade would begin immediately after the “Parade of Lights” finishes. For many years, the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance has hosted the “Taylor Christmas Parade of Lights,” but this year began specifying in their registration forms that the floats be consistent with traditional biblical and family values.
“We just want the people in the parade to represent biblical and family values because that is what this parade is about: It is about the celebration of Jesus’ birth, and so that is why we clarified the language,” said the Rev. Jeff Ripple, pastor at Christ Fellowship Church and TAMA organizer.
Ripple said this specification came about as a reaction to the way people were attired on a float sponsored by Taylor Pride, an organization serving the LGBTQ community, at the 2021 Parade of Lights.
“Taylor Pride had a float in the Christmas parade last year, and the organizers who were there at the table didn’t know what Taylor Pride was — that it was an LGBTQ group,” Ripple said. “We got a lot of complaints from some of the churches and the people.”
In an effort to show inclusion to all groups and organizations, the city created the second parade that did not include the word Christmas in the title, although it was holiday themed.
“This year, the city decided they wanted to have a parade that was inclusive of all groups,” said city spokesperson Stacey Osborne. “We have committed to being more inclusive and diverse in the things that we do as a city, and the holidays are a time when you should be inclusive, and when you should be celebratory and where everyone should be able to participate, and we thought that the best way to make sure that that happens is to hold a parade that is explicitly designed to be inclusive.”
Ripple said this entry requirement for the Taylor Christmas Parade of Lights is not exclusionary.
“The city is painting us as if we are excluding people,” Ripple said in an earlier interview. “I just don’t think that’s accurate and fair.”
“I think it’s still pretty broad-based that your floats should not contradict traditional biblical and family values, and so that’s what we did,” Ripple said. “I fully support Taylor Pride’s right to exist, but this is the parade sponsored by TAMA, and I don’t think the parade is exclusive. We never have had to exclude anyone before.”
“We have had much positive feedback concerning our attempt to guard the traditional values that have characterized the Taylor Christmas Parade of Lights,” Ripple added in a written statement Nov. 22.
Peace prevails, controversy takes a backseat
City officials did not beef up security for the parade and had the same number of officers as previous years.
Despite misgivings about a possible culture clash, Taylor’s dual Christmas parades went off without a hitch Saturday, Dec. 3.
The tensions that had been building leading up to the parade over whether a traditional, family and biblical values parade could spark a confrontation with supporters of a second parade that welcomed LGBTQ-plus community members seemed to evaporate as bystanders gathered to amicably enjoy both processions.
Hundreds lined Main Street wrapped in blankets and with blinking holiday necklaces and antlers to watch the floats go by, listen to carols and enjoy free hot chocolate handed out by the city.
As the Christmas Parade of Lights floats rolled down Main Street, viewers lining the avenue were greeted with reminders of the reason for the season, including Nativity scenes, several gospel messages, as well as Santa on a sleigh pulled by a tractor.
Though TAMA signaled the end to their procession with a big green banner wishing all a blessed Christmas and thanking everyone for coming out, many attendees stayed seated for the city’s Very Merry Holiday Parade, which began with the Taylor Fire Department Honor Guard carrying the U.S. flag, followed by about a dozen other floats, including the Taylor Police Department, Red Cap Cigar Lounge and more.
Taylor Pride presented one of the main attractions of the Very Merry Holiday Parade — a greeting card themed float with the message “From Our Family to Yours,” as well as a Santa walking and skipping around with a rainbow umbrella.
The crowd cheered and yelled “Merry Christmas.”
There were no reports of any incidents from officials.
New guidelines proposed for co-sponsored city events
Though the two parades were peaceful, Stacey Osborne, the city’s public information officer, said next year these new guidelines may prevent these kinds of situations from happening in the future.
“Having a sponsorship policy in place would help with situations like this last situation that came up with the parade (last weekend), and any other situations moving forward, and it’s a good thing to have in place,” said Osbourne said. “The reason we started creating a cosponsorship policy is because we have been asked more and more to co-sponsor activities throughout the city … it just makes sense to have a policy in place. Most cities do.”
Currently, a nonprofit organization sometimes seeks co-sponsorship status with the city because they do not have the manpower or infrastructure to run big events.
Under the proposed guidelines, to be considered, nonprofit organizations will have to demonstrate that they are tax-exempt, be family friendly, and may not “discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, familial, disability, or veteran status,” among many other requirements, according to the proposed guidelines.
Organization balks at proposal
On Thursday, Dec. 8, prior to the Taylor City Council meeting, Texas Values – an organization whose members say they stand up for biblical Judeo-Christian values in Texas – held a press conference outside of City Hall.
The group expressed concerns with reports the city planned to withdraw its sponsorship — including police protection and street closures — from organizations that are not 501(c)(3) s, basically nonprofits, which includes the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance, which operates the traditional biblical and family values parade.
“The city of Taylor’s new proposed policy for city events is unconstitutional and rightly causes extreme concern among the law-abiding citizens of Taylor,” said Jonathan Covey, Texas Values policy director. “You cannot take Christ out of Christmas, and yet the city of Taylor is trying to do exactly that.”
Covey said by withdrawing their cosponsorship and trying to pass the policy, the city is taking away from a parade that honors Christ to replace it with one that promotes drag performances.
Shane Allen, pastor of Crossroads Assembly of God Church in Taylor, spoke against the proposed policy during the press conference and during the Dec. 8 City Council meeting. Allen explained the controversy stemmed from a float in last year’s TAMA parade with drag queens. He said TAMA changed the language on its applications this year that stated floats must align with traditional family and biblical values, but did not solely have to be biblical floats.
“This year, ... there was a lot of pushback from Taylor Pride, who never actually applied in our Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance parade,” Allen said. “They just assumed they would have been denied, and that’s what really started this whole thing.”
Allen said TAMA had 33 floats and the city parade, minus the cityorganized floats and cars, had eight or nine floats in their procession that finished the evening.
“I think that tells a lot about where Taylor stands on this position and what Taylor wants,” Allen said. “I believe Taylor wants us to go back to what it was two years ago where there was never a problem, we never had an issue with anybody in the parade.”
Allen believes a group from the LGBTQ community wants to interject sexuality into the parade.
“People are identifying themselves saying, ‘This is my sexual fetish. This is my sexual preference,’” Allen said. “It’s
sexual.” Denise Rodgers, Taylor Pride president, believes the proposed new guidelines has more to do with the changing diversity in Taylor.
“We believe the city recognizes this and is attempting to keep up with the changes and limit their liabilities,” she said. “Many of the festivals and events happening around Taylor are new or changing due to the new dynamics of people coming into town.”
According to Rodgers, the Pride Music and Art Festival required new policies and regulations the city did not have preplanned. She thinks the city is working to ensure clear guidelines for all future co-sponsored events.
Culture clash continues
At the Dec. 8 Council meeting, city leaders tabled a controversial agenda item that could have prevented the Taylor Area Ministerial Alliance from cosponsoring their Taylor Christmas Parade of Lights next year.
But that didn’t stop many citizens from packing city hall to give their opinion on the item, which dealt with guidelines and procedures the city is drafting, which could deny city co-sponsorship, including police personnel and street closures, to organizations that represent religious views for special events.
Nevertheless, the citizens communication portion of the meeting was lively, with one local one pastor delivering a speed sermon on the “good news of Jesus Christ” and several members of a Christian advocacy group discussing possible legal action if the city moved forward with the guidelines, to others giving heartfelt thanks to the city for sticking up for the rights of LGBTQ community and moving Taylor into the modern age.
However, a majority of citizens present were in favor of allowing co-sponsorship of the parade for TAMA, which has run the parade for more than a decade, but this year changed its own registration guidelines to allow only floats conveying traditional family and biblical values in response to a float the previous year from Taylor Pride that included individuals in drag.
The agenda item was tabled to be discussed at a later date.
